As part of their units about Earth and Space and Mission to Mars, the Year 6 children created a temporary class model to help aid their understanding of land formation, in particular, canyons.

Having seen a short but detailed explanation about how the Grand Canyon was formed, they began writing a simplified step by step guide to the natural process which took place to form the natural wonder.

To aid their understanding and to bring a small piece of Arizona to their Dagenham classroom, the children applied their observed process to a small scale model to watch their very own Grand Canyon take shape before their eyes.

This information was then used to logically and realistically theorise about the potential existence of water and therefore life on Mars as some of the land formations there share similar patterns and could hypothetically have been created the same way.

From a bag of ballast and a planting tray to extra terrestrial existence. The learning was truly out of this world!