November 2019 – Retired 2022

November 26, 2019December 16, 2019

Communication and Sound

As part of our science work we have started investigating sound and animal communication.

As an introduction Mrs James showed us a video on TigTag showing how some animals communicate. It was interesting to see what an important part vibration plays in the creation of sound.

We carried out a task that required us to attach two plastic cups together with a piece of string. We tried it out with different lengths of string and we could hear a little of what our partners were saying.

It was suggested that we pulled the string tight in order that it would vibrate. It was fun to hear the laughs and giggles as the voices at either end of the string became clearer.

We discussed how stringed instruments work and a few musicians amoung us shared their experience of tuning instruments which required us to tighten the strings.

November 20, 2019

Friction Experiment – Rice

Last week we investigated friction using rice and plastic bottles.

Mrs James asked us to fill the bottles with rice and then pick it up using only a stick.

To begin with we thought she had missed out something but then as we followed the instructions and gave it a try there were shrieks of laughter as we all managed to pick up the bottles.

We had to make sure that the bottle was filled tightly right up to the top with rice and then we pushed the sticks in carefully.

The fact that all of the air had been pushed out of the bottle allowed friction to be created between the stick and the rice particles. Therefore when we tried to lift the bottle the stick held it up – FRICTION!

November 20, 2019

Science – Friction

For the last few weeks we have been carrying out investigations on friction.

As an introduction we worked in groups to record the results when rolling different balls over different surfaces – the pitch, the grass and the playground. We noted which balls travelled well and which balls did not travel far on the surfaces.

The ball that travelled the furthest was the hockey ball on the pitch and the one that got stuck was the spikey ball rolling on the grass. We discovered that this was due to the amount of friction being created as the two surfaces touched each other.

The sponge ball did not travel well either. This was because the ball was quite light and did not have the force of the weight pressing down on the surfaces.