Year 2 - Uses of everyday materials

Year 2 have been investigating which material is the most stretchy? We read the Smartest Giant in town by Julia Donaldson and wanted to find a different material/object to help the dog cross the bog instead of the giants belt. The children used their team work skills, mathematical skills and science skills to work  answer to the scientific question: Which material is the most stretchy?

Whole School 

Pet Encounter Visit

The whole school got a visit from pet encounter to experience the animals up close and personal! We learned a lot about the different animals including their natural habitats, what they eat and dangers they might face in the wild. 

Water Workshop

The whole school had an assembly all about water from United Utilities. We learned about how much water we might use in a day and we got some tips on how to use less water. The children were very shocked about how much water we could be using daily! 
Year 4 and Year 6 were lucky enough to take part in a workshop which taught them even more about where our water comes from and how we can conserve water. This linked to our science learning about the water cycle and it also linked to our local geography map work. 

Reception

Planting Seeds

After reading 2 books in our literacy and topic sessions - The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle and A Seed in Need by Sam Godwin, we have planted our own seeds to care for over the coming weeks!

We have learned all about how seeds need warmth, light, water and nutrients to grow well. We have planted them in clear pots with compost and given them water. We used trowels to fill the pots carefully and a watering can to water them with. We will be checking on them each day and we will keep you updated each week so you can chat to your children about how their seeds are growing and progressing! 🌱

Reception - Alien Slime! 

On our space party day, we made alien slime to have for special space day snack! It was really lime jelly but alien slime made it sound much more exciting! 😂
We looked at the jelly to begin with and talked about how it was a solid. The children had a feel and a smell of a small piece of it. They described it with vocabulary such as solid, squashy, squishy, gooey, sticky, wet, slimey, sweet, fruity, tangy and sweet.
The children then observed as we added hot water to the jelly cubes. They thought it was melting but we discussed how it was actually dissolving , breaking up and mixing with the water to make liquid jelly. We then added cold water and put the jelly in the fridge to set, turning back into a solid.
We were very impressed with how all of the children tried the jelly even if they were unsure! Well done everyone!

Reception - Making Ice - Liquids, Solids, Freezing and Melting!

After learning about the winter weather of snow, ice, frost and hailstones, we decided to try and make our own ice!

We looked at, touched and experimented with water, learning that water is a liquid which is wet, runny, can spill, pour and drip and changes to the shape of any container! The children came up with that we needed to make the water really cold (like it can be outside in winter when we get ice) to change it from a liquid into ice, which we learned is a solid. They thought it might turn to ice in the fridge (but, after feeling inside, decided that wasn’t going to be cold enough) and then thought about the freezer!

We went to the staff room and poured some water into an ice cube tray and put it into the freezer! We have also looked at some ‘ice pops’ which were in liquid form. The children felt them and described them using words such as; squishy, squashy, bendy, floppy, runny and they made the link that they were a liquid . The children all put one in the freezer in hope something will happen with them...

We returned to the staffroom the next day and checked the freezer… and the tray of water had turned into ice cubes. We learned that the liquid had frozen and had turned into a solid! This now kept its shape and couldn’t be poured! One friend was very brave and volunteered to check it couldn’t be poured by us tipping the tray over above his head! He was so confident it was now ice after looking at and touching it!
We then took an ice cube out and had a look at at and a feel of it. The children came up with words such as hard, tough, like a mountain, like a diamond, freezing and not runny. However, the ice cube started turning back to a liquid when we held it… we learned that this is called melting!
When we returned to class we added the vocabulary liquid, solid, freezing and melting to our vocabulary window. 
Finally, we had frozen ice pops as a special snack! The children talked about them in terms of solid, liquid, freezing and melting at different stages whilst eating them! They loved it when some solid remained at the top of their ice pop and some liquid gathered in the bottom that had melted that they could drink at the end!

Reception - Winter is here! 

After reading 'Here comes Jack Frost' by Kazuno Kohara this week, we have been on a winter walk around the school grounds this morning to find evidence that it is winter! We talked about how we need to wrap up warm in winter to protect us from the cold outdoors. We discussed how we needed coats on - fastened up - hats/ear muffs/hoods, scarves, gloves/mittens and our fluffy socks inside our wellies!
We found lots of evidence that it is winter when we got outside - we were real winter detectives! Take a look at the photos of the evidence that we found...

