SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS/SNOW SCULPTURES

Looking for something to do in the cold weather and snow?

Creating a frozen bubble:

Find an area that is sheltered from the wind. Even the slightest breeze will carry your bubble.
Blow the bubbles high in the air so that as they float to the ground they have time to freeze.
Depending on your temperature/weather ~ it can take anywhere from a few seconds to a few moments for the bubbles to freeze and start forming crystalline patterns.

Try blowing bubbles early in the morning or in the evening. This is the colder part of the day and will help your bubbles stay frozen.
Wave your wand instead of blowing into the wand to make bubbles. The warm air from your lungs causes the bubble to take longer to freeze.

Keep trying and see how it goes!

Snow Volcano Science

Snow Volcano
Materials

A cup or plastic bottle
Baking soda
Vinegar
Food colouring (if colour is desired)
Method
To make a snow volcano you will first need snow.  Take a plastic cup and set it on the ground in the snow. Then,  pile snow up and around the cup to form “the volcano”.

Once the volcano is formed add baking soda and food colouring to the cup which is now acting as the volcanoes core.Now, it is time to make it erupt! Pour in vinegar and then step back.

Or make some Disney snow sculptures for fun……….

Take a photograph to record your attempts!

Over the past week the class have continued their Health and Wellbeing investigations on heart rate. By attaching their finger to a sensor machine, built by Mr Grant, and viewing the results on a computer screen the children could see what their resting heart rate was. This sensor reading eliminates the errors that can occur when trying to take your own or another person’s pulse.

Our topic lessons saw the children working in their groups to design a logo, a company name and a poster to advertise their forthcoming short animation films. Filming shall begin this week as the scripts are now complete and the role each member shall play allocated.

All the children enjoyed their Christmas Holiday and have been working hard since they returned.

Our current focus for Maths and Numeracy is working with numbers up to 2 or 3 decimal places. We have identified the value of the digits, their position in a number line and why decimals are important to recognise; measurement and money are examples.  The class always enjoy the interactive games we play to consolidate their learning.

We are starting a new topic on Animation and Disney; the children worked within 3 groups and created mind maps to show me their current level of understanding and what they would like to find out. Watch this space!

Mr Grant is back with us again this term to support our Science and Technology lessons. We are currently planning our Health and Wellbeing experiments and the equipment we shall need to support each.

Miss. White, our Music Specialist, worked this week with a group of children who volunteered to perform at our forthcoming Scottish Assembly.

This morning we took part in Week 1 of our Cricket Taster Session.  Lots of fun was had by all.

For Literacy I introduced direct speech by playing a ‘Guess Who Said’ game. First a ‘post it’ was placed on the back of a child and the class had to say a statement or expression associated with the famous person/character until they could be identified. Next each child wrote 3 different expressions in their jotter that they knew could be identified by their classmates. They continued to play this during lunch time.  Why don’t you try this at home…..

The class have started a new topic about the body. At the moment we are finding out about some of the internal organs , where they are located and their function.

Our first investigation after exploring the lungs was to blow up a balloon and see how big we could make it. There was a great variety in their size. We discussed the reasons that may have had an affect on size and wrote a report on our investigation.

The P5 children, from P4/5K, will begin swimming lessons as of next week.  They shall attend The Peak twice a week, a Monday and a Wednesday, with P5 children from P5/6A. Please ensure your child brings their swimming costume and a towel and has a warm jacket to wear.

Primary 4/5K ended their topic by having a Dr Seuss Day. Everyone in the class was invited to dress up in a Dr Seuss costume related to the 3 books we had focussed our learning on; Cat in the Hat, Oh the Places You’ll Go! and The Lorax.  In the morning each child in the class invited along one person, from within the school, to share their learning with and to take part in Dr Seuss activities. In the afternoon we had a celebration playing Dr Seuss games, eating party food and watching animated versions of the books we had read. A fun day was had by all.

   Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

Glasgow Science Centre visited the school at the beginning of the STEM week. On Monday they talked about the body and how it works. On Tuesday they held a workshop where the class tested their balance, strength, concentration, speed and dexterity.

In class we each made a Lorax Grass Head and looked at what is needed to make grass grow. We also made Whisper-ma-Phones, like the Once-Ler had, from paper cups and string. The class are more aware of what helps to make sound travel and have had fun whispering messages to each other.

On Wednesday morning we had a visit from Michael Horne, an Electrical Engineer, who talked to the class about his job and the skills required before he set them a task to be completed on the laptops and I-pads while answering the children’s questions. On Wednesday afternoon we had Mr Grant, a Computing Scientist, who discussed different types of networks and through a practical activity showed the children how the internet works.

On Thursday morning we carried out an experiment on water filtration to see which material worked best. In The Lorax the Humming Fish had to leave because of water pollution, how could we have helped? Choosing  small stones, large stones, sand or paper  the children voted which they felt would best filter the dirty water; the paper worked best. Putting all 4 together we watched how clean the water came through and discussed when people might need to filter water this way. In the afternoon we had a mechanic, Mia, who was able to share her experience of working in a garage for a large well known company. A few of the children were surprised when the mechanic turned out to be female and they liked sharing stories with her about the cars their family own.

Our final day was Friday, Laura-Ann Horne, a Pharmacist, visited the class to discuss her occupation, illness and safety issues relating to medication. The children managed to ask questions for 45 minutes! They learned lots and are very keen to find out more about how the body works. Which is great as we are planning to develop this further in Term 2.

Maths is a subject covered daily in school so for the children this was nothing new. However they did become aware of how important the subject is if wishing to pursue a career in the other areas covered this week.

A great time was had by all and for many it was an opportunity to show off the skills and insight they have into the world of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Well done P4/5K!