Innholdsfortegnelse for 311 i The Week Junior

Young people are 50% more likely to believe the world is becoming a better place than older generations. This is according to the Changing Childhood report, which was released by children’s charity UNICEF to examine how young people feel about growing up in today’s world. The report was released to mark World Children’s Day, which was on 20 November. What is UNICEF? UNICEF stands for United Nations Children’s Fund. The United Nations is an organisation of 193 countries that takes action on human rights, peace and climate change. UNICEF is a charity that works to build a better world for young people. This includes providing vital support, such as education, medicine, food, water and emergency shelter to children in countries including Afghanistan, Haiti and Syria. UNICEF also does work in…

A LOST CAT A couple have been reunited with their cat, Big Ginge, 10 years after he went missing. Earlier this year, the cat was taken to a vet in Staffordshire, 25 miles from his Birmingham home. The vet scanned his microchip and Big Ginge was finally taken home. SENDING A MESSAGE A totem pole has completed a 5,500-mile journey from Mexico to Scotland for the COP26 summit. The Totem Latamat artwork was carved from a single tree by an indigenous Mexican artist to highlight the climate-change worries of indigenous peoples. Indigenous people are the descendants of those who lived somewhere before another culture arrived and took over. On 27 November, the pole will be “returned to the Earth” in Dumfries, where it will naturally rot away. A TRAPPED SQUIRREL…

Do you let your dog run around your local sports pitch? In Caerphilly, Wales, the council has banned them, to keep the areas free from dog poo. Philippa Marsden, leader of Caerphilly Council, says the decision was to “protect public health and wellbeing”. The council said stopping dogs pooing on sports fields would make a cleaner, safer environment for people to exercise. However, animal charity the RSPCA says it is not fair to ban dogs whose owners clean up properly after them. Banning them could make it harder for people to find open spaces to exercise dogs properly – especially in towns and cities, where sports fields are often the biggest areas of public green space. So what do you think? Should dogs be banned from sports pitches? Yes –…

At this time of year, fallen leaves cover the ground, leaving grass and pavements scattered with vibrant colours. Before all this natural beauty gets cleared away why not collect some to use for greatings cards? A dry day with sunny spells is the ideal weather to collect autumn leaves in parks, on pavements or in the garden. Gather up as many as you like of different shapes and colours. You might need to dry them first if they’re wet. Get some plain, thick paper you can fold to make cards. Using PVA glue, stick the leaves in a pattern onto the surface. You could experiment with pens, bits of ribbon and stickers to bring your design to life. Give the cards a chance to dry overnight before writing and sending…

Wales (yew) Around 25% of yew trees in the UK are found in Wales. Yew trees can live for thousands of years. One of the oldest is in St Cynog’s churchyard, in Defynnog, Powys. It is thought to be up to 5,000 years old. England (Bowthorpe Oak) Bowthorpe Oak tree in Lincolnshire is known for its naturally hollow trunk. The space inside is so big that a children’s tea party is held inside the tree’s trunk every year. Scotland (Douglas fir) The Douglas fir is named after the Scottish botanist David Douglas, who sent the first seed to Britain from the US in 1827. One of the UK’s tallest trees is a Douglas fir in Reelig Glen, near Inverness, Scotland. It stands 66.4 metres high. Northern Ireland (giant redwood) One…

How does it feel when someone listens to you without interrupting or giving their opinion? This is called active listening and it’s a great way to understand other people’s feelings and build trust between friends. What is active listening? Active listening means trying to understand how someone feels by listening carefully to what they’re saying and by paying attention to their body language (how their face and body express their feelings). The Week Junior reader Annie, aged 11, explains what it means to her. “When my friend tells me something important, I listen to what they’re trying to say. I can tell by the tone of their voice and the look on their face if they’re upset or happy. This makes me feel like I understand them better.” When you’re…

Minecraft allows you to do many things, including building houses, digging for diamond ore and looking after pigs. Now, a new add-on for the game called Skills Miner Home Energy, will show you how to make real-world homes better for the environment. The add-on has been designed to teach young people about energy efficiency and to promote interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects at school. The game starts in the days long before modern houses, in the Mesolithic period. (This time is also known as the Middle Stone Age, and in Europe it is thought to have begun around 10,000 years ago.) The early part of the game shows how ancient people used fire to keep warm and prepare food. It then jumps forward to a house…

Do you have any tips for young storytellers? When I describe a scene, I try to involve all five senses – sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. I think it brings the scene to life and helps the reader to imagine they are there too. Have you ever skied? Yes! I loved the feeling of being at the top of the world, a place where every day felt like Christmas, hurtling down snowy pistes dotted with pine trees (that’s the fantasy version – in reality, I fell over A LOT and spent a fair bit of time face down in a snowdrift). I definitely had the awesome presence of those snow-covered mountains in my mind when I created the spirit world in The Ice Whisperers. Where would you most love…

