Table of contents for 418 in The Week Junior

On 13 December, nearly 200 countries at COP28 agreed to move away from using fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas) in an important deal. COP28 is a meeting where world leaders have been discussing how to tackle climate change. This year’s conference was held in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). What was the deal? The deal is about fossil fuels, which harm the environment. When they are burnt to produce energy, they release greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, which trap the Sun’s heat in the Earth’s atmosphere and add to climate change. The deal calls for countries to move away from fossil fuels so that they can reach net zero by 2050. Net zero means cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, while introducing…

For many people in the UK, Christmas is an important time of year – whether it is for religious reasons or the time spent with family and friends. However, it can be very expensive. A 2022 study found that the average UK adult spends £642 on the festive season – around £300 of it goes on presents. Many people save up all year for it, or start shopping early to spread the cost, or take advantage of offers. Some people say that Christmas has lost its meaning and that, rather than being about faith or family time, it’s about buying things. Some people have a rule that only children get presents to reduce spending. Others feel that Christmas is about sharing love with everyone – whatever their age. What do…

Some people think having a nap during the day leaves them feeling a bit groggy and grumpy. Not chinstrap penguins, though – they seem to love a sneaky snooze. In fact, a new study found they love napping so much they have more than 10,000 mini sleeps every day. The inspiration for the study came from a researcher who noticed that during breeding season chinstrap penguins kept blinking and apparently falling asleep. To find out if the birds really were nodding off, a team of researchers observed a group of 14 chinstrap penguins living on King George Island in Antarctica. The team fitted them with sensors that could detect their brain waves and filmed the birds continuously. The researchers could detect if the penguins were napping by recording sleep-related brain…

Confusing advertising can mean customers wrongly believe certain products are environmentally friendly, a study has found. The study was set up by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which makes sure adverts in the UK stick to certain guidelines. The ASA deals with all kinds of adverts – from those on TV to ones in magazines. The ASA interviewed people about phrases used in advertising. People were the least sure about the term “biodegradable”. A biodegradable product will naturally break down into smaller parts and be reabsorbed into the environment, helping to stop the build-up of waste. Technically everything is biodegradable but plastic, for example, can take centuries to break down and might release harmful substances in the process. The ASA said people were angry to find out that items called…

It isn’t painful for a rhino horn to grow. Rhino horns grow just like our fingernails and are made of the same material, which is a protein called keratin. The horns will grow on average about six centimetres every year. The front horn starts to develop first, followed by the back horn. A few months after birth both horns will be visible. Enjoy unlimited visits to ZSL London and Whipsnade Zoos, plus a host of other benefits with ZSL Membership. Find out more at zsl.org/membership/zsl-membership…

Have you ever been stuck for words? Knowing what to say and when to say it isn’t always easy – but everyone can learn, practise and improve their communication skills. What does communication mean? Communication is how we share information and connect with others. We do it in lots of ways. When you have a conversation with someone you’re not just swapping words. You are also expressing yourself through your tone of voice (how quietly or loudly you’re speaking and the mood that suggests) and the way you move your face and body, known as body language. Conversation skills include starting conversations, using eye contact, knowing what to talk about and taking turns to speak and listen. The benefits of conversation Having a conversation where everyone gets the chance to…

by Sophie Anderson. Illustrated by Melissa Castrillon (Usborne Publishing) Tasha and her parents have moved to live with her Grandpa and help him run his farm. In the quiet valley where Grandpa lives, Tasha sees snow for the first time but she feels lonely and begins to build a girl out of snow. As she works she wishes that the girl could come to life and become her friend. When the wish comes true, Tasha is delighted: now she has a magical new best friend who draws her into a world of wonderful adventures. Then the winter turns colder and Tasha’s friends and neighbours are struggling, a terrible snow storm blows and Grandpa falls ill. Could there be some connection between the winter weather and the snow girl? Can Tasha…

In 1955, when Michael Morpurgo was a child living in London, he had an argument with his mother. He got so cross he decided to catch a bus going “anywhere”. He got off the bus in central London, where he bought a cheap ticket to see an afternoon production of Hamlet by the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616) at the Phoenix theatre. A famous actor called Paul Scofield was playing the main character, Prince Hamlet of Denmark, whose uncle has seized his father’s throne and married his mother. Morpurgo saw something incredible that afternoon, he told The Week Junior. “Every person in the theatre wanted to get to know Hamlet, to help him avert his fate. The whole theatre was completely focused.” Many people find Shakespeare difficult to understand but…

