Latest from TheWeekJunior UK in Science

Prepare To Land on Mars

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 08:38:20 +0000

In February 2021, the Red Planet got a new resident – Perseverance, NASA's latest and most advanced rover. This selection of articles from The Week Junior Science+Nature provides an insight into the exciting alien world that's currently being explored.

Meet Perseverance

We reveal everything there is to know about the robot explorer heading to Mars to unlock the Red Planet's biggest secrets.

Discover the Marscopter

A futuristic drone will become the first aircraft to fly through the sky of another planet.

Do you want to go to Mars?

“For or Against” We ask whether you would be the first human to travel to Mars? Read this For or Against piece before you decide.

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Topical Tuesdays – Biodegradable Plastic Science Resource

The Week Junior Staff — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 02:34:00 +0000

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What's it all about?

Register for free and download this activity to share with your pupils wherever they are learning.

This PDF resource includes an article about biodegradable plastics, as well as accompanying activity ideas perfect for learning at home or in school:

Debating whether newer bags that only take three years to decay are OK, or whether that's still not good enough
Listing as many words as possible that begin with the prefix ‘bio’
Writing a five-sentence story that follows a plastic bag's voyage from a shop all the way into the ocean
Investigating how much food these bags can hold, given they have a weight limit of 2kg. How many ways can children get 2kg of food into a bag using different items?

You can find more teaching resources from Plazoom here

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This wonderful resource came from The Week Junior magazine. This fantastic magazine, written specifically for 8-14 year olds, includes the top news stories of the week plus science and technology, animals and the environment, books, sport and much more.

You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

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Topical Tuesdays – Monkey Behaviour

The Week Junior Staff — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 02:17:00 +0000

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What's it all about?

Register for free and download this activity to share with your pupils wherever they are learning.

This PDF resource includes an article about monkey behaviour in Asia, as well as accompanying activity ideas perfect for learning at home or in school:

Debate, if we could communicate with animals, whether we should? Or would that just lead to humans exploiting them even more?
Imagine you are a long-tailed macaque who has just discovered how to use stones to get seafood out of shells. Write an advertisement that you would use to persuade your fellow macaques to use stones too
Write a short funny sketch in the form of a playscript in which one macaque is trying to get his friend to use stones to crack open shells but the friend doesn’t like the idea of using this new ‘technology’
Research another example of animals learning a new behaviour, especially if it shows them adapting to the human world.

You can find more teaching resources from Plazoom here

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

All About Autumn

The Week Junior Staff — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 09:09:10 +0000

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What's it all about?

Autumn is a season of celebration. In America and the UK, people dress up to mark Halloween, and in Mexico, El Dia de los muertos is celebrated.

Use this resource to teach pupils about:

Defining an equinox and how it is related to the change of seasons
Discover why nature changes from lush greens to muted tones of yellow, orange and brown
Learn about autumn’s significance in different countries

This article gives students a better understanding of autumn and how it is perceived around the world.

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

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Topical Tuesdays – Children Are Not Connecting With Nature

The Week Junior Staff — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 09:30:00 +0000

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What's it all about?

A new National Trust survey of over 1,000 children and 2,000 adults, found that more than three quarters of children aged between eight and 15 rarely or never listen to birdsong, and that even more never watch the Sun rise (90%), look at clouds (79%) or smell wildflowers (83%).

This PDF resource includes an article about how children can connect with nature , as well as accompanying activity ideas perfect for learning at home or in school:

If connecting with nature is so important, debate whether we should we make it an official part of the school week, or if it's perfectly acceptable not to be interested in nature.
Write a recount of the last time you spent in a natural environment. Describe where it was and what you saw, smelled, heard and felt.
Write a pretend persuasive letter from nature to you, begging you to spend more time with it.
Identify three to five different species of bird that you have actually seen in the wild near where you live. For each one, provide a description (and, if possible, a sketch) as well as brief details about its key characteristics.

You can find more teaching resources from Plazoom here

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Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

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Rosalind Franklin

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 01:57:00 +0000

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Find out about Rosalind Franklin and her research

Celebrate National DNA Day on 25 April, which marks the discovery of DNA’s double helix in 1953.

Find out about Rosalind Franklin’s journey to revolutionising how we see DNA today.
Learn why her groundbreaking work went mostly unrecognised.
And, delve deep into science to learn what exactly DNA is.

This resource provides a fascinating insight into the 20th century’s biggest discovery and the unsung hero behind it.

Find out more about Science+Nature

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Have you tried Science+Nature yet?

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All of these wonderful experiments and activities are just a small part of what is available within The Week Junior Science+Nature magazine every month. This fantastic magazine, Science+Nature coverwritten specifically for 8-14 year olds is designed to unlock the fascinating world of STEM subjects for 8-14 year olds.

Each issue is jam-packed with mind-blowing facts and incredible information, that will ignite your pupils' curiosity and passion for discovery, as it reveals the hidden ways that science is in everything. It also provides you with a simple and easy way to add breadth and depth to your science curriculum.

