Innholdsfortegnelse for 231 i The Week Junior

CALIFORNIAN SURFERS The sea in California, US, has been glowing blue at night, to the delight of surfers. The rare event happens every few years because of bioluminescence, which is when living things glow. Organisms in the water, called algae, give off light when they are disturbed. LOTTIE AND HER GRANDFATHER On 3 May, Lottie Cooper, aged 12, and her 75-year-old grandfather, Ray Hall, raised more than £5,000 for a cancer charity. They raised the money by doing a two-mile walk in separate parts of England where they live. Cooper said, “I can’t wait to see Grandpa and give him a huge hug. He did so well!” THIS BRAZILIAN SKATEBOARDER An 11-year-old Brazilian boy has become the first person to land a 1080-degree turn on a vertical ramp. Gui Khury…

On 6 May, the National Assembly of Wales officially changed its name to Senedd Cymru and Welsh Parliament (Cymru is Wales and senedd means parliament in the Welsh language). The Senedd’s responsibilities include health and education in Wales, and it has the power to pass new laws in the country. The UK Government is in charge of issues such as national security. On the same date 16-year-olds in Wales were given the right to vote in Senedd elections.…

Now that you’ve read a bit more about it, tell us what you think by voting in our poll at theweekjunior.co.uk/polls. Vote YES if you think that there should be rules for baby names, or NO if you don’t. We’ll publish the results next week. The aim of the Big debate page is to present two sides of an issue fairly and objectively, in order to stimulate discussion and allow our readers to make up their minds. The views on the page do not reflect those of The Week Junior, and the page is not funded by third parties. The page is created in association with the English-Speaking Union, an educational charity helping young people discover their voice and realise their full potential. For more information, please see esu.org…

For more than 160 years, Niagara Falls has attracted adventurers. Many tightrope walkers have braved the high winds and drenching mists to make their way across the Niagara River. The trip takes about 25 minutes. Charles Blondin Blondin, a French acrobat, made the first crossing in 1859 on a rope five centimetres thick. He crossed about 300 more times after that – on a bike, pushing a wheelbarrow and with his manager on his back. Maria Spelterini Spelterini is the only woman to walk over the falls. In 1876, the 23-year-old made five trips. She did it differently each time – with peach baskets on her feet, blindfolded, with her hands and feet bound together, and walking backwards. Nik Wallenda In 2012, Wallenda walked across in front of a huge…

Malaria is spread to humans by mosquitoes carrying a tiny parasite called Plasmodium. Parasites are living things that live in or on other living things, taking nourishment from them. When an infected mosquito bites a person, the parasite enters the human through the insect’s saliva. It first goes to the liver (the organ that produces bile, which helps the body to digest foods), where it multiplies and then spreads to the red blood cells. It destroys the blood cells, which is when the first symptoms – such as chills and fever – begin to show.…

A pair of designers from Denmark have invented a Moon shelter inspired by the Japanese art of origami. Origami is the art of folding paper into complex shapes (you can find out more about origami on page 24). The folding design of the Moon base, called the Lunark, will mean that it can be carried in a normal rocket. It will then self-expand once it is placed on the lunar surface, providing a home for astronauts. The space is split into sections for sleeping, working and other aspects of normal life. The designers, Sebastian Aristotelis and Karl-Johan Sørensen, will test an early version of the shelter later this year. They plan to try it out in the harsh weather of Greenland. Enjoy these stories? Find more in this month’s The…

Clean Getaway by Nic Stone (KnightsOf Media) After getting suspended from school, 11-year-old Scoob heads off on an unexpected road trip with his grandma. Their journey will take them right across the south of the US, where Scoob has a lot to learn about their family’s history – as well as the history of the country. The Taylor TurboChaser by David Baddiel. Illustrated by Steven Lenton (HarperCollins Children’s Books) In the latest fun adventure from David Baddiel, we meet Amy Taylor, who loves cars and dreams of speed. Unfortunately her old wheelchair is always slowing her down – so when she finally gets a new electric one, she’s delighted. Things get even more exciting when her best friend, Rahul, turns her wheelchair into a supercar, and the Taylor TurboChaser is…

