Reception

Today Reception used the virtual reality headsets to explore the chilly continent of Antarctica! The children were very excited to be able to see penguins in their natural habitat! The pupils were also very busy learning about lots of different types of garden birds and even make some yummy bird seed cakes for them to eat! We’re sure that the birds will find them delicious!

Year 1

Today, Year 1 made mini marshmallow constellations! They researched and found out all about what a constellation is and then had the chance to make their very own using cocktail sticks and marshmallows! Later on, the children also explored shadows by making our own shadow puppets! Most of the children chose to make animals and tried to relate this to our science topic this term (animals, including humans). The pupils were able to discover and discuss how the shadows are made, as well as how the shape and size can change!

Year 2

Year 2 were feeling particularly sweet today as they tested whether different sweets floated or sunk! A huge range of sweet treats were tested: maltesers, minstrels, aero bubbles, chocolate buttons and many more! The children used their knowledge of materials to predict the outcomes and then used comparative testing to find out the result! The most interesting find was that a chocolate button both floated and sunk, depending which way up you put it in the water! The children were able to make links with the real world, such as the shape of boats, to explain this result! Excellent investigating Year 2!

Year 3

Year 3 had an extremely busy day today. The morning started with the arrival of six duckling eggs in an incubator! We were informed that they were likely to hatch in the next couple of days which was very ‘egg’citing! The children learnt all about the different parts of the incubator and the important role that it plays in the hatching process. The children were extremely excited and spent all day peering into the incubator to see if they could see any cracks appearing!

Year 3 were also busy testing different foods for starch content. They used scientific equipment carefully and safely to drip iodine onto different food samples. The children enjoyed seeing the iodine turn blue/black when starch was present and remain orange when there wasn’t. The children learned that it was all the foods that were plant-based that contained starch and that starch was a type of carbohydrate. To finish the session, the children saw that an unripe banana has starch present, yet a ripe banana does not, and tried to figure out why this was! Make sure to ask the year 3s what they found out!

When we thought that they day couldn’t get any better, just before home time our first duckling hatched (and was, appropriately, named Hatcher!) The children were able to see the hatching process and how the duckling looked when it was first born. We talked about what the duckling had just had to do, and the children saw just how exhausted it was! We were all delighted to see that it was happy and healthy! Hatcher will stay in the incubator overnight to keep warm and we’re hoping that he’s joined by one of the others tomorrow, ready to be moved into the pen. 

Year 4

Year 4 have been using their knowledge of circuits to build their own steady hand games today! They worked together to create a circuit where the bulb would light up when the hand-held wire loop touched the wire and completed the circuit! The pupils particularly enjoyed the challenge of trying to complete each others’ games successfully! We’ve heard it turned into quite the competition!

Year 5

Year 5 class completed a carousel of activities today, exploring and observing irreversible changes to different materials.  This included toast, eggs, popping rockets and adding bicarbonate of soda to a range of different liquids. A particularly interesting find was that ‘out of date’ bicarbonate of soda does not react as well as soda that is still in date!

Year 6

This afternoon, Year 6 examined a sheep's pluck, as part of their learning about the circulatory system.  They compared the weight and texture of lungs to heart muscle and were able to see the main arteries and veins connecting the lungs and heart. The trachea and bronchial tubes were very clear when we dissected the pluck, and they could see the four heart chambers and the valves between them! This looked like very messy but fascinating work Year 6!