See inside

All About the London Underground

The Week Junior Staff — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 09:46:00 +0000

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What's it all about?

The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, used by 1.37 billion passengers per year. This fact-filled feature covers:

The original idea
A historical timeline of the tube
Lots of interesting facts and figures
The future of the Underground

Teaching pupils all about the complex railway under the UK’s capital will be simple with this resource.

Download your copy below

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

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All About Greta Thunberg

The Week Junior Staff — Mon, 21 May 2018 13:22:10 +0000

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Find out about Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg is on a mission to save the planet. Have a read through this article to find out:

When Greta's protest started and what inspired her
How the movement has grown
What Greta's message to politicians around the world is

Share this article with your pupils and kick-start a discussion about climate change, protests and what we can do.

Find out more about The Week Junior

Download Your Copy Below

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

Claim your free copy!

All About Bridges

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 12:41:00 +0000

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What's it all about?

Take a look at some of the world's greatest bridges, from the most terrifying to the most famous. This feature focuses on:

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, US
The Lucky Knot bridge in Changsha, China
The Pons Fabricius in Rome, Italy
Millau Viaduct in Southern France
The Gateshead Millennium Bridge in Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge in China
Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge in China

Explore these engineering feats and engage your class in a lively discussion about the lengths that people around the world have gone to to construct these marvels.

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

All About the Electricity

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 12:41:00 +0000

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What's it all about?

You will find this resource useful when defining electricity, how it is produced and how we use it every day. This All about electricity feature covers everything your pupils need to know and will want to know about:

Electrical conductors
Static electricity
Electric eels
Experiments in electricity

Download your copy now

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

All About the Hubble Telescope

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 12:40:00 +0000

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What's it all about?

For 28 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has taken incredible images that have transformed our understanding of the universe.

Find out:

How the telescope works
Check out six amazing discoveries that the Hubble Space Telescope has unearthed
Learn about the Hubble in numbers
And discover more about the James Webb Telescope, which is set to replace the Hubble in 2020

Space fanatics will love reading about the study of stars throughout history.

Download your copy now

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

All About Skin

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 12:40:00 +0000

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What's it all about?

Discover why skin is so important, the vital role it plays in protecting you against harmful germs and chemicals, as well as how you feel things. Learn more about:

Your body's largest organ.
The three layers that skin is made of: epidermis, dermis and subcutis.
How skin maintains your body’s temperature.

Find plenty of fun facts, figures and illustrations to engage young scientists with.

Download your copy now

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

All About Albert Einstein

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 12:40:00 +0000

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What's it all about?

Albert Einstein is one of the most celebrated minds in history, but how much do you really know about the German genius? This feature covers:

The physicist’s life
Einstein’s theory of relativity
How his ideas changed the world

Pupils will love gaining a greater understanding of why Einstein is remembered to this day.

Download your copy now

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

All About Fossils

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 12:40:00 +0000

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What's it all about?

Are your pupils fascinated by fossils? Teach them about the incredible secrets that they tell us about our planet.

Find information on:

The study of fossils
Interesting fossils including the largest, most unusual and oldest
How fossils form
Places to find them

Find out more about The Week Junior

Download

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

Topical Tuesdays – Mysterious sounds from outer space

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 12:40:00 +0000

(Image credit: Future)

What's it all about?

Register for free and download this activity to share with your pupils wherever they are learning.

This PDF resource includes an article about scientific discoveries in outer space, as well as accompanying activity ideas perfect for learning at home or in school:

Debate whether spending time and money on observing outer space is important, or whether we would be better off using these resources to save our own over-heating planet?
Imagine the radio burst is actually a coded message from another life-form and you have managed to crack the code. Write what you think they might be trying to tell us.
Use persuasive writing to create an advertisement, like those you find for holiday companies, promoting Earth as a great place for aliens to visit for their vacation.
What is the closest star system to our own? Create a fact file including how far away it is, how long it might take to get there and what we know it includes.

You can find more teaching resources from Plazoom here

Find out more about The Week Junior

Download

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

Topical Tuesdays – Greta Thunberg and Climate Action

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 11:41:00 +0000

(Image credit: Future)

What's it all about?

Register for free and download this activity to share with your pupils wherever they are learning.

Your pupils will find out all about the International Day of Peace and what its aims are, as well as how peace is affected by climate change, what the UN is doing about it and how young people like themselves can get involved.

Hold a debate about schools strikes, like the one led by Greta Thunberg recently. Do pupils think any issue is worth missing education for? Or are young people in the best position to demonstrate against climate change, given they will inherit this earth from current generations?
Write a five-point instructional plan urging world leaders to make climate change an essential issue
Create clever slogans to go on protest signs
Look into a recent event where extreme weather meant people had to leave their homes, and write a summary of it

You can find more teaching resources from Plazoom here

Download your copy now

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

Topical Tuesdays – Alien Life

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 11:41:00 +0000

(Image credit: Future)

What's it all about?