Riding bikes is allowed at the moment as part of people’s daily exercise, but it’s fair to say that for now, not many people in the UK are going for relaxing rides down mountains while enjoying the scenery. It’s still possible virtually, though, thanks to Lonely Mountains: Downhill, a game for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC computers and now Nintendo Switch, too. It’s a mountain-biking game that’s not so much about racing – although you are trying to beat your best times – and more about exploring. Each course has you riding downhill (as you can guess from the game’s name) trying not to crash into trees, fall off tight turns or get stuck in squelchy streams. However, there are checkpoints along the way, thankfully, so when you do fall…

The Week Junior team is now into its ninth week of working from home. It’s been very strange adapting to this new way of life, but we love putting the magazine together each week, even if we can’t be in the same room. We have lots of daily online meetings, which sometimes include an appearance by Bec – Science+Nature editor Dan’s pet cat – or art director Dave’s robotic dog Aibo, which unnervingly springs into life every now and again behind his desk. Our picture editor Rachel has been wowing us with her brilliant baking skills, with some beautiful pictures of home-made bread. You may have noticed some disruption to how your magazine is delivered, after Royal Mail made the temporary decision not to deliver large letters on Saturdays. We’re…

Email your news, views and pictures to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk Please include your full name and address so that we can send you a Roving Reporter badge if your contribution makes it onto the page. We will only use the details you provide to arrange delivery of badges, and we will not share them with anyone else. By submitting your reports and pictures, you give consent to The Week Junior to print them in the magazine and digital editions. We reserve the right to edit contributions for length, accuracy and suitability. Ensure you have your parent/guardian’s permission before sending anything to us.…

Follow The Week Junior on PopJam@TheWeekJunior. You can download the PopJam app from the App Store or Google Play. We asked our PopJammers how they marked VE Day. Here’s what they had to say... “My family made cake!” “Our street had a party where everyone sat outside their houses and ate cake! If we are positive we will get through this tough time.” “We decorated our house in bunting that we made!” “I love VE Day.” Tell us what you think of this week’s issue and we’ll print some of the best comments here.…

When Andy Brown went to the toilet in his home in Bristol, England, he was shocked to find a gecko inside the bowl. Upon discovering the visitor, Brown told his wife Elaine, “Don’t use the downstairs toilet, there’s a lizard in it”. The Browns say that the toilet had been blocked for a few days, and think it was because of the gecko. The lizard was rescued and has been adopted. Mrs Brown says, “No one will use the toilet now, but I will – I don’t care.”…

Three Harry Potter books that were found in a school skip are expected to sell for thousands of pounds at an auction on 21 May. The books – two paperbacks and one hardback – are first editions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. First editions are the very earliest copies of a book that are printed. A teacher spotted them when a school was clearing out some old books. Book expert Jim Spencer says hardback first editions of this particular book are very rare and are “the holy grail” for collectors.…

How can a choir sing together when they cannot even be in the same room as each other? This was the question that music teacher Jessie Reeves faced when the coronavirus lockdown was announced. Thankfully, Reeves found a way to connect with her pupils, and she has produced an uplifting video of them all singing. “We love singing together at school,” Reeves told The Week Junior. “But this is obviously something which is very difficult to do from isolation.” Reeves wanted to make sure her pupils could carry on enjoying music, so she came up with the idea of a virtual choir. She sent a message to other teachers about the idea and the project grew to include 60 young people aged five to 15 years old. Reeves chose a…

