WTAF??? My Y2 child has come home with the following in a reading book...

[HeavyBoots]

Astronauts who travelled to the moon needed to wear heavy boots to ensure they didn't float off into space.

This is a reading book (Ginn 360 L7), on transport, in a non-fiction section on space travel.

I have put something in the reading record, but how, how, how could a major educational publishing company let that get past them??? Do we not have science education any more? Arrggghhhh!!!!

I thought boon boots kept them grounded too... I also thought that plants took in carbon dioxide and gave off oxygen, it was hotter in the summer because we are closer to the sun and respiration takes place in the lungs. I really need to go back to school.

I did get cross at one of my daughters books about the moon as it said nothing about it being made of cheese.

There was also a book where a child's tooth fell out and her MUM gave her money. That was hard to explain to a five year old :)

I'd have been really pissed off about the tooth fairy book! Next thing, they'll be teaching children that Mum and Dad bring them their Christmas presents. Sorry, 'winter holiday' presents.

DD's y5 teacher told them that gravity pushes you down. To me that implies that it is a force generated from outside the planet. Perhaps it is?

Gravity acts from the centre of any object with mass. It is considered that gravity 'pulls' an object towards another object.

DS brought home a book 'How the elephant got it's long trunk. I nearly imploded. And I wrote in the reading book .

DS brought home a really horrible book in a series called 'New Way'. It had no punctuation in whatsoever. DS, then in Reception, asked why there was no question mark at the end of a question. I couldn't think of any answer to give (other than 'because it's a crap book').

Thanks, radical, that's what I had always thought. it did occur to me that we are always making new discoveries which change the paradigm! I'm happy to say that now dd's in secondary there don't seem to be any little slips in spellings, grammar, facts etc which do seem to occur in primary.

(Most of dd's teachers have been brilliant, by the way; that why those who were not stand out.)

Iklboo - is that not correct seeing as the trunk belongs to the elephant?
Like the elephant's trunk.

Unfortunately, there are some not-so-good teachers everywhere. I work in a school that, at the last Ofsted inspection, was graded Outstanding in every area, and there are certainly one or two teachers there that I would not like my children to be taught by.

I think it was Gove who got absolutely slaughtered for implying that 5% of teachers are not up to the job. In my personal experience, I think that's a pretty conservative estimate.

Housework, the elephant's trunk is correct (as you know), but the possessive pronoun has not apostrophe. Her trunk; his trunk; its trunk.

It's a trunk! is short for It is a trunk!

Oops! "no apostrophe" not "not apostrophe". Must remember to click preview instead of post.

(By the way, plants do use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, and produce oxygen. They don't breathe, which was what radical said was incorrect.)

When Biff and Chip go to Ancient Rome with the Magic Key they have Tomato on their Pizza.

Accuracy is not always a strong point in primary reading materials.

Yes, Talkinpeace2, but Biff and Chip took their own

Did they get it from Domino's?

(mildly curious about apostrophe placement in that, as I've got no idea whether it's supposed to be a plural or denote ownership. I'm not even sure I care, but in the context of the thread, I would like to know if they also took Mushroom and Pepperoni? It's fortunately been some time since I was force-read (ha) Biff and Chip.

Radical, I thought the sun feeling colder in winter was due to the rays passing through an increased thickness of atmosphere.

Madwoman

's after a noun denotes possession
The elephant's trunk - the trunk belonging to the elephant.
The boy's football - the football belonging to the boy.
The cat's whiskers - the whiskers belonging to the cat.

If there is more than one elephant or boy it becomes
The elephants' trunk - the trunk belonging to the elephants (presumably a place for storing clothes rather than siamese twins )
The boys' football - the football belonging to the boys.

An apostrophe is never used to show the plural of something. If it is used incorrectly it is sometimes referred to as a grocer's apostrophe (!)

If the noun and 's are replaced by a possessive pronoun, no apostrophe is needed.
its trunk
her trunk
his trunk
their trunk
my trunk
your trunk
our trunk

Apostrophes are also used sometimes to show contractions -
isn't = is not
it's = it is
can't = cannot
doesn't = does not
wasn't = was not
shan't = shall not
haven't = have not
there's = there is

Oh lor'.

I know.

I just didn't know whether the pizza belonged to Domino, or whether Domino (plural) was the name of the pizza, thus negating the use of the 'strophe.

That's what I couldn't care about. I'm the worse pedant.

But, thanks...

Thanks radical!

I loved the Biff and CHip Pizza episode!
DD never gets enough Biff, Chip, Kipper!

Admit to being orld's least sciency person (answer to ds aged 6 about any science qu - 'ask your father' ) but could someone please explain what is wrong with the science in the OP and what it should be/

In v simple language please.

hangs head in shame my punctuation education was obviously lacking... I also don't know what you use a semi colon for apart from a winky face. ;)

please explain why plants don't breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. I'm ashamed to say I told dd this the other day feeling pleased I could answer one of her 'but why' questions and now I find out it's wrong [burys head in hands]

Longer day-length in summer helps the temp, too, surely, Radical? Not just different effective surface area?