Sara showed us a map of the New York Metro. We were amazed at all the stations and lines and thought the map looked like a tree. Sara told us about Grand Central Station with 44 platforms and 67 tracks and showed us a picture in a book. We wondered how many trains go through the station each day.
Athan showed us two different trains he had been on in Indonesia. He compared the two throughout his presentation. He travelled by commuter train which is electric, has places to sit and lots of space for standing. There is a carriage reserved for ladies and children. The commuter trains run from towns outside of Jakarta into the centre of Jakarta. The trains are for people to commute to work in the city. The long distance trains run between cities, have larger carriages with lots of seats and are pulled by diesel engines. There are toilets on the train and you can buy food and drinks too. We wondered about the layout, did they have first class, were there beds and how many people could travel on a long distance train?
Hugh showed us a steam train that his dad drove. Hugh watched, but didn't drive the train with his dad. We compared it to other steam trains we'd watched videos about. Hugh then explained about his trip to a model railway in Hamburg, Germany. We also watched a video which showed the model trains moving through model towns and countryside. We were amazed by the size of everything when we saw how big the adults were compared to the little trains.
Julien shared pictures he had found in a book about very early trains. Then he shared about the high speed trains in Belgium with some other pictures. Julien had some toy trains and demonstrated how one was more powerful because it could climb up a sloping book where as the other slid down backwards.
Fedor shared pages from his library book 'inventions' which showed trains as they have developed and changed from 200 years ago until now. Fedor also found some fiction books in the class library about trains which we read together.
Gracie brought in a model Shinkansen bullet train which she went on in Japan when she was 3. She told us she travelled from Tokyo to Kyoto. This sparked a lot interest. We wondered how fast it goes, how it stops, does it have seat belts and are there drivers? We wondered about the shape of the train, did the wind help it move, did it use magnets or an engine? Could it still run i the snow? We watched a video on Youtube which helped to answer many of our questions and explained the safety features in place for preventing accidents and injuries if there is an earthquake.
Sosuke showed us his travel card for trains and buses in Japan. He explained travel is free for up to grade 1 and half price for grade 1 to middle school. He showed us a poster explaining about the travel card and it's uses in shops to pay for items as well as travel. There were other cards on the poster too and we wondered what they were all for? Sosuke also showed us the map of the train system in Japan, there are so many lines and stations. We thought it looked like a spider web.
Shoichi gave a presentation comparing Singapore and Tokyo. They are almost the same size, but Tokyo has many more people. He showed us the two train network maps, both have coloured lines but there are many more train lines in Japan. Then he shared a video of commuters getting on a train to go to work in Tokyo. There were so many people trying to get into the train that they needed the attendants on the platform to push people in through the door! One persons brief case got stuck and the door had to open again. We had questions about why there were so many people trying to get in one train, how the doors close, do people get squashed in the door and is there enough air to breathe?
Daniel showed us his toy train and explained that he likes to play with it when his friend comes to play. Daniel explained that it doesn't go too fast.
Holly gave a presentation about the Eurostar - a train that goes between London, Paris, Lille and Amsterdam. She explained the changes in this train as it only used to go between London and Paris. This train brought change for people who used to travel by plane or boat between England and France. We wondered about the tunnel under the water, how was it made, how does it not break, how long is the tunnel and how long does it take to travel in the train through the tunnel?
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Grade 1.1Follow our learning journey throughout the year. Archives
June 2018
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