Register for free and download this activity to share with your pupils wherever they are learning.

This PDF resource includes an article about Alien life, as well as accompanying activity ideas perfect for learning at home or in school:

If we had the ability to go to K2-18b, should we? Discuss whether that would be a good idea, or whether we should leave it be given the mess we've made on Earth
Imagine that you're an alien who's just visited Earth, and write a travel review of your trip
If you met an alien from K2-18b, what would the conversation be like. Write a poem about it that's either funny, or which has a twist
Research the seven characteristics of living things and list an example for a plant and an animal for each one

You can find more teaching resources from Plazoom here

Download your copy now

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

All About Space Exploration

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 11:41:00 +0000

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What's it all about?

Want to explore the history of space travel? Learn about the most notable moments in space exploration, such as:

Sputnik 1
The Moon landing
Helen Sharman
Space elevators

This All about will excite pupils and teach them all about Sputnik 1 and the future of space elevators.

Download your copy now

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

All About Earthquakes

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 11:41:00 +0000

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What's it all about?

Discover what makes the Earth shake, how earthquakes are measured and how countries around the world prepare for them.

Find breakdowns on:

The Richter Scale
Earthquakes around the world
Tectonic plates
How animals react during earthquakes

Download your copy now

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

Topical Tuesdays – Organ Donation

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 11:41:00 +0000

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What's it all about?

Register for free and download this activity to share with your pupils wherever they are learning.

This PDF resource includes an article about Organ Donation, as well as accompanying activity ideas perfect for learning at home or in school:

Debating issues around organ donation, such as whether people who have led healthy lifestyles should get priority on organ donor lists over people who make unhealthy choices like smoking
Writing a thank you letter to a donor from someone who has just had organ donation surgery
Imagining you're someone about to have surgery, and writing a diary entry for the day
Investigating the most-complex procedure of all the major organ donation surgeries: heart surgery

You can find more teaching resources from Plazoom here

Download your copy now

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

All About Sleep

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 11:41:00 +0000

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What's it all about?

Do your pupils ever wonder about the point of sleep? Now you can answer them with why we sleep and how to get it. Find information on:

Why we sleep
The sleep cycle
Tips for a good night's rest

Download your copy now

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

All About Intelligent Animals

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 11:41:00 +0000

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What's it all about?

If you think humans are the only intelligent creatures on Earth, then think again. Share these fun facts about the smartest animals on the planet with your pupils.

This feature includes:

Whether pigs are smarter than children
Chimpanzees and their tools
Experiments to see if racoons can break combination locks
The ability of elephants to memorise faces
Octopuses as master escape artists
Bees’ big brains

Download your copy now

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

All About Hurricanes

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 11:41:00 +0000

(Image credit: Future)

What's it all about?

Learn why hurricanes form, how they are categorised and how humans protect themselves from a hurricane’s deadly force with this All about article.

Find interesting facts on:

Hurricane names
The energy released by hurricanes
The eye of the storm
Monitoring storms

It's the perfect handout to use in your geography lessons.

Download your copy now

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

All About Robots

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 11:41:00 +0000

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What's it all about?

Even new technology such as robots have a history. In this issue, explore:

The definition of robots
Their evolution through history from 400 BC to 2015

Download your copy now

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

All About the Principia Mission

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 11:41:00 +0000

(Image credit: Future)

What's it all about?

This feature explores Tim Peake’s journey into space and why his mission to the stars is so important. Find out about:

The astronaut
The International Space Station
The Principia mission, the 46th mission to the ISS

This resource will work as a fantastic read for any students interested in space.

Download your copy now

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!

Topical Tuesdays – Beavers Reduce River Flooding

The Week Junior Staff — Thu, 03 May 2018 11:41:00 +0000

(Image credit: Future)

What's it all about?

Register for free and download this activity to share with your pupils wherever they are learning.

This resource includes an article about Beavers reduce river flooding, as well as accompanying activity ideas perfect for learning at home or in school:

If these beavers are having such a positive effect on the environment, shouldn’t we be introducing them across the whole country? Or could there also be unforeseen problems that result from our interfering with nature? What do you think?
Write an imaginary advertisement offering beavers the job of looking after a river or stream in the UK.
Write either a limerick about a beaver moving here from Europe or three verses of a new, beaver-focused version of 'Row, row, row your boat'.
Research a different example of an animal being introduced or reintroduced to a particular habitat, either deliberately or accidentally. Write a brief account of what the species was, where it was released and what the consequences were.

You can find more teaching resources from Plazoom here

Download your copy now

Have you tried The Week Junior in your school yet?

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You can take out a subscription for your school from just £54 to help your students:

Access, interpret and question the world around them
Improve their spoken language skills through debate and discussion
Develop an enjoyment of reading across the curriculum

Try it for free in your school, order your free copy today!