Our Commando Joe's missions this term are all based around our explorer 'Tim Peake', whom we learned about in our Space topic in Science. We all had great fun in developing our problem solving and teamwork skills.
After arriving in space, it was time to set off on another mission. We were tasked with working with our fellow astronauts to collect rock samples from the surface of the Moon. The problem was we had to keep our oxygen supply (a balloon!) linked between us as we collected the samples. Because of the small oxygen levels available to us - in the oxygen balloons - for this mission, there was a strict time limit to complete the task. This meant we had to develop our speaking and listening skills as well as developing our understanding of one and other to learn how to work cooperatively to best achieve the mission goal.
Once the rock samples were stored securely on board the spacecraft, we astronauts must deliver them to the International Space Station for analysis. Unfortunately, shortly after launch, the craft was hit by a meteor shower and key parts of the rocket are floating in outer space. It was a race against time, to retrieve the equipment, leave the area and not lose any team member to be floating, lost in space forever.
If we didn't achieve this in our small window of time before the meteor storm became too impassable, the items and any crew members who became untethered would have lost in space forever.
Our next mission was one of survival; our spacecraft disconnected with the International Space Station and was flung the astronauts into open space. Unfortunately, that meant our team tragically began to drift towards a black hole. The only way to survive was to attempt to travel through it!
With the whole crew safely through the black hole and back on our spacecraft. There was only one more mission to complete. The journey back home to Earth. The teams now must successfully land on Earth to be reacclimatised to their home planet. They must make the spacecrafts (coloured balls) travel along the guttering and make it safely back to Earth. If any spacecrafts are lost from their trajectory, they must begin at the start again. This was a mission that used all of the Commando Joe's RESEPCT themes particularly well.
Missions Accomplished
Year 5 had an amazing time learning what it takes to become an astronaut and develop their own skills along the way. Not only did everyone learn so much about Tim Peak, they also learned a lot about themselves and how much they can achieve when they set their minds to it. At the end of all the missions the children now:
Understand the need to resist peer pressure
Be able to see things from another point of view
Be able to hold a discussion with respect
Be able to identify qualities to be successful
