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Category Archives: DPSM15
Presenting science work to everyone ( Step 5)
Recently, we had a science day. Both the Junior and Senior room did some experiments and presented them to on a another. It was a really fun.
In my group there was Ava, April, Orla, Lisa and I. Our experiment was an ‘Errupting Volcano.’ Some the other experiments were called ‘Foamy Fountain’ ‘Dancing Raisins’ and loads more!
When it was our turn we, introduced the act, introduced the ingredients, and then we asked a few questions. We added the vinegar to the volcano first, the the red food colouring and then we added the baking soda and the volcano erupted! It was like red lava! Everyone liked this experiment! The scientific message was that when Baking soda and Vinegar are mixed it causes a chemical reaction causing it to erupt like a volcano!
My favourite experiment was the optical illusion! This was Grace and Roisin’s experiment. I thought it was brilliant. You had to look at the board for 20 seconds and then look at Grace’s head, and it either shrunk or grew! Everyone laughed!
Also my favourite one from the Junior room was called ‘Lung capacity.’ They needed a volunteer and they picked me! So I went up top the experiment table and kneeled down. I had to blow into a straw and the water in the bottle was being forced out and however much was left would show how fit I was.
I enjoyed all of the experiments and I had a great day!
(From Ailish’s blog)
For the last few days we have been doing some science experiments. Yesterday we did them in front of the Junior class and some parents. There was so many great experiments. In my group was Ava, Orla, Ailish, April and myself. We were doing a volcano!
To make the volcano we used a bin bag and some play doh, and inside it we put a bottle. We filled the bottle up half way with vinegar and then put a cap of red food colouring in to make it look like lava. We then put 2 tea spoons of baking soda in and next thing it irrupted. All the junior class were amazed and really enjoyed it.
The reason why it exploded was because as the vinegar and the baking soda mix, it causes it to fizz, which made it burst up to the top of the bottle.
Yesterday we did science experiments. Grace and I did optical illusion with the students and the parents. When I said to look at the board for 20 seconds and when the time is up look at Graces head. Everyone was so shocked when they seen Graces head Got bigger. Then everyone’s eyes went funny and twisted. Sorry guys!!!!!😃😃😃😃😃😆😆😆😆.
From Róisín’s Blog
Planting in our garden (Step 1: Living Things)
Last week we decided to plant some cabbage,onion and potatoes. The teacher picked 2 people every 10 minutes or so to go outside and dig up the soil.
After a few days when all the digging was done, we all went outside and began to plant the vegetables.
I was planting the cabbage. I made 3 rows with the soil and put the cabbage in the row.
I really enjoyed planting. I can’t wait until everything is grown 😊🌱
by Lisa
Maths Trail (Step 4 Maths)
Last week all of the Senior Class did an outdoor/indoor Maths Trail.
We were split into groups of threes and fours. In my group there was myself, Siobhán and Rosaleen. We were Goup 2.
Everyone got a measuring tape and a sheet with pencils on it.
We (my group) started on Question 1, which said to measure the width of the front door.
Some of the questions were quite easy: measuring from the front door to the gate, for example.
We had to estimate all of the questions before we answered them for real.
Once we answered all the questions we ran to the teacher for her to correct it but we got one of the questions wrong so we corrected it and brought it back to the teacher.
We came second! Amy’s team cam first!
By Ailish
Analysing Data (Step 4: Maths)
We collected and analysed data about the average ages of the children in our classes, the daily temperature outside and the number of children in each class.
Twite bird trip to Portacloy (Step 5)
Today, the 29th of April 2015, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th class all went on a trip to Portacloy. We went on the trip because over the past year and a half we have been learning about a near extinct Irish bird called the Twite thanks to two bird watchers called Derek O’ Loughlin and Susan O’Donaghue. We left to go to Portacloy around half past eleven or quarter to twelve. On our way there we picked up some classes from a local school, Glenamoy N.S.
Soon enough we arrived at the pier and cliffs in Portacloy. It was very cold and windy and every now and then it would make a rain shower but luckily we were all dressed for the weather and had warm coats and wellies on us. A little while later Susan and Derek arrived.
When they first came they started talking to us about the Twite and we found out some interesting things about the bird like how they only next in tall heather, how they eat small seeds from different plants like dandelion, sorrow (etc.) and how they never travel a long distance when trying to get food. Afterwards we were out into two groups. The first group went with Susan first and the second group went with Derek first. I was in the second group. Then the two groups went our separate ways.
