Chicks!
The chicks visited Reception today.
Thank you!
Thank you for sending emails informing us of your child’s achievements at home.
Please keep them coming! They really help us to plan for your child’s interests and help us to accurately assess their abilities.
Below is an example(names have been changed).
This email informs us that Jane is writing at home and using lead-ins. More importantly it tells us that she really enjoys her learning.
Maths Stay and Play
Thanks to everyone who attended our Maths Stay and Play. We hope you had fun!
How does your garden grow?
In Year 4, we always try to link our reading area to our current topic. Children are encouraged to bring books in from home to add to our library and for others to enjoy.
As we begin our new topic, Life Forces, we decided to make the reading corner into a garden. We have created a calm, relaxing garden that is full of lots of reading resources linked to life. From learning about how your body works to leaflets from the local pet shop about how to care for various pets, we have the lot!
Alongside the reading, we also have some bulbs growing on the windowsill. These are amaryllis plants and are forming a daily observation. The children will observe these plants over time, record growth, photograph, note changes, observe the roots, check water levels and much more.
The bulbs were planted in different materials.
One is in stones, gravel and decorative pebbles and the other bulb is growing in soil, stones and chalk pebbles.
Yogart
Yoga and art- the newest craze to hit year 3! Whilst improving our flexibility and strength alongside our mindfulness, we also practised sketching in PE. Our aim is to build a bank of our favourite yoga poses.
Having been inspired by Cosmic Kids Yoga, we will use our sketches to create our own yoga story to retell to the class.
Merging our big topic Life Forces and our yogart, we will create weird and wonderful yoga stories about the world around us for us to increase our balance and inner peace.
Watch this space…
Investigating insulation
Insulation is cool! Or is it hot? Actually, it’s both! An insulator is a property of material that prevents heat from moving, keeping cold things cold and hot things hot!
Tyler Fish – a polar explorer – set us a challenge to find the best material for their new kit. The Arctic is extremely cold and temperatures can drop as low as -50 degrees Celsius so the material would have to keep them warm. We chose our materials and set up our equipment…
…three cups containing the same amount of warm water, which we wrapped in bubble wrap, felt and cotton, for example.
We made predictions about which material would be the best insulator. Carefully and with precision, we measured the starting temperature.
After 20 minutes, we measured the temperature again.
Working out the difference in temperature, we were able to work out the best material. Challenge your child to fill in the blanks:
The smaller the ___________, the better the ___________.
Each group was able to recommend their chosen material to Tyler for him to order new Arctic kit. Success!
Polar launch day
We were very excited to welcome a visitor – our polar ambassador Terry Kirk!
First, we had to find the Arctic before we could dive in.
But who really sits at the top of the food chain? We worked in groups to discuss the right order.
It turns out it’s a lot more complex than it seems! A more accurate term is food web. We were tasked with creating a food web mobile to demonstrate the pecking order. This required teamwork and problem solving. It was really tricky at first but we were extremely proud of our results!
Challenge question- what would happen to the animals that eat fish, if the fish were poisoned?
To get inspired by Boaty McBoatface and find upcoming events and activities, visit STEM Learning.
How Do Polar Animals Stay Warm in Icy Water?
On Wednesday we kicked off our Life Forces topic by being polar explorers for the day!
We learnt how polar animals have a thick layer of fat, known as blubber, underneath their skin that keeps them warm. Year 1 wanted to find out if this was true.
First, we put our bare hands in the water to feel how cold it was. Then, we made our blubber gloves using rubber gloves and margarine and put our hands back in the water.
Year 1 discovered it was true! The blubber glove helped to protect our hand from the freezing water.
What fun we had!
Chick Cam 3!
We’ve now got seven chicks! We’ll start moving them to the breeder box today.
Polar Explorer Day in Y6
The whole school took on the role of polar explorers today to kick off our new eight-week Big Topic: Life Forces. We began the day with Terry Kirk, our school’s polar ambassador, learning all about the RHS Sir David Attenborough (a new research vessel for the British Antarctic Survey).
Year 6 then discussed how animals are adapted to survive in the cold conditions of the Arctic and Antarctic. Most of us already knew about blubber – a thick layer of fat underneath the skin – but we got to feel just how effective it can be by creating our very own blubber gloves.
We then imagined that we were explorers of the Arctic and wrote a diary entry of our adventures – there were some really great pieces of writing in the room.
In the afternoon, we learnt all about how animals are adapted to survive in winter and summer and across different habitats. We took notes of what we were learning all over the tables.
Then, we used all of the knowledge we gained throughout the afternoon to create our own creature. We were told whether they were a predator or prey and where they lived. It was important to consider this when thinking about how our animal would be adapted.
A great day was had by all – especially me!