Innholdsfortegnelse for 289 i The Week Junior

On 19 June, people across the US celebrated Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, after it was declared a national holiday for the first time. What is Juneteenth? Juneteenth is a holiday to celebrate the end of slavery in the US. Beginning in the early 17th century, people from Africa were bought, sold and transported to the US where they were held captive and forced to work as slaves in terrible conditions. In 1861, there was a civil war between northern states (known as the Union) and 11 southern states (known as the Confederacy). The Union wanted to stop the spread of slavery; the Confederacy wanted to keep it. In 1863, the US president Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in Confederate states. However, it wasn’t until…

AScottish football fan has celebrated his country’s involvement in the men’s European Championships by visiting streets with the same names as the players. David Little, from Glasgow, journeyed across the UK to visit a street for each of the 26 members of Scotland’s squad. “I do love doing pointless things like this,” he told the BBC. Little’s quest included a 50-mile cycle to Falkirk and back and a four-hour train ride to Stoke-on-Trent in England.…

Imagine a world without cinemas and the crackle of popcorn and hushed whispers as a film begins, or museums with echoing corridors filled with artefacts, paintings and sculptures. Cultural venues, from theatres to galleries, have been badly affected by the pandemic because they have had to close for many months. Now some are open again but social-distancing rules mean visitor numbers are still limited and it’s hard to make up the loss of money over the last year. The Government has offered some venues financial support but is it enough? In France, a new scheme will give young people around £260 to spend on culture. The scheme will support cultural organisations, as well as the entertainment industry. What do you think? Should the UK do the same? Yes – all…

Orcas – large black-and-white relatives of dolphins, which are also known as killer whales – have complicated social relationships including close “friendships”, according to a new study. Scientists from the University of Exeter and the US-based Center for Whale Research used drones to study behaviour within a pod of the animals in the Pacific Ocean. The experts found that orcas may socialise with each other based on age and sex, and that younger whales and females were more sociable than other groups.…

An international team of stargazers studying the centre of the Milky Way have discovered a strange monster star that blinks – very slowly. Over hundreds of days in Chile they watched the star through a British-built telescope called VISTA. The star slowly lost 97% of its original brightness and almost disappeared for 200 days before staging a recovery. It ‘s not unusual for stars to change brightness as we see them from Earth. Some pulsate, shrinking and swelling in size and changing their brightness continuously as they do so. Others come in tight pairs, too close to see separately; if one star passes behind the other and is hidden from sight in an eclipse, their combined brightness drops rapidly to a new level before recovering as the eclipse ends. Scientists…

In 14th century England, long, pointy shoes shaped like parsnips were the height of fashion – but new research shows just how bad these trendy shoes were for their wearers’ feet. Scientists at the University of Cambridge say that they’ve linked the extreme medieval footwear to an increase in bunions – painful bony lumps that form on the side of the foot or at the bottom of the big toe. Bunions force the big toe to slant towards the other toes and can only be cured with surgery (although this is only done in very severe cases). It’s generally believed that badly fitting shoes make bunions worse, so Dr Piers Mitchell and his colleagues set out to test the theory by studying the remains of 177 adults who had at…

For British tennis player Harriet Dart, there’s no doubt about the highlight of her year. “Wimbledon has always been my favourite tournament and there is so much I love about it,” she tells The Week Junior. The famous two-week tennis competition starts on 28 June and Dart is delighted to be back at the event in London. The tournament was cancelled last year because of the coronavirus outbreak. “Ask anyone about tennis and they will think about Wimbledon and its history,” says Dart. “I have played there since I was 15 or 16 and it is something quite special to be on those grass courts, dressed all in white and with a British crowd.” Dart enjoyed the best moment of her career at Wimbledon in 2019. She reached the third…

• Use a container, such as a bucket or tray, with holes for drainage. Fill with compost or soil and pat down. • Plant cuttings (a small piece of a plant), starting with the largest. Sprinkle seeds and cover with a thin layer of compost or soil, then water them. • Add gravel paths, stepping stones or twig fences. • Place your mini garden outside in a warm place or on a sunny windowsill. • Water the plants and seeds so they don’t dry out. Find further activities and advice on the RHS Campaign for School Gardening website schoolgardening.rhs.org.uk…

Who is your favourite footballer? I have many but one of them is Raheem Sterling. Have you ever broken a bone? No, I haven’t. I once had a suspected fracture, which turned out in the end to be a severe sprain. Rollercoasters: super fun or super scary? Super scary! Favourite ice-cream flavour? Vanilla. If you could have one superpower what would it be? To think of a place or country, snap my fingers and be immediately transported there.…

