Science

We discussed at the signs of Autumn we already know. We then watched a BBC Bitesize video that shows the changes that happen in nature in                preparation for Winter. We learnt that leaves start to change colour, animals like hedgehogs and dormice start to hibernate and animals like squirrels start collecting nuts and seeds as food to store during the colder months. We then went outside and completed an “Autumn Treasure Hunt”.

We investigated the importance of washing our hands. We put half an apple in a dish that had been touched by unwashed hands, a dish that had been touched by children without help washing their hands, an apple touched by children that had washed their hands for 20 seconds and a half an apple that hasn’t been touched by any children.

The children worked in groups to discuss and answer different questions about each stages of life. We discussed the order in which the life stages happen. We then discussed what a human can do and not do at each stage of life.

We have been looking at penguins and discussing how penguins keep dry and warm. We talked about penguin’s feathers and drew what we thought they looked like. We then examined feathers more closely using an Easy scope and then drew the feathers in more detail. We discussed our findings then tested the feathers to see if they were waterproof by dropping water onto them and looking at them again through the microscope.

Yesterday, the children were given a package wrapped in tin foil. They had to predict what was in the package by describing how it felt. Once the package was open, they realised there was a penguin inside an ice cube. The children had to work in teams to investigate how they could “rescue” the penguins. The children’s ideas included using their body temperature to warm up the ice so it melted, using warm water, using plastic knives, dropping it and also using a hammer. The children that used a hammer rescued their penguin first but we learnt that the other methods would work but would need more time.

As a class we investigated how it felt to put our hands in cold water without gloves, wearing woolly gloves and wearing waterproof gloves. We discussed that although the gloves were warm or water proof it was still cold on our hands when we immersed them in cold water. Jasmine said that we should put a waterproof glove over a woolly hot so our hands would be warm and dry. We tested her theory and it proved correct.

We then looked at the Emperor penguin and the climate in which they live. We discussed how the penguin would keep warm and the properties of a penguin. Isla said that penguins have blubber so we talked about what blubber was and investigated how blubber can keep a penguin warm by putting our hands in between two bags of oil and lard and placing our hands into the water.

L.O: Whilst changing the shape of an object, I can describe the action used. I can use the words flexible and/or stretchy to describe materials that can be changed in shape and stiff and/or rigid for those that cannot.

We were given a range of different materials. The children then had to investigate each material to test whether it can twist, bend, squash and stretch. The children to record results on their chart.