Science: Blog items
Date: 21st Mar 2024 @ 4:05pm
Today, dinosaurs arrived at Boundary! We begun the day with an assembly where we met Jam the T-Rex and learnt about his diet and discussed some of his features. In class we created our own top trumps cards of different dinosaurs and completed a range of different activities throughout the day. In the afternoon, we were treated to meeting 3 different baby dinosaurs and some of us even got to interact with them. We also completed an investigation 'How do dinosaurs teeth affect their diet?' We ground leaves and cotton wool down using rocks and a staple remover to find how different dinosaurs have different teeth for their diet. Finally, we went outside and put our measuring skills to the test measuring the lengths of 3 different dinosaurs on the playground and ordering them shortest to longest. We have had an exciting and incredible day and hope the dinosaurs may one day come back to visit us!
Date: 21st Mar 2024 @ 3:48pm
Wow, what an amazing day we had for our Science day today which was all about dinosaurs! We started off the day with an introduction to dinosaurs and the history behind them before learning about the different dinosaurs during some guess who games. We then had a fantastic assembly from the team at TeachRex and met the dinosaur, Jam. We learnt all about Jam and how he hunts for food. After break, we started to plan and sketch our own dinosaurs ready for the afternoon where we made a real life model out of clay. The day was finished off with another great assembly where the children learnt how to make their own videos using a green screen and some children got chased by Jam! The children all thoroughly enjoyed the day and were fantastic.
Date: 21st Mar 2024 @ 3:29pm
Year 6 have had a great day today! We met Jam the T-Rex, learned about Mary Anning and what fossils can tell us about evolution and ended the day with a workshop where we learned how to create a green screen movie.
Year 4 - When dinosaurs arrived at Boundary
Date: 21st Mar 2024 @ 2:40pm
Wow! What an amazing day for Science day today. We started the day with a wordsearch of lots of tricky dinosaur names. Then together in groups we wrote down lots of adjectives to describe dinosaurs. All of the words we used described dinosaurs as being extremely big. So our teachers showed us a variety of dinosaurs and we were surprised at how small some were - some as small as chickens! After a discussion about it, we then thought of more words to describe the variety of dinosaurs we had just looked at. After break, we went into a KS2 assembly where we met Jam. We learned about how Jam hunts for food. We found out that he had a great sense of smells and good eyesight. Next, we used our Maths and teamwork skills to do a scale jigsaw of a Tyrannosaurus Rex's head and a Sinornithosaurus. The children worked brilliantly together and we couldn't believe how big a T-Rex's head was in comparison to Year 4 children! After lunch, we went to the green screen workshop with the Teach Rex team and learned how to edit videos. Lastly, we used all our learning from the day to write fact files about a dinosaur of our choice. What a great day!
Date: 21st Mar 2024 @ 1:14pm
Today we enjoyed Science day! We began the day with an amazing assembly from TEACHREX! We met and learnt about Jam the dinosaur, whilst taking part in lots of fun activities! Year 1 were also lucky enough to also meet the baby dinosaurs. We met Sky, Roger and Dinky who all taught us something different about themselves! Throughout the day we also read dinosaur fact files, completed labelling activities and designed our own dinosaur puppet.
Year 4 - WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre
Date: 14th Mar 2024 @ 7:30pm
WOW! What a great day at WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre. The weather was kind to us and held off for most of the day. We explored the Wetland Centre and saw lots of different animals and found out about their habitats and how their bodies are adapted to their environment. WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre are trying to tackle climate change, protect wildlife and tackle flooding. It was great to see everything they are doing to help our environment and the wildlife around us.
Date: 14th Mar 2024 @ 3:50pm
Yesterday, Year Two had a visit from the School Nursing team who taught us all about basic hygiene. We started the session by talking about the different kinds of germs that live on our body and how they can make us poorly. Then, Millie read us a story called 'Why Wash?' and we discussed all the areas of our body that we should be washing regularly all the way from our hair to our toes thinking about what to use and why it is important. We finished by demonstrating how germs are spread as some people spread their germs (glitter) around the classroom by shaking hands with their friends and leaving parts on their friends hands before discussing the 20 second rule to handwashing.