We went with Derek over a small bridge to a place that had a river and lots of heather but before we looked at the river and the heather Derek asked Seamus to run up as far as he could with a blue rope and Roisín would hold the bottom of it. At school we had been doing a small project to do with the a Twite called a quatrat where we picked a certain spot behind our school that has lots of grass and plants and put a rope around it in a square shape. Then we would look very carefully at the inside of the square and look at what plants were inside of it and we would keep an account of it. This was something slightly simmilar and it was called a transcept. When the transcept rope was laid out Derek asked all of us to find a spot beside the rope and when we did that Derek found each of us a plant that we were standing beside. I had bracken. We then looked at the small river that was close to where we were and also looked at the surrounding moss and heather. Derek asked us why this would be a good place for a Twite to nest and we said it was a good place to nest because it had shelter from the water so that it would make it a bit harder for for other animals to get near the nest. We all walked over to where the others were with Susan and when we got to them our group went with Susan and the other group went with Derek.
When everyone was ready we walked up along with Susan so we could get a good view of the pier down below us. Susan then gave us all binoculars so we could see some of the birds which were on the sand. We spent a while looking through the binoculars and before we knew it, it was time to go! When we got on the bus we were all talking to the others from Glenamoy N.S when they had to soon get off because we had reached their school. When we reached our own school it was quarter to three and nearly home time! We all took off our wellies and changed back into our normal shoes and dug into some lunch since we were all so hungry from being out all day.
Overall it was a great day, despite the weather, and we have to thank Derek and Susan for bringing us on that very interesting trip to Portacloy to learn about the Twite. It was also great to meet up with the other children from Glenamoy and talk to them!
By Amy
Mata – seomra na naíonáin
Bhíomar ag foghlaim faoina cruthanna 2-T agus 3-T le déanaí. Thog na páistí isteach cruthanna ón Bhaile. Rinneamar tacair de na cruthanna agus tacair de na cruthanna a rollann/nach rollann freisin, ag baint úsáid as rudaí sa seomra ranga agus rudaí ón Bhaile. Thóg na páistí a chruthanna féin. Bhí an-spórt againn.
Building bridges (Step 3: Engineering)
Today we were learning about bridges. We watched some cool videos about bridges and how to build them. It looked quite easy. When we finished reading and looking at bridges we walked down to a bridge near our school. There was two sides of the bridge but one was newly built and the other side was built a long time ago.
The teacher asked some questions like, “How do you think they built the arch in the bridge?”
When we got back up to the school we had to design a bridge and see whose bridge would hold the most weights. Our bridge won. We got a prize. I really enjoyed learning about bridges. I learnt a lot!🌉
From Ava’s blog
We are learning about bridges in school. Our teacher is doing lots of stuff to learn about bridges with us. On Friday, we all made our own bridges! Obviously they were not life size but using lollipop sticks, sellotape, paper and a pile of 2/3 books each side to balance it out. The space between the books had to be exactly 20cm.
In my group was Abby, Róisín and I. We worked together to build our bridge. The whole classroom was full of children huddled around each table, full of cool ideas to build their bridges.
The aim of the game was for the bridge to hold little weights. Each one was getting heavier and heavier. My group cut a piece of paper and stuck each side to the books and it stood up in an arch shape. Then we stood two lollipop sticks under it and in the middle another piece of paper rolled up and stood in the middle under the bridge. We managed to only hold two 10g weights.
Ava’s team won. I don’t know exactly how much they held but it was a lot! In the end it was just a bit of fun, creativity and learning!
From April’s Blog
Today we went down to the bridge to take a look at how it was built. First we read a few paragraphs about which bridges are stronger and how they are built!
The bridge we were taking a look at was very old and I think it was made from stone and cement. In the middle of the arch there is a different shaped stone called the ‘Key stone.’ The key stone keeps all the other stones in places! The bridge is very old one side but the other side is more modern!
I really liked learning about bridges but I wouldn’t like to build a real one.
From Ailish’s blog
Last Friday, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th class tried out a new building app called “Simple Physics”. We tried it out because lately in the last few days we have been talking about bridges and how they are made. We even had a contest to build a bridge with six lollipop sticks, three pieces of paper and it had to be 20cm’s apart. We had to try to see which bridge could hold the most weight.
In the app you have to build different things and you have a money limit too. When you think your bridge is strong enough you press a button and it examines it for you to see if it is safe for people or vehicles to walk/stand on. If it’s not safe you have to try again but even sometimes when it is safe your structure will be over the maximum budget which is $250💰. It is a really good app and I would recommend it!🔩🔨🔧💰
From Amy’s Blog
Last week our class started learning about bridges. We watched some YouTube videos about bridges,went to see our local bridge, used an app that helped you learn more about structure and built our own bridges!
