STEP 3 ENGINEERING - Design and Make in Mrs Diviney's 1st class

For science this week we had to design and make a boat that would float. First we looked at lots of boats and talked about what they are made of, some boats are made with materials that do not float so we decided it must be the shape of the boat that makes it float. We got some Marla and we made our boats. when we were finished making the boats we measured out some water into a basin and tested our designs.

Our boats didn't float but we had great fun making them!!

STEP 1 MATERIALS - Making Butter 3rd & 4th class

How to make butter

Firstly, we divided the class into 7 groups of five children. We listed our equipment, and made a prediction as to how long we thought it would take to shake the jars before the cream would turn to butter. We measured 250 ml of double cream into the measuring jug and we poured it into the jam jars. We set the timer at 20 minutes on the board and we shook and shook to our hearts content. We discovered the jars with the smaller amounts of cream turned into butter quicker. As the groups finished they took note of their finishing time. We then poured off the excess liquid and we put the butter into the fridge for 30 minutes. Each group got to taste their butter with crackers. They all had a fantastic time. The only trouble was that we ran out of crackers.
!!!!We then wrote up our results and conclusion.

Check the 3rd and 4th class section of our blog for more photos and details!

STEP 1 - LIVING THINGS - 3rd and 4th class Science - Myself

Taking our own fingerprints

We gathered our equipment, sellotape, white paper and a pencil. The children had to predict if they thought their  finger prints would be all different. Using a pencil, they scribbled thickly onto a piece of white paper. They then rubbed their finger over the pencil marking until their finger was almost black. They then pressed it onto the sticky side of a piece of sellotape and pressed it onto a piece of plain white paper. They were able to see and compare their fingerprints and they used lens to look for loops, splits, ridges and cusps which highlighted the individuality of each child's fingerprint. We then wrote up our experiment.

STEP 1 - LIVING THINGS - 3rd and 4th class Investigations

How to discover the blind spot in our eyes.

We got our equipment and made a prediction as to how far away from our faces the sheet with the spot would have to be before it went into our blind spot. The children had to close their right eyes and to hold the sheet with the cross at arms length. The children had to bring the sheet as close to their face as possible until the blind spot disappeared. In pairs, they measured the distance from the sheet to their face to discover at what distance it was, that the blind spot disappeared. We then wrote up our results and conclusion. We discovered that at a certain point, the spot disappears because the light from it is falling on the blind spot of your left eye.

How to find your dominant eye
Firstly, we identified what we would focus on and we decided the side of the door was the best object that was in everyone's line of vision. The children wrote up their prediction as to which eye would be their dominant eye. The children used a pencil to line it up vertically with the edge of the door. They then closed each eye in turn. They discovered that with one of their eyes closed the pencil still lined up with the edge of the door. The opened eye that lined up perfectly with the door frame while the other eye was closed was their dominant eye.

The children had a fantastic time using their science and mathematical skills completing the Science experiments and we look forward to the next Science challenge.

Discover Primary Science and Maths - Awards of Excellence

This year we are taking part in the Discover Primary Science and Maths - Awards of Excellence Programme, Keep an eye on this part of our blog to see what we are learning about and all the exciting thing  we are doing!