Science: Blog items
Date: 23rd Mar 2023 @ 2:57pm
To explore our question for this lesson, ‘what is the best habitat for an animal?’ we visited our forest school area. We listened to a sound clip recorded in woodland in the UK at night time, with very blustery winds blowing, birds singing and trees creaking. We recalled what we already learnt about woodland habitats…
They are covered by trees’
‘It is shady on the ground’
‘Lots of plants and animals live there’
We also recapped the names of animals and where in the woodland they might be found. Finally we looked specifically at animals that we might find on the woodland floor before going out into the forest school area to make observations to answer our key question.
Year 4 - Threats to living things
Date: 23rd Mar 2023 @ 1:53pm
After flashing back to recap the five vertebrates we have been learning about, we started to look at how these living things habitats are under threat. Each table was given an area to research, then they presented their findings to the rest of the class.
We researched:
- Urbanisation
- Pollution
- Deforestation
- Natural disasters
Year 3- How are shadows formed?
Date: 21st Mar 2023 @ 4:20pm
In this lesson we looked at the question 'How are shadows formed?'. For our flashback we looked at what the words translucent, transparent and opaque meant. We identified and grouped objects into the different categories. We then went outside to form our inital ideas for how shadows are formed. We then tested a variety of different objects to see if there is a pattern for which objects made a shadow.
Year 6 - Fossils and Evolution
Date: 20th Mar 2023 @ 5:54pm
In today's science lesson we considered the key question: What can fossils tell us about extinct species? We first examined several fossils and then learned how they are formed. We moved on to think about what fossils can tell us about evolution before learning about what is missing from the fossil record. All the children in Year 6 showed great participation and were able to remember lots from our previous lessons.
Date: 16th Mar 2023 @ 4:16pm
After planning our investigation last week, Year 3 carried out an investigation on which materials are reflective. We made reflection testers and experimented to see if bubble wrap, DVDs, tinfoil, paper, card, clothing and plastic is reflective. The children then came up with conclusion in groups, as to which material we would use on a reflective strip on a bag.
Date: 16th Mar 2023 @ 4:10pm
The whole school were exciting to have a science day last week, exploring the wonders of space! Year 3 focused on the moon and explored the phases of the moon, how craters are formed and had an amazing time in The Wonderdome! We were so inspired to ask lots of questions and investigate the moon and space.
Date: 16th Mar 2023 @ 11:24am
Nursery took part in science day by exploring space through art, maths and music. They created a wonderful piece of collaborative art work showing a super outer space scene. They then created their own space pictures. Using shapes, the children then made some 3D rockets. They thought carefully about the shapes they would need and where to put them. To end the day, the children enjoyed a space themed music session. They sang "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom" and sent planets soaring in to the air using the parachute!
Date: 10th Mar 2023 @ 7:21pm
As part of our Science Day, we also completed some astronaut art to show what we might see if we were to look outside the window of a spaceship. We watched a video to explore what astronauts might see from their spaceship and used that alongside photgraphs to inspire our own art. We used oil pastels and collage to create our pieces.
Date: 10th Mar 2023 @ 6:39pm
Today, alongside the rest of our school, Year 1 had lots of fun celebrating Science day! We began the day by becoming NASA astronauts! We learnt what an astronaut is, how you become an astronaut and what characteristics you need to have. We then looked at what astronauts wear in space, how they sleep and eat and drink! We watched a short video where astronauts talked about what life is like in space. After this we thought about what we would take to space with us. Then it was time for our Wonderdome experience! We were all amazed and thoroughly enjoyed the space exploration!
Date: 10th Mar 2023 @ 6:24pm
Today, as part of Science day we learnt about a number of different astronauts including Neil Armstrong. We watched a video which explored Neil Armstrongs life and the key events that led up to what he is famous for! We learnt that Neil Armstrong was born in 1930 and his first time in a plane was when he was just 5 years old. We placed key events in his life onto a timeline, including 1969 when he became the first man to walk on the moon!
Date: 10th Mar 2023 @ 4:20pm
Today, alongside the whole school we celebrated Science Day with our theme of Space and year two were tasked with learning about the sun. We begun the day by watching videos about the sun and learnt lots of facts including: it would take 20 years to fly to the sun from Earth, the sun is the centre of the solar system, Earth orbits the sun and completes 1 full orbit every year and the sun is actually a star made up of gases. We recorded our information on strips of card and stuck them down as sun rays beaming out of our big sun in the middle. Next, we used our new knowledge of obitting to model how the Earth orbits the sun and the moon orbits the Earth and learnt it takes 28 days for the moon to orbit the Earth- our models also helped us imagine the size difference between the sun, moon and Earth. The excitement continued as we visited the space wonder dome exploring stars, the sun, the moon and all the other planets which we named. We also were fully immersed and amazed by exploring what it would look like and feel like in space. During the afternoon, we got more creative listening to two pieces of space themed music- the final countdown as well as Holst Venus and appraised them. We also thought about the similarities and differences between the two pieces of music. Lastly, we ended our exciting day by creating our own sun art using different techniques including pointilism to complete our paintings.
Date: 10th Mar 2023 @ 4:05pm
Year 5 have had a fantastic day learning about the 1969 Moon landing, as part of National Science Day 2023. Pupils watch actual footage of the Moon landing, watched documentary footage and read newspaper articles about the event. We had an amazing oportunity to visit the Wonder Dome, where we were taken on a guided tour of the Milky Way, and beyond, which the children loved. The children then created a space picture, using a variety of techniques including pencil sketches and a watercolour wash.
