Travels around the world
Nigel gave Thea a National Geographic magazine and she was quite taken by an article titled - Meet The Dikika Baby, A Three Year Old From The Dawn of Humanity. Her Discovery Holds Clues To The Origin of Childhood. The 3.3 million years old fossil skeleton was discovered in the Afar Badlands in Ethiopia. After reading the article we spent sometime locating the area in an atlas and marking it on our large laminated map of the world, a useful resource acquired from our local freecycle group. Looking at the map must have created a spark in Thea's imagination for she announced she was starting a project that would involve her soft toy fluffy taking a trip around the globe, or more accurately the large laminated map. She then promptly made a miniature version of fluffy to stick on the map. Fluffy's starting point for his travels is the little known Island Jan Mayen.
Jan Mayen Island
Jan Mayen is a volcanic, desolate, mountainous island named after a Dutch whaling captain who discovered it in 1614. The island, which is under Norwegian control, lies 950km west of Norway and 600km north of island.
AREA - 377 sq km
CLIMATE - arctic maritime with frequent storms and persistent fog
TERRAIN - volcanic island partly covered with glaciers
NATURAL HAZARDS - the most recent volcanic eruption was in 1985
VEGETATION - some moss, grass and fungi
POPULATION - no indigenous inhabitants. A crew of 18 man the Long Range Navigation Base and the Weather and Coastal Services Radio Station
ANIMALS - only birds
TEMPERATURE - winter average 5 degrees Celsius, winter average -5 degrees Celsius.
James has been enjoying exploring the https://jam.bbc.co.uk/ BBC Jam Web Site, in particular the science section. This morning I received in the post the Interactive Weather Presenting Kit from the Met Office (Key Stages 2 -4). I think I will have to spend some to getting to grips with how it works!
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