Cashes Green Primary School and Children's Centre

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Science

Hello! It's Mrs Eeley here. Mrs Mills normally looks after science in school but as she is on maternity leave it's my job for the next few months - something I'm very excited about because I love science! I studied it at university and have done some extra learning since being a teacher all about science education too so it's a great chance for me to share something I really enjoy with you.

Scientists learn about how the world works. Biologists study living things - plants and animals (including humans!), their habitats and how their insides work. Chemists study materials and their properties. Physicists study forces and the Solar System. Science is a practical subject - finding out for yourself is really fun. In school we make predictions and then collect some evidence to decide if we were right or wrong. And that's exactly what real life scientists do too!

How many jobs can you think of that need science?

Dentist, zoo keeper, aeroplane pilot, architect, pharmacist, car mechanic, photographer, special effects technician, chef, forensic police officers, archaeologist, rollercoaster designers...I could literally carry on listing jobs all day!

As a teacher, the reason I love science so much is that it's such a big subject that everyone can find something they are interested in and enjoy finding out about.

Here are some websites you can use to find out about what interests you:

Reception, Year 1 and Year 2

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z6svr82 to find out about EVERYTHING science related

Years 3, 4, 5 and 6

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z2pfb9q to find out more about EVERYTHING science related

https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/ a great website about animals and the world they live in

https://www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/explore-our-museums-at-home/ to take a virtual visit to the Science Museum in London

https://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/learning-activities/science/ for lots of activities about all areas of science - you can print a certificate once you complete a unit, I'd love to know if anyone gets one!

Watch a science lesson every week day! Science with Maddie Moate on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/maddiemoate

SCIENCE GALLERY

I was really excited to see some of you having a go at some of the science activities! Well done to everyone who has had a go - do email me as I'd love to see. I've added in more in pink! Well done, so much fantastic Science learning! And the latest work added is in green! Thank you to everyone who has been working hard on the science at home, I hope you've been enjoying it.

Minibeast hunting and superb number work from Reception Class

Fantastic surveys about minibeasts with very clear bar charts to show their findings by Annabelle and Hayden.

Thinking about healthy meals and treat meals by Dede R and Dory Y1

Cooking and finding out about healthy food and treats from Reception Class

Spring Time pictures and signs of Spring writing by Dede R and Dory Y1

Skittles Rainbows!

             McKenzie Y2 and Gabriella Y5            Jack Y2            Blake R and Logan Y4     Dede R and Dory Y1

Rainbow fun from Dede and Dory, Blake and Logan - well done!

Some amazing growing from Reception Class! Lots of vegetables from seed including lettuce, carrots and beetroot!

And some harvested radishes!

Hayden in Y3 has drawn some fantastic labelled drawing of different plants.

Hayden in Year 6 has done some great work on plants too - and look at his beautiful art work as well, great work Hayden!

Your weekly science challenge!

Theme: Experiments

Two families sent me their science experiments this week and they had both made lava lamps! So I thought for over half term I'd give you lots of ideas for other experiments that you can do at home with things you'll be able to find in the kitchen and about the house. All these are suitable for all ages and will be especially fun if you can all work together. Make sure you ask before you start, put newspaper down or work on a tray if it might get messy and like with all science, don't put anything in your mouth!

If your grown-up is on Facebook or Twitter search for 'Science at Home with Mrs B' and you'll find lots of very easy to follow instructions like the lava lamp one above.

Here are lots of other places to find science experiments that are easy to do at home. 

Edinburgh Science Festival - Kids Lab (DIY Science Activities to do at home)

http://www.sciencefun.org/kidszone/experiments/

https://www.rigb.org/families/experimental

https://learning.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/resources/?type=at-home

Finally, Cheltenham Science Festival is all online this here. Find out more here. (2nd - 7th June)

Your weekly science challenge!

Theme: Minibeasts

Children in school are learning about minibeasts this week, and it's the perfect topic for you at home too! How many minibeasts can you think of? Do you know the proper names for them all? What type of animals are they? Where do they live? What are the different stages in their life-cycle? Do you now any stories with mini-beasts in?

All animals are split into vertebrates (those with a backbone) and invertebrates (those without a backbone). Minibeasts are small invertebrates. They're split further into sub-groups, you can tell what type they are by looking carefully at their adult bodies and often counting how many legs they have gives you a big clue as to what they are.

