It's been a busy time at Eaton Bray Academy, and everyone has thoroughly enjoyed Science Week.
Each class has worked on different Science projects throughout the week:
- Hedgehogs children have been investigating forces. They have discovered lots of interesting facts about movement through playing "Simon Says" and "Musical Statues" and by exploring the outdoor apparatus. They have also been experimenting with magnets and have discovered which objects are magnetic and which aren't.
- Otter Class has focused on the human body, and explored what is needed for us to function - food, oxygen and so on. The children investigated the changes that occur when we exercise and discovered that the heart rate increases and that we get warm and perspire. To find out more about human senses, they re-enacted the story of "The Princess and the Pea", and found out how many sheets of material were needed before the pea could no longer be felt.
- Squirrels Class looked at plants and investigated how they take in water to help them grow and thrive. They placed celery in water that had been dyed with food colouring, and observed how the leaves took on the colour over twenty-four hours.
- The children in Rabbits Class learnt about friction. To illustarate how friction can help with tasks, they carried out an experiment with jelly cubes - they were given chopsticks and had to use these to move the cubes from one plate to another. The jelly cubes were then coated with oil and the children observed that this reduced friction and made the task more difficult.
- In Badgers Class the children "made" a digestive system using everyday objects, for example, scissors to represent teeth, and tights for the digestive tract. They used this to illustrate the journey that our food makes through the body.
- Foxes Class children enjoyed experimenting with a plasma ball, and observed the effect of different object held against the globe.
- In Deer Class, the children looked at electricity, and made circuits to light up a bulb.
The whole school was set a STEM task, which was to work in pairs to create a tree, using only four sheets of paper and a pair of scissors - no glue, tape or paperclips were allowed. This they did with much enthusiasm and great results!
__________________________________________________
On Wednesday, Foxes Class children went on a trip to the British Schools Museum in Hitchin. Here they learnt about the life of a child living in the 19th century, and attended a class in a Victorian school learning the 3R's - complete with cane and dunce cap! They enjoyed a guided tour of the Headmaster's house and found out how children would keep themselves warm, clean and entertained in a world without all the technology and modern conveniences that we take for granted today. It was an enjoyable day which really brought history to life for the children.
__________________________________________________
On Friday the final day of Science Week was celebrated by a special assembly in the morning, where each class presented to the rest of the school all that they have been doing this week. The grand finale of the week though was in the afternoon, when the whole school took their chairs out into the school playground to watch a wonderful demonstration of practical Science, presented by Mr Bannister.
Luckily the weather was kind to us, which meant that staff and children were able to witness various impressive experiments outdoors. These included: using liquid nitrogen to freeze dry then shatter bananas and daffodils; making ice cream (chocolate and strawberry!); creating a huge blue foam erruption from hydrogen peroxide and washing up liquid; and finally using liquid nitrogen to produce a massive explosion of ping pong balls from a wheelie bin!
What a fantastic and inspiring afternoon - well done and thank you to Mr Bannister for organising it.
__________________________________________________