Number fit All of these numbers fit in the grid. Can you work out where they go? We’ve placed one to start you off. 3 numbers 750 755 804 975 4 numbers 1260 2842 3207 6073 5 numbers 22187 81233 96088 6 numbers 232231 367218 375743 414458 7 numbers 6532414 8455814 9342200 8 numbers 33221021 38386617 51580432 9 numbers 405088378 542644042 714370532 Sudoku Place the numbers from 1 to 6 exactly once in each row, column and 2x3 bold-lined box, to complete the grid. Wordsearch Can you find all of the words listed here? They are hidden horizontally, vertically or diagonally and may read forwards or backwards. ALPINE BOARD BOOTS CAMBER CARVE CORK EDGE FREESTYLE GOGGLES GRAB HELMET JUMP OLLIE PISTE SLALOM SLIDE SPEED SPORT TRICK WINTER Spot the difference…

Penny Appeal In 2009, British Muslim Adeem Younis set up Penny Appeal, and now it works in 60 countries. Through its “small change, big difference” motto, Penny Appeal provides meals, clean water, care for orphans and emergency and medical aid. To help raise funds for people in Palestine, the charity has teamed up with actor Abdullah Afzal to run Beauty and the Balaah: The Great Muslim Panto, with all proceeds going to helping people in Palestine. Find out more at tinyurl.com/TWJ-PennyAppealpanto…

We’d love to see your snaps. Send them to us at hello@theweekjunior.co.uk Don’t forget to tell us why you took them. “We made loads of paper chains from old copies of The Week Junior. It looks very colourful.”Ayla and Rowan “We celebrated our birthdays together. Instead of asking for gifts, we asked friends to donate to War Child or Unicef. Our friends and family are proud of the kindness we’ve shown, and so are we!”Indi and Edith “We made Christmas trees out of paper. We even made one using an old Week Junior magazine.”Vivaan and Nila…

A HEN WITH A FUNNY BEAK Wonka the chicken, named for her wonky beak, has inspired Chicken Rescue UK, an organisation that rehomes farm birds in need. Jade Cooper rescued Wonka, whose beak meant she couldn’t eat, from an egg farm and she is now hand-fed twice a day. FINDING LOST JEWELLERY Staff at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, France, were relieved to find a missing diamond ring worth £644,000. The police were called when the ring went missing, as jewellery has been stolen from the hotel before. Luckily, security guards found the ring in a vacuum cleaner bag. Its owner thanked staff for their help. SELLING A STICKER ALBUM Andrew Knott from Arthingworth, England, has sold a completed copy of the first World Cup Panini sticker album for £2,400.…

Mike Wooldridge, a professor of computer science at Oxford University, remembers watching the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures when he was little. The lectures are a series of talks and demonstrations about science for young people that began in 1825. Wooldridge has loved science all his life. “The Christmas Lectures were one of the Christmas treats that we looked forward to,” he told The Week Junior. “It was just as big a part of my life as Christmas stockings and Christmas crackers.” This year, Wooldridge has been asked to deliver the Christmas Lectures himself, which he said is “astonishing”. This year’s topic is artificial intelligence (AI). This is a computer system that is able to “think” for itself, learn from experience and do things that usually require human intelligence. Wooldridge has…

Beavers Scotland’s nature agency has approved a plan to release six beaver families in the Cairngorms National Park. Beavers build dams and create large pools of water, and it’s hoped this will boost the diversity of wildlife in the area by creating new habitats where lots of creatures can thrive. English rivers A Government survey has found that the only three rivers in England that are approved for swimming have “poor” water quality. This means that swimmers risk getting ill. The rivers – in Oxfordshire, Suffolk and West Yorkshire – are polluted with sewage and waste from farms.…

At the end of October we challenged our readers to pick up their pens, paints and pencils and have a go at creating our festive front cover. We were looking for a design that was bright, fun and captured the excitement of the season – and you didn’t disappoint us. We received more than 800 entries, featuring a bold and beautiful array of colours, characters and compositions. The standard of all the entries was incredibly high, so we were relieved to have an expert on hand to help us decide which of them should win. On 28 November, we were joined by award-winning author and illustrator Rob Biddulph, who was a recent winner at The Week Junior Book Awards for the cover of his book Peanut Jones and the Twelve…

