Rainforest Maths
This week we have been learning all about the layers of the rainforest so we decided to get outdoors and do some rainforest maths. With a metre stick we had to measure the height of the tallest trees found in the emergent layer and plot out this measurement in chalk on the playground. So that was 50-60m! Next we had to draw our canopy layer at the halfway point. Next we were given some creatures and a measurement as to where they were found on our tree. We had to plot these on our tall tree. We also learned about circumferences and had to use a measuring tape to measure the circumferences of trees in the school grounds. Finally we used 5 tapes to create the circumference of a tree that may be found in a rainforest so we could get an idea of how enormous it could be. A tree with a circumference of 5m must be very very tall!
results of our mummy experiment – 2 weeks on
This week our apples were looking really shrivelled! The salt had become really hard and we had to crack it with a spoon to scoop the apple out! It looked like there was very little moisture left in the apple and the skin was extremely bumpy and wrinkled. There was absolutely no smell. There was no mould. We will look at our apple one last time next week.
Salt is a desiccant. A desiccants removes water from any material it comes into contact with. Bacteria that cause rotting and decay need water to survive. Salt and baking soda remove the water from the apple, which makes it hard for bacteria to survive and cause decay.
Ancient Egyptians use a similar method to preserve human bodies after death. They used natron, a naturally occurring dessicant, to mummify bodies
Results of our Mummy Experiment – 1 week on
We took our apples out of the cupboard to investigate any changes that had taken place. The apple that had simply been placed in the cup had gone brown and in some cases, furry with mould. We could smell that it was beginning to rot. The skin remained quite fresh looking and shiny green. We brushed the salt and baking soda mix off our mummy apple and discovered that the skin had tightened up and puckered and that the flesh of the apple was beginning to dry out. The skin had lost its shiny appearance completely. Unlike the other apple, there was no mould. This is because the salt is a preservative and the baking soda acts as an anti-bacterial agent. The salt mix had gone lumpy and was tinted with orange. This is because it is drawing the moisture out of the apple. The mummification process seems to be well underway!
Mummifying an Apple!
We have conducted an experiment to mummify an apple! We placed one piece of apple in a cup as a control. The other piece we used a mix of salt and baking soda to represent Natron, a salt mix used in Ancient Egypt. We will check out our ‘mummies’ later this week. Like all good scientists we wrote up our experiment and recorded our predictions
Canopic Capers!
We used air drying clay to create canopic jars. These were used in Ancient Egypt during the mummification process to preserve the organs removed from the body
Our SHANARRI blanket!
Mrs O brought in a beautiful patchwork blanket. Each piece was lovely individually but joined with other pieces it made something beautiful and special. We cosied into the blanket and discussed how it made us feel. Safe, warm, relaxed and protected were some of our words. Mrs O compared the patchwork blanket to the well-being indicators – safe, healthy, active, nurtured, achieving, respected, responsible . and included – each aspect important but put together, providing the best for us and all children. We made our own patches displaying the indicators and pieced them together creating a beautiful blanket. The original blanket makes up the centre patch as the inspiration for our creation.
King Tut Art!
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We were inspired by Zuzia’s fantastic King Tut symmetry picture. We all tried to create a drawing where one half was a mirror image of the other. We needed to research online and in books to copy the sarcophagus. We then painted it using shiny acrylic paints. We think they look great!
Improving Fitness in PE
We’ve been focusing on improving our fitness by taking part in high intensity interval training to build stamina and strength. We have been completing assault courses, using a variety of skills, to build speed and stability.
New Skills in ICT
Today we used our research to write a factfile using Word. We learned how to open Word, select a font and a font size, use the bold and the underline then practised our keyboard skills. Mrs Oglesby showed us how to have two or three windows open on our screen so we could work between our document and websites. This was useful when copying and pasting images and checking our facts. We then named and saved our work for next time.