Date: 14th Mar 2024 @ 11:26am
Today we continued to explore the key question ‘what is the best habitat for an animal?’ We recapped on the key habitats we have learnt about this half term and the four things each habitat provides for an animal; food, water, shelter and space. We looked at a number of different habitats and discussed which animals belonged there and which animals had been placed in the wrong habitat and why. We then worked independently to create our own habitat diorama for a chosen animal. We used drawing to create our chosen habitat, orally explaining why our animal lives in this habitat and what it provides for them.
‘I created an ocean habitat for the clownfish – ocean habitats are very wet and very big! The ocean habitat is the biggest habitat’
‘Camels live in the dry desert habitat. They store fat in their humps so they can survive without lots of food. They have flat feet so they don’t sink in the sand.’
Date: 11th Mar 2024 @ 1:01pm
We visited Aspire as part of our Light topic in Science. We looked at what white light is made up of and used a light box to try to create our own rainbows. We then learnt about the primary colours of light. We explored what happens when we shine these colours onto objects. Finally, we mixed the primary colours of light to create white light.
Date: 5th Mar 2024 @ 7:11pm
To explore our question for this lesson, ‘what is the best habitat for an animal?’ we visited our forest school area. 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.
We found lots of different mini beasts such as slugs, snails, wood lice, beetles and spiders. We orally discussed why this is the best habitat for each animal using the STEM sentence ‘I think it is the best habitat because …’
Date: 29th Feb 2024 @ 4:52pm
Today, Year Two enjoyed their first forest school session of the spring term. We begun by discussing how the season has changed from Autumn to Winter and what has changed in the outside areas; we then went on a hunt around the garden to find signs that spring is nearly here! Next we made friendship bracelets, working well together to twist the materials tightly and tie a knot so we could wear them before we had a team race to see who was the best at tying knots in string. Finally, we explored shelters and used the parachute to protect us from the cold before making our own dens in the garden to protect a teddybear.
Date: 29th Feb 2024 @ 8:42am
This week pupils investigated the causes and effects of friction. We carried out an investigation by measuring the force needed to move a mass of 1kg on different surfaces. We discovered that smooth surfaces created less friction and rough surfaces created more friction. A higher mass will also increase the amount of friction.
Date: 27th Feb 2024 @ 11:51am
In our first lesson on light we explored what light was and what darkness is. We discoverd that darkness was the absence of light. We also learnt that light travels in straight lines. Finally, we explored what light sources are and which were natural and manmade.
Year 4 - Classifying vertebrates
Date: 26th Feb 2024 @ 7:03pm
Today we focused on how to classify vertebrate using branching. We recapped the characteristics of the five vertebrates then used various resources to make our own.
Date: 20th Feb 2024 @ 1:22pm
"What will melt the ice the quickest?"
This was the question that Reception had to answer when they carried out their very exciting science experiment.
They worked in small groups, discussing the changes that were happening as the ice began to melt. They used warm water, salt, a scrubbing brush and washing up liquid.
They eventually discovered that the warm water melted the ice the quickest and that salt was much better than a scrubbing brush or washing up liquid.
"I think it will be warm water that melts the ice the fastest because it is warm like the sun and the sun melts the ice when its frosty." Mathew.
"The brush is too hard to melt the ice- it's not working!" Niko.
"The warm water has melted it quicker than the others- look the toy is already out of it!" Kierah.
Date: 2nd Feb 2024 @ 3:57pm
Today, we used our electricity knowledge and participated in a Now Press Play where our town had lost power and we needed to get the power back on to save our cousin on dialysis. We made a torch using our knowledge of circuits using wire, bulbs and batteries so we could make our way around to the power station. We even made the bulb brighter by adding another battery.
Date: 1st Feb 2024 @ 5:15pm
Today we learnt how to group animals based on what they eat. We learnt that all animals need to eat so that they can stay alive. We understood that this is because food is the main source of energy for all animals! We learnt that different animals eat different types of food and we discussed the scientific vocabulary to explain how to sort these animals into groups. We went through lots of examples together, naming the animal, discussing their diet and then identifying the diet group they belong to. Working with a partner, we then sorted a number of common animals into groups based on what they eat. We used the correct scientific vocabulary when discussing our choices and explaining our reasoning.
