Science investigation

Today in science, we were split into our Lions and Elephants groups. Our task was to predict patterns in our results from graph that shows different types of balls and how high they bounced when they were dropped from 1m. The type of balls we had were the following: A bouncy ball, tennis ball, a tiny silver bauble, a glitter bauble, a large bauble made from cloth, a small bauble made from cloth and a medium sized purple bauble. We all agree that the colour of the balls wouldn't make a difference.
Both groups predicted that the heavier balls (tennis ball and bouncy ball) would bounce back the highest because they were designed to bounce. Not only that, but they would come down to the surface at a greater speed meaning that the impact would be greater.
The baubles we not only the lightest, having the least impact on the surface but they are also decorative items that were not made for the purpose of our experiment.

Here are the balls we tested:

The pattern we discovered in our results matched our prediction, the heavier balls that were designed to bounce did indeed bounce higher. However the lighter balls (all baubles) had a wider range of results, all lower than the heavier balls but some of our results shocked us because they bounced higher than we expected.

Here are our results displayed from each group in a bar graph.

Totem poles - the finished article

Over the last term, we have been creating totem poles. In the beginning we were split into groups and provided with a plain totem pole base. The groups were Lions and Elephants - our class mascots.

The Lion group thought it was suitable to make a Lion King totem pole - there were 7 of us working on this project. We split into pairs to complete each section of the totem pole. Dylan and Bradley created Simba. Kaia and Corey created Pumba. Krysta and Cally created Timon. And finally, Sienna created a Rhino. Kaia stated, "The lion was the hardest to make because Miss Williams gave us a challenge to make a really tricky mouth out of papier mache - but we achieved it!" The final product looks amazing, check it out below:

The Elephants totem pole was based on Classical Disney. The characters we decided to use were: Dumbo, Jiminy Cricket, the dragon from Sleeping Beauty and Mickey Mouse. We started by planning and drawing on the pole, then we painted. Finally we attached the 3D features which you can see below in our picture. Max and Ben created Dumbo, Chloe and Meadow created Jiminy Cricket, Hattie and Grace created the dragon and Harry and Beau created Mickey Mouse. Our end result was awesome!

Mitch Camp

Last week, we got the chance to meet the amazing Mitch Camp, a former pupil of our school. At the age of 24, Mitch has achieved three Special Olympic medals - (one Gold, one Silver and one Bronze). The Special Olympics was held this July in Los Angeles.

This is the Special Olympics motto: Let me win, if not let me be brave in the attempt.


We were all impressed by his cheerfulness and courage - what an inspiration and a great role model.

Billy Bob Buttons

Edward, an author, better known as Billy Bob Buttons, lives in Stockholm, Sweden. He came to visit our school today to give us some tips on our writing. We have been learning techniques on how to write adventure stories - we looked at how to build up ideas and how planning is important - give your characters skills and weaknesses and introduce these at the beginning of your story. If you know something is coming up later, it will need to appear so that your story makes sense.

Ticking time bomb - include a time frame and then consistently remind your audience with a countdown to remind them that time is running out.
When writing adventure books:
*The verb is the most important thing
*You need to continue to speed up your pace ( make your sentences shorter as you go along)
*Don't use lots of adjectives
*Keep the amount of speech you use to a minimum

We got to ask Edward questions and found out more about him.
He explained to us that he loves writing books as it gives him a great feeling that other people enjoy
his writing.
We discovered that " I THINK I MURDERED MISS!" is his fastest selling book.
He told us that the title is very important as it makes the reader want to read on. Also, it tells you what the book's about. The length of the title is not very important,it just as to appeal to your target audience.

Science day

Floating paper clip:
At first we were challenged to make a paper clip float on water with no support, we were only provided with: a pencil (which floated), some tissue paper, a bowl, a tap and a paper clip. We were split into two groups, one with Miss Williams and one with a governor, Mrs Wilkinson. Sharing ideas amongst our group, we decided that the tissue paper needed to be placed on the water first and then we would need to remove the paper carefully from under the paper clip using the pencil. If we were successful the surface tension would keep the paper clip afloat. Here are some pictures to share our learning.

Colour of symphony:
Here we were provided with a tray of whole milk, food colouring and washing-up liquid. The task was to make different patterns by mixing various food colours and then pouring drops of washing-up liquid on top - immediately on top of the food colouring. The washing-up liquid reacted to the fat in the milk because it was trying to break it down, resulting in the various patterns we created.

Umbrella test:
We were testing different types of materials to see which was the most suitable - the material needed to be waterproof and flexible.The materials we tested were: Bubble wrap, laminated paper, a carrier bag, bag for life and tin foil. All of the materials were waterproof, however they weren't all as flexible as we originally thought. Therefore the most suitable material for the umbrella was the cost efficient, flexible, waterproof carrier bag.

20 days later in our Science observation

This afternoon in Science, we have been looking at what has happened to the screws in the liquids, which were: milk, apple juice, water and coffee.
We have discovered that the screw in the coffee has stayed the same, however the coffee itself has grown a form of skin that looks disgusting and mouldy!
The milk has turned into white cheddar! The screw however, has not gone rusty.
The apple juice has grown mould on top of mould! The screw is rusting and parts of the metal have eroded and are floating in the jar as well as fluff from the mould.
A jar of plain water has turned the head of the screw rusty and there are bits of rust floating in the water.

