Science: Blog items
We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!
Date: 7th Feb 2020 @ 8:55am
Year 2 had lovely day at Blackpool Zoo. We saw lots of interesting animals and we learnt lots of new facts! Did you know that elephants have 40,000 muscles in their trunk alone?!
During the day, we also had a lesson about habitats. We learnt how animals adapt to their surroundings to survive. We also got to touch a bearded dragon and elephant poo! We had a brilliant time and luckily the weather was perfect!
The One Where We Looked At Evolutionary Trees
Date: 6th Feb 2020 @ 12:42pm
What a fun Science lesson we had today! We learn that before humans evolved, early common ancestors with other mammals walked on all fours, but fossils that have been found tells us that early humans (australopithecines and homo species) ‘evolved’ to walk on two legs (anatomical evidence, but also bipedal footprint fossils). We now understand that we DID NOT evolve from primates but that we simply have common ancestors. We looked at the advantages and disadvantages of home species evolving to walk on two legs (bipedalism) and how they needed to evolve and adapt in order to survive. We learnt a crazy fact too - our closest living relative is a chimpanzee with around 97% identical DNA. Who knew that? Well, we do now! We then looked at how biscuits have evolved over time and what has changed to their characteristics each time. We ordered the biscuits in complexity and described how they have changed - this helped us to understand the evolution process of many living things; such as, cockroaches, ferns, primates and many more.
Date: 29th Jan 2020 @ 8:46pm
This week Year 2 have been learning about different types of animal classifications and explored how each one was unique. Children worked collaboratively and discussed many different animals and then made choices as to what classification they were, based on their individual features. Next we played guess who, where children had to describe the different features and the class had to guess which animal classification it was (E.g bird, fish, mammal, amphibians or reptiles). Afterwards children compared each of the classifications and discussed the similarities and differences between them.
Date: 21st Jan 2020 @ 4:58pm
Today, we had our second 'No Pen Day' of the academic year! Along with that, we had some of our parents come in to school and see their children learning. The parents enjoyed coming to learn some maths and watch the children tackle some challenging work - loop card games involving fractions, decimals and percentages and a square number problem where children had use patience, resilience and determination to find a solution. We also spent our morning looking at different ways on how we could practise our spelling without using pen and paper. We thoroughly enjoyed the 'Taboo' game where we had to describe a particular Year 5 and 6 spelling. In the afternoon, we learnt about adaptation and mutations - how plants and animals adapt in order the survive in a certain biome.
Date: 17th Jan 2020 @ 12:41pm
This week in Fit 2 Go Year 4 have been learning about the Eat Well Plate and the different food groups. They discussed the purpose of each food group and why a balanced diet is so important. Using this knowledge the children were able to plan a day of healthy meals and snack for themselves.
Date: 16th Jan 2020 @ 9:27am
Within Science this week children have been learning about Gases. We discussed different uses of Gases in everyday life and how they are important within our working world. The children observed what happened when we mixed vinegar and baking soda together. They were able to understand there was a chemical reaction which resulted in the creation of Carbon Dioxide. The children understood this was how the balloon was inflated. Then the children used their knowledge of Gases and how they behave to make predictions for our Mentos and Coke experiment They children were able to discuss what they learnt from the experiments.
Fit 2 Go Making Healthy Choices
Date: 16th Jan 2020 @ 9:16am
Every Friday this half term Blackpool FC will be working with Year 4 children and helping them learn about Healthy Lifestyles. In our first week of Fit 2 Go we have been learning about Healthy Choice sand what it means to lead a Healthy Lifestyle. We also enjoyed taking part in dance activities, which helped us to develop our rhythm and coordination.We are looking forward to week 2!
Date: 13th Jan 2020 @ 8:50pm
This week the children in Holly Class had some icy surprises! The challenge was to get the objets out of the blocks of ice as quickly as possible but what would melt the ice the fastest? They used washing up liquid, sand paper, salt and warm water. We made our predictions and then set to work! We discovered that warm water melted the ice the quickest, correctly predicted by Hanasa, and sand paper and washing up liquid took the longest. The salt melted the ice almost as quickly as the warm water. Connor said, after predicting the salt would be the quickest, " I knew it was fast but warm water was quicker because it's warm".