Reception - Planting Runner Bean Seeds

After reading 2 books in our literacy and topic sessions this week - 'The Tiny Seed' by Eric Carle and 'A Seed in Need' by Sam Godwin, we have planted our own runner bean seeds to care for over the coming weeks!
We have learned all about how seeds need warmth, water and nutrients to grow well. We have planted them in pots with compost and given them water. We used trowels to fill the pots carefully and a watering can to water them with. We will be checking on them each day and we will keep you updated each week about how their seeds are growing and progressing! 🌱
 

Reception - Snow! 

As part of our work on winter, we read a non fiction book all about snow. We learned that snow is frozen rain and that snowflakes are actually tiny drops of ice which are formed in the freezing cold clouds and fall to earth!
The children learned about other things related to snow too including - what snowdrifts and blizzards are, how snow ploughs clear the roads during snowy weather, what we should wear in the snow and all about animals and people who live in the snow all year round near the North and South poles! We learned how a mode of transport used there is a snow mobile - we all thought we would like a go on one!
Please chat to your child and see what they can tell you that they have learned about snow!
During exploring time, the children all then got to explore our fake snow! They loved it! The talked about what it felt, looked, smelled and sounded like. They also experimented with different patterns and marks that could be made in it and how it could be moved and manipulated!

Reception - Local Area Winter Walk

We have been on a little winter walk around the edge of our school grounds looking for signs that we are in the season of winter both in our school grounds and the local area we could see, using information we have learned from the books we have been reading. Evidence we found…
* We could feel the cold air.
* The wind was freezing.
* We had to wear lots of layers to keep warm.
* The trees had no leaves as they had lost them in autumn and they’ve not yet grown back because it is too chilly.
* Some buds were starting to appear on the trees preparing for the new leaves to grow when the springtime months come around.
* There was water on the grass, but it hasn’t rained. We learned that this was from frost and ice that had been there this morning and had since melted and turned back to a liquid in the winter sun.
* Some thistles still had frost on them - we thought they looked like snowflakes!
* Some branches had been blown off the trees trees during the stormy winter weather.
* We found catkins grinning on one tree, we learned some birds like to eat these in winter.
* In a garden of a house next to school, we could see some evergreen trees and plants/bushes (we learned these are plants and trees that don’t lose their leaves).

EY Picture News - World Environment Day

This week’s news story is all about World Environment Day, which is celebrated every year on 5th June. On this day, everyone is encouraged to think about how we can protect (look after) our environment.

We discussed: What is our environment! What do you think we are trying to protect?

Our environment is everything around us including plants and animals, rivers, mountains, beaches and even the air we breathe.

We discussed: How do you think we can help protect our environment? E.g. How do we help keep our beaches clean and tidy? How can we protect wild animals that live in the woods? What do you think could happen to some wild animals, if litter is left lying around?

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), who set up World Environment Day, thinks we can do a lot to stop the huge levels of plastic being thrown away.

We looked at map to see where this weeks story looks at events related to: Côte d’lvoire (World Environment Day host)

We looked and some pictures of plastic items that we use once and then throw away.

We discussed: Do you think we need to use all these plastic things? What could we use instead? Would it be a good idea to buy a bottle of water everyday before you come to school? What could you do instead? If everyone stopped using plastic things that get thrown away after using only once, do you think we could make a difference? How would it help our environment and our world?

Reception Bean Planting and Care! 

Yesterday the children took their bean plants home which they planted on the first day back after February half term.
They have looked after them well, taking turns on a rota to water them! We started our topic by reading ‘The Tiny Seed’ by Eric Carle and the things the children learned from the book that seeds need to grow, we’re actually really the things they needed! These were light, warmth and water (moisture). The way our beanstalks have grown over this half term have shown this! 
Each week, one of our maths lessons has been measuring how much our beanstalks have grown using multi link. Take a look at the progress over the weeks in the photos below. We used a different colour to show each week’s growth! We have been comparing the height of the beanstalks with vocabulary such as tall, taller, tallest, short, shorter, shortest. In small groups yesterday we made group bar charts with our multi link towers to compare the heights of the beanstalks with our friends!
The overall tallest beanstalk was Daisy’s which was 43 cubes! Poppy’s was in second place at 42 cubes and Lily Jo’s in third at 40 cubes high!

