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On 25 September, UNESCO announced its updated World Heritage list of sites around the world that have “outstanding value”. UNESCO stands for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, and it tries to promote peace between different countries and people. Which sites have been added? This year, the UNESCO committee added 42 new sites to its World Heritage list. On Anticosti Island in Canada, a natural site has been recognised as “the best preserved record of the first mass extinction of animal life”, which happened about 445 million years ago. A mass extinction is when many species are wiped out around the same time. Scientists have been able to study many fascinating fossils on the island, including trilobites – sea creatures that are hundreds of millions of years old.…

1 It gives people time to prepare for Christmas without having to feel stress about leaving things to the last minute. 2 It puts less pressure on people’s budgets because they can spread out paying for Christmas treats over a longer time. 3 Christmas is so much fun, how could you ever be bored by it? We should celebrate it for as long as possible. Plus, it’s a nice thing to look forward to. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Now that you’ve read a bit more about it, tell us what you think by voting in our poll at theweekjunior.co.uk/polls. Vote YES if you think shops start Christmas too early, or NO if you don’t. We’ll publish the results next week. The aim of the Big debate page is to present…

If you love autumn leaves, try spying a silver birch. The tree’s leaves start to turn golden in October and contrast beautifully with its silver-white trunk. The silver birch grows all over the UK, but it likes dry, sandy soils, and is often found on heathland, moorland and mountains. It can reach about 30 metres high and its thin trunk has peeling bark with dark patches. Its skinny drooping branches have hairless stalks carrying triangular leaves with a jagged edge. In autumn, the pollinated female catkins (long flower clusters) turn dark red. Three centimetres long, they are packed with tiny seeds that drift on the wind or get eaten by birds. Silver birch trees provide food and shelter for more than 300 species of insect.…

Every week, we receive messages from our readers telling us about their latest adventures. Our inbox is always brimming with brilliant stories, from your impressive sporting achievements to exciting places you’ve visited, along with tales of spotting local wildlife and raising money for charities in creative ways. We love hearing from you but we want to get to know you even better. So we’re asking you, our brilliant readers, to complete our online survey. Why are we doing this? The Week Junior team are constantly on the lookout for news from around the world that our readers will enjoy. To find the perfect blend, we need to know what you care about, who inspires you and what makes you happy or sad. What are we hoping to learn? We have…

World Mental Health Day on 10 October is a good opportunity to talk about our feelings and how to find help when we need it. What is mental health? Mental health involves your thoughts, emotions and moods. Most people know you need to look after your physical health but good mental health is just as important. It gives you the power to cope with stress, make the most of your abilities and learn well at school. This year’s World Mental Health Day theme is “mental health is a universal human right”, which means everyone should understand what mental health is and how to ask for help when you need it. It helps to talk If you have a tummy ache it’s easy to tell someone about it but when you’re…

Which Way Round the Galaxy by Cressida Cowell (Hachette Children’s) In this exciting follow-up to Which Way to Anywhere, the four O’Hero-Smith children find a magical creature who is lost far from home. Setting out across the galaxy to return him to the ice-encrusted planet where he belongs, they embark on an exciting new adventure. Space Blasters: Suzie and the Comet of Chaos by Katie and Kevin Tsang. Illustrated by Amy Nguyen (Farshore) Suzie Wen is a young inventor who finds herself catapulted into Space Blasters – her favourite TV show. In the final instalment of her adventures, Suzie and the Space Blasters crew tackle a strange comet that is causing chaos and destruction. Space Oddity by Christopher Edge. Illustrated by Ben Mantle (Nosy Crow) When Jake’s dad takes him…

Crossword Read the clues carefully and write the answers into the grid. Across 1 Slow tap leak (4) 3 Aircraft garage (6) 8 Waterproof boots (7) 9 Shape of a rainbow (3) 10 Luxury car manufacturer (5-5) 13 River vessel with oars (6,4) 17 Almond or cashew, for example (3) 18 Bent air tube used when swimming underwater (7) 19 Insect with pincer-like claws (6) 20 Pip from which a new plant grows (4) Down 1 Sunrise (4) 2 Ice dwelling (5) 4 Commercials (3) 5 Meat juice poured over a roast (5) 6 Spaceship (6) 7 Instrument played with a bow (6) 11 Pretty cloth strip for tying hair (6) 12 Carrot colour (6) 14 Melted ice (5) 15 Joint connecting the foot to the leg (5) 16 Happy,…

“I’m reading The Week Junior in the park with my lovely squirrel friend. I feed him every week, so he always comes to me.”Irene Kim “We love tennis and are training to be professional players. We want to win Wimbledon one day!”Rudi and Boris “Here are some photos I took of a young tapir in the Costa Rican jungle (Corcovado National Park).”Phoebe…

