Lesson video

Hi there.

Thank you so much for joining me for today's reading lesson.

My name is Mr. Charlesworth.

In today's lesson, we're going to be using the text, "Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover." You're going to need a copy of the book.

It needs to look exactly like mine.

Pause video now whilst you make sure you've got a copy to hand.

Well done.

Now you've got your copy, we are ready to get started.

I'm really looking forward to sharing this text with you, I hope you're feeling curious.

The lesson outcome for today is I can discuss and explore the narrative of "Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover." The key words are, my turn, your turn, non-fiction, features, impression.

Let's try those once more.

Non-fiction, features, impression.

Well done.

Let's now have a look at the definitions.

Non-fiction is a genre of text which presents real events, information, or knowledge.

The features of a text type refer to distinctive characteristics that belong to it.

And finally, an impression refers to initial feelings about a person, a place, or thing.

It's gained from reading a text.

Don't worry if you're unsure about any of these keywords.

We'll be exploring them throughout the lesson.

In today's lesson, we'll be exploring the text, "Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover." We're going to begin by reading more of the text before then looking at our first impressions, our thoughts and opinions on it.

Let's start by exploring more of the text itself.

"Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover" is written and illustrated by Markus Motom, Stuart Atkinson, an astronomy expert, was consulted on the text.

Let's have a quick recap about what we know already.

We know that the Curiosity rover launched on the 26th of November, 2011 and landed on Mars on the 5th of August, 2012.

The rover set out to study Martian climate, geology, and the potential for life.

We learned that a journey to Mars is over 350 million miles.

Do you remember how long it took to travel? Well remembered.

It was six months.

Today we're going to be continuing reading, finding out more about this fascinating text and the mission itself.

"Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover" is a non-fiction narrative text.

It's presented in picture book form.

In non-fiction texts, pages have several features to help readers locate information.

These can include headings and subheadings, text boxes, captions and labels, bullet points or numbered lists, charts, graphs, and tables, as well as factual information.

Perhaps that's why they had an astronomy expert consulted as part of the text.

"Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover" contains some, but not all of these features.

Perhaps you'd like to look out for some of these features as we read.

Here's our first check for understanding.

True or false? Non-fiction texts all have the same features and layout styles.

That means they're all the same.

Is that true or false? Pause video now whilst you decide.

Well done.

They're really different, so it's got to be false.

And I'd like you to justify your answer.

Is it because A, the "Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover" contains visual aids, labels and factual information.

It doesn't contain many headings.

Or B, "Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover" is a non-fiction narrative text.

It's based on facts and true life events, but it's told as a story.

Which justification best fits with the original statement? Pause video now whilst you decide.

Great work.

The original statement links to features and these are mentioned in A.

It talks about the text having visual aids, and labels, and factual information, but not having many headings.

Non-fiction texts can be really different and written from different perspectives too.

Let's continue to explore the text.

On pages 11 and 12, one of the earlier rover models is compared to an astronaut.

I'd like you to now read pages 11 to 20, which ends with the word centre.

This might be done independently, with a talk partner, or perhaps with an adult to support.

You might want to turn to page 20 now to find the word centre before returning back to page 11 and reading through.

Pause the video now whilst you do so.

Fantastic work.

I wonder if you can tell me what was the key difference between this rover and previous rovers? Refer to pages 13 and 14 to support.

Pause video now whilst you answer the question with your partner.

Fantastic work.

I wonder if like Andy, you said that The Curiosity had to be larger and have more features than any of its predecessors.

The word predecessor means an earlier version or model of the rover that came before the current one.

I wonder if your responses were similar or different to Andy's.

As we've read, lots of precautions were taken to ensure the rover was created in the cleanest possible environment.

Perhaps you'd like to refer to pages 15 and 16 while you answer the following question.

What did the team have to make sure didn't travel to Mars with the rover? And why do you think they'd be worried about this? How did they prevent it? Pause the video now whilst discuss the question with your talk partner.

Well done.

The rover team didn't want any bacteria to travel to Mars from earth.

Not only might it affect the experiments that the rover was conducting, but it also might affect the planet too.

Bacteria would affect any test that the rover is due to conduct on the Martian surface.

To try and prevent this, scientists kept the lab as sterile as possible.

They had suits that transferred static and removed dust as much as possible.

The word sterile here is an adjective and it means clean and free from any gems or contaminants.

