Science

Salty Science

 in Class Four / Science by

Before the break, Scafell began an experiment to see if they could grow Salt crystals in the classroom. We explored substances which dissolve, and then asked the question “how can we get it back?”

Dissolving salt into water, we then watched and waited as, over time, the water slowly evaporated. As it did so, the salt we dissolved in was left behind!

We did have some unexpected results as the salt crystals formed on the outside of the glass instead of the string as we’d expected, but we certainly got a lot of crystals forming!

Reception go wild!

 in Class One / Geography / Science by

Reception have had a wonderful time at the Wildlife Oasis in Milnthorpe today. We enjoyed learning about some less well-known creatures and their habitats. The first workshop was about conservation and fitted in nicely with our topic about Sir David Attenborough. We learnt about the habitats of stick insects, millipedes and the fascinating leaf insect! All these animals originate from the Amazon Rainforest and we thought about why they were suited to this habitat. A tower of Jenga blocks all being removed at the same time was a great visual representation of what might happen to these animals when the trees in the rainforest are cut down. A second game of Jenga, which involved replacing blocks as well as removing them, showed us how planting a tree for each one that is cut down can help sustainability. We also learnt about everyday products which come from the rainforest and were very surprised at some of them! We then enjoyed getting up close to a blue tongued skink, leaf cutter ants, meerkats and lemurs to name just a few!

Heaves Farm Visit

 in Class Three / Science by

Wow, what an amazing day we have had at the Westmorland County Agricultural Society Farm Open Day at Heaves Farm. We were complimented often on our good answers and questions and we listened carefully and showed excellent manners throughout the whole day.

Here is what some of the children had to say on our return…

I loved it when a calf came and licked my hand. It felt slobbery! AB

Did you know cows have 4 stomachs? ER

My favourite thing was seeing the piglets and the lambs. GH

I liked seeing the sheep dogs as they are my favourite animals. They are well trained, MAB

I liked to see how the dogs rounded up the sheep . He showed us which whistles meant left, right, walk and lie down. CH

I really liked the baby animals – the chicks, the piglets and the sheep. CR

I enjoyed listening to Storm the dog’s heart beat using a stethoscope at the vets. FH

I enjoyed pretending to help the sheep give birth. PH

I enjoyed the little sheep. They were very calm when you touched them. All the animals were well trained. HR

Thank you so much to all the farmers and helpers who made the day a really memorable one for us all.

A visit from the vet

 in Class One / Science / Whole School by

Class One were very lucky to receive a visit from Jen the vet a couple of weeks ago. She came to tell us all about her job, the types of animals she cares for and why they might sometimes need to see a vet. We enjoyed looking at photographs of some of the animals she has treated and finding out about them. We also learnt how to care for guinea pigs, finding out what they need to have provided for them, what they like to eat and play with too. Our favourite part of her visit was getting to have a cuddle with Fudge and Brownie and feeding them strawberries and peppers!

All Things Electric

 in Class Three / Science by

Class 3 have had a wonderful day, learning more about Electricity by visiting Heysham Power Station Visitor Centre. The staff there were super impressed with Class 3’s great thinking skills, their understanding of electricity and the way they approached the activities. The sessions we did were perfectly pitched to embed their existing learning in school and make links with other areas of science, engineering and maths to deepen our understanding and curiosity about the world.

We learnt how Michael Faraday found that electricity could be made by spinning magnets in a circle of copper wire using turbines and steam and this is still what happens today inside the power station. In a safe and controlled way, we learned why water and electricity are such a dangerous mix – because water is a good conductor of electricity. We had great fun making different circuits using special kits and even made human power stations! We learnt which appliances in our homes are the greatest guzzlers of electricity per hour of use – very useful information at a time when we all wanting to save electricity too. Do ask some of Year 3 and 4 for their advice if you’d like to know more!

A Shocking Series of Lessons

 in Class Four / Design and Technology / Science by

Class 4 have been getting stuck into their science topic this term by constructing electrical circuits! We’ve learned what a circuit needs in order to function, we’ve built a range of different circuits and we’ve also tested the impact of making changes to our circuits.

Once we’ve learned all we can, we will be using our Design and Technology skills to then build a “Steady Hand” game to take home. Take a look at the gallery below for a sneak-peek into our process!

Forces and Magnets

 in Class Three / Science by

Class 3 have been exploring forces and magnets in science throughout the spring term. They explored when magnets repel and attract and how they worked through different materials, even through the table! They investigated to see if different magnets were different strengths. Here they are at work…

 

Class 2 Trip to Beatrix Potter World and Brockhole

 in Class Two / English / History / Science by

What a brilliant day we have had on our school trip!

The first part of the day was spent at Beatrix Potter World where we met Tim the Gardener and even Beatrix Potter herself. We learnt lots about her life, the inspirations behind her books and the characters featured in them. We also had fun completing an activity trail and loved exploring Mr. McGregor’s garden.

Then we hopped back onto the bus and made our way to Brockhole. We enjoyed our picnic lunch (indoors) and then learnt about some of the animals and their habitats featured in Beatrix Potter’s books through the centre’s new exhibition. Despite the weather we braved the outdoors and had a great time exploring the grounds. We identified physical and human features and completed the Beatrix Potter trail to find out more about the animals in her books.

Super Space in EYFS!

 in Art / Class One / Design and Technology / Geography / History / Science by

EYFS are coming to the end of their super space topic for this half term. We started with the famous story “Whatever Next!” and enjoyed role-playing a journey to space and having a picnic on the moon. Learning about some of the planets was top of Reception’s ‘What I want to learn’ list and after finding out some interesting facts, they then designed their own using a ‘wash’ effect with felt tips and paintbrushes dipped in water. We thought carefully about the colour of our planets and what they were made from – gas, rock or ice. Constellations were also a big hit; we found out that some constellations can only be seen in certain parts of the world and then recreated some famous ones on black card using chalk. We spent two weeks in total creating our own model of the solar system using papier mache and adding details to each planet; lots of sticky fun! We learnt about gravity and watched videos of astronauts on board the International Space Station, finding out that the further away from earth you get, the less gravity there is. We have enjoyed lots of child-led opportunities in provision including puffy moon painting, making craters in moon dough, designing aliens on the light panel and baking cake pops. We definitely have some budding astronauts in the making!

STEM morning in Class 3

 in Class Three / Design and Technology / Science by

Class 3 have had a wonderful morning exploring and being engineers!

They came up with lots of ideas about what engineering was. This included engineers make complicated things, they build robots, they help other people, they build and fix things.

Our first challenge was cutting an A4 piece of paper so you can fit your entire body through it. Lots of perseverance and experimenting but no luck. We thought a partner might be useful, so we paired up and hey presto – lots of success! Engineers often work in teams to help solve problems just like this.

We then were set off to build a waterproof and windproof house for one of the three little pigs. Each group had a bucket with a range of materials and, despite a bit of trepidation, all our finished products stood up to their final wind and rain shower test and the pig stayed dry!