Science Autumn Term

This half term we have been exploring electricity and circuits.  Our Dragon’s Den style project has evolved through negotiation with the pupils.  Through discussion we have established what we already know and what we’d like to find out.  Pupils are working on the creation of a prototype light for a celebration of their own choice.  Their first few sessions have involved experimenting with circuits in series and parallel, considering which will work best for their chosen design.  Our final week will ask our designers to present their ideas to a panel of ‘Dragons’.  Will anyone’s design idea cut the mustard?

CPR - Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

Click the image above for information on CPR

On Saturday 12th June 2021 Christian Eriksen, a Danish international footballer, collapsed during a Euro 2020 game against Finland.  The team captain began CPR immediately, which saved his life.  This made us think...

Today Year 6 have been learning about CPR and having a try with the MiniAnne dolls.  They learned the basic rules and what they needed to do in an emergency.  They also had the chance to look at a defibrillator and see how they work.  

This was fantastic experience for them all. 

RSPB Wild Challenge

The Wild Challenge award is a specially developed suite of activities for schools to engage children with nature and provide practical learning opportunities.

What is Wild Challenge?

This award scheme is all about supporting school-based learning. It enables pupils to apply curriculum knowledge and skills, as well to develop their resilience and sense of agency through outdoor learning.

There are 24 activities to choose from, each helping children to connect with and learn about nature. There are bronze, silver and gold awards to achieve depending on how many activities you do.

Wild Challenge provides a perfect framework for learning and is open to all ages and abilities. Mainly designed for primary aged school pupils in mainstream education, it can easily be adapted for Home Educators, pupils with Special Educational Needs and Early Years.

You can work through the award levels as quickly or as slowly as you like, and there’s something to do whatever your needs, location and whatever the weather!

Click the image above for more details.

Sensing the World

Click the link to visit the RSPB website. 

This activity is about being in the natural environment sensing and identifying the sights, smells and sounds of the natural world. 

The first thing we needed to do was find a suitable area outside, we decided to simply sit on Mr. Curry’s grass.  We used our senses to look, listen, smell and feel what was around us.  We looked at the shapes of clouds and sat with our eyes closed and took in the sounds around us.

We walked around school looking for plants with different smells, textures and colours.  We gathered these up in a small cup.   Once back in the classroom we made a smelly cocktail to help us discover the smells of different plants.  This was very interesting!  We found that the more we ‘mushed’ the plants, the more the smell changed.  Some were very smelly others were quite nice.  Some even had the smell of garlic!

Wildlife Detecting 

Click the link to visit the RSPB website

This activity gave us the chance to use our best detecting skills!

We went outside and started searching for evidence of the wildlife that lives around us. We looked for anything from tracks and animal poo, to nests and spider webs.

We all went for a walk to the local nature park in Windy Nook.  We even had the chance to use binoculars!!

Which Beak Works Best?

As part of our Evolution and Inheritance topic we have been fascinated by how animals can adapt to our environments through natural selection.  This challenging enquiry helped us explore how different beak shapes are more suited to different food types.  And...my, some objects were very tricky to pick up!

Circuit Investigation

Take a look at our exciting electrical circuit investigations.  We have explored two what if questions: What happens to the brightness of a bulb if I increase or decrease the number of bulbs in a circuit?  What happens to the brightness of a bulb if I increase or decrease the length of the wire?

‘Heartbeat’ the Movie

Take a look at our class video that describes the circulatory system - a dual system made simple.

Blood Smoothies

Our current science topic is exploring the circulatory system.  Pupils had great fun making ‘blood smoothies’ containing all the components of human blood including: red blood cells (raspberries), white blood cells (marshmallows), platelets (sprinkles) and plasma (tropical juice). Delicious! Excellent knowledge gained by all. 

Digestive System Investigation

Children worked in group to explore the components and functions of the human digestive system.  They recreated their own digestive systems using some very messy food stuffs along with plastic bags (stomach), tights (intestines) and paper cups (rectums)!

Active Volcano Investigation

Take a look at the first ‘disappointing’ eruption. Our ingredient mix unfortunately failed to create an eruption. I wonder what we could change to achieve more active results?..

1st Attempt

2nd Attempt - Coke and Mentos!

Effervescent action observed!

Bridge Project with STEM

What a great start to year 6.  We had the pleasure of working alongside a team of experts from Newcastle University to explore the architectural features of a bridge.  Pupils looked at existing examples, designed and constructed their own.  Many adjustments and changes had to be made to ensure the bridge met the specification and could transport goods from one side of a river to the other.  Learning about the types of jobs linked to Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths gave insight into possible career paths for our pupils.  

Investigating Light

Help!  Call 999 - a laptop has been stolen from a local secondary school.  There are 6 suspects and a series of experiments to carry out to help eliminate each suspect and find the criminal.  Take a look at the various experiments and investigations year 6 have been conducting to ascertain the credentials of the criminal!