"The ice is wet because it's melting" Kiera.
"When water is very cold it turns to ice" Lucas.
"The sun is warm and will melt ice" Mia
"The water in the tray is because the ice has melted" Rosalie.
Date: 9th Jan 2020 @ 9:13am
This half term, we are looking at Animals including Humans in Science. We will be concentrating on our insides and how important it is to eat a healthy, nutritious and balanced diet. For our WOW we used salt dough and mirrors to recreate our own teeth! This was a sticky but fun activity which helped us understand the different types of teeth and their jobs. We also looked at pictures of animal skeletons and using art straws to recreate them on black card. It was so much fun to look at all the different bones!
Winter - Science, Phonics, Writing and PE!!!
Date: 27th Nov 2019 @ 10:11am
This week we have been learning about winter in Science. It is "one of the four seasons of the year". We know it is often "very cold in winter" so you "need to wear warm clothes". 'Sometimes it snows in winter and you can build a snowman". We used bicarbonate of soda and citric acid to create a snowstorm! We revisited, recapped and embedded our seasons learning and knowledge in PE by making seasonal tress in our warm up, writing about our winter experiment in writing and finding 'snow' words in phonics which contained different snowmen sounds.
Date: 22nd Nov 2019 @ 3:39pm
This morning, Year 4 made our way to Aspire Academy; it was a short but wet walk! We were travelling to take part in a science lesson in the Aspire laboratories. After watching a short video that showed Steve Backshall catching crocodiles, we were set the task of testing a range of circuits that would make a bulb glow at its brightest to help locate crocodiles in the dark.
Using a range of circuits that included 1 to 4 batteries in each, we introduced a switch and reading from a Volt meter and an Ammeter, we were to record the changes in readings as we increased the cumber of cells.
We concluded that the more cells within the circuit, the greater the readings on the Volt meter and Ammeter. The difference between 1 and 2 cells within the circuit was not particularly great but between 3 and 4 cells in a circuit the speed at which the electrons passed around the circuit and the brightness of the bulb was much different - taking more power and the bulb glowed so much that it popped! We recorded our findings in a table and discussed the results in our groups and then as a whole class.
We cannot wait to continue working with Aspire and to make our next trip to see them!
Date: 19th Nov 2019 @ 7:03pm
This week in Science the children had to design an investigation, which tested a range of materials. They had to identify which materials were insulators and conductors. The children were able to identify how to make this a fair test and record clear, accurate results. They work collaboratively with peers.
Date: 12th Nov 2019 @ 3:09pm
As part of our work in Science, we have been looking at electricity and in this part of our learning journey we explored circuits. We began by looking looking at the word 'Circuit' and what it meant. We then explored the features of a simple circuit: a bulb, wires and a cell. Using a photographs of a range of circuits we had to predict, in groups, wether each was a complete or an incomplete circuit. Then we created each of these circuits in turn to decide if our predictions were correct or incorrect.
Date: 9th Sep 2019 @ 2:57pm
It was a little bit chilly but the rain held off as Year 3 began their hike to Blackpool Zoo, bright and early! 'It's not far...keep going!' the teachers said. Finally, the children and staff arrived at the zoo and were ready for a fun filled day of learning. After a quick look at some animals, it was time for the educational workshop. Here, the children learnt so much new information including lots about diet and nutrition which links to Year 3's science topic this half-term. After a quick bite to eat, the adventure continued and the children visited all the different animals, finding out lots of interesting facts. As the day came to an end, the children had to find one last bit of energy for the walk home. We returned to school with some very tired children but a great day was had by all!
Date: 28th Oct 2019 @ 3:36pm
To link in with our unit on 'Volcanoes and Mountains', today we had to build and 'erupt' our own volcanoes. We were split up into groups where we had to use the resources (cardboard, plastic bottles, PVA glue, paint and strips of newspaper) to shape a volcano made from paper mache. Once we had built our volcanoes, we then headed outside where we used white vinegar, bicarbonate soda and red food colouring to 'erupt' them. We had a great morning during our WOW session and we can't wait to learn more about volcanoes and mountains.
