Science: Blog items
Date: 12th Jan 2023 @ 7:51am
Today we learnt that animals come in all shapes and sizes and that we can describe them by looking at their body parts. We discovered that some body parts are common to all animals whereas some body parts are only found on particular animals. We began the lesson by listening to a number of clues and using our prior knowledge about animals to try and guess the animal.
‘I have six legs, I can fly, I am red with black spots…What am I?
We then looked at a number of different animals from each animal classification and identified their key features. We asked and answered questions about why certain animals need these parts, where they live, what animals we could think of that were similar and how many different types of each animal we could name. We then used this knowledge to investigate a range of animals and match the correct labels to each.
We also drew and labeled the key features of our favourite animal.
'My favourite animal is a frog - it has long hind legs so it can jump!'
'My favourite animal is a shark - it has fins and gills to help it swim and breathe under the water'
Reception - Here Comes Jack Frost
Date: 9th Jan 2023 @ 9:28pm
The story, 'Here Comes Jack Frost' is full of Wintery magic! One cold morning, a lonely boy wishes for something to do. Then someone comes to play that knows what Winter is all about! The striking colours and simple illustrations were copied byt the children in Reception. They created their own picture from the story, using white paint, drizzled with PVA glue and then a sprinkling of glitter.
"The frost was everywhere because it is very cold" Alfie.
"They went sledging on the ice" Dolly- Anne.
"Jack Frost turned everything white- the frost is white" Clio.
"The frost went when the weather got warmer and a flower grew- it melted because it is warm" Halleigh.
Date: 9th Jan 2023 @ 9:02pm
The children in Reception have been learning about the season Winter. They have been observing changes in the weather, discussing the type of clothes they wear and learning about animals that hibernate during this time of year. We then painted a Winter tree.
They also painted a Winter tree and talked about how trees look different in Winter.
"It is cold in Winter...it might snow or be frosty" William.
"The trees are bare because the leaves have all died and there are none left on the branches" Lennox.
"It is cold that is why we wear a hat, scarf, gloves and boots- to keep warm".Harper.
"Bears and hedgehogs hibernate in Winter- they go to sleep for a long time" Sheera.
Date: 9th Jan 2023 @ 4:07pm
This week, we were introduced to our Electricity unit. We explored lots of electrical vocabulary and tried to answer questions together as a class. We discovered that for electricity to flow there needs to be a complete circuit – whether that be by battery or mains. We discussed that electricity from the mains doesn’t just come magically, but it comes from substations and power stations. We found out that electricity is created by generators which can be powered by gas, coal, oil, wind or solar. We discussed lots of examples of battery powered and mains powered appliances. We decided that from electricity we can get light, heat (toaster), movement (a fan) and sound.
Reception- One Cold and Frosty Morning ...
Date: 12th Dec 2022 @ 10:00pm
The children in Reception were very excited to explore the outside area where they found ice in the most unusual places!
Water left in buckets, trays, and bowls had frozen over night as the temperatures fell. They chatted together about how the ice had formed, why it was wet, slippy and turning into water.
"It is very cold and the water in the bucket turned to ice" Clio.
"It feels wet and slippy" Phoebe.
"Look! Water...the ice is melting and turning into water" Miley.
"The sun is melting it because it is hot" Lennox.
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Date: 8th Dec 2022 @ 7:13pm
This week Year 1 have been very interested in the seasonal changes taking place. As the weather has got much colder we have enjoyed spending some time outside observing what is happening to the trees, making patterns in the frost and exploring ice!
Date: 5th Dec 2022 @ 9:05pm
To finish our Animals including Humans Science unit this half term we looked at food chains. We mainly focused on looking at producers, prey and predators. We knew that predators were at the top of the chain, but we soon discovered that some predators are really at THE top and are no other animal's prey. These are called apex predators.
Year 5 - Aspirational Scientists
Date: 5th Dec 2022 @ 4:21pm
As part of our learning journey in science, we have learned about Sally Ride, who became the first American woman in Space when she was part of the Challenger Shuttle crew in 1983. Pupils found out about her life, before using their literacy skills to write a biography about this amazing person. As a child, Sally Ride was a star pupil and outstanding tennis player. She has degrees in physics and English, and helped design the Challenger Shuttle's 'arm' which was used in space. After working for NASA, Sally was a professor at the University of California, wrote children's books about science, and started a school program to encourage children, especially girls, to become scientists. After her death in 2012, Sally's sister revelled that she had been in a same-sex relationship with a fellow scientist, and had sadly felt that she needed to keep it a secret for 27 years to protect her career.
