Lesson video

Today we are learning about a famous explorer called Sir Ernest Shackleton.

He tried to get to the South Pole four times, and we're going to be learning about one of his really famous expeditions to the South Pole.

Now, last week we learnt about two famous astronauts.

Can you remember their names? Good, Neil Armstrong and Valentina Tereshkova.

You're right.

Well done.

This week is polar week because we are learning about two explorers who went to the polar regions.

Are you ready to get started? Perfect! Now, we need to sail all the way to Antarctica, which is at the bottom of the Earth.

Can you help me get there? Oh, thank you.

So I need you to do two clicks like this.

Ready? One, two.

And that's going to magic me there.

Are you ready? So first click, one, two.

And we're there.

Ooh, it's so chilly here.

Look at all the ice surrounding me.

My goodness, I've sailed all the way towards some icebergs.

Can you help me get some warm clothes because it's a bit chilly here? Thank you so much.

So I need a hat and a jacket because as you can see, it's starting to snow.

Are you ready? I need you to do two claps like this.

One, that will get my hat on, and then another one, two, that will help me get my jacket on.

Ready? One.

Two.

Thank goodness! Now we are ready to start today's lesson.

Can you remember what a historian is? So a historian is a person who studies and writes about the past.

Is a person who.

And writes about the past, well done! Today we will be looking at what are the Antarctic and Arctic? We are going to be looking at Sir Ernest Shackleton.

And then we'll be listening and drawing the story of his life.

You will need a pencil, a piece of paper or your exercise book, and a teddy bear so that they can sit alongside you while you are listening to the story.

Let's do our star words so you.

It's my turn, then your turn.

So you are going to copy my actions.

Ready? Star words, star words, star words! Your turn.

Explorer.

South Pole.

Antarctica.

North Pole.

Survival.

Sir Ernest Shackleton.

Well done.

So today we are learning about the brave and courageous Ernest Shackleton.

Throughout history, people have strived to explore new places and make new discoveries, but previously, historic explorers were in a race to get to the North and the South Pole.

Shackleton is a polar explorer, and he tried to get to the South Pole four times.

You can't see it when I hold it there.

Four times.

Now, the Antarctic is in the South Pole.

The Antarctic is a polar region at the southernmost part of the Earth.

Now, the South Pole is 99% covered in ice.

Almost all of it is covered in ice.

It's at the southernmost part of the Earth.

It's really windy and extremely cold.

And there is land beneath the ice.

Underneath all the ice, there is land because Antarctica is a continent.

We've learnt this before from our continents unit.

And nobody lives their permanently.

Remember that 5,000 people live there, scientists, temporarily because it's too cold to live there.

And during the winter, it's dark all the time.

The sun does not rise during the winter.

And in the summer, the sun is in the sky all the time.

So it never gets dark in the summer, and it never gets light in the winter.

Now, the Arctic, which is where the North Pole is, is at the northernmost part of the Earth, at the top.

It's a huge piece of floating ice.

So compared to the South Pole, there's no land underneath the ice in the Arctic.

It's just a big sheet of ice.

It's in the northernmost part of the Earth.

It's windy and extremely cold.

Now, when Shackleton went on his expeditions attempting to reach the South Pole, there were no phones and computers and apps on your phone that tell you where you are, maps and things like that.

There were no satnavs that tell you where to go.

They had to use lots of things like a compass, and they used the stars to direct where they needed to go.

They also used the moonlight to see during the winter months as, like I said, in Antarctica during the winter, it's dark all the time.

I'm going to be telling you a story about his life, and it's called a biography, which means a biography is a piece of writing that tells true facts and information about someone's life.

Are you ready? Are you sitting comfortably? Okay, let's go.

So I'm going to read you the story three times.

First, I'm going to read it, then we're going to look at some pictures, and then we're going to draw it.

So get comfy.

Ernest Shackleton was a sailor from Ireland.

He wanted to be the first person to reach the South Pole.

He tried to reach it twice, but sadly he failed because of illness and bad weather.

He was so close.

In 1914, a long time ago, Shackleton tried a third time to reach the South Pole.

His ship was called Endurance.

The ship has 28 men, 69 dogs, and lots of supplies to keep them alive.

They sailed through the hundreds and miles of packs of ice.

It was like a huge jigsaw puzzle of ice.

They had to weave in and out of all the floating pieces of ice.

They decided to stop sailing and wait for the ice to melt, until, crash, the ship became stuck in the ice.

But the ship was slowly being crushed by the ice around it.

The men tried so hard to fix it, but it was breaking so quickly.

The men abandoned the ship, and they camped on the ice.

Soon after, the ship broke and sank below the ice.

The crew built dog igloos, went hunting for penguins and seals.

They had no ship, no way of speaking to anyone from land, and they were running out of food, when out of nowhere, a ferocious sea lion attacked the men.

It was shot, and they prepared it for cooking.

Inside its belly, they found a feast of fish to eat, where the seal had eaten the fish whole.

Due to the slowly melting sea ice, it became more dangerous for the men.