A MISSING JUMPER Staff at Huxley Primary School in Cheshire, England, found a school jumper that had been lost for 20 years on a roof. It still had its name tag: “Tommy Crank”. Staff worked out when Crank went to the school and posted on social media, “Would Tommy Crank – aged 27 like to collect his jumper from the school?” A DIK-DIK FAMILY A dik-dik calf has been born at Marwell Zoo, in southern England. A dik-dik is a tiny antelope that originated in eastern Africa. Adult dik-diks are only about 40 centimetres tall. The new calf has an older sister, Mdalasini, who was born in March. A zookeeper said the calf was a “welcome addition” to the dik-dik group. NATURE LOVERS IN NORWICH A new nature reserve has…

For people who celebrate Christmas, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. The festive season is full of joy and it usually revolves around spending time with loved ones. Christmas is traditionally a Christian festival that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. These days, not everyone who celebrates Christmas is Christian but the festivities are a big part of British culture. The season of Advent begins on the Sunday nearest 30 November. However, lots of shops sell Christmas decorations, food and presents months in advance – sometimes as early as August. Lots of people say this is too early and it’s just a way for shops to make money. Others think it’s a good way to prepare for the festive season. What do you think? Do shops start Christmas…

For Evanna Lynch, the actor who played Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films, reading was a very important part of her childhood. Her parents were teachers, so books were everywhere in her house, she tells The Week Junior.This year, Lynch is encouraging young people to get reading by presenting a virtual lesson for Harry Potter Book Day, on 12 October. This annual event is a chance for fans around the world to celebrate J.K. Rowling’s famous series. This year’s theme is “magical places”. Lynch says she thinks of creativity as “real-world magic”, and hopes that the virtual lesson will make the school day a little bit brighter for pupils. The three-part lesson includes a creative writing session, a spellcasting class and a “how to draw Hogwarts” session led by…

If you’ve seen the film Finding Nemo, you might remember the character Dory and her attempts to “speak whale”. Now, a team of scientists say they could be one step closer to doing just that. After recording whale sounds, they used computer technology to analyse them and they think they have translated their first word. The scientists are from Project Ceti, an organisation dedicated to translating sperm whale language. They have spent a long time listening to the creatures by planting underwater microphones off the coast of the Caribbean island of Dominica. They have put microphones actually on the whales too. Sperm whales don’t speak a “language” in the same way that humans do, but they communicate by using a series of clicks. The scientists used artificial intelligence (AI) to…

New funding has been announced to help UK scientists build the world’s most powerful laser. A laser is an intense light beam. The £85 million device, called Vulcan 20-20, will be a million billion billion times brighter than the brightest sunlight in the Sahara Desert in Africa. Vulcan 20-20 will be built at the Government’s Central Laser Facility (CLF) in Oxfordshire, England. An older model, Vulcan, which used to be the UK’s most powerful laser, is being taken apart to make space for it. The new laser will be 20 times more powerful. Vulcan 20-20 will be used for lots of things, including testing ways to create energy through “nuclear fusion”. Nuclear fusion is the process that creates the energy inside stars, such as the Sun. Recreating nuclear fusion here…

Some of the world’s best young golfers competed in the recent Junior Ryder Cup in Rome, Italy. In the competition one team of 12 golfers from Europe and one team of 12 from the US played against each other over three days. Each team had six female and six male players, aged 18 or under. Team Europe celebrated victory, beating the US by 20½ points to 9½. On day one the golfers played in a foursomes event; then in a four-ball competition on day two; and singles matches on the third day. In foursomes, two-person teams from Europe and the US played against each other. Each team had one ball, taking it in turns to hit their team’s ball until it reached each hole, with the aim of reaching the…

Magician Ben Hart’s new show, Jadoo, draws on his experience of travelling in India earlier this year. It takes inspiration from the country’s “jadoowallahs” (street magicians) and also explores Hart’s Indian roots – his father was born there. In the Indian language of Hindi, jadoo means magic or sorcery. Hart hopes his show will spark amazement and curiosity. He explains that the magic in Jadoo is inspired by the things all around us. “It’s rooted in dust and fire and the stars and the Moon and time,” he says. Hart describes Jadoo as a mixture of magic theatre and storytelling. “Magic is theatre and theatre is magic,” he explains. The magician uses things including a notepad and wooden rings to perform illusions. The audience also plays an important part in…

More than 65 million people play on Roblox every day but until now they’ve only been able to play it on computers, phones, tablets and Xbox consoles. Now that list is growing. Roblox will be available for Sony’s PlayStation consoles (PS4 and PS5) from 10 October. As with other devices, it will be free to download and play. It has been a long time coming. Roblox originally came out in 2006 for computers, with Apple devices following in 2012 and Android in 2014. The first Xbox version, for the Xbox One console, came out in 2015. PlayStation gamers have had to wait until now. There is one more addition to the list of ways to play Roblox: virtual reality. At the end of September, it came out for Meta Quest…