Eating fruits and vegetables that are “in season” in your country is good for the environment, because it means they do not have to be flown or shipped in big fridges from other parts of the world. These journeys add to gas emissions that cause climate change, the long-term changes in the world’s weather patterns. Fruits and vegetables are said to be “in season” in a country when they are ready for picking or harvesting there. May is a wonderful month in the UK for eating in-season foods because it’s when lots of delicious fruit and vegetables are harvested on UK farms. These h e include asparagus, peas, new potatoes and rhubarb. By enjoying these, you can reduce the need for food to make long journeys. DID YOU KNOW? Carrots…

In 1901, Annie Edson Taylor was the first person to take the plunge over the falls. The 63-year-old former teacher rode over the edge on the Canadian side in a barrel that she’d designed herself. It was about 137 centimetres long, made of wood with iron straps around it, and padded with a mattress. Taylor survived the nearly 49-metre drop and earned the nickname Heroine of Niagara Falls. She wrote a book about her experience. Today, anyone who tries the illegal and extremely dangerous feat faces a steep fine and must pay for the cost of rescue.…

Don’t be offended if someone calls you “bird brain”. A new study looking at how birds evolved over time has found that early in their history, some birds shrank in size but kept large brains. This process happened after the dinosaurs went extinct, 66 million years ago, and the changes helped birds develop into the more than 10,000 species known today. An international team of scientists used a CT scanner (a machine that uses X-rays to give detailed images) to make 3D images of the insides of the skulls of more than 2,000 modern birds, extinct birds and avian (bird-like) dinosaurs. They discovered that some modern birds have brains that are similarly sized to those of large dinosaurs. After the asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs, it would have…

As a result of the coronavirus, it has been many weeks since the world’s top athletes have competed against each other. However, at the start of this month, three famous pole vaulters took part in a fun competition in their own gardens, instead of in an athletics stadium. Called the Ultimate Garden Clash, the action was shown live on YouTube. Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis, France’s Renaud Lavillenie and the US’s Sam Kendricks used pole-vaulting equipment that they use to practise at home. The target was to make as many successful vaults as possible over a five-metre-high bar in 30 minutes. In a normal pole-vault event, athletes have three attempts to vault a bar set at a height that they choose. Lavillenie and Duplantis achieved 36 jumps each, and Kendricks made 26.…

BOOK OF THE WEEK The Big Book of Football by Mundial. Illustrated by Damien Weighill (Wide Eyed Editions) From the experts at the global football magazine Mundial, this is a football book like no other. With lots of vibrant illustrations, it’s a guide to everything you need to know about the sport. As well as lots of information about the basics of the game, it brings together facts, intriguing trivia and highlights from history. You’ll find out about the greatest players, managers and teams from both the men’s and women’s game, and learn about tactics and formations. There are masterclasses from the professionals to help you improve your own game, such as learning to take penalties like Matt Le Tissier. Discover the most famous goal celebrations of…

On 4 May, Lucasfilm, the company behind Star Wars, announced that Taika Waititi will co-write and direct a new Star Wars film. Waititi directed Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok and an episode of the Disney+ Star Wars TV series The Mandalorian – the first live-action Star Wars TV show. As well as his blockbuster films, Waititi is also famous for a video he created for Air New Zealand in 2014. The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made featured actors from The Lord of the Rings series, which was filmed in New Zealand, and was watched by 16 million people online in its first week. Lucasfilm also revealed it was making a fourth live-action Star Wars TV series for Disney+ but didn’t say what it would be about. A second series of The…

A Short Hike There are no bikes, and you’re going up a mountain rather than downhill in this game for PC and Mac computers. You walk up trails meeting other characters and looking for special items – but at your own pace. Alto’s Odyssey If biking isn’t your bag, how about sandboarding? It’s like snowboarding, without the snow. In this game for Android and Apple phones and tablets, you swoosh through some beautiful scenery, complete with a Zen mode that gets rid of scores and power-ups. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild You can race through this Switch game, rescuing Divine Beasts and defeating chief villain Ganon. As Link, though, you can also take things more slowly, climbing mountains and boggling at the open world around you.…

