Numeracy, Primary 6, Science, Special event, Technologies

STEM Fortnight: Day 3

This morning we had a visit from the Dog Trust who told us about the needs of dogs and the time, money and consideration needed to invite a dog into our homes.

Following this, we had a visit from Chris from Rolls Royce who told us about his work in the lab analysing the materials to insure there are no defects in the machine parts.

This afternoon, we conducted an scientific investigation into which material would be best suited or have the best insulation properties to used for polar exploration kit.

Each group of four children selected a different material to cover or insulate a hot drinks cup.

The selection included: aluminium foil, bubble wrap, card, cotton wool, cardboard, felt and cotton fabric.

In order to conduct a ‘fair test’ we kept everything the same, filling each cup with exactly 100 ml of hot water.

We then measure the temperature of the water at the start of the experiment and placed the cup outside.

We then measured the temperature again after 15 and 30 minutes.

We also included a control sample to find out the temperature drop without any insulation.

Later this week we will analyse our results and use them to finally determine the best insulator.

 

Primary 6, Science, Special event, Technologies

STEM Fortnight: Day 2

STEM fortnight continued today with an exciting show from the Glasgow Science Centre. The show was called Future Fuels and gave whistle stop tour of  alternative fuels from wind and solar to hydrogen powered vehicles.

There were lots of exciting hands on demonstrations including solar car races and generating hydrogen to fuel a rocket.

This was followed up by a visit from Tia the ethical hackers who explained all about her job as a legal hacker to improve cyber security.

Finally, in class we continued with our topic, Our Frozen Worlds, by looking at how animals have evolved adaptations to survive their harsh environment. We designed our own species using the adaptations of existing animals.

Numeracy, Primary 6, Science, Special event, Technologies

STEM Fortnight: day 1

Today was the first day of our STEM Fortnight and we kicked it off in P623 with a visit from biologists from the University of Strathclyde.

They spoke to us about their research work into finding new bacteria from the seas and coastal areas, to discover new antibiotics as the ones we have discovered from the land are becoming ineffective.

They showed us how they grew bacteria in a Petri dish using agar jelly to feed and support the bacteria colonies, and we also had the chance to create our own samples.

In the afternoon, STEM fortnight was official launched with a whole school assembly with guest speaker Dr Peter Hughes OBE.  He spoke to us about the importance of engineering and its application in our everyday lives.

 

 

 

Primary 6, Science

Fruit batteries

Following on from our electrical circuit knowledge we use to construct our electric cars, a high school science teacher visited us today to teach us about batteries.  However, these were not the normal sort of batteries you would think but fruit batteries.

Using a zinc and copper nail with the acid contained in the fruit, we were able to create a flow of electricity that we measure using a voltmeter.

We then carried out an experiment to find out which fruit provide d the biggest flow of electricity.

By recording the reading on the voltmeter for different fruit, we determined that apples supplied the greatest flow of electricity through our circuit.

 

 

 

 

 

Continue reading Fruit batteries →

Numeracy, Primary 6

2D shapes, 3D objects and nets

Last week we had a series of whole class lessons focusing on 2D shapes, 3D objects and nets of 3D objects.  After a recap on previous knowledge, we did a little bit of origami to help us recall the properties of a 3D objects.

We can keep this in the back of our Maths jitter and pop it up when we need a reminder.

Next, we had a talk about 3D objects we find in our environment and went outside with our iPads to find some evidence. When we returned to classroom we annotated out photos with the names of the 3D objects we found using the iPad’s photo markup function. Finally, we Airdropped our photos to the classroom board and discussed our findings.

This lead on to a discussion about nets of 3D objects and how we could build scaled models using a combination of different objects. The class were set the task of building Winterfang, the ice palace of the Ice Queen from our class novel.

 

 

Home, Numeracy, Primary 6

Maths

This week the Maths groups have been working on the following

Pythagoras: Properties of 2D shapes and 3D objects- using language such as edges, corners and faces.

Fibonacci: Time – using 12 hour and 24 hour notation, and coverting between the two.

Lovelace: Volume and capacity – calculation the volume of 3D objects and relating this to capacity of liquids.

If your child has access to Education City at home, I have updated the activities to reflect on what we are doing in class and to consolidate new skills in Maths.

Home, Physical Education, Primary 6

PE uniforms

At the end of Term 1, it was noticed that very few pupils taking part in PE lessons were wearing complete PE uniforms.  In the last few weeks, only 7 out of 33 pupils completely changed out of their normal uniform into a PE uniform: some keeping outdoor shoes on or their shirt/blouse, etc. on.

Children should bring into school each week a PE bag containing navy short, white t-shirt or polo shirt with appropriate shoes for sports. Pupils, whose ears are pierced, should remove earrings for their PE lesson. If earrings are studs and parents do not wish them removed, they should be taped over with micropore and parents should supply this tape.

Pupils are free to leave their PE uniforms in class, hanging on a peg, and can take them home at the end of the week or term as you see fit. However, uniforms should always be returned to class on Monday mornings ready for use that week.

Primary 6, Science, Social Studies

Polar regions

 

Our topic this term is looking at the Polar Regions of our planet, looking at the people and animals that live there and comparing their environment and life with ours in Scotland.

To kick off the topic we have been looking at where the polar regions are located on the planet and finding out if we can explain this by considering the Earth’s position and relationship with our Solar System.

We were able to explain successfully why we have night and day on Earth and why the Equator is hotter than the Pole. However, we require further investigation to explain why we experience seasons on the planet and why they are opposite in the northern and southern hemispheres,

Using balls to represent the planet, pins to represent the pole, and torches to represent the Sun, we discovered that the earth orbits the Sun at a tilt of about 23 degrees explaining why the planet experiences different seasons at the same time.

 

Home, Numeracy, Primary 6

Maths

Some parents expressed an interest at Parents’ Night to know what area of Numeracy and Mathematics their child is currently working on in class.  Pupils are made aware on a daily basis what they re working on but I will try to keep Home informed using this blog.

This week the Maths groups have been working on the following

Pythagoras: Decimals – multiplication and division by single-digit numbers, 10, 100 and 100.

Fibonacci: HTU – addition and subtraction of 3-digit numbers.

Lovelace: Coordinates – plotting and reading coordinates on Cartesian diagrams.

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