LITERACY STARTER ITEMS

March 28th 2006 - Created by

Neil Theasby (Yewlands) & Suzanne Smith (Fox Hill)

Y6-Y7 Transition Project – Literacy Zone
Setting the Scene/ Stirring Thought and Imagination

For almost fifty years stories have persisted that a flying saucer, piloted by extra-terrestrial beings, crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. Military reports at first confirmed, then denied this story, causing suspicions to be raised that more than a simple weather balloon, as claimed, had come down at a remote ranch in New Mexico.
Then in 1995 a businessman from England, Ray Santilli, announced to the world that while researching old film material for a music production, he had obtained military footage of an autopsy performed on one of the alien beings that had died in the crash at Roswell.

This picture was taken from a frame of a video called "UFOs: Fifty Years of Denial" © 1998 produced by Quick FOX Production, James Fox, Executive Producer (not associated with the FOX News Network). FOX Production said that the "alien" picture was dated circa 1952 and wouldn't give anymore details.
Note the apparent bruising on the face and the knot running diagonally up along the thin neck (like its head was twisted more that 90 degrees then brought back). Is this evidence of crash injuries? It appears that the EBE was erected upright for this picture, you can also make out what looks like rags or packing material is just behind it. Another striking feature is what appears to be a tight fitting uniform.


THE FIVE KINDS OF ALIEN ENCOUNTER:-
Close Encounters of the first kind
When you see a UFO within about 150 yards you have had an encounter of the first kind. Most people don't even experience this so most of the time sightings further away are not UFO's but planes or balloons. If you have experienced one please report it at our report a sighting page.
Close Encounters of the second kind
When you see a UFO in the sky or on the ground and it leaves evidence behind such as scorch marks on the ground or indents etc. then you have witnessed the second kind. These are quite rare and don't often happen. They have been cases of pranks which have had people believe it was real so be careful. If you have seen this and you believe in it thin please report it to us.
Close Encounters of the third kind
When you see a UFO with visible occupants inside you have experienced a close encounter of the third kind. If you have seen this then again, please report it too us and help us out.
Close Encounters of the fourth kind
Close Encounters of the fourth kind involve the person being unwillingly taken and experimented on inside the alien craft (Otherwise known as abduction). Many people find that if they have experienced this they do not want to talk about it in fear of being publicly ridiculed. The benefits of reporting it over the web mean no one can laugh at you and you can tell people who care without living in fear of the army or MIB etc.
Close Encounters of the fifth kind
Close Encounters of the fifth kind are when there is direct communication between aliens and humans. This is the RAREST one of them all and very few people have experienced it. Again feel free to report it to us.
From - http://www.webmesh.co.uk/overlord/encounters.html

"TRUE" ALIEN ENCOUNTER TALES

In 1961, Mrs Betty Hill and her husband, the late Barney Hill, were traveling home to Portsmouth New Hampshire from Montreal in Canada late one night when they saw a bright light in the sky. This ended up getting bigger and bigger until it was clearly visible as an oval shaped spacecraft, which then followed their car as the terrified occupants attempted to flee down a series of back roads.
After the car engine stalled, the craft landed and a number of aliens took Betty and Barney from their car and led them onto the craft. The aliens were short, bald, and had light gray skin, big eyes, two small nostrils, and a thin slit for a mouth. On board, both were separated and subjected to experimentation.
Betty carried on a conversation with the only alien who spoke a "broken" form of English, whom she called "the leader." He was friendly. At one point, when a long needle was inserted into her navel ("a pregnancy test," he told her), she gasped in pain, and by putting his hand over her forehead the leader was able to dull that pain. When she asked him where they were from, he showed her a star map that she later drew under hypnosis.
They were returned to their car and drove home in sheer confusion. Neither remembered what had happened until a few years later when Barney, who had been having nightmares, developed a circular pattern of warts on his belly. Thinking it was stress-related, a psychiatrist suggested that he, and later Betty, go under hypnosis. They did, and the whole story came out.
http://kevincassell.com/PERSON/CONVERSA/bhill.html

"While flying with several other USAF pilots over Germany in 1957, we sighted numerous radiant flying discs above us. We couldn't tell how high they were. We couldn't get anywhere near their ;altitude." "While working with a camera crew supervising flight testing of advanced aircraft at Edward's Air Force Base, California, the camera crew filmed the landing of a strange disc object that flew in over their heads and landed on a dry lake nearby. A camera crewman approached the saucer, it rose up above the area and flew off at a speed faster than any known aircraft." ... NASA astronaut, L. Gordon Cooper.

