Year 5 - Why was the Titanic a disaster?

As part of our North America topic we have been learning about the Titanic. It was an incredible feat of engineering, designed by Thomas Andrews Jr. In April 1912, Titanic set sail from Southampton for New York. Part way across the Atlantic Ocean, The Titanic hit an iceberg and over the next few hours sank to the bottom of the Ocean. Due to the fact that the designers were so convinced that the ship was "unsinkable" there were only enough lifeboats for half of the passengers. Between 1,490 and 1,517 died as part of this disaster. Today we are going to be learning from a family member of one of the survivors. We are also continuing our learning about Christmas traditions from around the world. In Russia they learn about the story of Baboushka, who decided to clean her house instead of going with the wise men to find Jesus.