Scientists classify all living things by looking carefully at them. If a scientist finds a creature they don't know the name of, they can find out what it is by using a branching key. You think about each question and answer yes or no until you get to the answer of what your creature is.

Here is a branching key to classify common British minibeasts:

Reception, Years 1 and 2

Go on a bug hunt!

If you have a garden you can look there or you can look in a field or in the woods when you're out and about for your exercise. Minibeasts often like cool, damp, dark places so you can often find them under stones, rocks, logs or plant pots. Be careful lifting and moving - you might need to ask a grown-up for help. 

Reception class: Here is a bug hunt sheet that you might want to help you - it can be used on a screen if you don't have a printer.

Years 1 and 2: Here is a sheet for you to use if you like.

Draw and write about what you find.

Extra challenge: can you count and record how many of each creature you find? 

Here are some minibeast themed activities for other areas of the curriculum if you've found your child is interested. Do as little or as much as you like!

The sheets are all eco-mode where possible so that if you do have a printer and choose to print you'll use as little ink as possible! 

Find out more about minibeasts:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z6882hv/articles/z9fkwmn 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8xgh2H5dGw

Stories with minibeasts in:

Enjoy the story of the Very Hungry Caterpillar together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75NQK-Sm1YY 

Watch Superworm together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jnk3XApKBg

Listen to Aaaaaaargh Spider together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5df388jmToo

Share Mad About Minibeasts together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW-7MgHEZOE

Other activities on this theme:

Do some colouring by numbers - or draw some pictures and ask a grown-up to decide the colours and numbers you use.

Get making and crafting with a minibeast theme - here are some ideas.

Practise counting (on the screen if you don't have a printer) or practise adding (the sheets get harder as you go through) or practise doubling.

Get active in your front room while learning about minibeasts with Andy's Wild Workouts on BBC iPlayer https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p06tmry2/andys-wild-workouts-series-1-9-the-undergrowth

Do some singing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kdT8dKTRQA&list=PL26F918F280D50EAD&index=2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eajwaH0_2c 

Do some reading about minibeasts - the texts and questions get harder the more stars are at the bottom (answers included, it's also fine to read with your child and talk about the answers to your questions, if you're finding it hard to motivate them reading maybe disguising it as science might help?!) No need to print, you can read on the screen and either talk about the answers or write them on any sheet of paper.

If you login to Collin's Big Cat (information here) you can find several books to read on the topic too. Lots have worksheets to go alongside link this one too.

Here are the minibeast books (contact your child's teacher if you're not sure what colour to aim for).

Years 3, 4, 5 and 6

 Use this branching key to find out the scientific names for different common invertebrates.

Then go hunting for invertebrates!

If you have a garden you can look there or you can look in a field or in the woods when you're out and about for your exercise. Minibeasts often like cool, damp, dark places so you can often find them under stones, rocks, logs or plant pots. Be careful lifting and moving - you might need to ask a grown-up for help.

Answer the question "What is the most common invertebrate I can find?" - record the numbers of each type of minibeast you find. Can you draw a graph of your results?

Extra challenge: do you find different invertebrates in different habitats? Try looking in some different places and repeating your survey to find what the most common invertebrate to live in each place is.

Here is a sheet you can use if you're not sure how to record your results.

If you don't have a garden or can't get out today here is a pretend bug hunt - you could use a tally chart to record your invertebrates as you 'find' them and then draw a graph - you can do this on a normal sheet of paper if you don't have a printer.

Find out more about classification:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zn22pv4/articles/z3nbcwx

Find out more about invertebrates:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zkkc87h 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zn22pv4/articles/z8mbqhv

Get up close under the microscope looking at various invertebrates with this quiz.

There are lots more ideas here if you'd like to do more science to do with minibeasts.

Other curriculum areas through the topic of minibeast:

Do some colouring - or maybe you could draw your own pictures with patterns to colour in carefully?

Do some reading about invertebrates - the texts and questions get harder the more stars are at the bottom (answers included, it's also fine to read with your child and talk about the answers to your questions) if you're finding it tricky to read every day maybe linking it to your science learning will help? No need  to print you can read on the screen and write your answers on any piece of paper.

Do some reading online about all sorts of invertebrates here. 

There are also some singing, active and craft ideas under the Reception, Years 1 and 2 section that will be suitable for all ages too. Have fun!

Have you seen the Wildlife Trust's 30 Days Wild activities? It's 30 days of activity ideas to get you outside and enjoying the wildlife around you - for the month of June. It's free to sign up for an activity pack to download and you can find out more here.

