Week beginning 11.03.19

This week it has been all about hypothesising, testing and observing as we have been enjoying joining in with the national celebration of British Science Week. Our Theme has been 'Journeys' Here is an over view of what we have been up to.

Day 1- Make it fly

We were given three designs of paper flying machines (planes, helicopters and gliders) and we had to improve our models to make them fly higher, faster or longer. Ask us what we changed to make the more successful models.

Day 2 - Matilda's floating feet

This experiment really got us thinking! How do you get a tissue paper newt to float using only a balloon? Static electricity is the answer! We explored the power of static electricity by creating a charge on a balloon and a variety of objects such as: plastic bag loops, feathers and polystyrene balls to create floating or jumping objects. Also, giving ourselves fantastic new hair dos in the process!

Day 3-  Trajectories

One of our favourite experiments! We made catapults using lolly sticks, elastic bands and pom-poms (as our projectiles). We experimented how to increase the trajectory of the pop- pom, by changing different variables. The most successful included: creating a larger stack of lolly sticks, changing the position on the pivot and changing the pressure when flicked.

Day 4- The journey of a water droplet

We learnt about the water cycle and were set a challenge that we initially thought was not even possible. Miss Palmer gave us a cup of extremely muddy water and lots of different tools and materials. We were given the task to make the water as clear as possible. We ended up with some pretty impressive results. Ask us how we managed it!

Day 5 - Changing states

We looked at different substances and discussed what defined a solid, a liquid or a gas. We then had some fun making a Non-Newtonian liquid. A liquid that acts like a solid when under pressure. 

And finally...

The celebration was topped of by an exciting visit from BAE Systems (British Aeronautics and Engineering), presenting practical demonstrations from the science of night vision goggles to iPad controlled Sphero Bolts. 

Week beginning 4.03.19

Where is the time going? Half-way through the year and the Seahorses are charging into some new units and topics.

We have loved learning all about the ancient Egyptians, but we are moving forward in time with our 'Ancient Times' theme this term, as we start to learn all about the ancient Greeks.

ICT

We started off our topic by thinking about what we would like to learn over the next few weeks during our time spent studying ancient Greece. We turned these thoughts into research questions and created our own cyberhunt. We found websites that would provide the answers to our questions and created a quiz using Microsoft Word embedding hyperlinks to help find the answers.

English

We are very excited about our new unit 'Myths and Legends' and have already enjoyed being introduced to some of the gods and heroes in Greek mythology such as: Icarus and Daedalus, Theseus and the Minotaur, Pandora's Box and we are even tackling Homer's 'The Odyssey'. With lots of role play and acting, we know we are going to enjoy learning about all these characters and their adventures.

The highlight of this week was definitely World Book Day where we took advantage of our 'Drop and Read' challenge to spend some extra time enjoying and sharing our favourite books. We listened out for the bell and whenever it rang we found ourselves a comfortable spot, we dropped and we read!