Science learning in action
Barn Owls going on a sound walk to start our new topic - 'What's That Sound?'
Today KS1 came together to go on a litter pick around our school! We then enjoyed sorting the materials into groups.
Ducklings made boats and tested them out to see if they would float!
Ducklings have been very busy caring for their garden!
Barn Owls are taking part in The Nappy Challenge. We had great fun dissecting nappies and looking carefully at the different parts, what their functions are and what materials they were made of.
Year 1 have been enjoying learning about Plants and Animals in Science. We have been tree detectives, bird watchers and today we enjoyed making bird feed for the birds! I wonder how many birds we will see?
Year 5 have been exploring how levers can make it much easier to lift heavy loads. They were set the challenge to find out if the position of the fulcrum affected the amount of effort needed to lift the load. They were very surprised and delighted to discover that they could easily lift Mrs Davis using a lever. In fact, they were able to lift the seesaw with both Mrs Davis and Mrs Cotton on one end!
From their investigations, they concluded that the closer the fulcrum is to the load, the less effort required to lift the load.
Year 5 have been planning scientific enquiries to answer questions such as: 'Does the size of an object affect the speed at which it falls?' or 'Does a large ball bounce for longer?' We also thought about what the variables were and took care to ensure we were carrying out a fair test.
Year 3 have been finding out about 'Our Bodies'. We made our own models to explain how muscles work and help to move our skeletons.
Year 1 have enjoyed carrying out their Science experiment of making hot chocolate! We thought this would be a great drink for Arctic explorers to drink! We used our Scientist eyes to observe closely! Finished by of course trying some yummy hot chocolate!
Year 6 have been learning about how different plants reproduce asexually. They enjoyed planting some of their own and are looking forward to watching these grow.
Year 1 enjoyed dressing up at Arctic Explorers today! We discussed the different materials and why this is crucial in the cold Arctic weather!
Year 5 and 6 had a fantastic Science session learning about the different parts of a flower. The children enjoyed dissecting daffodils/ tulips and looking closely at each part. They used this experience to label diagrams of flowers.
Year 3 have been investigating that we need light in order to see and that darkness is the absence of light. We used Darkness Boxes to predict and then test whether we could see objects placed in the box.
KS1 have been searching for minibeasts in the school grounds!
Year 3 had a visit from a STEM Ambassador who came to talk to us about magnets. We enjoyed finding out about and experimenting with electromagnets. Did you know that electromagnets can help to generate power, are used in machines like MRI scanners and even help to levitate trains in Japan!
In Science, Year 6 have been looking at different materials. We have been exploring evaporation, dissolving, filtering and sieving. We also looked at reversible and irreversible changes.
In Science, Year 3 have really enjoyed investigating what soil is made of. In our soil samples we discovered broken rocks, decaying plants and lots of tiny animals including ants, centipedes, spiders and worms! We were surprised to learn that half of soil is actually air and water. I wonder what we will discover next?
Year 5 has been exploring space and finding out about the planets. To discover more about the planets orbiting the sun, some children represented each planet and began to orbit the sun (a central cone). It very quickly became apparent that the planets further away from the sun would take much longer to orbit the sun once. By the time 'Neptune' had made one orbit, 'Mercury' had orbited over 40 times!
KS1 have been learning about how food is grown and where it comes from around the world. They then used some vegetables that they had grown to make their own rainbow salad.
Year 6 have been looking at density in Science. Here are some of their findings: "The orange with the peel floated but the orange without the peel sank. This is because orange peel has tiny air pockets in it." "The scrunched up tinfoil floated because it has air pockets in - you can't remove all of the air. When we scrunched the tin oil up underwater, we removed all of the air so it sank."
Releasing our butterflies.
Ducklings have loved watching the caterpillars as they went through the life cycle and today it was time to let our butterflies out into their natural habitats. The children sat very still and the butterflies came and landed on their heads and their hands before they flew off!
Picking our radishes.
Ducklings planted lots of seeds when we started learning about life cycles. The children have been carefully looking after them, making sure hey are getting enough sun light and water. Today we spotted some radishes that were ready to be picked, so the children pulled them up and we had a close look at the roots and the leaves. Then we gave them a wash and chopped them up and all the children got to try some. They were very excited to be able to eat something they had grown!
Year 1 and 2 have been learning about plants in their local environment. They went on a hunt around the school grounds looking at different flowers and trees and tried to identify these using their identification sheets.
Years 3 and 4 have been investigating different bridges as part of their unit "The Big Build". They have been learning how to carry out a fair test and working hard to record their findings clearly.
Early Years have been learning about life cycles. They made close observations of these caterpillars and enjoyed watching them grow into butterflies.
Year 5 and 6 had a fantastic visit from a local STEM ambassador, who spoke to the children about how selective breeding is used in sheep farming. The session was very informative and the children were able to apply what they had been learning to real life situations.
Year 5 and 6 looked at electrical symbols. They then used their knowledge of these symbols to draw and create circuits.