Sally Brown and Kate Morris, from the Guild of Food Writers, love experimenting with ingredients. They told The Week Junior, “Don’t use all the ingredients listed below. Choose your favourites from different food groups – such as vegetables, herbs, meat and fish. This makes two good portions if you add lots of the extras!” The recipe is from their book, Get Cooking in the Classroom, which aims to help with school cooking projects. What you need For the couscous • 60g wholemeal couscous • 100ml boiling water • ½ tsp vegetable stock powder • Pinch of black pepper • Pinch of curry powder or paprika or dried chilli flakes (optional) • 3 tsp olive oil • A large heatproof bowl • 1 plate to cover the bowl • Colander Vegetables…

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1 What date is Juneteenth celebrated? □ a) 17 June □ b) 18 June □ c) 19 June 2 True or false? A Scottish football fan has visited streets with the same names as the national team’s players. □ True □ False 3 What does the flower smell like that recently bloomed in Poland? 4 What is the UK’s oldest museum? □ a) The Victoria and Albert Museum □ b) The Royal Armouries □ c) The British Museum 5 True or false? Xavier Bouget goes everywhere with a sparrow on his shoulder. □ True □ False 6 Which species of flower has the smallest seeds in the world? 7 Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across which body of water? □ a) English Channel □ b) Pacific…

Juneteenth celebrations first started in Galveston, Texas, in 1866, and soon spread across the US. As people moved away from Galveston, those who had lived there as slaves would make a trip back every year with their families for Juneteenth. In 1872, a group of African-American businessmen in Houston, Texas, bought some land which they called Emancipation Park. It became the site of annual Juneteenth celebrations in the city. Today, people mark Juneteenth by coming together and holding community celebrations, including parades and picnics. It is also a time for people to learn about their history.…

RED SQUIRRELS In Northern Ireland, red squirrels have been born for the first time in 30 years. This comes after a project was put in place in 2015 to re-establish the animals in the area. The kittens (red squirrel babies) were born at Carnfunnock Country Park in County Antrim. FINDING A RARE COIN A metal detectorist has discovered a 677-year-old gold coin in Norfolk, England. The coin, called a leopard, was found with another coin called a noble. There are only three leopard coins in public collections. Helen Geake, from the British Museum, says the coins would have been worth £12,000 in today’s money. AN ELDERLY MOGGY A 19-year-old homeless cat named Sammy has been adopted from an animal shelter in Ohio, in the US, after staff…

On 22 June, the UK marked the third national Windrush Day. The day is a celebration of the contribution that thousands of Caribbean people and their descendants have made to the country. Charities, community groups and councils across England received funding of £500,000 to put on events. These included exhibitions, programmes in schools and poetry performance workshops. This year’s theme was “I am here”, to reflect the legacy of Caribbean people in the UK. Seonaide Gowdie, a young artist from south London, designed the emblem for Windrush Day 2021. She said, “I took inspiration from the words ‘collective’, ‘spirit’, ‘future’ and ‘respect’ and decided to create something which represents unity within a community.” A book called Black London, by Avril Nanton and Jody Burton, was published to mark the day.…

• At the end of May, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced the launch of a scheme called Pass Culture. This gives every 18-year-old in France £260 to spend on arts and culture. • The money can be spent on a range of cultural activities, including going to the cinema, museums and theatre, buying music, books, art materials and video games or taking dance classes. • The money is kept on an app that also acts as a guide to local venues. • From 2022, French schoolchildren aged 14 and 15 will be given £170 over two years to spend on cultural activities.…

Every July, people around the world take part in a challenge to see if they can go the whole month without relying on single-use plastics. Items such as straws, drinks bottles, some plastic bags and some types of wet wipe are made from plastic that is used once and then thrown away. Often this single-use plastic ends up dumped into landfill sites and from there it can eventually find its way into the wider environment and reach the ocean via rivers. Some plastic can take around 500 years to break down fully, so going plastic-free (or even just cutting down) can make a real difference to the environment. Some easy ideas to avoid creating plastic waste include taking a reusable bag when going shopping and using a reusable water bottle.…