Year 1

P.E. and Science! 

Today we mixed P.E. and Science! The children were asked to move around the hall in different ways and when I shouted out a material, they had to find an object made out of that material. We got to exercise our bodies while deepening our science knowledge! 

Materials 

We have been identifying and grouping a variety of materials today. We asked simple questions about the materials before we grouped them. 

Animal Structures

Year 1 have been working in groups to compare the structure of common animals from the same group. 

Our Bodies

Year 1 labelled each others basic body parts and then discussed which body parts relate to the 5 senses. 

Year 2

Maths and Science

The children found out about how maths and science are part of engineering. They completed three different activities and then watched some rockets being launched. The children were very engaged and they behaved so well. We were very proud of them all

Hygiene 

Year 2 had lots of fun with their science experiment today. They used glitter to represent germs on their hands which helped them to see how easily germs spread. They looked at different ways to remove the germs and made predictions about which would work best. They tested the different methods to see if their predictions were right. Their experiment showed the best way to get rid of germs is to wash hands with soap and water and the dry with clean towel.

Year 2 STEM Workshop 

Planting - Year 2

The children have been learning about what a seed or bulb needs to grow. They have made cress heads using seeds and planted a range of bulbs. They are now going to monitor what happens next. 

Year 3

Sedimentary Sandwiches! 

Today, we have made ‘sedimentary sandwiches’ to help with our understanding of sedimentary rock formation. We used bread, compost and sand to represent the ‘layers’ from the sea bed and then ‘compacted’ this as hard as we could, to show how the sedimentary rock is formed!

Magnetic or Non-magnetic?

Year 3 have been testing different materials to find out whether they are magnetic or non-magnetic. They then sorted the materials into groups. 

Testing Materials - Friction

This morning, we have planned and completed an investigation to see how friction effects a car on a ramp. We tested different materials with different ramp heights to see which would set the car off first. Our results showed that artificial grass caused the most friction and wood created the least friction.

The Skeleton and Movement 

Year 3 have been investigating how the human skeleton supports movement. 

Year 4

Life Education Visit 

We had a visit from Life Education to learn more about our bodies including our skeletons, organs and how to keep them healthy. We also talked about things that are dangerous to our health like smoking and vaping

Spaceship Earth STEM Live Link

Year 4 enjoyed a live link with #spaceshipearth through the STEM hub. They learned about launching satellites into space. 

Invertebrate Hunt - Year 4

As part of our learning about ‘living things’, year 4 went to search our school grounds for invertebrates. We used classification keys to help us identify the invertebrates. 

Year 4 Science - Pan Pipes

Year 4 made pan pies in science as part of their topic about sound. They learned that sound is produced by the vibration of an air stream blowing across an open hole at the end of the tube. The air moves through the straw, vibrating along the way and out to the end. They investigated how the length of the straws affected the pitch of the sound. 

Year 4 Science - String Telephones

As part of out learning about sound, year 4 made string telephones. This showed the children how sounds can travel through solids, liquids and gases and they investigated how sounds can travel through different mediums. We found out that sounds travel better through solids (the string) because the vibrations are travelling through particles that are closer together. 

Year 5

Plants 

Year 5 have been identifying the male and female parts of a plant, they dissected a plant to find these parts. 

Year 5 - Dissolving Experiment

The children looked at different materials to see which were soluble or insoluble in water. They made predictions before the experiment and compared them to the results. Some materials did dissolve, forming new solutions, others did not dissolve. The children thoroughly enjoyed this experiment. 

Year 6

Year 6- Components of Blood- A Blood Smoothie!

Year 6- Evolution and Inheritance- Biscuit Cladograms

Year 6 BrightSparks- Electricity Workshop