Date: 17th Oct 2019 @ 4:00pm
Every half term, children in Boundary will be learning about an area of Eco. Eco is short for ecological which means the relations of living organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings. Year three's theme this half term was Climate Change. Children watched videos, played games and created a poster to demonstrate awareness of how we need to change the way we are to help our planet.
Date: 8th Oct 2019 @ 12:39pm
This week were lucky enough to have a fantastic visit from SMJ Falconry who brought 4 owls; Midge, Molly, Ollie and Spud. We found out lots of interesting facts about the owls and even had the opportunity to hold on wearing a special glove. Back in the classroom we read the story Owl Babies, uses props and puppets to retell the story orally, made owls out of recycled materials, used play dough to make our own owls and built nest out of natural materials. We also drew the owls from the story and labelled them with the initial sound. What a busy week we have had!
Date: 17th Oct 2019 @ 9:44am
Year 3 had a great time on No Pen Day, especially in Science! We have been learning all about magnetic forces and we used iron filings to create our own magnetic fields. We also had to work together to create our own magnetic maze, using rolled paper - a technique we have been looking at in our Design Technology lessons. It was interesting to see all the different designs. At the end of the lesson, we were able to show how the magnets don't need to be touching the magnetic object, in order to move it.
The One With Electricity At Aspire!
Date: 17th Oct 2019 @ 9:38am
Today, Year 6 went to Aspire to take part in an electricity workshop to link in with work we have done in our Science topic. The children were tasked with carrying out an investigation into what would make a bulb brighter/dimmer in a circuit. They all agreed that adding more cells to a circuit would make the bulb brighter as there was more electricity being supplied to the bulb.
Date: 16th Oct 2019 @ 8:39pm
On Wednesday morning, Gemma from 'Little Zoo to You' brought some of her animals in to meet Year Two. Some of the creatures we were lucky enough to meet were Michelle the African Land Snail, Colin the Madagascan Cockroach and Zeus the American Corn Snake. Gemma told us all about the habitats in which these animals can be found and how they have adapted to survive and thrive in their environments in the wild.
Date: 30th Sep 2019 @ 6:28pm
As part of our science 'Materials' topic, we have been investigating thermal conductors and insulators. We designed a fair test to investigate which material would be the best to keep a teacher's cup of coffee hot. We discussed the variables that could be changed and what we would measure. After making our predictions, we filled four containers (plastic, cardboard, glass and metal) with hot water and measured the temperature every two minutes. Analysis of the results showed that plastic would be the best material, as it kept the water hotter for longer.
Date: 11th Sep 2019 @ 5:00pm
This week we began our topic of 'Electricity'. We were given a range of electrical components and several tasks to try and complete within a given time. The tasks were to:
- Create a simple circuit to make a bulb light,
- Create more complex circuits to make a bulb dimmer/brighter,
- Add a range of other components into the circuit, such as motors and buzzers,
- Make a switch to turn the bulb on/off,
- Test a range of everyday items to work out which ones are conductors/insulators.
Some brilliant learning and discussions took place during the sessions.
Date: 5th Sep 2019 @ 4:34pm
Year 2 had a brilliant morning taking off in the Boundary rocket heading for the International Space Station. Once in space children began hunting for some ‘extraordinary’ photographs of our Earth and its capabilities. We then went on a scavenger hunt to find lots of different pictures by using our explorer binoculars.
Who is going to be the tallest of them all?
Date: 4th Jul 2019 @ 8:11am
Year 2 have been learning about how live and survive. This week they planted their own broad bean plant in their small greenhouses. They made sure they gave them a good water and then hung them somewhere where they will get lots of sunlight. We're looking forward to seeing them grow over the next couple of week. There is going to be some stiff competition. Who is going to be the tallest plant of them all? Watch this space.
Date: 27th Jun 2019 @ 1:04pm
On Tuesday afternoon, a brisk walk in the summer sunshine took us to Aspire Academy. We were excited about the prospect of being able to work in a secondary school science lab. We were given instructions by one of Aspire's science teachers about how to conduct an experiment. We we tested how quickly amounts of salt would dissolve in water. Predictions were made and hypotheses tested. We all enjoyed our afternoon and hope to return soon.
