Spring Term: Week 9
The children in Nursery and Pre-Prep have marked the National Science and Engineering Week by taking part in a week of exciting science activities. This year the theme has been ‘Innovating for the Future’. Science is a wonderful subject for catching the children’s attention and providing the ‘wow’ factor. Our pupils are encouraged to investigate, think creatively and to make connections about the world in which they live. We hope that celebrating the wonder of science will inspire the next generation of scientists. We owe current scientists huge thanks for all their work, especially in relation to finding improved treatments for Covid and for creating the essential vaccine.
Year 2 have certainly embraced their inner scientist this week. They have made raisins dance and learnt all about the life cycle of chicken including watching chicks hatch. Another highlight was making and erupting volcanoes! The class has been full of awe and wonder and it has been a joy to see the children having so much fun.
Year 1 have had a wonderful week. With almost everyone back in class, there has been much excitement as friends have caught up. Our scientists have been busy exploring, investigating and writing up experiments. It was lovely to watch the children’s reactions as they watched what happened to carnations put into water of different colours. They also explored magnets and learnt about the north and south poles and what attract and repel meant and the children worked in pairs to see what would happen when they added water to Skittles. The children also attended a workshop about chickens and eggs and thought about the impossible question: Which Came First? Towards the end of the week, the children made a variety of wands with straws, string, pipe cleaners and bottles and looked at different types of bubble mixtures and spent time testing out their theories. And today, they have tested the density of a variety of liquids in which they observed ‘dancing raisins’.
Reception have been learning about changing states from a solid to a liquid and using relevant vocabulary. The children changed the states of wax and having watched it melt they made a picture. The children also discovered what happens if you hold chocolate in your hand for too long and rather enjoyed licking off the chocolate when melted! They held Mrs Tarrant’s giant African snails and their babies and they learnt all about the snails’ habitat and what they eat. They also made ‘flitter’ jars with water and glitter and used a torch to watch how the glitter moves once shaken in the water. Spoiler alert: the children also made Mother’s Day cards and on a baking theme, they created lemon drizzle muffins for their mums and made popcorn on the Forest School fire and toasted marshmallows with the sticks they whittled last week.
This week the Chaffinch and Kingfisher children explored water. They made lava lamps and were curious to discover what would happen when they mixed the water, oil and colours together. ‘Wow! It looks like blood,’ said one pupil! The children were also given a selection of coloured sequins to add to their bottles which they carefully placed inside and they added some salt to see the effect it would have on the mixture. ‘I can see bubbles!’ called out several children! Spoiler alert: In Cheeky Chefs the children made Mother’s Day heart biscuits beautifully spreading the icing on their biscuits and enjoying adding sprinkles on the top. Staff asked the children to tell them why they love mummy, with answers such as ‘because she’s kind.’
For Science Week the Nightingale class carried out experiments with gloop and discovered, by feel, how the cornflour and water turned from a solid to a liquid. They also added food colouring to the mixture and were delighted to call it ‘slime’. In Forest School, the children showed their investigative skills and searched for insects, looking under the leaves and logs.
Spoiler Alert: The Robin class has been practising their fine motor skills, gluing and sticking Mother’s Day hearts. The children also enjoyed exploring the school field, helping to collect sticks and leaves which they used to create a nature tray in the classroom. The children’s listening, attention and verbal skills are coming along nicely during circle time; they sing songs, practise naming the days of the week and months of the year and read stories. During one of the songs the children take it in turns to say their names.
The Sparrows also really enjoyed their Science Week, exploring frozen paints of different colours and mixing them together to make new ones.
As promised last week, the World Book Day dressing up was carried over to this week, for those who wished to. The children looked fantastic dressed up as their preferred characters and they all had an opportunity to share their thoughts about their favourite books.
Have a good weekend and we wish all mothers and grandmothers a Happy Mothering Sunday.
Armelle Wilkinson
Head of Pre-Prep and Nursery