“I love Christmas time!” That’s what footballer Eve Perisset tells The Week Junior as she looks forward to a double December celebration. Perisset comes from France and moved to England to join the Chelsea Women’s team in summer 2022. Her birthday is on 24 December – does she enjoy having it so close to Christmas Day? “It’s better because I’m always with my family on my birthday,” she says. “Ever since I was a little girl, my parents have always made sure I get two presents: one on the 24th for my birthday and one on the 25th for Christmas.” Although Perisset will be busy playing and training as usual this month, she will also be having festive fun with her teammates at Chelsea. “Last year we bought each other…

In 2000, the animation studio Aardman released its first film for the cinema, Chicken Run. It told the story of a flock of chickens trapped on a farm where nasty plans were afoot. Rocky the rooster and Ginger the chicken helped their hen friends escape the farm to freedom. In the new film, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, there appears to be a new threat to chicken-kind. Ginger and Rocky have hatched a little girl called Molly and everything seems perfect. However, a nearby farm is cooking something suspicious and now, instead of breaking out, Ginger, Rocky and their friends have no choice but to break in and find out what’s going on. Lots of Aardman’s films are made using stop-motion animation. This is a technique where models (such…

The Famous Five BBC iPlayer There are plenty of adventures in this new TV version of Enid Blyton’s popular book series The Famous Five, set in 1939. George and her cousins, together with Timmy the dog, find something washed up on the beach. The Famous Five set off in search of answers. Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever Disney+ Greg wants a new gaming console for Christmas, but as he is making a snowman, a snowball crashes into a neighbour’s house. Greg worries that he’ll be in trouble and miss out on his dream gift.…

Favourite wintry snack? Chestnuts roasted on an open fire. Delicious! Favourite thing to do when it snows? Build a Snow Girl, of course. Though sledging comes a close second. Theatre or cinema? Theatre, definitely. There is something truly magical about theatre. What do you have in common with Tasha? We both love stories, wildlife and wild spaces, and we both get nervous in social situations. Can you play any musical instruments? Piano, guitar, violin and cello… although sadly not very well.…

More than 21 million people in the UK listen to podcasts regularly, streaming them on phones, computers, tablets and smart speakers. These radio-style shows can teach you about history, science and the natural world, and they offer fascinating stories from around the world that spark the imagination. Some can help you focus on homework; some can help you sleep. On phones, tablets and computers there are several good apps for finding and listening to podcasts. Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts are two of the most popular, along with services like Spotify and Deezer. If there is a smart speaker in your home and you know the name of a podcast you want to listen to, you can ask the smart speaker to play it. Where to start? The Week Junior…

Learner driver takes 60 tests After 59 failed attempts, a learner driver has passed their car theory test. When people are learning how to drive, they have to pass both a practical and a theory test to get their licence. The theory test costs £23 each time and takes an hour to complete. The test quizzes drivers on their knowledge of the Highway Code (the rules of the road). The unnamed learner spent a total of £1,380 on tests. The director of the AA driving schools has complimented the learner for their “amazing” commitment.…

Calling all young songwriters, singers and musicians! Have you written your own original songs? Do you fancy writing your first song? Then get ready to enter the Song Academy Young Songwriter 2024 competition. Open to young people aged eight and up worldwide, this is your chance to shine. There are star judges and fantastic prizes to be won. Songwriter and judge Fraser T. Smith said, “Every young person has something to say, a story to tell, or a message to share.” For information and guidance on how to get involved, go to songacademy.co.uk/says24 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. We will…

Teacher’s name: Mr Greenfield School: Highclare Preparatory School, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands “Mr Greenfield is a great teacher because he takes time to get to know each child and makes sure each individual is confident with their work. He makes difficult lessons more fun and every morning we play his maths game which everybody loves! He is very kind and I think he’s awesome.”Lucia 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 you if schools should have a four-day week… “Yes, we only have a 2 day weekend. On the weekend we do fun things so it’d be nice to do more fun things.” “No, it would be more stressful for parents that do full-time jobs.” “Yes, it would be good to have more of a balance between resting days and learning days.” “No because pupils may miss their school friends.” Tell us what you think of this week’s issue and we’ll print some of the best comments here.…

David Kirke lived till he was 78 years old, which is surprising, given his habit of jumping off bridges. He did the world’s first bungee jump off the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England, on 1 April 1979. Kirke was inspired by a ritual he had seen in the South Pacific island of Vanuatu, where young men leap off high towers with vines tied to their ankles. Instead of a vine, he chose an elastic rope but he didn’t test it first because “testing it first wouldn’t have been particularly dangerous”. So Kirke threw himself head-first into the unknown. He was disguised in a top hat and scarf so that his mother wouldn’t recognise him when she saw the photographs and tell him off. Believing that normal sports and their…

