Electric circuits

This afternoon we had a go at  creating our own simple circuits. Miss Archibald explained how electric currents flow through metal and not through insulated materials like plastic and we used batteries, wires and a lightbulb to experiment.

Everyone got the light bulbs to light up!

We used diagrams to show our circuits using standard symbols.

We tried making circuits using everyday objects from the classroom...

We tried making the lights brighter and dimmer...

We discovered that after a while some of the batteries got hot and that interruptions or gaps in the circuit meant they didn't work. Some lights flashed because there were intermittent faults.

There will be further investigations to follow next week!  

Further Investigations into Sound

      This afternoon we continued our investigations into sound. We learnt that sound travels in waves and we thought about what it travels through to reach our ears.

We banged a drum in different places around the classroom, including outside it, and decided whether the sound was louder or quieter and why.

 

We discussed what noise sounds like when we're under the water and whether sound can travel through brick, metal and other substances including air.

We went to different places around the school to listen carefully. What can you hear in the hall?

A fly buzzing and a pencil dropping - even the lights humming if you listen really well.

What can you hear here in Key Stage 1? The door banging on the frame, children and teachers in the classroom.

What can you hear in the playground? Cars going past, children inside the building and birds tweeting.

Finally, what can you hear on the school field? Birds singing and Bumblebees having a lesson outside.

We tried out homemade 'telephones' afterwards and found that the sound travelled much better when the string between our plastic cups was pulled taut...

Finally, here's a tune on the harmonica to end the lesson!

See what you can find out about sound for next week!

 

Myths, Legends... and Sound!

During the first week of term we were introduced to our new English topic, myths and legends. 

Mrs Andrew is helping us to study Greek myths and last week we heard about the story of Pandora. Mrs Waller has been looking at the legend of Robin Hood and today we started to prepare for a piece of extended writing on this topic.

We looked at some pictures of Robin Hood and worked on noun phrases which we will use in our writing.

During the afternoon we started our new science topic, sound.

We used everyday objects and instruments to see how sound is produced.

We watched rice jump on the surface of a drum when it was struck...

We could see the vibrations when an elastic band was twanged...

We could see the clapper of the bell vibrating...

And we could see the ruler oscillating when it was tapped...

We will continue our investigations next week!