Science Blog
Welcome to the Roseacres Primary School Science Blog. Here, you can read all about what the children have been learning in Science across the school.
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11th – 15th March 2024 - Science Week
Posted: Jun 18, 2024 by: Roseacres Office (Office) on: Science Blog
Reception
First, Reception planted cress seeds, which grow quickly, and corn lily and iris bulbs which take longer to grow. We watched time lapse films and talked about which parts of the cress they could see each day as they grew. Reception are looking forward to making cress sandwiches next week.
On Tuesday, Reception investigated melting. The children predicted what would work the best to make an ice cube melt the quickest: heat, cold, salt, sugar or water. They each chose what to use and we checked on the ice throughout the afternoon. One child chose to hold his ice for a while and the rest of the children were surprised when his ice cube melted before those that were wrapped in Mrs Leviton's scarf. Reception were also amazed at how the salt and sugar made the surface of the ice go bumpy as it melted.
On Friday, at the Animal Encounter, the children met a bearded dragon called Hagrid, a millipede called Tsunami, a small python called Miso and a rabbit. Mrs Keseru came in to talk to the children about her career as a vet. The children asked lots of questions and watched how to tie a bandage on a (toy) dogs leg. Reception enjoyed taking on the role for themselves later in the Vet's role play area.
Year 1
Year 1 have been learning about Mary Anning. The children found her fossil hunting fascinating. They created fact files showcasing all the new information they have learned about her.
Year 1 also carried out their own child led experiment, focussing on how to make a paper helicopter spin faster. Some children thought that if you added a weight at the bottom if would change the speed, or they made the wings shorter thinking that may impact how the helicopters function. The children worked well in small groups, recording their experiment and drawing conclusions.
On Thursday, Year 1 had an exciting visit from a dental nurse, Mrs Young. She told us all about her job, which tools she uses and how important it is to look after your teeth. The children had lots of questions about how baby teeth grow and fall out. Mrs young taught us how we should be brushing our teeth, how to use a toothbrush effectively and when we should brush. She gave each child a four week chart to track their toothbrushing habits.
On Friday, Year 1 had an exciting animal encounter. We were introduced to a snake, cockroach, rabbit and millipede. The expert told us about the different living conditions these animals are normally found in, their diets and interesting information. Lots of the children bravely held out their hands to hold the different animals.
Year 2
Year 2 had a great week and enjoyed building their gliders as part of science week. They worked in teams and then tested their gliders in the hall.
Year 2 also had an animal encounter experience where they were able to get very close to different animals. They could touch them if they wanted to and ask questions. The children learnt some facts about where they lived in their natural environment, what they ate and what else they needed to grow and be healthy. The millipede had lots of legs and Freya thought it felt 'tickly' when it walked on her hand. Violet said the bearded dragon was 'bumpy' to touch.
Year 3
This week in Year 3 we have been celebrating Science week. The children have been looking at Science through different lens and have studied the Scientist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell. Jocelyn was noticed for studying Astrophysics and discovering pulsars left behind by a star, she is a Professor at Oxford university. The children wrote biographies on her life and found it quite fascinating how she fought for her place to study more technical subjects at school, as girls were only encouraged to study cookery and knitting back in the 60’s. The children also looked at plants and photosynthesis and they set up a child led enquiry where they planted seeds in different growing conditions. To see if seeds would still grow without water, light, heat and space. Lots of fun had by all and many children are showing an interest in science as a career as they realised anyone can be a scientist.
Year 4
The children have had two visits from women in science; one from Takeley Smiles who came to the children and gave a tutorial on how to keep clean and healthy teeth and a visit from a Vet who shared with the children what it takes to be a vet and answered some of the children's questions on veterinary science.
Alongside this, the children have been learning about Marie Maynard Daly and her influence on biochemistry.
The children also conducted an experiment this week on tooth decay. They investigated how different drinks impacted the enamel. By placing egg shells in different liquids and recording their findings.