In May 1937, US pilot Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan began one of the first attempts to fly around the world. On 2 July, with 7,000 more miles to go, they disappeared. No trace of Earhart, Noonan or their plane was found. Read on to find out about the woman who made history, then became a mystery. Meelie the adventurer Born on 24 July 1897 in the US state of Kansas, Amelia “Meelie” Earhart was a daredevil from an early age. When she was seven she built a rollercoaster using planks greased with lard. She crashed but said it felt like flying. Aged 21, Earhart went to an air show, where a stunt pilot flew right at her. She later said, “I believe that little red airplane said something…

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced plans to fly instruments on the world’s first wooden satellite. WISA Woodsat is a small cubic spacecraft made from rigid but lightweight plywood. It’s the invention of Finnish writer Jari Mäkinen, who in 2017 sent a model wooden satellite to the edge of space on a weather balloon. When Woodsat launches from New Zealand by the end of 2021, the ESA will examine its interior to study how being in space affects the wood, allowing engineers to see whether natural materials could be used on other satellites in the future.…

The Bow Street Police Museum was once one of London’s oldest police stations. It has been turned into a museum that takes visitors back to the early days of the UK’s professional crime fighters. The museum is housed in the former Bow Street police station and magistrates court in central London. The building opened in 1881 and people who were arrested in the Bow Street area were kept in cells overnight before being taken into the court in the morning. Modern visitors can spend time in a large cell known as “the tank” and discover stories of arrests, investigations and justice being served. The museum also tells the story of one of the first police forces in England, known as the Bow Street Runners. The group was formed in 1749…

A Quick History of Politics by Clive Gifford and Steve Gavan (Wide Eyed Editions) Make sense of the world of politics with this book, which provides a fascinating overview of politics throughout history. Along the way you’ll discover crazy stories and surprising facts, as well as learning about important subjects such as activism, elections and the right to vote. Good News by Rashmi Sirdeshpande. Illustrated by Adam Hayes (Hachette Children’s Books) Become a top news detective with this brilliantly empowering book that aims to show you how to identify “fake news”. Positive and uplifting, it proves that although the world can sometimes feel full of bad news, there are plenty of good things happening all around the globe. The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris (Vintage Publishing) Find out more…

Prankster’s sign to trick fliers Eagle-eyed passengers flying into Australia’s Sydney Airport may spot a message on the roof of a nearby building that reads “Welcome to Perth”, making them think that they are more than 2,000 miles from their intended destination. The message is the work of prankster Brad Heasman, who owns the building. It is directly below the flight path, so it’s easy to spot, and the message is painted in road paint, which means it will stay clear and bright. However, Heasman told Traveller magazine he had been waiting for someone to point out his prank since he painted the message three months ago. Step into the comic-book café Visitors to Café BW in St Petersburg, Russia, would be forgiven for thinking they had stepped into a…

Every now and then a person comes along whose achievements are so astounding, that to my mind, they immediately earn the title of “superhuman”. One such person has got to be Sabrina Verjee, who has shattered the record for completing all of the Lake District’s 214 Wainwright peaks in less than six days (page 5). That’s a 325-mile route, which includes the summit of England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike, and 36,000 metres of ascent. She’s now the fastest athlete of the route, male or female, by more than six hours. It’s a truly remarkable accomplishment. Verjee isn’t the only woman who in recent years has pushed the limits of what female athletes can do. In January 2019, the British ultrarunner Jasmin Paris became the first woman to win the 268-mile…

Protests against the government took place across Brazil on 19 June. People are angry because the number of people who have died of Covid-19 in the country has risen above 500,000. This is the second highest death toll in the world, after the US. The protesters blame the government, led by president Jair Bolsonaro. They accuse him of not taking the disease seriously enough. Bolsonaro is opposed to lockdown measures because he believes the damage to the economy would be worse than coronavirus. The economy is the way a country organises its workers, money and resources. Meanwhile, progress on vaccines has been slow. Around 21% of people in Brazil have been fully vaccinated. For the second time in a month, people took to the streets in the capital city of…

From 18 June, everyone aged 18 and over in England was invited to book a Covid-19 vaccination appointment. Over the following two days, more than a million appointments were booked. A vaccine is a medicine that trains the body to fight a disease using its own defences. The UK governments want as many people as possible to be vaccinated to protect them against a new type of coronavirus called the Delta variant. What is the Delta variant? The Delta variant is a new version of coronavirus. It is spreading between people more easily than previous versions. Experts think that it is causing 99% of new infections in the UK. The vaccines work very well in protecting against the Delta variant. How is the vaccine rollout going? At the time The…