Your weekly science challenge!

Theme: The King's Crown project

Something a little bit different this week - https://www.cheltenhamsciencegroup.co.uk/at-home

Grown-ups, this will take a short amount of reading through in advance and some picking and choosing to see what's suitable for your children. I chose it though because I thought maybe those of you with mixed ages in the house could work together. I also liked the way it combines all the different areas of science with some maths, computing and engineering too. Please don't feel you need to do all the challenges - or even do them as they say, feel free to adapt as you see fit. Have fun!

Your weekly science challenge! 29th April 2020

Theme: Food - diet and healthy eating

I don't know about in your houses, but in mine we seem to be constantly eating! My children have been helping in the kitchen though and we have been reminded that we all like cooking together. Look over on my Year 6 page to see.

Especially with it just having been Easter, we have had a few conversations recently about healthy snacks! We are great believers in 'everything in moderation' so we do have treats and enjoy pudding after tea most nights but we try not to eat too much sugar or fat in a week.

What's your favourite food? Do you know which foods are healthy and which should be just treats? Do you try to eat a balanced diet? What food do you need to grow? Why do you need to eat fruit and vegetables? Why is milk good for your bones and teeth?

Reception, Years 1 and 2

See if you can help your grown-up make a snack or meal - it can be anything! Then draw and label it.

Extra challenge! Can you also draw and label a super healthy meal? What about a treat meal that you should only have occasionally?

There are lots of activities to find out more about healthy eating here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z9yycdm/articles/zxvkd2p 

Years 3, 4, 5 and 6

Does everyone like apples? According to my 4 year old they do!

Do your own scientific study to find the answer.

Ask a question - does everyone like apples?

Predict - what do you think the answer is?

Collect and Record Results - how can you find the answer and keep a track of your findings?

Display Results - how can you make your results easy for others to understand?

Conclusion - what is your answer?

Evaluation - was your method the best it could be? Would you do anything differently? 

Extra challenge! How would you have to change what you did if your question was 'What is the most popular fruit?'

Find out more about the digestive system (year 4 upwards you've done this in school) and healthy eating (for everyone) here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z27kng8

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zrffr82 

Test your knowledge in this quiz:

https://www.educationquizzes.com/ks2/science/healthy-eating/  

Your weekly science challenge! 22nd April 2020

Theme: Plants and Seasons

It's Spring, and we have had a particularly welcome few weeks of sunshine. In Spring it gets warmer and plants start to grow again. One of the things that has really cheered me up on my daily walk is seeing the spring flowers - tulips are my favourite but I do like daffodils too. Lauren especially likes that the bulbs stay underground all winter and then the 'magically pop up' when the time is right.  We've planted up this year's pots, some with seeds and some with young plants and  we've been enjoying watching them start to grow. 

How do seeds know when it's time to start to grow? What do plants need to grow well? What are the parts of a plant called and what do they do? What are the stages in a plant's lifecycle called? Why are bees and insects so important in our gardens? Did you know that a tomato is actually a fruit? (And that a cucumber is too?!)

I'd love it if you shared your science with me - please email me seeley@cashesgreen-pri.gloucs.sch.uk 

Reception, Year 1 and Year 2

What signs of Spring can you see from your window or when you're out on your walk? Can you see any flowers or other plants starting to grow?

My challenge for you this week is to draw a Spring time picture - include as many signs of Spring as you can! Can you write a list of all the signs of Spring you've included?

Extra challenge! What would the same scene look like in other seasons? Draw or write to tell me the differences.

You can find out more about what changes there are through the seasons here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/science-ks1-ks2-the-great-british-year/zmcqf4j 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zkvv4wx/articles/zcx3gk7 

This song we sing in assembly links to the seasons - do you remember it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOsX3VZrfL4 

And here's a new one! All about growing a seed...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da_LbBewte8

If you've got any seeds you can plant why don't you draw or take a photo of what you can see each day? How quickly do they grow? What happens if you keep some in a dark place?

Years 3, 4, 5 and 6

What different plants can you see from your window or in your garden? Can you see any flowers? Any trees? How many different parts of a plant can you spot? And name? What do they all do?

Find out more about plants by exploring these websites:

https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/animals-and-nature/plants/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zy66fg8

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/how-plants-and-animals-reproduce/zm8fbdm

http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/plants/flowers.htm

My challenge for you this week is to find 3 different plants and carefully draw and label their parts. You might need to include a below ground view too! Can you draw and label the different parts of a flower too?