You might have experienced static before when you're cloths or shoes rub against something to create friction.

Based on what we've just read, I'd now like you to discuss with your partner what you notice in the photograph taken of the Curiosity rover during its creation and testing phase.

You might want to refer to pages 15 and 16.

I wonder if you can point to any of the features that we've read about already.

Pause video now whilst you answer the question with your partner.

The first thing that I noticed was the wheel system.

Can you see how many there are? There are six.

The wheel system was designed to have all wheels in contact with the surface at the same time.

You might have also noticed the sterile white suits with cords to release the static charge.

Well remembered.

Finally, the ramps, these were used to simulate rocks that the rover might have to navigate over.

We'll be finding out and looking at some of these later in the other lessons.

Here's our next check for understanding.

Which of the following did the team at NASA do to prevent bacteria contaminating the Curiosity rover? Did they A, design a wheel system so that all six are on the surface at any given time? B, wear specifically designed suits which covered people from head to toe.

C, wash their hands thoroughly for 20 seconds, or D, have showers that blasted them with air before entering the laboratory.

Which the following did the scientists do to prevent bacteria contaminating the rover? There might be more than one.

Pause the video now whilst you decide.

Well done, there were two.

The answers are B and D.

The scientists wore specifically design suits and they made sure that air blasted these before entering the laboratory to make sure that they didn't take any dust or bacteria in with them.

The rover did have a wheel system, but this didn't stop bacteria contaminating.

Likewise, washing your hands thoroughly is a good way for humans to not have a bacteria on their hands.

However, the scientists needed to be much more thorough and have more precautions in place.

The Curiosity rover had to have its own laboratory, literally.

That means that it had to have access to anything that it needed to conduct experiments.

It couldn't send data or samples back to earth.

It would have to conduct experiments on Mars.

Referring to pages 17 and 18, I'd like you to name two things that the team did in the laboratory to help the rover be successful.

Pause the video now whilst you discuss the question with your partner.

Well noticed.

Izzy says that they included a range of cameras including Hazcams, which spotted upcoming dangers.

Hazcams is short for hazard cameras.

They also used a nuclear powered battery to power the Curiosity for years.

I wonder if the Curiosity is still going now.

You might like to check online with an adult or teacher.

After years of rigorous testing, the rover was finally ready to launch.

It travelled to the Kennedy Space Centre.

I'd like you to refer to pages 19 and 20 and answer the following question.

Why did the rover need to launch from the east coast of the United States? Well remembered.

The east coast included Florida, which is where the Kennedy Centre is based.

But, why did they launch from the east and not the west where it was made? Pause the video now whilst you talk with your talk partner.

Great thinking.

Let's have a look at an example from Jun.

He says, the rocket's flight path into space would take it eastwards.

Therefore, NASA decided to launch from the Kennedy Space Centre, which is located in Florida.

It had the ocean to the east.

This was safer if something went wrong.

From studying the afterward, we know that NASA did as much as they could to make these missions as successful as possible.

However, sometimes they weren't so they needed to take a few precautions if this wasn't gonna be the case.

NASA are really good at never giving up and persevering and learning from their mistakes too.

These are skills many of you use in school too.

Here's our next check for understanding.

Which route did the rover take on its flight to the Kennedy Space Centre? You can refer to pages 19 and 20 physical.

Did they travel from A, California to Washington D.

C.

, B, Florida to California, C, Colorado to Massachusetts or D, California to Florida.

Which route did the rover take? Pause the video now whilst you answer the question.

Well done.

It's, of course, California to Florida.

The other examples are states within the United States of America, however, it's not where the rover ended up.

We know that it launched in the Kennedy Space Centre, which is based in Florida.

In this first task, I'd like you to write down five facts that you now know about the Curiosity rover from our reading so far.

You can, of course, refer to pages 10 to 20 to support you.

Pause the video now whilst you write down your five facts.

Great work.

There were lots of possible facts you might have written.

Let's have a look at a few examples.

Over 39 missions were launched to Mars, however over half had not been successful.

Humans created a lot of dust.

This would affect the rover's experiments.

As much of the dust as possible needed to be removed before the rover launched.

The wheel system allowed the rover to navigate tricky terrain.

Terrain is another word for land.

The Curiosity rover had to carry its entire testing kit, including a drill and a brush.

And finally, the rover had a robotic shoulder, elbow, and wrist to add flexibility.