Since he was 10 years old, Finlay Pringle has been campaigning to protect the environment and to save sharks. Pringle, who is now 13, started with a campaign to save Gairloch Beach, near his home in Scotland, from raw sewage being leaked into the sea. Pringle and 150 other campaigners protested and stopped it from happening. Pringle’s interest in sharks came from seeing basking sharks near the Scottish coast. He started reading up about them and found that millions of sharks are killed each year because of overfishing. “They’re not eating, killing machines,” says Pringle. “They’re intelligent creatures.” He adds that there’s a lot that can be done to protect sharks. “I’ll do my best, ” he says, “but there’s only so much one person can do.” Campaigning gives Pringle…

She was a fashion designer To pay for her Atlantic crossing, Earhart worked as a fashion designer. She was inspired after meeting a famous designer from Italy, Elsa Schiaparelli. Earhart started making the clothes in a hotel room in New York, US, and soon they were selling in department stores around the city. She helped in a war When Earhart visited her sister in Canada around 1917, she became interested in caring for soldiers wounded in the First World War. So she left college and moved to Toronto in Canada to become a nurse’s aide for the Red Cross. The Red Cross is an organisation that helps victims of conflict or crisis. She hated wearing goggles Earhart did not like wearing flying goggles. However, she put up with them because…

Funny fish face A tompot blenny fish pokes out from under a rock off the coast of Devon, England. Aim high Students throw planes with their dreams written on them, into the air in Handan, China. Popping poppies A field of blooms in Shropshire, England. Raspberry rabbit A bunny in Southampton, England, appears to blow a raspberry with its tongue out. Moos behind you ? A Newfoundland dog sits unaware of the cows behind. Bird bath A blue tit nicknamed Topple Off (because he often topples over in the water) takes a bath.…

Do you have green fingers? Indoor and outdoor gardening has bloomed during the pandemic because many of us have grown flowers, fruit and vegetables at home during lockdown. Gardening helps us build a stronger connection with nature and makes us feel calmer and more relaxed. Why is gardening good for me? The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), the UK’s biggest gardening charity, believes that gardening is not only good for the environment and wildlife, it’s also great for your physical and mental health. As well as helping you get more exercise, caring for plants gives you a sense of purpose and can make you feel less stressed. You don’t need a garden to enjoy growing things; community gardens, small outdoor spaces and bright windowsills work well too. Can growing things make…

The Dream Team : Jaz Santos Vs The World by Priscilla Mante (Puffin Books) Jaz is 10 years old and sometimes feels like she’s messing up – at school, at dance class and at home. Football always makes things better but Jaz can’t be part of the school team because girls aren’t allowed to join. When Jaz sees a flier for the Brighton Girls’ Under-11 Football Tournament, she decides to form her own team. Soon she’s working hard to bring together an unlikely group of very different girls to become a dream team. If they win the tournament, perhaps Jaz can prove that girls can be great footballers, as well as put right some of the problems at home that have been worrying her. The first in a new…

What if I don’t have access to a garden? You can pick a few flowers when you’re on a walk or in the countryside, although you must follow the Countryside Code (a set of rules to explain how to respect, protect and enjoy the countryside). This advises you to pick one or two of anything and only if there are plenty so there are lots left behind. What else should I know? Carefully collecting and pressing local wildflowers is an excellent way to make a study of your local area as a hobby or for a school project. Before you pick them, check that they’re not rare or threatened species – you’ll find an up-to-date list at plantlife.org.uk…

CHARITY OF THE WEEK Creative Kids This charity aims to provide children with craft materials and is dedicated to helping younger people express themselves. It also hosts an arts club near Bournemouth, in England, with activities such as drama, puppetry, music and storytelling, where artists work to inspire children to be creative and try new things. As well as this, Creative Kids offers outdoor art events to communities and schools, with stop-motion animation and shadow puppets. To find out more, head to creativekids.org.uk My life as a theme park enthusiast Name: Toby “Hi! I am a theme park enthusiast. I love all rides, the more intense the better! I started becoming a theme park enthusiast in early March 2020 in the first lockdown, and thinking about going to the parks…

Follow The Week Junior on PopJam@TheWeekJunior. You can download the PopJam app from the App Store or Google Play. We asked if people should hang portraits of the Queen. You said... “Yes, she is an important part of British history and should be respected for her hard work.” “People can if they like but they should not be forced to.” “I don’t think they should because it shows the royal family are more important than other people, which would mean not everyone is equal.” Tell us what you think of this week’s issue and we’ll print some of the best comments here.…