Ursula Wanecki has never met Angela Merkel but she looks very like her. Wanecki has spent 16 years impersonating Germany’s longstanding leader on TV shows and at events such as weddings and birthday parties. Merkel is about to retire from politics, so Wanecki is following her lead. Her dream is to meet Merkel and ask her how to make a Silesian plum cake because, Wanecki says, “I know for a fact she likes to make it with a crumble topping.”…

Calling all young artists! This year’s The Week Junior Christmas cover competition is open. Design our HAPPY HOLIDAYS festive front cover for a chance to bag some fantastic prizes. The winner will see their design on our front cover and receive a framed print of their work. Plus, the winner and two runners-up will win copies of the judges’ books. Find out more at theweekjunior.co.uk/christmas-cover. Deadline for entries: 7 December 2021 GET INVOLVED Email your news, views and pictures to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk…

Teacher’s name: Mrs Burgess School: Arkholme CofE Primary School, Lancashire, England “I have chosen Mrs Burgess because she is an amazing teacher, full of hugs and smiles. She is really kind and always encourages people when they are struggling with their work. When our family had Covid, she dropped off some chocolates and work for me to do and waved at the window. She is wonderful.” Leah If we pick your teacher as Teacher of the Week, we’ll send your school three free issues of 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 Please include your full name and address so that we can send you a Roving Reporter badge if your contribution makes it onto…

1 When is Jessica Watkins due to go to the International Space Station? ▢ a) 2022 ▢ b) 2023 ▢ c) 2024 2 True or false? The first BBC Children in Need telethon was in 1980. ▢ True ▢ False 3 In which country have schools started to reopen after 20 months? 4 Where is Caerphilly? ▢ a) England ▢ b) Scotland ▢ c) Wales 5 True or false? Bronte Carmichael is a pop singer. ▢ True ▢ False 6 Which is the only country where hip pocket frogs are found? 7 What is Australia’s largest parrot? ? a) Palm cockatoo ▢ b) Red-winged parrot ▢ c) King parrot 8 Trees are sometimes referred to as what? ▢ a) Eyelashes of the grass ▢ b) Lungs of the Earth ▢…

World Children’s Day was started in 1954 by the United Nations (UN), an organisation of 193 countries that work together on important issues. It is held each year on 20 November with the aim of improving children’s welfare and promoting their rights. The theme for this year was A Better Future for Every Child. The aim of the day was to show the work that needs to be done to make sure that children around the world have a safe and happy future. Since 1990, the day also marks the anniversary of the UN’s adoption of both the Declaration and the Convention on children’s rights. These set out in law that all children have the right to education, safety and to express their opinions.…

Actor Bronte Carmichael is a huge fan of Christmas. “It’s my favourite time of the year,” she tells The Week Junior. “As soon as it’s November, I’m already watching Christmas films with my friends. So to be part of a Christmas film something I’ve always wanted.” Her wish to star in a festive film has come true with her role as the voice of Robin the lead character in a new animated musical film called Robin Robin. It tells the story of Robin, a bird who was adopted by a family of mice and raised as one of their own. “Robin thinks she’s a mouse,” Carmichael says, “and she goes on a mission to prove it. It’s a story about self-discovery.” Now 15 years old, Carmichael has had to juggle…

On 24 November, the US space agency NASA launched a daring mission to test technology that could one day be used to protect Earth. The DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, US, on a 10-month journey that will end in a head-on crash into an asteroid (a large chunk of space rock). The idea is to change the asteroid’s orbit very slightly, testing a method that could one day be used to redirect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. The asteroid that DART is targeting, called Dimorphos, is not itself in danger of coming close to Earth. It circles a larger asteroid called Didymos and the pair take 770 days to completely orbit the Sun. Dimorphos is about the…

Set in the mountains of Colombia, in South America, Encanto tells the story of a magical family called the Madrigals. When they turn five years old, each member of the Madrigal family steps in front of an enchanted door that reveals what their special power will be. Together, they use these powers to help their local community. Everyone, that is, except Mirabel, who is the only family member without any powers. However, when she realises that the source of their magic may be in danger, Mirabel becomes her family’s only hope. Speaking to The Week Junior, the film’s directors Byron Howard, Jared Bush and Charise Castro Smith all knew what powers they’d have liked if they’d been part of the Madrigal family. For Howard, who says he was very shy…

Grimwood by Nadia Shireen (Simon & Schuster) Fox cubs Ted and Nancy are on the run from Princess Buttons, a ferocious street cat. Escaping to Grimwood, they find themselves in a weird and wild wood, full of peculiar animal characters. Princess Buttons is still on their tail, though, and their strange new friends can help. Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths by Maisie Chan. Illustrated by Anh Cao (Piccadilly Press) In this family story, 11-year-old Danny hates maths and loves drawing. His life is turned upside down when his grandmother, a former maths champion, arrives from China. Now he has to share his room and spend the summer holidays looking after her. It’s not long before Danny realises that there’s more to his grandmother than meets the eye… The Caravan…

