Saturday, November 27, 2010

Learning about fire




We did experiments with candles last week.First we lit three candles , and put a small jar over one and a big jar over another.We left one uncovered.We saw that the uncovered candle burned longest and the candle covered by the small jar burned the shortest amount of time.We learned that fire needs fuel,air and heat  in order to burn .
Next we put water around a candle and then covered it.We saw bubbles and then the flame went out.The water then went into the jar.We heard that that is because air expands when hot.When the flame went out,the air didn t fill the jar as much and so there was room for the water to go in. 

More pictures of our show





A day in the life of a Ugandan child





The children performed a short show about Uganda last week.They were excellent -singing in English and Runyankole and dancing Ugandan dances! They showed how children in rural Uganda like the same games as us - hopskotch,football and playing with dolls and how they have to do lots more chores than we do - fetching water and firewood,minding goats and sweeping up at home and in school.We will send pictures of our play to our link school Nyabbani Primary School in Kamwenge,Uganda. Thanks to the parents who kindly lent us the beautiful,colourful fabrics -they brightened up the stage! 

Sunday, November 21, 2010

More science experiments





Science week experiments

We did some interesting experiments during Science Week.We checked to see if different things had starch in them -paper,pasta,kitchen roll,bread ,bananas and cheese.If they had starch in them iodine went blue black when dropped on  them.If not ,it stayed brown.




We also mixed vitamin c tablets with water inside a container with a lid and saw how the gas that was made and the pressure made the lid burst off like a rocket!

Magical clay things


We made clay objects from the story "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"- brooms, buckets,hats and wands.We painted them in magical colours when they were dry!

Hand Hygiene



We are learning about hand hygiene and how important it is to wash your hands.Our Link school in Uganda is learning about it too this term.We will send them pictures of the work we did and they will send us some of their work so we can see how they learn. 

Winter Nature Walk





We went on a nature walk recently and saw blackbirds fighting over a piece of bread!We noticed how bare the trees were compared to when we went walking in Autumn.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Is it waterproof?






With all the rain recently, we decided it was important to find out which things are waterproof and which are not.First ,the children guessed whether a sock,a plastic bag,a rubber glove and some paper were waterproof or not .Then we experimented by putting each item into a container of water.Last,we recorded our results and compared them to our guesses.We agreed it would not be a good idea to go out in paper clothes in the pouring rain!

More Witch's Walk pictures




Witch's Walk





All sorts of magic and ghoulish creatures turned up in our classroom on October 22nd - skeletons ,witches,fairies,princesses,vampires,zombies and Ben ten to name but a few!We went on the Witch's Walk and on our way, we made spooky noises to passersby and saw a house with skeletons on it.The train sped past as we did the walk and we wondered was it a ghost train! The children drew maps of our walk when they got back to school and remembered all sorts of spooky details..

The Sorcerer's Apprentice



We read a great story in class called "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" about a wizard's helper who puts on a magic hat despite being told not to.We thought up reasons why he should/should not have put on the hat and then the children lined up and whispered those reasons to an "apprentice" as they walked towards the hat.It was interesting to see if the apprentices chose the yes/no side each time! We played Sorcerer's Apprentice music and the children moved as magic brooms/sorcerers to the music.