Aeroplanes, birds, boats, cars, flowers, toys and many other fun designs can be made using origami. This is the ancient Japanese craft of folding paper to make the shape of an object. Origami can be very simple, using a single sheet of standard plain paper to make a design in just a couple of minutes, although experienced origami fans can spend many hours making complicated and delicate folds. Sometimes this uses more than one piece of coloured paper. Traditional origami does not allow the paper to be cut or glued, and many designs begin with paper that is coloured or patterned on one side and white on the other. The two most basic folds are called the mountain and valley. The mountain fold bends the middle of a piece of…

Name: Jonah “When we broke up because of the lockdown, my school gave us an open assignment called the Curiosity Project. I decided to create a podcast. It is called Kids View and it is a way for me to connect with my friends and family while removed from them. In each episode I talk about current event topics from a kid’s perspective, and sometimes people leave me questions or messages. My most popular episode so far was called Rainbows and Silver Linings, where I talked about some of the good things that have come from the coronavirus lockdown. In this episode I gave a big shout out to The Week Junior Show podcast, which my brother and sister and I love! People also liked the toilet roll calculator in…

“I completed my 26.2-mile roller marathon on 1 May. I started at 11am and I raised £310 for NHS Charities Together.” Eloise “During lockdown I have decided to look over my old copies of The Week Junior and make a scrapbook with all of the stories about Covid-19 to look back on.” Joshua “We recently made some decorative stones in support of the NHS, which our mum works for as a GP. We left them outside for neighbours to have.” Leah and Jake…

19 May 1536 Anne Boleyn is beheaded On 19 May 1536, Anne Boleyn was beheaded on the Tower Green in London. Boleyn was the second wife of King Henry VIII. They married in 1533 and had a daughter that year, who would later become Queen Elizabeth I. Henry was disappointed because he desperately wanted a son who would be heir to the throne. On 2 May 1536, Henry had his wife arrested after falsely accusing her of plotting against the king and other crimes. She was found guilty and sentenced to death.…

● Elon Musk, the head of space company SpaceX and car company Tesla, and the singer Grimes have called their newborn baby X Æ A-12. The couple live in the US. ● In the UK, parents are allowed to call their child whatever they want, unless the name might offend other people. ● Countries such as Argentina, Denmark, Germany and Spain make parents pick from a list of approved names. ● In 2015, a couple in France were forced to change their daughter’s name after they tried to call her Nutella. She was named Ella, instead. The judge said that people would have made fun of her original name.…

Peter Chand This professional storyteller says that listening is the key. Describe yourself in three words. Fun, imaginative, cheeky. Who do you love? My children, and people who are fun generally. As a child, who did you want to be like and why? Sinbad the sailor. He was exciting and had adventures in far-off places and looked like the people I knew. When you were 11, what did you dream of doing? I wasn’t sure but I knew it would involve words. What do you do now? I am a full-time storyteller who works with all ages and trains others to tell stories. How did you get there? By being taken to a storytelling club where adults were telling stories to other adults. I knew that was what I wanted…

Scientists have discovered a tiny organism in some mosquitoes that appears to stop them from carrying malaria. This deadly disease is spread to humans when they are bitten by mosquitoes. More than 400,000 people die from malaria as a result of mosquito bites each year. If more mosquitoes carried this micro-organism (a living thing too small to be seen with the unaided eye), it could reduce this high number of human deaths. The discovery was made by scientists from Glasgow University and the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Kenya. While looking at mosquitoes on the shores of Lake Victoria, which is in south-west Kenya, the team found a micro-organism called Microsporidia MB. They believe that it is a type of fungus, or at least that it…