Date: 2nd Dec 2022 @ 4:38pm
Today in Science, we continued our materials unit with another experiment. This week we had to find the best material for a boat so we decided we should conduct a float or sink experiment. We tested a range of materials by placing them and dropping them into the water before recording our results. We found that some materials float and others sank.
Date: 29th Nov 2022 @ 1:22pm
In Science, Year 3 have been investigating what fossils are and how they were formed. We completed a carousel of activities to expand our knowledge. We used secondary sources to gather and present information, used magnifying glasses to examine fossils specimens and even made our own fossils!
Year 4 - Digestive System Model
Date: 29th Nov 2022 @ 10:58am
This week we used our knowledge of the digestive system to create a model. First, we looked at the start of the digestive system (the mouth). We broke up crackers with our hands then chewed one for a minute. The chewed crackers was broken down much more and had less starch in because of an enzyme called amylase in our saliva. This aids digestion. Then we use tights to model our intestine, a food bag to model our stomach, a cup to model our rectum and a hole in the cup to model the anus. We mixed up food and drink in the 'stomach' and churned it with our hands. Then we pushed the food through the 'intestine'. We could see all the liquid seeping out of the tights (this is the nutrients and water being absorbed into the body). After the food had passed through the intestines, it was stored in the 'rectum' before leaving the 'body' through the 'anus'.
Year 1 Waterproof or Absorbent
Date: 25th Nov 2022 @ 7:27pm
Today we helped Ted solve an emergency! Firstly, we learnt two new key words, waterproof and absorbent.
‘Waterproof means it keeps out water’
‘Absorbent means it can soak up liquid’
We also discussed and found out about Charles Macintosh, who was best known for his invention of a method for making waterproof clothing.
‘He put the rubber and chemicals on fabric to make it waterproof’
We then used what we know about materials, their properties and our new vocabulary to solve Ted’s emergency. We discussed how we were going to make it a fair test, by using the same amount of water and the same amount of time. We then worked in small groups to complete our experiment. In these groups we made our predictions, before following our method.
Year 2's Eggcellent Eggsperiment
Date: 24th Nov 2022 @ 8:56pm
This week, as part of our everyday materials unit we conducted an eggciting experiment to find out which material would protect an egg best. Firstly, we decided how we could test it and discussed to ensure it is a fair test we would have to drop each egg from the same height. After we agreed we would drop it 1 metre and made our predictions of what we thought would happen we let the smashing begin. We tested a range of materials including: felt, newspaper, plastic tub, tin foil, bubble wrap and cotton wool. Some cracked slightly, some completely smashed and others nothing at all happened because the material protected it so well. We all had a smashing afternoon!
Date: 18th Nov 2022 @ 4:23pm
This half term, Year Two are exploring the use of everyday materials and this week we conducted an experiment to test the strength of paper and cardboard. We also tested whether the amount of layers each material had altered how strong it was. We found that cardboard is much stronger than paper but the more layers you add, the stronger each material became.
Date: 16th Nov 2022 @ 10:49am
Nursery have been exloring Autumn this week. We have talked about all the signs that it is Autumn including colourful leaves, conkers and acorns on the ground and the weather getting a bit cooler. The children have loved looking at Autumn objects with a maginifying glass and talking about what they could see. We also made some great leaf people - everyone looked different! To help us develop our subitising skills, we picked a card with 1,2, or 3 dots on and then had to add the same number of leaves to a tree and for our fine motor muscles the chilren put loom bands on pinecones and used tweezers to move conkers in to a bowl.
Date: 15th Nov 2022 @ 9:11pm
In our science lesson this week, created a scale replica of our solar system. We found the distances of the planets from the sun in Astronomical unit (AU), and converted this to meters. 1 AU is the distance from Earth to the Sun, so on our model Earth was 1 meter from the Sun. As you can see the rocky planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are relatively close together, whereas the gas giants are further apart.
Year 3- Investiagting Igneous Rocks
Date: 14th Nov 2022 @ 2:24pm
In this lesson we worked scientifically to plan an investigation surrounding the crystal size in Igneous rocks. We identified that we were going to change the temperature, we had three containers that had ice, cotton wool and air in. We will observe over the next 24 hours and see if our predictions were correct.
Reception Willow Class visit Salisbury Woods
Date: 13th Nov 2022 @ 5:04pm
This week Willow class went on a woodland walk to Salisbury Woods, to look for signs of Autumn.
The children had such a great time collecting the leaves that have fallen off the trees, observing all the different Autumn colours and looking out for woodland animals.
We managed to collect lots of leaves in different coloures, shapes and sizes and were also very lucky to spot some squirrels running through the tree tops.
Everyone had such a good time and we will use our leaves to make Autumn pictures and leaf rattles aswell as writing about what we saw in the woods.
Take a look at some of the things we got up to down in the woods!