Shackleton and his crew planned to sail to somewhere called Elephant Island for safety.

They had to kill some of their dogs to ensure that they had enough space onboard the ship, the boat, sorry, the boat.

After they arrived, they realised no ships ever passed Elephant Island.

Shackleton decided he and a few crew members would sail to Georgia to seek help, a journey of 800 treacherous miles, leaving 22 men behind on Elephant Island.

Shackleton's journey was not easy.

Battling monstrous waves, ferocious winds, and trekking over enormous glaciers, the men were exhausted.

But eventually they made it, and they discussed plans to rescue the men on Elephant Island as soon as possible.

All the men were rescued, and it was time to celebrate.

And seven years later, Shackleton set out for his fourth attempt to reach the South Pole, but sadly, one year into the journey to get to the South Pole, he died of a heart attack and never made it to the South Pole.

Wow, what a busy expedition Shackleton had.

Now, we are going to look at some pictures now that relate to the story.

Now, we are really lucky because Shackleton took a photographer called Frank Hurley onto his ship called Endurance.

He risked his life to capture incredible pictures.

We're going to look at real photos that Frank took, real photos of Shackleton's journey.

This is so exciting.

So you can see here.

Frank is sitting on the top.

Can you see it up there? Oh, that way.

Oh, you can't see.

That way, that way, that way, that way.

Miss Harris doesn't know which way to point.

That way on the top.

Can you see? He's sitting there taking some photos.

You can see it.

Now, if you would like to see more photos that Frank took of Shackleton's journey, you can find them on this website, called the Mitchell Library, the State Library of New South Wales.

There are hundreds of photos that Frank took, and you can see more photos there, real photos.

So let's hear the story one more time.

Ernest Shackleton was a sailor from Ireland.

He wanted to be the first person to reach the South Pole.

He tried to reach it twice, but sadly he failed due to illness and bad weather.

He was so close.

In 1914, Shackleton tried a third time to reach the South Pole.

His ship was called Endurance, and the ship had 28 men, 69 dogs, and lots of supplies to keep them alive.

They sailed through hundreds and miles of packs of ice.

You can see behind me, this side, that the ice it all split.

It looks like it's melted.

Packs of ice are similar, but they're bigger pieces of ice, bigger pieces, and the ship had to weave in and out of all of those huge pieces of ice, until, crash, the ship became stuck in the ice.

They decided to stop and wait for the ice to melt, but the ship was slowly being crushed by the ice around it.

The men tried so hard to fix it, but it was breaking so quickly.

The men abandoned ship and camped on the ice.

Soon after, the ship broke and sank beneath the ice.

The crew built dog igloos and went hunting for penguins and seals.

They had no ship and no way of speaking to anyone from land.

They were also running out of food.

And out of nowhere, a ferocious sea leopard attacked the men.

It was shot and prepared for cooking.

And inside its belly, they found a feast of fish that they could eat.

But due to the slowly melting ice, it became more dangerous for the men.

Shackleton and his crew planned to sail to Elephant Island for safety.

They had to kill some of their dogs to ensure that they had enough room onboard.

You can see their boats were really small.

After they arrived, the men realised no ships ever passed Elephant Island.

Shackleton decided he and a few crew members would sail to Georgia to seek help, a journey of over 800 treacherous miles, leaving 22 men behind.

Shackleton's journey was not easy.

Battling monstrous waves, ferocious winds, and even trekking over huge glaciers, the men were exhausted.

But eventually they made it, and they discussed a plan to rescue the rest of the men on Elephant Island as soon as possible.

But all the men were eventually rescued in time, and it was time to celebrate.

Seven years later, Shackleton set out for his fourth attempt to reach the South Pole, but sadly, one year into the journey, he died of a heart attack and never made it to the South Pole.

Whew, Shackleton was a very, very busy sailor, wasn't he? Very busy explorer to get all the way to the South Pole.

And it's really sad that after all of those attempts, he never made it to the South Pole.

Now we are going to draw a picture of his life.

We're going to map the story.

Let's have a look.

So to make our story map, we are going to need nine boxes.

So first we are going to fold the sheet across, and we're going to try and make these two sides roughly the same size.

Make a crease in the paper, and then fold it over again, making a fold.

Once you open this up, you should have three columns.

Then you're going to turn it to portrait, and you're going to do the same thing, folding inwards, making them roughly the same, and then fold them again, making a crease.

And once you open it, you should have nine boxes.

So we're going to map the story of Shackleton's journey to the South Pole.

So first I'm going to write number one in the first box.

So Ernest Shackleton was a sailor from Ireland, so I'm going to draw a little boat to show that he was a sailor.

And I'm going to write from Ireland, like so.

He wanted to be the first person to reach the South Pole.

He tried to reach it twice, but sadly failed because of illness and bad weather.

So I'm going to draw a cloud with lots of snow and rain and thunder to show bad weather and that he was ill before.

Okay, so that's box number one.

Number two, in 1914, Shackleton tried a third time to reach the South Pole.

