Antarctica
– The Frozen Continent
Antarctica is divided into eight
territories and seven states have claim to them. Did you know that many
countries have a base at Antarctica. New Zealand’s base is called Scott
Base. Japan has two bases. One of these
is too cold for people to live there in the winter because it is too close to
the South Pole.
Antarctica is known as the coldest
continent on Earth. It is massive. It is 60 times bigger than New Zealand. The winds in Antarctica can be very strong.
They can reach 240 kms per hour. These winds are called ‘Katabatic Winds.’
Eight million years ago Antarctica wasn’t
covered with snow and ice. It used to be a big land of forests with plants and
animals and looked a lot like New Zealand. It would have rained. Little by little Antarctica got colder.
Taking core samples of ice, give scientists
information about climate change and what lived in Antarctica so many years
ago.
Reported by Ryota
Year 6
Surviving
the Antarctic Climate
If you are in Antarctica you have to wear a
lot of clothing. This is what you would
need to wear if you were outside. The
first thing you would put on would be thermals, and a pair of thick socks on
your feet. Next you put thick waterproof overalls on that do up over your
shoulders. There are zips in the sides and back so that if you have to use a
toilet, you don’t have to take your overalls off and can stay warm. Over top of
the overalls you wear a windbreak jacket. The jacket has duck feathers inside
of it.
Once you have your ice boots on, it’s time
to put your headband on and then your hat. The headband keeps your ears
warm. Before you go outside you must put
your balaclava and goggles on. The googles keep your eyes safe from the glare
of the snow and of course, if there is a Katabatic wind, goggles keep icy snow
out of your eyes. The balaclava covers
the whole face except the eyes, and mouth.
You need to wear these because you can lose a lot of heat from your
head. You have to keep your safe in the cold.
Elena
Year 5
Visiting
the Antarctic Centre – The 4 D Movie Experience
On the 18th of June our ESOL
group departed for the Antarctic Centre.
It was so much fun. We did lots of things. First we met the Antarctic
teacher called Jane Porter. She showed
us how people keep warm in Antarctica and let us have lots of Antarctica
experiences. One of them was the 4D movie.
Everyone loved the movie. When you sat down
and put your special glasses on it was hard to see. But when the movie started,
it was fantastic. As the ship went down
through the ice, it sprayed water in front of us, and our chairs moved. The
bubbles splattered on everyone. Some people screamed, but not loudly. You might laugh. The movie showed us how the ships cut through
the ice to get into Antarctica. It showed us what it was like to live there and
told us about the early explorers. We
saw Emperor and Adelie penguins. We saw some blood on the rocks and I felt
scared. I thought that somebody had been
killed. When I was scared I held on tight.
After the movie we gave the glasses back and
we saw bubbles. Before we went back to school I gave Jane Porter a hug and
everyone said a big thank you together.
Aliya
Year 5
The Blue Penguins at the
Antarctic Centre
You’ll never guess where we went on the 18th
of June. Well we went to the Antarctic Centre.
I’m going to tell you what we found out about the Blue Penguins that
live at the Antarctic Centre.
The Blue Penguin lives around the southern
shorelines of New Zealand and Australia. They are the smallest of penguins and
can’t live in Antarctica because it is too cold for them.
One
of the Blue Penguin’s at the Antarctic Centre had only one leg. Jane Porter told us that when it was swimming
in the ocean, something got caught around its foot and it got tighter and
tighter. The penguin had to have its leg
taken off. The penguins at the Antarctic
Centre have been injured and might have died if the staff didn’t look after
them.
Arozo
Year 5
The little Blue Penguins were cute. It was hard to tell which penguin is a girl and
which one is a boy. At the Centre the boy had a band on the left flipper and
the girl had a band on the right flipper.
Blue Penguins would die in Antarctica because they are so small and
don’t have enough fat to keep them warm.
Jane Porter told us that the penguins eat quite a lot. They get food from the ocean, but at the
Antarctic Centre they got their food from a bucket.
