Year 5 children have been exploring ‘trash!

In Humanities over the last few weeks, Year 5 children have been exploring ‘trash!’ Pupils have made careful observations and thoughtful interpretations of images and film clips that explore the theme of waste. Using see, think and wonder grids, children have come to the conclusion that it is our responsibility to try and reduce the amount of waste that we are producing!

Children have been developing their geographical skills by using atlases to locate some of the biggest dumpsites in the world. Did you know that the Estrutural dumpsite in Brasil is the size of 194 football pitches!

Over this next week children will be investigating how long it takes items of household waste to biodegrade.  We will then begin to look at the biggest dumpsite in the world – the ocean. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Pacific Ocean, stretches for hundreds of miles. The giant migrating mass, also known as the Pacific Trash Vortex, can be seen floating along the Pacific Ocean. This pile of trash consists of plastic bags and bottles, which causes harm to the nature around it. In fact, dangerous garbage like this is responsible for the deaths of over 100,000 marine mammals, not to mention the deaths of over a million seabirds.

Our Trash topics links into the book ‘Trash’ that we are now studying in Literacy. All of this terms learning will be consolidated with the fantastic Year 5 trip that will take place in early April. Year 5 would like to share one message with you all: “Surely we have a responsibility to care for our blue planet. The future of humanity, and indeed all life on Earth, now depends on us.” David Attenborough.