His ship was called Endurance.

So I'm going to draw another ship, well, I mean the boat.

I'm not very good at drawing ships.

Endurance is what it was called.

His ship was called Endurance, and the ship had 28 men, 69 dogs, and lots of supplies to keep them alive.

So I'm going to label these on here.

So 28 men.

Let's draw a little stick man.

There were 69 dogs.

I'm going to draw a little stick dog.

I know that your drawings will be much better than mine.

And lots of supplies here, lots of crates full of things, lots of food and water, things like that, to keep them alive.

Okay, that's box number two.

Number three, they sailed through hundreds of miles of packs of ice.

It was like a huge jigsaw puzzle, until, crash, the ship became stuck in the ice.

They decided to stop sailing and wait for the ice to melt.

So as I said before, the packs of ice are when the ice is cracked like this, and it looks like a big puzzle piece because there are gaps between the ice, but it looks like this.

So it's really hard to sail through.

So I'm going to draw some packs of ice like this, and then I'm going to draw his little ship in amongst all this trapped in all the ice.

And they wanted it to melt.

Okay, now it's your turn to draw box one, two, and three.

Pause the video, have a go at that now.

Okay, now we're going to do four, five, and six.

So number four.

But the ship was slowly being crushed by the ice around it.

The men tried so hard to fix it, but it was breaking so quickly.

The men abandoned ship and camped on the ice.

Soon after, the ship broke up and sank below the ice.

So there's lots of ice.

I'm going to draw a big crack in the ice like this.

I'm going to draw bits of broken ship around.

So we've got the sail.

We've got some crates.

We've got some wood everywhere, all the ship being broken, and then a little camping tent because the men had to camp on the ice.

Okay, number five, the crew built dog igloos, went hunting for penguins and seals.

They have no ship and no way of speaking to anyone from land.

They were running out of food.

And out of nowhere, a ferocious sea leopard attacked the men.

It was shot and prepared for cooking.

And inside its belly, they found a feast of fish to eat.

Now, the really important parts of this box are that they made some igloos for the dogs.

I'm going to draw a little igloo.

Then they ate some penguins.

Oh, sorry, I didn't label it, number five.

They ate penguins.

Draw a little penguin's head.

Okay, that's my best penguin.

There we go.

And a seal, so seals are kind of long shapes like this.

They've got little flippers.

Often have whiskers.

So there's my seal.

Okay, and they had no ship and no means of communicating with anyone, so I'm going to draw a picture of a phone, lots of buttons here, an old-fashioned phone, but no way of speaking to anyone.

Number six.

Due to the slowly melting ice, it became more dangerous for the men.

Shackleton and his crew planned to sail to Elephant Island for safety.

They had to kill some of their dogs to ensure they had enough space and food onboard the ship.

So I'm going to draw the ship again, well, a boat.

And then I'm going to write Elephant Island.

And off they went.

Okay, it's your turn to draw four, five, and six.

Pause the video and have a go at that now.

Number seven.

After they arrived, they realised no ships ever pass Elephant Island.

Shackleton decided he and a few crew members would sail to Georgia to seek help, a journey of over 800 treacherous miles, leaving 22 men behind.

So for this one, I'm going to draw the men waving goodbye from the ice, from Elephant Island.

So there's a few men here.

I'm going to write the number 22 to remember that there were 22 men.

And I'm going to draw the little boat that Shackleton had heading for Georgia.

Number eight.

Shackleton's journey was not easy.

Battling monstrous waves, ferocious winds, and trekking over enormous glaciers, the men were exhausted, but eventually they made it.

They discussed plans to rescue the men on Elephant Island as soon as possible.

So I'm going to draw some waves here to show that the boat had to tackle these huge waves.

Then they had really ferocious winds.

And he had to climb up lots of glaciers.

So I'm going to draw a little man climbing up the glaciers.

Number nine.

All the men were rescued, and it was time to celebrate.

Seven years later, Shackleton set out for his fourth attempt to the South Pole, but sadly, one year into the journey, he died of a heart attack and never made it to the South Pole.

So I'm going to draw a gravestone, like we saw in the picture.

I'm going to write Shackleton's name on it.

And his fourth attempt to reach the South Pole did not happen because he had a heart attack.

Okay, your turn to draw seven, eight, and nine.

So now have mapped the story of Shackleton's journey.

I want you to think about this question.

Why was it so hard for Shackleton to reach the South Pole? I want you to think about that question and take it into the rest of your day.

Now, if you would like to read more about Shackleton's journey, remember you can see the photos on the Mitchell Library that I said at the start.

You can also read this book, called "Shackleton's Journey" by William Grill.

It's a really fantastic book.

It's a children's book which has really beautiful illustrations, pictures, of Shackleton's journey.

I highly recommend this book if you would like to read more about his journey.

Now it's quiz time.

If you would like to send me a picture of your work, you need to ask your parent or carer to take a picture of it and send it to me on Twitter.

And I will see you next time.

Bye!.