Name: Gauri Little Women by Louisa May Alcott “A heart-warming story filled with the ups and downs of life for four young girls. A great book, explaining a life that’s been hard, but joyous for these little women.” YOUR TURN Email your book review to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk. If your review is printed in the magazine you’ll receive a Roving Reporter badge. Tell us what you liked about the book and why you’d recommend it to others, and don’t forget to include your name and address.* *If you are the competition winner, we will only use the details you provide to contact you and arrange delivery of your competition prize. Further 27 November 2021 • The Week Junior details about how we manage the data you provide can be found at www.dennis.co.uk/privacy-policy…

It sounds like something from a film: a spacecraft on a mission to crash into an asteroid to change its course. Thankfully, the football-stadium-sized asteroid, called Dimorphos, isn’t going to hit Earth. If the test mission is successful, though, it would mean that scientists know what to do if a dangerous asteroid is ever on a collision course with our planet. The spacecraft has been launched by US space agency NASA and is called DART: Double Asteroid Redirection Test. DART is only the size of a car and will hit the space rock at a staggering 15,000 miles per hour. It’s a good job no humans need to be on board. Scientists back on Earth will study how the impact affects Dimorphos’s orbit of another asteroid, Didymos. We will know…

“I made my own woodland guardian, it was so much fun!” Méabh “I took this picture of a deer on a walk near my house in Somerset on my Nikon D3500 camera, I hope you like it.” Joseph “This is me and my gecko Diego reading The Week Junior. I am always so excited to read the magazine with Diego who especially enjoys the animals and environment section.” Louis…

Follow The Week Junior on PopJam @TheWeekJunior. You can download the PopJam app from the App Store or Google Play. Last week we asked you if politicians should be allowed second jobs… “No, because being a politician is a big responsibility and you could be called in at any time to help.” “I think they should. My mum is a parent and chairman of my school charity. If you disagree you’re saying politicians can’t be parents – it’s a job as well.” “If you are in the middle of a job you might get called to the other job, so no!” Tell us what you think of this week’s issue and we’ll print some of the best comments here.…

Scientists have unveiled an online library of elephant behaviours and noises and their meanings, which they hope will boost understanding of the world’s largest land animals. The Elephant Ethogram is the product of 20 years of research by Joyce Poole and her husband Petter Granli, observing African elephants in the wild. An ethogram is a sort of catalogue that lists the different ways a certain animal species behaves. Poole and Granli have uploaded thousands of video clips to their Ethogram website at elephantvoices.org to illustrate elephant behaviour. The site includes photographs, sound recordings and written descriptions. Mapping the language of animals in this way helps researchers work out whether they are behaving normally or if something might be wrong. It can so tell zookeepers when captive animals are stressed or…

The UK is home to some of the most beautiful and ancient tree species in the world. No one is ever that far from an alder, beech, birch, hazel, oak or pine. National Tree Week is the UK’s largest annual tree celebration, marking the start of the winter tree-planting season (November to March each year). In 2021, it will take place from 27 November to 5 December. To prepare for this year’s celebration, find out more about the magical world of trees. The incredible work of trees Trees are an essential part of the environment and are among the oldest organisms (living things) on Earth. Madeleine Stottor from the Tree Council, an organisation that works to protect them, told The Week Junior, “Trees are incredible. They do a huge amount…

(Puffin Books) When her mother dies, Bela is sent off to deepest Siberia to stay with her unknown Uncle Viktor. There, she finds dark secrets await. Exploring her uncle’s strange scientific workshop, Bela learns that she has been lied to about her parents’ deaths. She discovers a mysterious doorway and is soon travelling back in time to an ancient spirit world, full of icy tundras, mountains and caves, and populated by creatures of myth and legend. There, she finds a family she never knew she had, including a half-sister, Ren-ya, born 40,000 years in the past. The sisters take an immediate dislike to each other, but when they learn the frozen land is in danger, they must overcome their differences and join forces to save it. WIN! We’re giving away six copies…

These tie-dye patterned decorations will brighten up dull winter days. They look great hung in a window or anywhere in your house that needs a splash of colour. This technique uses ink or paint on filter paper to create a different pattern every time. What you need ● A pencil● Mug or small plate● Coffee filter paper cones● Scissors● Paper towel● A bowl of water● Coloured inks or poster paints● Paintbrush● Glue stick● Coloured card● Thread● Sticky tape 1 Draw around a mug or a small plate onto a coffee filter paper cone, then carefully cut out. This will make two matching circles. 2 Fold each circle in half, in half again and then once more. Cover your work surface with paper towel before you start the next step. 3…

Name: Liliana “In 2018 I moved from Germany to England. It was the year of the World Cup, and the only two English words I knew were ‘Harry’ and ‘Kane’. I can honestly say, football and a puppy saved me! I joined a girls’ football team, and we got my puppy, Baloo. Playing football is so much fun and I made lots of friends! Lately we even recorded a Christmas song together to raise money for the charity Women in Sport. The song is called Where is Christmas? by Mr A and the Football Angels, and we made it onto the radio. So cool!” What have you been up to lately? Which books have you enjoyed reading? What have you made? Have you written a poem or drawn a picture…