Year 5: Working together to carry out a scientific experiment linked to water resistance.
science
Butterflies
A few weeks ago we had some little caterpillars. They slowly grew and then began to change and formed a chrysalis. After a few more days the butterflies nibbled their way out. Before flight, they had to dry their wings and refuel on sweet water and fruit. Once strong and healthy the butterflies were released into the wild. We loved studying the butterflies in real life and this informed our understanding of life cycles.
Garden Project
The school has been working in partnership with the ‘Garden Project’. As part of this project we have planted trees with the Year 4’s at the bottom of our field and have attended a range of workshops to find out more about the Science and Geography of our local environment. Here are a few photographs from our day.
Marvellous Macaroni Cheese
As part of our cooking and nutrition curriculum we continued to build our knowledge of what we need to eat to stay healthy. We discussed the three different types of carbohydrates and know that humans get energy from carbohydrates.
To develop our LIFE SKILLS we used measured out our own ingredients. To do this we used a range of measuring equipment and worked together to apply our maths skills to read scales in grams and millilitres. We also set the oven temperature and used a timer and clock to know when our delicious dish was ready.
Cooking macaroni cheese meant that we were able to practise:
- Looking for bubbles when boiling water
- Tucking in our knuckles when grating the cheese!
- Making a roux and watching what happens when you add cheese to the butter and flour.
- Baking in the oven.
- Eating together in a community.
Throughout the session we made certain that we kept safe and followed high levels of hygiene (hand washing, hair back, aprons etc.)
Our cooking session and end results can be seen below.
SAW: Science & Writing Project
A team of people from the John Innes Centre came to work with us in school. We had lots of opportunities to develop our communication, team work and collaboration skills. We enjoyed being scientists and writers for the day.
Mummy’s Day
In preparation for our grand procession and interment of the “fish pharaoh” at the end of term, our priests of Anubis began to wash clean, and prepare the body for mummification. The body was washed and its internal organs were removed. Its heart was left in but the lungs, stomach, liver, and intestine were placed in a canopic jar. The whole body was covered in natron ( a mixture of salt and baking soda) that will dry and preserve the fish over the next few weeks.
The next stage of the process will happen then.
Gardener’s Diary: Preparing the Ground
We used our investigation skills to see how the neolithic people of Skara Brae might have prepared the ground for planting and farming. We had a lot of fun on the way!
Building a henge, are we?
Before Christmas, Year 3 was investigating how the neolithic people managed to make Stone Henge, the Rings of Brogdar, or even the houses in Skara Brae. How might the neolithic stone masons have moved these massive stones?
Spring Term: Cooking and Nutrition
This term, we have been thinking about the seasonality of fruits in the UK as well as finding out more about why different fruits grow in different countries. We find out about fruits which grow in the tropic regions and discovered information about the journey of the pineapple from Africa to the UK.
Our Challenge: To design and make a tropical fruit salad.
- First we tasted pineapple, papaya, watermelon, banana, apple and tangerine and discussed the taste and our preferences.
- Next we decided what we would put into our tropical fruit salad.
- Then we prepared our cooking space by cleaning and wiping the tables.
- After that we learnt how to use a knife safely and put our skills to the test by chopping up our chosen tropical fruits.
- To finish, we made a yoghurt and mint dip and drizzled this over our salad.
- Afterwards we washed up the utensils and cleaned our work space.
- Finally we tasted our tropical fruit salad.