It's sounding a bit like a human in that last fact, isn't it? I wonder, were there any other facts that you discovered in your reading? We're now going to move on to the second part of the lesson, which is all about our first impressions.

Those are our first thoughts or opinions about the text or something within it.

In order to get the curiosity into space, an Atlas five rocket was used.

It's packed full of rocket fuel.

You might have noticed that NASA used Roman numerals.

The letter V stands for five, therefore it's an Atlas five rocket.

I wonder if you can notice any other numerals within the text.

We're now going to continue reading from page 21 to page 30, which ends with the word "me." With your partner turn to page 30 so you know where you're reading up to.

Then return to page 21 and read together.

Pause the video now whilst do so.

Great reading.

I wonder if you can answer the following question.

Which word on page 21 and 22 means that the rocket only has a single use? You are looking for a word that means that the rocket only has a single use, it can only be used once.

Pause the video now whilst you discuss with your partner.

I hope you use lots of different reading strategies to help you.

Sam says that the word that means the rocket parts are only used one time is expendable.

Expendable is an adjective which means something that is used up or consumed and cannot be reused.

Well done if you found the same word.

Curiosity's launch date was carefully selected to avoid it colliding with any other debris or even planets.

Debris could be bits of spacecraft or rockets that have launched previously.

It can also include satellites.

Basically any space rubbish that's floating around on the outer atmosphere of our planet.

You wouldn't want to spend years and lots and lots of money creating the Curiosity only for it to collide with something on its journey.

Referring to pages 23 and 24 and I'd like you to answer the following question.

Why was timing so important for the launch of the rover? Pause the video now whilst you discuss with your partner.

Well done.

As well as wanting to avoid any debris, you might have said something similar to Jacob, who says, the planet's all but the sun at different speeds, which meant that NASA wanted to launch when Mars was closest to use less fuel.

You can see a photo of the launch on the right hand side.

Here's our next check for understanding.

Can you sequence the following events in the rocket's launch into chronological order? You can, of course, refer to pages 29 and 30 to support you.

The different events are A, the nose cone breaks off.

B, only the module remains.

C, four boosters detach.

And D, the rocket clears the earth's atmosphere.

It's now in space.

Which of these events happens first, which happens last in the sequence, number them one, two, three, and four.

Pause the video now whilst you order them.

Well done.

There are lots of different steps in the process.

I know the last point is the module remains on its own.

Therefore, I've got to look at the other three and order which comes first.

The rocket launches and immediately the four boosters detach, so that must be the first part.

Next, I've either got the rocket clearing the earth's atmosphere or the nose cone breaks off.

I know that the nose cone breaks off after it clears the atmosphere, so second is the rocket clears the earth atmosphere.

It's now in space.

Then the nose cone breaks off, which finally means the module remains.

Well done if you sequence them all correctly.

In our final task, based on what we've read and discussed, we're going to create a mind map with our first impressions and questions that we might have about the text.

You can write down your initial thoughts about "Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover" into the centre of your mind map, and then some thoughts and questions that you might have around the outsides.

You might like to use the following sentence stems to help you.

I wonder if or I think that, I noticed or I am intrigued about.

To be intrigued is similar to curious.

And I believe or I predict that.

Pause video now whilst you note down your first impressions of the text.

Well done.

I wonder what your first impressions were.

Let's have a look at some examples.

You might have said, I'm intrigued about how the module will land safely on the surface of Mars.

You might have also wondered how NASA were able to get the results from the rover back to earth.

You might have said that you've noticed lots of wires and cables and how do they cope with the conditions on Mars.

And finally, you might have said that I think the materials used to make the Curiosity rover must be really strong and long lasting.

There are lots of possible first impressions you might have had, these are just a few examples.

I wonder what yours were.

In today's lesson we've been exploring the story, "Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover." The text is a non-fiction narrative text.

It contained some but not all of the features readers might expect from reading a non-fiction text.

We've learned that when creating the Curiosity rover, the scientists and team at NASA had to plan for lots of different eventualities.

They took lots of different precautions.

The Curiosity rover had to conduct its own experiments.

It needed all the equipment it required to be sent with it.

Finally, to be successful, the team tested for many years until the rover was ready to launch on the 26th of November, 2011.

I hope you're really looking forward to finding out what happens next as we continue to explore the text in other lessons.

Well done for all your hard work.

Looking forward to working with you again soon.