Extra challenge! Can you explain what the different parts do? How do they help a plant reproduce?

Lots of the plants we grow provide us with food...more about food next week...but in the meantime, it's quiz time! Test your knowledge of fruits and vegetables here and here.

Reading About Science

If you want to do some more reading about plants and how they grow here are some texts - with questions like we do in Guided Reading (and answers - don't cheat!). There are different levels for some of the texts and they all get harder the further down the list you go.

Life Cycle of a Bean

Seeds and Weeds

Growing Seeds Experiment

Life Cycle of a Flowering Plant

Handwriting Practice

If you've not practised your handwriting for a while there's a poem here that you can copy out.

Can you decorate the border too?

Images of Pollen

These photos came up in my Facebook Memories from exactly 9 years ago when I was doing some more studying on Science Education. The task was to design a set of lessons based around pictures. I've always been interested in the  images produced by microscopes; I've always loved the idea of zooming in on what we can't see. The university had a Scanning Electron Microscope which I was allowed to use - it's a bit different to a normal microscope (which is like the zoom on a camera just focussing closer) and it allows you to see much much smaller details and almost in 3D. Here is a series of pictures of pollen grains I took...pollen is tiny, look closely at a lily or daffodil, it's the powdery stuff that falls off and makes a mess!

Photo 1 - you can see the scale bar, that line is a mm (the tiny division on a ruler), this is at 25x bigger than real-life

Photo 2 - this is now x95 bigger than real-life

Photo 3 - now x300 bigger than real-life

Photo 4 - 750x bigger than real-life!

Now for the really cool bit (well I thought so!). The last photo is of a bee's leg? What can you see between the hairs?

Photo 5 - Pollen! The different shapes are from different plants!

Plants in the Science Curriculum

Here's what you learn in each year at school about plants - lots of the classes haven't done much this year yet as it's something we often do in the Spring. It's fun to find out things you didn't know but don't worry if you don't understand everything that's meant for an older year group, or your year that you've not done yet - there's plenty of time for learning more!

Your weekly science challenge! 1st April 2020  

Theme: Rainbow Science

Lots of people have been putting pictures of rainbows in their windows for people to spot on their daily walk...look at Miss Bliss's art page for more information.

Rainbows are fun for everyone to learn about whatever your age...

But what are rainbows? How are they formed? What colours make a rainbow?

They happen because the white light splits into the different colours - each colour splits a slightly different amount which is why the colours spread out. Do you know the colours of the rainbow? 

Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet

Can you make up a mnemonic to remember the order?

R

O

Y

G

B

I

V

https://kids.kiddle.co/Rainbow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqbgJ3c3yhc 

See some beautiful and unusual rainbows in these clips: clip 1 and  clip 2

 I'd love to see you being scientists so maybe your grown-ups can email me some photos?

Make your own rainbows:     

BUBBLES

You can often see a rainbow if you blow bubbles on a sunny day. A mixture of washing up liquid and a little bit of water works if you don't have a pot of bubbles - you can use a cookie cutter to blow through. Can you spot every colour in the bubbles you blow? Are your bubbles always spherical? What happens if you blow through different shapes?

SKITTLES

Next time your grown-up is at a supermarket ask them to buy you a packet of Skittles.

Carefully place them in a ring around the outside of a plate (a small white plate will work best). Slowly and gently pour water into the middle of the plate until it reaches the Skittles on the outside...observe (a posh science word for watch) what happens...

I'll tell you next week why this happens - isn't it cool? What patterns/pictures can you make? Do other coloured sweets work? Does it happen quicker using cold water or warm water? (Just use your hot tap)

SPINNERS 

Try this activity - what colour do you think the disk will look when you spin it really fast and the different colours all add back together? This is the opposite of making a rainbow!

GROW A RAINBOW

Do you take part in Scouting or Guiding? You could earn yourselves a badge!

Beavers/Cubs/Scouts - your parents can use OSM to log the activities you do and your leaders can approve them and award your badges when you're back at your meetings. 

Scouting has their information online - so you can look here to see what you need to do for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts.

Rainbows/Brownies/Guides - you'll need to keep track of what you're doing and let your leaders know when you see them again or email them if you can. Keep photos and a few notes you or a grown-up have written. 

You need to look in your badge book to find what you can do for each badge in Guiding. If you don't have a badge book at home please get your grown-up to email me and I'll send you the details of what you need to do.

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