The Hay Festival is one of the world’s top literary festivals. Each year, some of the best authors from across the globe gather in the small Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye (or Y Gelli in Welsh, which translates as The Grove) to share their passion for books and reading. This year, the festival is moving online because of the coronavirus outbreak. The good news is that now everyone can attend and there is a special programme for schools. From 18 to 31 May, a mix of storytelling and performances by some of the most popular names in literature for young people will be available online. You will be able to watch the festival videos online from 8am on 18 May. Speakers on the first day include Cressida Cowell, who wrote the…

Cirque du Soleil – One Night for One Drop tinyurl.com/ TWJ-Cirque Every year, Cirque du Soleil puts on a show to raise money to provide people around the world with safe drinking water. This year the company has put an hour of highlights online. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Season 5 Streaming now on Netflix When Adora discovers a magical sword, she is transformed into the super-powered She-Ra. Now, in its fifth and final season, She-Ra’s story is about to come to its thrilling conclusion as her team battles the villainous Horde.…

Wimbledon and other professional tennis tournaments have been cancelled this year because of the coronavirus outbreak, and tennis stars are staying at home as much as possible. That doesn’t mean they can’t still play tennis in front of an audience, though. It’s just that they’re playing Mario Tennis Aces on Nintendo’s Switch, and the audiences are watching online at home. Stars such as sisters Venus and Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Maria Sharapova teamed up with celebrities including Hailey Bieber, Gigi Hadid and musician Seal to play in the Stay At Home Slam tournament. Each player was given $25,000 (just over £20,000) to donate to a charity of their choice, and the winner scooped another million dollars (more than £807,000) to donate on top of that. The doubles matches were…

What paper should I use? Start with normal white or coloured paper, like the sort used in a printer at home. Most designs begin with a square piece of paper so you’ll need to measure and cut it first if using common rectangular A4 paper. Special lightweight origami paper can be ordered online but you don’t need it to begin with. Do you need special tools? No, origami is very simple. Some experienced folders use a small plastic tool known as a bone folder. This helps you fold and crease very neatly. You can buy paper-creasing tools online for around £2. Any other top tips? Sometimes a small paper clip is useful to keep a design in place temporarily, just while you make another fold – especially if you’re trying…

Create a poster The children’s charity Theirworld has launched a fun project to keep you busy, and it’s called #StillLearning with illustrator Nick Sharratt. Its world ambassador, Nick, has recorded a video where he draws a poster of himself, featuring the town where he lives and what he has been learning while he has been stuck at home during lockdown. Now, Nick is calling on young people to draw their own posters. Why not get involved and ask your parents or guardians to share your work online by using the hashtag #StillLearning and #TheirWorld? You can watch a video of Nick explaining more about the poster project at tinyurl.com/TWJ-Nick…

Teacher’s name: Miss Thackrah School: Highfield Primary School, London “Miss Thackrah is a caring but competitive teacher. She teaches us things in every subject, especially maths. When anybody needs help, she helps them and gets them back on track. She cares about everyone. Most importantly, she is a very cool and awesome teacher because she taught us her favourite band Boyzone’s song called Who We Are. We did a rocking school performance. I really miss all my teachers and love them all.” Eshwar If we pick your teacher as Teacher of the Week, we’ll sendyourschoolthreefreeissuesof The Week Junior. Send your nominations, along with a picture of your teacher and your school’s full name and address, to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk…

1 Who is the UK Prime Minister? a) Nicola Sturgeon b) Donald Trump c) Boris Johnson a □ b □ c □ 2 True or false? A teacher rescued a valuable chair from a skip. 3 Officials in the Philippines dressed up as which Star Wars characters? 4 What is the name of Elon Musk and Grimes’s son? a) X Æ A-12 b) X BC A-15 c) HB 12-C a □ b □ c □ 5 True or false? Jessie Reeves put together a virtual circus. 6 What leaves do koalas mainly eat? 7 Niagara Falls is located on the border of which countries? a) US and Mexico b) US and Canada c) Nigeria and Benin a □ b □ c □ 8 True or false? Malaria gets its name…