“I’m coming for ya!” shouted skydiver Jan Zackl as he parachuted towards an inflatable unicorn, positioned on a slippery surface on the ground. Zackl landed perfectly on the unicorn’s back and together they slid across a field. He performed this impressive feat at a skydiving festival in Nottinghamshire. The competition was only open to very experienced skydivers who had performed 200 jumps or more. Out of all the experts who took part, only Zackl managed to land successfully on the unicorn. It required great skill in canopy piloting – the sport of flying very small parachutes that move quickly.…

Calling all glow-worm detectives Glow-worms are one of the most magical creatures in the UK but their numbers are declining. That’s why the London Wildlife Trust needs your help to find them and share what you’ve seen. Glow-worms are actually beetles, and the females are the ones that glow, using their light to attract mates. Glow-worms are often found in railway corridors, shady churchyards and chalk grassland meadows. They like to eat slugs and snails and their larvae can gobble through 200 times their body weight. Find out more and record your sightings at tinyurl.com/TWJ-glowworms GET INVOLVED Email your news, views and pictures to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk Please include your full name and address so that we can send you a Roving Reporter badge if your contribution makes it onto the page.…

Teacher’s name: Miss Pelan School: Our Lady of the Angels RC Primary & Nursery School, Torfaen, Wales “Miss Pelan should be Teacher of the Week because she always makes learning really fun. Whenever we are learning something new she always finds a catchy song to help us remember it. She is so funny and cares about everyone in our class. We will miss her so much when we go to Year 6.”Anaïs and Poppy If we pick your teacher as Teacher of the Week, we’ll send your school three free issues of The Week Junior. Send your nominations, along with a picture of your teacher and your school’s full name and address, to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk…

We love hearing from you! It’s easy – just write a comment when you vote in our online Big Debate poll, or even record a voice note for The Week Junior Show. Last week we asked if we should learn to love spiders… “We should LIKE spiders not LOVE them because they eat bugs and are an important part of the ecosystem.” “So what if they have eight legs? They are natural pest control so spiders should be welcome.” “I have arachnophobia but all animals should be treated fairly.” “No, because they are scary and crawly.” Tell us what you think of this week’s issue and we’ll print some of the best comments here.…

1 Which of these countries does the Zarafshan-to-Karakum corridor NOT go through? □ a) Iran □ b) Turkmenistan □ c) Uzbekistan 2 True or false? Chloe Newcomb Hodgetts found a rare mushroom on a beech tree log. □ True □ False 3 What is the name of the new high-speed railway in Indonesia? ___________________________ 4 What is the phrase used to describe when shops start selling Christmas items too early? □ a) Christmas comes early □ b) Christmas creep □ c) Festive fever 5 True or false? The Harry Potter series have sold nearly 60 million books worldwide. ___________________________ 6 Scientists think they understand the sperm whale signal for what? ___________________________ 7 The Week Junior’s Survey aims to find out what is important to who? □ a) Teachers □ b)…

• In Christianity, Advent marks the start of a period of preparation for Christmas. This year, it begins on 3 December.• In August, shoppers in North Wales were shocked when they discovered that their local Home Bargains store was already filling its shelves with Christmas stock. • “Christmas creep” is a phrase used to describe when shops start selling Christmas items early to encourage people to spend their money.• A survey in 2021 found that 51% of people think November is an acceptable time for shops to put out Christmas displays and stock, while 36% said they should wait until December.…

Evie Richards The British cyclist won the women’s cross-country short track race at the Mountain Bike World Cup in West Virginia, US. Mia Fishel The football player from the US scored for Chelsea in her first Women’s Super League (WSL) game. Chelsea, the current WSL champions, beat Tottenham 2-1. New Zealand netball team In the three-game Taini Jamison Trophy tournament, New Zealand defeated England by two wins to one. Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey won the County Championship for the second year in a row. Essex finished second in the competition.…

What makes you happy? Words, family and walking. What were you like as a child? I was a bookworm who lived in my head a lot, but who also loved getting on my bike and riding into the countryside with friends to swap ghost stories or gather conkers. Do you have any interesting hobbies? I think reading dictionaries is the best hobby there is. I also love cloud-watching: lying on my back outside on a summer’s day and looking at the sky. How many books have you read in your life? Too many to count I’m sure! I hope I’ll never stop. Which do you love most – Halloween, Christmas or your birthday? I love Christmas but Halloween is quite special. When else would I get to wear a luminous…

It has been an exciting week – on 2 October we held our very first Book Awards (page 5). Congratulations to the nominees and winners! The next date in the diary is our Book Festival on 24 October and I hope we see lots of our readers there. We love meeting you and hearing from you – because you are so brilliant, funny and interesting. In fact, we want to know lots about you, as you’ll see on page 12, where there are details of our big survey. I already know which would be my superpower (flying, of course) and how many books I own (lots) but we want to know about you. The survey is quick to fill in and we will be reporting back on the results in…