Year 6 - Working Scientifically
Date: 1st Feb 2024 @ 3:05pm
In Science this week we have planned and set up an investigation into mould growth on bread. We chose to wipe hands on different slices of bread with different cleaning products on the hands. We had to have a control slice of bread where nothing at all was put on it. This is so that we can compare all the slices of bread to it at the end of the investigation. The other 4 slices of bread were:
Dirty hands
Hands cleaned with soap and water
Hands cleaned with hand sanitiser
Hands cleaned with an alcohol wipe
We will observe any changes to the bread over a 2-week period. Come back to see the conclusion to our fair test...
Date: 1st Feb 2024 @ 12:16pm
As part of our biology lessons this half term, we have been learning about how our bodies change as we get older. In this lesson, pupils worked together to plan a fair test to investigate how people's eye-sight may be different. We discovered that moving closer to an object generally improves our vision. Also, we learned that as we get older our eye-sight gets worse as the lenses in our eyes become worn, and this is why more people wear glasses as they enter old age.
Nursery Meet Alan and his Big Scary Teeth
Date: 31st Jan 2024 @ 1:01pm
Nursery read a brilliant story called "Alan's Big Scary Teeth" about an Alligator who scares all the jungle animals with his very large teeth! Alan takes really good care of his teeth, so we have been learning about how to take care of our own teeth and have practised brushing some giant teeth! We have also talked about "A" for alligator and thought of other items that begin with "A". To practise out counting, we have have been giving Alan the right number of teeth. To support the children with their social interactions, we played the Crocodile Tooth game. The children had to take it in turns to press down a tooth and hope that they don't get bitten by the crocodile!
Date: 23rd Jan 2024 @ 4:48pm
Today in Science we were investigating how to make a bulb light. We started off by trying to light up Energy Sticks. We worked together and found out that in order to light, the sticks needed to be part of a circuit. We learned that energy travels around a circuit and if there is a break in the circuit, the energy can no longer travel all the way around. We then applied what we had learned to build a circuit that would make a bulb light. We also used an interactive program to build a circuit that would make a bulb light. We experimented with using more than one bulb in a circuit and using more than one power source.
Nursery explore the snow and ice
Date: 19th Jan 2024 @ 6:50am
Brrrrrrr! It's been a cold one this week - but that didn't stop us exploring! The children have had a great time playing in the snow and ice and made some amazing dicoveries! The water in our sink in the mud kitchen was frozen with very thick ice - so thick that matter what the children tired, they couldn't crack it! We also found a pair of gloves that had been left outside and were frozen to the table! There was no moving them no matter what we did! Best of all, we managed to have a quick snowball fight before or all the snow melted.
Nursery Explore What Winter Feels Like
Date: 15th Jan 2024 @ 10:19pm
This week we read the story "A Little Bit of Winter" about a hedghog who asks his friend rabbit to save him a little bit of winter so he knows what it feels like. The children have held ice to and talked about what it feels like and compared it to holding something warm. We have also explored cold colours through painting and collage and made some winter cocktails, There were some lovely conversations about snow at our winter sensory tray and discussions about fun things we can do in the winter as the children played with the mini ice skating rink.
Date: 15th Dec 2023 @ 9:15am
One of Santa's elves has been visiting us recently. Today, we brought a snowman from the North Pole to visit us. Unfortunately, the snowman had melted. We discussed why he had melted and used our States of Matter knowledge from Science to work out that the classroom was too hot. Someone asked if we could take him to the freezer but we realised we couldn't because he would then freeze in the shape of the container.
Date: 7th Dec 2023 @ 2:32pm
In this lesson, pupils investigated which materials were good conductors of heat and which materials were good conductors of electricity. We concluded that metals were the best conductors of heat and electricity, and also that materials that were good heat conductors were also good electrical conductors. Materials that are not good conductors are called insulators.