"The leave change colour in Autumn" Lana-Rose.
"Some of the animals are going to hibernate in the winter" Kristian
"The temperature is colder in Autumn" Kaziimir
Reception- If you go down to the woods today...
Date: 10th Nov 2022 @ 5:40pm
This week Holly class went on a woodland walk to Salisbury Woods, next to the golf course and the hospital, to look for signs of Autumn.
The children had such a great time collecting the leaves that have fallen off the trees, observing all the different Autumn colours and looking out for woodland animals too.
We manage to collect lots of leaves in different coloures, shapes and sizes and were also very lucky to spot a squirrel running through the tree tops. Also, on the ground, there were mushrooms growing, however, we did not touch them as they might be poisonous!
Everyone had such a good time and we will use our leaves to make Autumn pictures and leaf rattles aswell as writing about what we saw in the woods.
Take a look at some of the things we got up to down in the woods!
"The leaves are on the floor- they have fallen off the tree" Sheraa.
" In Autumn the leaves die and fall to the ground" Lennox.
"The leaves are orange, red, brown and yellow" Harper.
" In Autumn the weather is colder" Alfie
Date: 10th Nov 2022 @ 9:16am
In Science this week, we demonstrated how metamorphic rocks are made by using chocolate! We started off with white and milk chocolate. We then cut it into small pieces to demonstrate erosion. This made sediments which we then applied pressure to and squashed together to make a sedimentary rock. Once we had formed this rock, we applied heat to the rock and then allowed it to cool. This made a metamorphic rock. At the end of the lesson, we cut our rocks open and discovered the different colours and layers in our rocks.
Date: 7th Nov 2022 @ 9:27pm
Over the last few months, our aspiring young gardners have been meeting each week, after school, to prepare the school grounds for Winter and planting bulbs ready for Spring.
Mrs McAllister and her young gardners have been clearing away the dead flowers fron summer, recycling the seeds from the sunflower heads in our Nursery garden and planting Spring bulbs across school.
Now most of the jobs have been done for the year, we look forward to meeting with Gardening Club again in Spring.
Year 4 Teeth Observation RESULTS!
Date: 7th Nov 2022 @ 2:36pm
The results are in!!
The coke and orange juice caused the worst staining. If this was our teeth they would have gone through our enamel and caused decay. Even though, diet coke is low sugar it still caused a stain. This could be because of the dark colour it is. Today, we also spoke about the importance of brushing our teeth twice a day. We know what eating a balanced diet means, but it is important to brush away the foods and drinks we eat at the end of the day and before the day starts. We need to clean bacteria etc away so it doesn't stain our teeth or cause cavities or decaying. When we have finished brushing our teeth, we shouldn't rinse with water because the toothpaste won't then stay on our teeth to continue protecting them.
Year 4 Science Observation Set Up
Date: 4th Nov 2022 @ 11:48am
Today we set up a Science observation ready for our lesson on Monday. We used eggs to act like our teeth (the shell acting like the enamel of our teeth). We poured milk, orange juice, coffee, diet coke, water and full fat coke into cups with the eggs instead. We are going to leave them over the weekend and see what changes there are on Monday in our Science lesson. Check back on Monday for the results!
Date: 20th Oct 2022 @ 7:21am
Yesterday, Year Two enjoyed using the Now Press Play equipment to explore different habitats and the animals that live there especially thinking carefully about how these animals are adapted to survive in their natural habitat. We pretended we were aliens in a spaceship that crash landed on planet Earth and had to find a suitable habitat for the aliens to come and live. Whilst we were unsuccessful finding somewhere for the aliens to live we did manage to explore a variety of habitats which we have been learning about in Science. Firstly, we took a swim in the ocean and had to morph into sharks to survive with gills and fins. Next, we went to an incredibly cold place called Antarctica where we had to grow feathers and huddle together like penguins to keep oursevles warm. Then, we left Antarctica and found a jungle surrounded by tall trees and monkey's who we swung around with for a while before taking a journey to the hot desert where we met a camel. It was here we had to adapt and get a hump to store water and change our feet so they were wide to walk on the hot sand. It was great fun and helped consolidate the learning we have been doing in Science this half term.
Year 2's Final Forest School Fun
Date: 17th Oct 2022 @ 2:50pm
This week Forest School enjoyed their final forest school session with Jenna and Michelle. This week, we thought about ways to survive if we got stranded in the cold on a mountain and used the parachute as our shelter thinking about the warmth it provided. We also thought about the 3 things we need for a fire- air, fuel and heat and some of us used the tools to practise lighting a fire so we could toast marshmellows. We have had a wonderful three weeks in forest school and look forward to our final three sessions in the summer.
