Earthquakes, Volcanoes and The Iron Man
19 Jan 2024
This week, we have been busy researching our new geography learning focus ‘What happens when the Earth moves?’ We have considered lots of natural events that result in movements on Earth, such as earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. We realised that these natural events can cause massive destruction. Our focus this week has been on earthquakes and volcanoes and we have been amazed to see pictures and videos of what happens during these events.
First, we explored the structure of the earth, to help us to understand what happens during natural disasters. We looked at a diagram showing a cross section of the Earth. The diagram showed us what the layers underneath the crust look like and we labelled the layers, right through to the centre.
We compared the diagram to an apple to try to understand what the diagram was showing. We cut a quarter of the apple away, so that we could see through to the core of the apple, just as the diagram of Earth showed us through to the core at the centre.
Through our research we learnt that the core of Earth is extremely hot and made of metals. We also found out that Earth’s crust is made of tectonic plates that rest on the hot, molten rock. We found out that when the plates move or grind against each other, they cause earthquakes and volcanoes.
We also researched to find out about the structure of volcanoes:
We worked hard to understand these structures and we then began to think about other questions that we want to answer. We’re looking forward to continuing with our research about volcanoes and earthquake next week, alongside exploring the globe and maps to locate their positions on Earth.
We enjoyed looking at some volcanic rocks that Xander brought to share. We found out that the rocks are formed from the lava when it cools down. We were surprised at how light the pumice rock is and we found that this type of rock is formed from frothy lava that has lots of gas bubbles, which makes it very light.
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In Guided Reading, we began ‘The Iron Man’ by Ted Hughes. In particular, our focus has been on exploring vocabulary in the text and we used our reading skills to retrieve answers to questions and to summarise passages.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Miss Wray and Mrs Micklefield