In science we’ve been looking at how shadows change during the day. We started by drawing around our shadows on the playground before and after lunch to make a simple sundial. We then used the sun equipment to see how a shadow shortens then grows longer throughout an entire day.

It’s not every week you get to do science with a state-of-the-art super car, but this week we tested the Bugatti Veyron. We’ll sort of. Testing different road surfaces we explored how friction can slow a vehicle down and we even had time to push the car to its limits down increasingly steep ramps.

In science, we’ve been investigating how different coloured ice melts. We watched very closely and recorded our observations as a cartoon as we discovered that darker coloured ice melts more quickly. Sadly, this could become a problem if global warming reveals the darker coloured ground beneath the arctic tundra.

Having already discovered why the Gingerbread Man does not like water, we explored making boats to help him cross the river. We found some materials float, others sink, but if we change the shape we can make them float.

Do more expensive kitchen towels soak up more water? That was the question we investigated as Year 2 examined the advertising claims of “Juan Sheet”. We tested five different paper kitchen towels to see which absorbed the most water.

And the best value kitchen towel? You’ll have to ask our young scientists to find out…

In science this term, Year 2 are exploring how different materials are used and, as part of our “Are we nearly there?” theme on transport, we have been having fun exploring and testing bridge designs. Our strongest bridge held an amazing 650g despite just being made of a few sheets of paper! 

We listened to the story of

Carried out experiments to see where the best place to grow a seed would be.

Is it moist enough ?

Is the soil good? we used our noses to check !

Was it sunny enough ?

We recorded our findings. Each group had a different area to investigate.

Wheat growing in a tyre !!  Why ?

Looking for Minibeasts to see if they can survive in the area.

Presenting the results. Which group had the best area ?

Now we know how the wheat grows , we used it to make our own bread.

But first we had to grind the wheat and make the flour.

Can you remember the name of the equipment we used to grind the wheat ?

Good waiting, turn taking and sharing boys !

Let’s add some yeast .

…and now the fun bit !

Lunch time . We had a lovely picnic !

After lunch we played a game to learn what a seed needs to be able to survive and grow, with a little help from our parent helpers.

Sun

Air

Water

soil.

Once we had all the ingredients for a seed to grow we took our seeds to the seed nursery .  

We enjoyed exploring the wheat fields.

We’ve been investigating the habitats of woodlice, setting up choice chambers to see whether they prefer the dark or being out in the open, or if they like damp or dry conditions. We found that most of our woodlice preferred dark, dry conditions but would explore the other areas. We thought they were perhaps out in search of food and water.

No woodlice were harmed in the course of this experiment and were returned to the wildlife garden with lots of lovely new habitat material.

We had a fantastic afternoon in the sun searching for wildlife around the school field. We found spiders, woodlice, ants, beetles, ladybirds, centipedes and lots of other invertebrates as well as some frogs and a toad. We decided that our school provides amazing habitats for all sorts of creatures.

Year 4’s landscape designers have been hard at work researching, designing and presenting their ideas for a KS2 garden. They have produced designs that are both imaginative and take into account the needs of the garden area and they look very professional. Well done everyone in Year 4!