Date: 10th Mar 2023 @ 3:52pm
As part of Science Day, all classes had a 20 minute session in the space dome. We learned about stars and glaxaxies, along with the planets of the Milky Way and space missions to the moon. It was an incredible expereince and all children (and staff) had a brilliant time.
Date: 10th Mar 2023 @ 3:37pm
What a day! Today we celebrated Science day with a focus on space. We were lucky enough to have the brilliant Wonderdome visit our school for an amazing space experience. The children absolutely loved it. Throughout the day each year had their own focus from astronauts to constellations. Not only did we learn many scientific facts, we also created beautiful art, pieces of writing and listened to space themed music.
Date: 10th Mar 2023 @ 2:07pm
Wow! What a great Science Day! First thing this morning we were treated to a visit in the Wonderdome. We had an amazing Solar System experience where we found out lots about our planets, moons and stars. We couldn't believe the size of some of the planets and super stars compared to Earth. It really was mindblowing. Then in the afternoon we did some planet Art with oil pastels.
Date: 10th Mar 2023 @ 11:25am
Our focus for this year's science day was space. We recapped on everything we knew about planets from our lessons in Year 5, before moving on to learn about constellations. We listened to space themed music including the Planets by Holst and Space Odessy by David Bowie. Finally, we created constellation art work. A great day!
Date: 10th Mar 2023 @ 10:21am
Science day ! First we listened to Gustav Holst- The Planets, Full Suite. We thought about how the song was structure and what ‘personality’ it gave us of the planets. Then we listened to Muse- Starlight.
Date: 9th Mar 2023 @ 9:26am
We have been readig the story "Dear Zoo" and have enjoyed exploring all the animals from the story. The children have investigated farm animals and zoo animals and sorted them in to two groups and they have made up stories about zoo animals using the zoo small world. The children have painted some wonderful pictures of zoo animals and made some swirly snakes. Outside they built cages for animals using magnetic shapes, made playdough zoo animals and created some food for the animals.
Date: 8th Mar 2023 @ 5:17pm
This half-term, Year 5 have been studying forces. We have learned about gravity and friction and how they affect the world around us. This week the children were asked to investigate air resistance. They worked together to plan an investigation into the affect of air resistance on falling objects. Pupils decided to create 'helicopters' and see how they fell to the ground. Following a class discussion, we suggested a number of variables which would affect the rate of descent, and decided to investigate the size of the spinner - all of the other variables were kept the same. Following the investigation pupils identified that the larger the spinner, the slower the rate of descent. We concluded that this was because a larger surface area created more air resistance.
Date: 27th Feb 2023 @ 9:23pm
As part of our Science unit 'Classification of Living Things', we learned about micro-organisms and the three types: bacteria, virus and fungus. In order to carry out an investigaiton into the growth of fungus, we set up an experiment to increase the rate of mould growth on bread. We discovered that mould grows quicker in warm and damp conditions.
Reception- A Winter Wonderland!
Date: 20th Jan 2023 @ 10:01am
What a surprise! We woke up Tuesday morning to find everywhere had turned white- it had been snowing!
The children could not wait to go outside and explore the garden, mark making in the snow and making snow angels.
" It looks different- it's all white- snow is white!" Halliegh.
"Snow is cold... slippy..wet!" Kian.
"The sun is coming out ...the snow will melt and be water again because it is hot" William.
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YEAR 5 - Animals (including Humans): Gestation Vs Lifespan
Date: 19th Jan 2023 @ 3:01pm
In our last Science lesson, we found out the meaning of the words 'gestation' and 'lifespan'. Pupils then drew a scatter-graph of several mammals to show their gestation length against their lifespan. Pupils correctly identified that, generally, the longer an animal's gestation, the longer its lifespan, and also that the animals with the longest lifespan were large mammals, such as elephants and whales. The only animal that did not fit this generalisation was humans - we hypothesised that this is because humans have knowledge of medicine and how to stay healthy, which helps us to live longer.
Nursery Enjoyed the Snowy Weather
Date: 19th Jan 2023 @ 10:48am
Nursery didn't let a little bit of snow and ice stop them from having fun! The children went outside and explored the icy conditions by touching the ice and discussing what it feels like. We used words like cold, spikey, hard and melt to describe the ice. The children were very excitied to find that the water in the mud kitchen had frozen and some bowls had been frozen under the ice!
Date: 16th Jan 2023 @ 3:46pm
Today we had to draw circuits. We realised that it would be too difficult to draw the actual components (parts) of the circuit all the time and it would take too long. So we learned that components of a circuit have symbols. This made it much easier to draw a working circuit. We then explored using components such as light bulbs, wires, buzzers, batteries and cells to make different circuits. We found out that a battery (such as a car battery) has multiple cells, whereas a AA battery is actually a cell because it is singular. This made a lot of sense to us because a car battery needs more power and voltage to allow a car to work compared to a remote control which usually just needs one or two cells.
Nursery - Why Did Your Snowman Melt?
Date: 12th Jan 2023 @ 4:57pm
Nursery have been talking about winter and what it looks and feels like. We thought about the different types of weather you can get during the winter and of course we started talking about snow. We talked about it being really cold when it snows and when it starts to get warmer the snow will melt. This led us on nicely to an activity where the children created a melted snowman using shaving foam and PVA glue. They then had to think carefully about why their snowman melted. Here are some of the children's ideas; My snowman melted becasue "of the sun" "he had a warm bath" "i put him near the fire". Why did your snowman melt?