President Jimmy Carter on UFOs:- "If I become President, I'll make every piece of information this country has about UFO sightings available to the public and scientists. I am convinced that UFOs exist because I have seen one."

"ALIEN EGGS" Stimulus for argument. Should the eggs be hatched or not?

Alien eggs being lifted from the secret site in Greno Woods.
Alien Eggs
found in Sheffield!
By Star reporter Max Headroom

Last Saturday, a group of eleven year old primary school children from north Sheffield made an amazing discovery. In a hollow in Greno Woods, they discovered a clutch of strange eggs. There were over twenty fist-sized foul-smelling eggs, unlike any eggs the children had ever seen before. Nearby the grass was flattened and scorched black .

They reported their finding to the local police who contacted scientists at the University of Sheffield. Professor Helen Sharman said, “I have never seen any eggs like these before. I am of the opinion that they may have been deposited by alien visitors.”

Local farmer, Henry Bickerstaffe said, “Last Friday night I saw something in the sky, glowing green over Greno Woods. It looked like one of them there UFO saucer things but I were too embarrassed to tell anybody.”

Eleven year old Sam Parkin who was the first to spot the eggs said, “I hope they hatch em. I bet there’s aliens inside!”

The Flaming Star Nebula – 1500 Light Years from Earth

Y7 Space Diary Continuation

The idea with this start up lesson is that pupils will pick up on the diary process that should have begun in primary school. The journey through space has been ongoing for seven long weeks.
ENTRY FOR SEPTEMBER 1st 2006 (Example to stimulate pupils' own entries about arrival)

These last six weeks have simply flown by! Planet Earth seems a long way back. When I look out through the little porthole windows on the side of our spacecraft, I can’t even see our solar system any more. It is almost one million space miles behind us.

When I sleep I dream of home. I dream about walks in Greno Woods, sunshine beaming through the leaf canopy. I dream of our cat, Norman and how he used to curl up on my bed on Sunday mornings.

I don’t think I will ever get used to being weightless. Peas fly off your plate and you can munch them in mid air. Sometimes your hair just sticks up all the time. It’s weird.

The Space Travel Control people in Leicester tell us that we are very close to our destination planet. I follow our progress on the little computer monitor. Our craft is a blob of blue light flashing, closing in on a blob of orange light. The closer we get, the more excited I become.

Y7 Formal Report - Lesson 4

This formal report should stimulate pupils’ own formal report writing in Y7, Lesson 4 – as they report their first observations of the new planet to the national Space Agency.

Report to The British Admiralty by Midshipman Thomas Jenkins of H.M.S. Pandora regarding the discovery of Rotuma Island June 17th 1791.

It was a bright, sunny day. We had sailed north for eight long days from the Isles of Fiji when we finally spotted land. The island seemed to be about ten miles in length with two rocky peaks in the middle. It was covered with tropical trees and appeared to be very fertile.

A scouting party was lowered into the longboat. I was picked to be the leader. We brought our boat up on a beautiful white crescent beach. There were turtles basking in the shallows and the reef was alive with small colourful fishes. Palm trees bearing clusters of coconuts bent over the beach and little green lizards ran across the rocks.

We walked around the headland to a small native village of primitive wood and palm leaf houses. Two vicious dogs barked at our heels but there were no people. We guessed that they had run away into the forest after seeing our sails on the horizon.

As instructed by the captain, we made our way back to the longboat and rowed back to the Pandora. From past experience we knew how warlike the South Sea natives can be. Sure enough, as we rowed out over the reef, several islanders ventured from the forest clutching clubs, staves and other simple weapons, yelling at us in a tongue we had not heard before.