A female maned wolf called Lua is set to join the pack at Paignton Zoo in Devon, England. Maned wolves were once common in parts of South America but they are now endangered – and almost extinct in Uruguay. They are very shy animals, so zoo visitors will have to be patient if they want to spot Lua or her mate Tolock. • LIFESPAN: Up to 15 years. • HABITAT: Tall grasslands and forests. • SIZE: Around 90 centimetres tall – slightly taller than a grey wolf, thanks to their very long legs. • DIET: Small mammals as well as vegetables and fruit. • FUN FACT: They are not actually a type of wolf. Maned wolves are the only species in a type called chrysocyon.…

A device used to treat brain injuries worked so well that, following a trial, some people refused to have theirs turned off. The results of the trial, which started in 2018, have just been published. It involved five people aged between 22 and 60. All had thinking problems after suffering severe brain injuries between three and 18 years earlier. The injuries meant they found it difficult to do some things. For the trial, doctors put a tiny device into each patient’s brain during an operation. The device uses “deep brain stimulation” (DBS), which rebuilds connections between neurons. Neurons are tiny cells and there are billions of them in the brain. Whenever you do anything, chemical and electrical signals move between neurons. The tiny device applied electricity to parts of the…

Juniper’s Christmas by Eoin Colfer. Illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat (HarperCollins Children’s) In a world that Santa hasn’t visited for 10 years, Juniper meets Niko, a mysterious stranger who lives in the local park. Juniper’s mum goes missing and the park falls under threat. Can Juniper save her mum, the park – and Santa himself? The Secret of Helmersbruk Manor by Eva Frantz, translated by Annie Prime. Illustrated by Elin Sandstrom (Pushkin Children’s) It’s winter in the seaside town of Helmersbruk, and Flora discovers an old abandoned mansion. Soon she is investigating strange secrets and whispers in the night. With a chapter written for each day of December, this eerie mystery is perfect Christmas reading. The Christmas Carrolls: The Christmas Club by Mel Taylor-Bessent. Illustrated by Selom Sunu (HarperCollins) The Carroll…

Name: Ruby Fireborn by Aisling Fowler “Exciting, thrilling and fast-paced. Warning: you will not be able to put this book down! It is full of adventures.” YOUR TURN Email your book review to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk. If it’s printed in the magazine you’ll receive a Roving Reporter badge. Describe the book in three words, what you liked about it and why you’d recommend it to others. Don’t forget to include your name and address.* *If you are the competition winner, we will only use the details you provide to contact you and arrange delivery of your competition prize. Further details about how we manage the data you provide can be found at futureplc.com/privacy-policy…

Christmas is a joyful time to spend with family and friends and – if you’re lucky – to open some lovely presents too. Most people put time, effort and money into finding great gifts, so it’s really nice to show your appreciation by writing a thank-you letter. In the days after Christmas and before you go back to school, sitting down to write thank-you letters may seem like a chore. Writing them can feel a bit awkward too, but you don’t want the receiver to get that impression. Here are some tips for making the process easier, and for making your letters fun to write and to read. Don’t forget or put it off When you’re opening your presents on Christmas Day, especially if you’re doing it with lots of…

Well done and thank you to everyone who entered the Christmas cover competition. As you can see on page 12, we only had enough room to show a small selection of the entries but they were brilliant. The detail and beauty of the pictures made our decision difficult but the winner’s design had a clear, bold shape that catches your eye instantly – which is perfect for a cover. Well done, Sanna! If you look closely at the top of the cover you’ll see my true feelings about this week’s Big Debate (page 8). We are doing a secret Santa in the office just before we break up and I have been spending a long time thinking about what to buy. Helping the festive cheer is the fantastic news from…

1 Narges Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Prize in which area? ☐ a) Peace ☐ b) Physics ☐ c) Literature 2 True or false? On 10 December, thousands of people ran through Glasgow wearing reindeer outfits. ☐ True ☐ False 3 How many years ago was the song Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree first released? 4 Which country gave the Statue of Liberty to the US? ☐ a) France ☐ b) Australia ☐ c) Germany 5 True or false? The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures were first put on in 1825. ☐ True ☐ False 6 What do chinstrap penguins eat in order to cool down? 7 True or false? Rhinos’ horns are made from the same material as human fingernails. ☐ True ☐ False 8 Which country sent the Zhurong…