Here We Are: Notes For Living On Planet Earth

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Our world can be a bewildering place, especially if you’ve only just got here. Your head will be filled with questions, so let’s explore what makes our planet and how we live on it. From land and sky, to people and time, these notes can be your guide and start you on your journey. And you’ll figure lots of things out for yourself.

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• This book contains things that the author thinks his baby son needs to know. Make your own set of notes that tell younger children things they need to know.
• There is a quote from J.M. Barrie at the beginning of the book. Can you find other inspirational quotes and share what they mean with others?
• The book includes a huge collection of vocabulary to describe Earth. Can you make a dictionary based on these words?
• Choose one of the pages in the book and make a more detailed report about the topic.
• Choose one of the people shown in the illustrations and write a story about them.
• Choose two of the people shown in the illustrations and write a conversation between them.
• Make a list of questions that you would like to ask Oliver Jeffers.
• Think of some speech / thought bubbles to accompany the illustrations.
• Write a story about a group of people who began living on a different planet. How might their lives be similar / different to people back on Earth?
• In this video, Oliver Jeffers talks about the creation of this book. What questions would you like to ask him?

Maths

• Our solar system is one of millions, billions, trillions. Can you write these numbers using digits?
• How many different types of measurement are included in the book?
• Look at the page showing different animals. Can you estimate their sizes?

Science

• Can you find out more about the planets, stars and constellations?
• Think of a mnemonic to help others remember the order of the planets.
• Oliver Jeffers states that his illustration of the solar system is ‘probably not to scale’.

• How many different types of plants can you see in the book? How many animals? How many different habitats?
• Choose one of the animals shown in the illustrations and write a report about them.
• The dodo explains that it isn’t supposed to be in the book. Why is this? Can you find out about other animals that have become extinct? What can we do to protect animals on our planet?

Computing

• Create a video tour of some of your favourite parts of our planet.
• Create a ‘read aloud’ video based on the book. Here is an example:

• Watch this video trailer for the book. Could you make your own trailer for this book (or another one of your favourite books)?

Design Technology

• Can you create a model of the Earth?

Art

• Create some illustrations of planet Earth.
• Look at the page that shows night and day. Can you create two pictures of the same place at different times of the day?

Geography

• How many different human / physical features of the world can you identify in the book?
• The book tells us that ‘there is enough for everyone’. Is everything shared equally between people on the planet? Why?

PSHE

• In a quote shown at the back of the book, Oliver’s Dad says that ‘There are only three words you need to live by, son: respect, consideration and tolerance.’ What do these words mean?