We will observe the contents after half term to see if there have been any other changes.

Science - observing and fair test

Today in science we had a choice to do a fair test or observation over time. We were split up into two groups. One group were given: a sponge, plastic bag, tin foil, kitchen roll and a tissue. In this group we had 30 ml of water to put in a tray and we had to leave each material (the variable) in the tray for 30 seconds, in order to make it a fair test we had to see which material could absorb the most water. We predicted that the sponge would absorb the most water because it the air within it would allow the water to be soaked up. Our experiment was awesome and we were correct with our predictions.

In the other group, we were provided with 2 different types of bricks. We put the in a tray, separately, with a litre of water. Our experiment was to observe over time to see which brick, if any, would absorb the most water. Each hour we measured the depth of the water in cm. Our findings showed that the red brick absorbed a ml each hour and the black brick didn't absorb any water at all. The holes in the brick allowed the water to be absorbed - this wasn't the case for the black brick as there were no holes.

Science

Yesterday afternoon in Science, we were introduced to our topic for the term - Properties of everyday materials. We thought about different experiments that we could do to test  the properties of materials: the strength - what would happen if they were dropped from x height, what material would be best to keep ice cream cold, how can insoluble materials in water be separated from water, and many other ideas.

Today we were classifying a range of objects - they ranged from feathers to rocks. Each group changed their minds on numerous occasions before deciding on their final categories. We then wote our reasoning behind our choices.

Great Gaddesden (British) Bake Off

Today yr 3/4 5/6 had a Great Gaddesden bake off, we were put into groups and asked to make 12 cupcakes and 1 big fridge cake to cut up. We gave Miss Williams an ingredients list for her to go out and buy. After miss Williams gave us our ingredients we got to bake our cakes. Some groups went for the fruity option and some the more sweet version. Most groups used butter cream (which was really nice) and fruit. When we'd finished we went into the hall to have our cakes judged by: Mrs Woodage, Mrs Kirby (our neighbour) and Governors Mrs Rudd and Mrs Edwards. The prize of best cupcake went to group 2: Ollie, Bradley , Meadow , Simeon , Andrew and Evangeline. And winners of best fridge cake went to group 4: Neive, Max, Caden, Eleanor, Grace. We all got to try our cakes and had cakes and ice tea. We had an amazing time (especially EATING our cakes)
from yr 3/4 5/6
  

India Day

Today we have been learning about the country India. As part of our morning we have been learning about the Geography around India. In our class we had a group challenge where we needed to use atlases to identify the capital city, the surrounding seas and oceans, the countries that border India (Pakistan, China, Bangladesh and Bhutan, there are 2 more, can you name them?) and to find the longitude and latitude coordinates for New Delhi (the capital city). We have been learning about how India is such a diverse country. There are 2 main religions in India; the white section of the Indian flag represents peace and unity and the idea that Muslims and Hindus can live in harmony.
In addition to this, we have also made our own vegetable curry and were able to try some afterwards, it was delicious! During this time, we created our very own Rangoli patterns, we learnt that these are originally made from sand, rice and chalks. They are created and used to welcome the Goddess of wealth during the Festival of Light, known as Diwali.

This afternoon, we have been joined by Bollywood Vibes instructor, Ambur. She has been extremely impressed with our knowledge of India. We have been introduced to Bollywood dancing and have had opportunities to try on traditional Indian clothing. We have also learnt many traditional Bollywood poses. Later this afternoon we will be putting together a Bollywood dance as a collective group. The gates to the playground will be open at 3:05 and all parents are invited in to watch our performance.

Self-Control assembly

We started our in class assembly with half a kitchen roll tube each; we were given these in order to make a marble run. We weren't allowed to put our hands over the ends of the tubes; if it fell off the run, we had to put the marble back at the beginning. People at the end of the line were getting frustrated,because they thought they could do it quicker and better. Therefore, we passed the marble to the other end and see if they were right (getting the marble to the other end).

After all being called to the carpet, we were told not to pop the bubbles Miss Williams was firing (is that even legal?). Many bubbles later...  Harry popped himself to the bottom of the charts by not showing self-control.  Soon, Miss Williams gave in and let us pop as many bubbles as we wanted ( for some reason, Bradley resisted and didn't burst a single bubble.) This assembly was based all on our value of the month:self-control. For the first task, we had to not get annoyed because of the marble. Also the second, we had to show self-control and not pop the bubbles.

PGL Day 1

We've arrived in Dorset and had a great first day! This evening we have been taking part in a range of team activities. We finished off the evening making robots!

Maths-Factor Race

Today in maths, we did an extremely fun race. There were multiple groups and we each had a set of questions to complete, one at a time. They varied from fancy factors to awesome addition, but the winning team was a 3-man squad; Callum, Krysta and Beau. The main focus was factors, which we got every other question, but the others had a random topic, such as angles, shapes, algebra etc. It was a bucket load of fun and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

PE-Team Building

Today in P.E with Mr.Murphy, we were working on our team building skills. We were placed in lines and we had to work as a team to move in lines and we had to work as a team to move in the same direction at the same pace and then, to make it more difficult, we had to: increase the speed, decrease the noise and complete the task in the opposite manner, e.g. left meant right, forwards meant backwards,etc. After this, we were asked to form letters from our bodies. Then we needed to create a word in our groups. can you guess our words?