Aisha
Year 4
The
Snow Room at the Antarctic Centre
The Snow Room at the Antarctic Centre is
really exciting. It can get quite windy inside the room, but it is an
artificial storm. It gets dark to make you think that you are in Antarctica. I
found it hard to breathe properly. There is a little ice cave in the room and I
went inside it. It is warmer in the cave. When it gets warmer in the cave the
whole room starts to get warmer. There is an ice slide in the room. I slid down the slide on my stomach and got
really cold and covered in ice.
Shayan
We will include a slideshow of our Antarctic Centre experience. After you have watched the video, do read on, as the following work is that of our Year 3 ESOL group.
Antarctica’a
Bases
In Antarctica there are many bases that are
run by many different countries, like New Zealand, Russia, India, Japan,
Norway, United States of America and Australia.
New Zealand’s base is called Scott Base.
It is close to the Ross Ice Shelf.
Japan has two bases but is using only one during the winter because one
is close to the middle of Antarctica where the temperature can be – 89 degrees
Celsius. Russia uses both of its bases
because they are on the coastline of Antarctica.
Avi
Our
Antarctic Visit
You might have been to a 3D movie but have
you been to a 4D movie before? During
the 4D movie at the Antarctic Centre, I felt scared. I was about to put my hand
up to go out but then I felt good again.
Water splashed on me when a bird
pooped. I ducked my head but it hit my
hair. In the movie I saw penguins with blood on them. Some of them had already
died. At times I could feel wind under my feet. It was like tiny balls were
rolling under my feet. It felt a little cold. I put my feet up to keep them
warm.
Hasini
Finding Out About Penguins
On our visit to the Antarctic Centre, Jane
told us how cold it is there. Penguins survive in the cold winds and icy
storms. They huddle to keep warm. Jane
showed us Blue Eyed Penguins at the Antarctic Centre. We saw bands on their flippers. There were to
let us know whether the penguin was a boy or a girl.
Jane also told us about the snow-room. It was freezing. She made us feel a fake storm and we all felt
so cold. We decided to go into the snow
cave. It was a bit warmer in there. The snow was so hard.
Aakifah
In the Antarctic Centre there are Blue Eyed
Penguins. They are too small to live in Antarctica and are found mostly in New
Zealand. You might see them around the shorelines of Akaroa or Dunedin. The reason why Blue Eyed Penguins live in the
Antarctic Centre is because they have been found injured. One of the penguins has only one leg.
Emperor Penguins are the tallest penguin in
the world. Penguins huddle on the ice in the winter when it is colder and
windy. They take it in turns to go from the outside of the huddle to the
inside. The penguins that are on the outside tuck their heads onto their chests
so that the wind can pass over the group and stop them from freezing.
Penguin’s predators are seals, Orcas Whales
and Squawks. The Squawks steal the eggs from the penguin’s nest or off the
rocky ice. Seals sneak up on the penguins and even the whales come up onto the
ice to catch them.
Manav
The
Snow Room
Have you ever been in an Antarctic
storm? Well I have.
At the Antarctic Centre I went into the
snow-room. I was feeling a bit scared., but when the others came in, I felt
better. Then Jane (the teacher at the
Antarctic Centre) turned on a fake storm.
Some of the group said to stay in the snow cave, but others didn’t
listen. The temperature went down and it
got windier. When I put my hand up, I thought that it was going to freeze, but
it didn’t.
Vianca
Keeping
Warm in Antarctica
“Oh, I’m cold!” So, how do you survive an Antarctic
winter? If you don’t wear special
clothing you will freeze to death. You need lots of layers.
First you need to wear thermals. You need
special slippers on your feet and a jersey over the thermals. Next you put on
your overalls and a puffer jacket. There are feathers in the jacket and between
the feathers there is air. The air helps to keep you warm.
On your head you need a headband to keep
your ears warm. Then you put on your woolly hat. You also have the puffer jacket hood. But
before you put that on you need to put your goggles on. Don’t’ forget to put your gloves and
ice-boots on.
This type of clothing is very tight and
stuffy, but you will be warm.
Swali