To build our bridges we used 30cm of cellotape, 6 lollipop sticks, 3 sheets of paper and the bridge had to be 20cm long. In my group was Lisa, Jack and I. First we thought of some ideas and then got working. We made 1 sheet of paper into the shape of a bridge, by shaping it. We then added another sheet of paper around the first one so it would hold. We then added some cellotape onto the sides of the bridge so it would make it wider. We also didn’t have to use any lollipop sticks which was good!!!
The bridges had to hold some 50g weights which was a lot for bridges made out of paper. In the end Ava’s group came first and our group came second but it was a lot of fun!!!
Learning HTML
We have been experimenting with learning HTML. We have created a project called ‘Our Favourite Things’ with our HTML coding.
We usually work with Scratch, for animations and games, or code.org to practice coding, but this term we tried HTML.
Our project can be viewed at www.inver.org/HTML/. We are delighted to learn that our HTML project has been shortlisted for the Junior Spider Awards 2015!
Toothpick and Jellytot structures #SciWk2014 (Step 3: Engineering)
On Tuesday, our classroom split up in groups to make our Jellytot and toothpick construction. In my group was me, Ailish and Amy. 💁
We started off by making 2-D triangles then we built it up and up and it fell a bit apart 🙈 but we managed to fix it using struts to strengthen the structure.
We tried out putting Ava’s huge rubber on it for 10 secs and it stayed on! 👀
When it came time to hold a bowl of 1 kilogram stuff, it slanted and fell! It stayed on for 8 seconds though! 😋
We were proud because who knew that anyone could make a structure using toothpicks and jelly tots?! 🙊
By April
Lava lamps #SciWk2014 (Step 1 : Materials)
Today, the 14th of November 2014, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th class made lava lamps. We started it off by being divided into two groups, the first group would fill their plastic bottles half full with water. The second group would do the same things as the first except instead of water they would fill the bottles with oil.Once that was done we got into our other groups, (the ones for making the lava lamps). Some of us weren’t in groups and some of us were. then the bottles that had oil in them put in water and the bottles that had water in them put oil in the bottles. The oil came to the top of the bottle and the water sank to the bottom.Then everyone put food colouring into the bottles. We had a choice of red, green and blue food colouring. I put in green food colouring. Afterwards some of us put in 1 an Alka Seltzer and let the lava lamps settle while we were out at break. After break the people who didn’t put in an Alka Seltzer put in two of them so they could see how it worked on their bottles. It’s very handy that when we didn’t have the Alka Seltzer we could just turn the bottle upside down and it worked the same way it just didn’t work for as long. It was really cool to see that we could make our own lava lamps with oil, water and food colouring instead of buying a lava lamp!
By Amy
Tornado in a bottle #SciWk2014 (Step 1: Energy and Forces)
On Wednesday we did an experiment. The experiment was called “tornado in a bottle “.
First we got a plastic bottle,we filled 3/4 of the bottle up with water. We then added a small amount of black current to make the water into a light purple colour. Once we did that we put another bottle on top of the bottom bottle. We stuck that on with duct tape. Once we had secured the two bottles with duct tape we flipped the bottle over and shook it so the water looked like a tornado while moving into the other bottle. It was a great experiment and I really enjoyed it.
By Sophie
Germination #SciWk2014 (Step 1: Living Things)
On Monday we began an experiment with germinating peas. We all went in groups. Abby and I were in a group.
First we got cardboard plates and some tissue paper. Then we put the tissue on the plate. Then we each placed 8 peas on the tissue then we poured water on it. Our teacher put Ailish and Lisa’s under a web cam. The web camera takes photos every 15 minutes. There is a pea that has a root comming out of it and the other has a crack in it. On Friday we watched a video of the peas germinating (see below). It was really cool.
By Grace
Science Week Fun!
The children had so much fun trying out different experiments this week for Science Week. We explored and learned about air pressure, surface tension, electric charge and floating and sinking. The children were amazed by some of the results and were so interested in the science behind it. Here are some photos of our experiments.
Making lava lamps
Skewer a balloon
Two straws
What’s magnetic?
Sinking layers
Balloon on a wall
Clockwise or anti-clockwise? #SciWk 2014 Step 2
For Science Week, we’ve been trying to decide whether water goes out of our plughole in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction. We put some glitter into our sinks and wash-hand basins and checked them all this morning. We allowed the water to stand for 10 minutes and then pulled the plug. The water came out in a clockwise direction from all our sinks, except one, where the plug was faulty and the water had leaked out before we could check it.
What have you found in your school?