Year 5
As part of Science Week, Mrs Hogan talked to Owl Class about her job in aircraft engineering at Stansted Airport College. Mrs Hogan explained that engineers follow five steps in the Engineering Design Process - ask, imagine, plan, create and improve. We discussed how understanding forces is an important part of understanding how aircraft fly and when a glider is moving forwards its wings create an upwards force called lift. When lift overcomes the downwards force due to gravity, the glider will stay up. Mrs Hogan set the class a challenge to work in teams to design and make a glider. We then launched them to see which one was the most aerodynamic. all the teams worked well together to design a glider and had great fun testing them. There was a prize for the team whose glider flew the furthest and everyone felt proud of how well their glider had flown.
Owl Class also learnt about a female scientist Libby Jackson who works for NASA on the Space Station. She is responsible for organising different experiments and has worked closely with Tim Peake on his Primary Science Project. Puffin Class learnt about Mae Jemison who is an American astronaut and whose life example teaches young people to follow their dreams, no matter how great they seem.
Year 6
This week we have been celebrating British Science Week. In order to mark this, we had a fabulous visitor who was an Energy Surveyor. He explained all about his job which involves creating sustainable buildings which use less energy. Year 6 researched a British scientist, a space scientist called Maggie Aderin-Pocock and we planned and conducted an investigation into light and shadows.
Engineering Workshop
We had an exciting visit from Jenifer Hogan (deputy head at Stansted Airport College) and a student ambassador who ran a workshop for Year 3, 4 and 5. Here's what some of the children had to say and please look through the photos too!
Samuel- In the workshop, there were 7 different tables with activities linked to engineering. Each table contained a sheet with instructions. On one table there was a nail and a piece of wood. The task was to stack 6 nails on top of each other.
Daisy- One of the challenges was to blow up a balloon and use the air force from inside it to blow down 10 cups. We found that if we stacked the cups and blew the air at the bottom to make them all fall at once.
Freddie- Another station was where you had to roll a marble to a certain point on the table without it falling off. It was quite challenging because you had to get the force just right.
Billie- I learnt the about kinetic energy- like when your hand is pushing the ball, that’s the kinetic energy.
Ridley- I enjoyed the workshop because it taught me a lot of different things about engineering. For example, with the nail on the wood- it had to counter balance and be stacked in a certain way.
Ibby- I’m interested to learn more about planes and like the sound of Stansted Airport college
Emma P- I think it was very fun to see what engineering might involve.
British Science Week 2022
In Reception, the children are growing cress on the windowsill and making observations each day in their cress diaries.
Every class has created a glove greenhouse and will observe how each seed grows over the next few weeks.
Spring 2022 - Science in Reception and KS1
In Year 1, the children have been investigating shadows. They had a lot of fun playing Shadow game Tag- where they scored 5 points if they jumped in someone’s shadow. Children love getting outside and enjoying this fun activity. They then carried out an investigation using torches where children measured the length of objects with the torch (sun) at different heights. They recorded their results and then wrote their conclusions in their books.
In Year 2, they have been learning about healthy eating. The class sorted learnt about the food groups and then sorted foods into these food groups (e.g. protein, carbohydrates etc). They used the sorting hoops to plan their healthy eating plates/
In Reception, We have been learning about the polar regions and found out about the animals that live there. The children investigated how blubber works by making a ‘blubber glove’ of vegetable fat and putting their hands in icy water. They were amazed at how their non-glove hand was freezing and their ‘blubber glove’ hand stayed warm!
We also have been investigating how to melt ice as some of the polar animals had become trapped.
Some children wanted to chip it away, some suggested putting salt on it (like we do on the roads) and some children knew it would melt in the sun.
Science Club
Throughout the Autumn term, a separate KS1 and KS2 science club took place for the lucky children who signed up. They asked their own questions, carried out investigations and, most importantly, had fun! See some photos below from the science clubs that took place.
Science Vision
At Roseacres Primary School, we value the children's voice and opinions and therefore created a science vision. In order to create a science vision for our school, the school council reps asked each class to finish the sentence: 'Science is good when...' As a group, we then decided which statements were the most popular and created a science vision for the school. Well done to Harry M in Year 4 who designed the winning poster which is now on display in every classroom.
