Science

We are getting really good at selecting which Science Enquiry skill we are working on in different lessons.

We love our messy Science investigations. This afternoon we investigated how we could use different equipment to filter the dirty water. Just look how clean we managed to finally get it.....

We investigated a variety of different ways in which we could speed up the time it takes to dissolve sugar.  Each group changed a different variable such as the temperature of the water, the type of sugar, the volume of the water, the amount of sugar or the speed of stirring.  We then worked out what our results showed and wrote a conclusion taking into consideration how fair our tests were as well.

Miss Jordan, who is having a baby in the Summer, set us a challenge of finding out the best brand of nappies.  We worked in groups to carry out a comparative test of the absorbency of the different nappies and then reported back to Miss Jordan our findings.  We were surprised to find out that the cheapest brand were the most absorbent!

Comparative testing to investigate which material works best as a thermal insulator and will keep the teachers' coffee warmer for longer when they are on break duty.

We were set the challenge of carrying out different tests on a variety of materials.  We had to consider how we could record our findings and what we could do to carry out the test.  We investigated flexibility, permeability, transparency, hardness whether a material was magnetic.

We have been working on carrying out a fair test to investigate orbit times.  We used a ping pong ball tied to a string to model a planet and its orbit. We changed the size of the string so it was a smaller or larger orbit and then timed how long the orbit would take.   We had to consider which variables we had to keep the same to make the test fair and we also thought about why scientists repeat tests. We will now look closely at our results to determine if we can prove that the further the planet from the Sun, the longer the orbit time.

Researching about the life of a significant Scientist........Dr. Mae Jemison.

We have been learning about the different phases of the moon and used oreo cookies to represent a model of how the different stages.  We explored how we only see part of the moon at different times of the lunar cycle and why this was the case.

The Big Question

‘Is there a pattern between the size of a planet and the time it takes to travel around the Sun?’

We explored the planet fact cards to look for patterns and relationships.

Working in our groups we read out different statements about the Solar System and had to decide if they were true/false or whether we were not sure.  We then annotated our posters with our thoughts about the statements.

Creating our solar systems in our pockets helped us to understand the distance between the planets and the Sun.  

We carried out a fun activity to try and model the order of the planets in the Solar system along with trying to show the distance between each planet.  We ended up outside the classroom to model this!

We had a super launch to our new topic of Earth and Space, where we took part in a fun Space Art Day.  We held a Zoom meeting with Helen Mason OBE, who is a physicist at Cambridge University and Helen Schell who is a visual artist and a UK Space Ambassador. As well as finding out lots more about the solar system, we also created our own planet flags to represent our chosen planet.  

We have been learning about how flowers use pollination to reproduce.  We dissected a lily to explore the different parts of the flower, including learning the scientific names for the male and female parts of the flower.  We also used the Easi-Scope microscopes to look closely at the smaller parts of the flower including the ovary and ovules.  

Research

We researched and wrote reports about the life and work of Sir David Attenborough, one of the world's most famous naturalists. We were interested to learn about his passion for campaigning to alert people to protect our planet.

Grouping and Classifying

We worked in small groups to sort the life cycles of different animals that had become muddled up into the correct order.  This helped us to explore the similarities and differences between the life cycle of different classes of animal.  We created a giant Venn diagram to explore the similarities between the life cycles of birds and mammals.

Grouping and Classifying

Beech class were given a variety of pictures of different animals.  They had to decide how we could group and classify these living things into different groups.  There was some very interesting discussions taking place.  

Observing over time

To begin our Living things and habitats topic, we explored our local environment for evidence of the different living things we could find.  We took photos and will return in the Summer term, so that we can observe what changes have occurred over time.

Gestation Gurus- Pattern Seeking

We played a game to see if we could work out the different gestation periods for different mammals.  We learned that gestation is the process by which a mammal grows a baby and is the time between conception and birth.  Once we had worked out the correct gestation periods for different mammals, we were challenged to spot any patterns in the results.  We realised that there was a link between the size of the animal and how long it carried a baby for before giving birth.  

In most cases, the larger the animal the longer period of gestation.  Therefore, the smaller the animal, the shorter gestation time. 

We then carried out our own research to investigate if other animals followed this pattern and relationship.