On Monday 19th January, Greswold held a Science Day. Everyone came together in a whole school assembly to find out their special Science investigation question for the day - there was great excitement and anticipation!
Children then spent the rest of the day becoming scientists to discover an answer to their question: investigating, predicting, data collecting, measuring, recording, data analysing, and coming to a final conclusion.
These investigations were shared with buddy classes and then with the whole school again on Tuesday.
I had the chance to walk around school and see all of the amazing Science going on and was truly amazed to see the skills, expertise and fun around school:
In Nursery and Reception, they were investigating how to change bubbles: they played around with making different sized bubbles, different shaped bubbles and even different coloured bubbles!
Year 1 investigated which chocolate melted the quickest out of white, milk and dark chocolate. They used timers and warm water and their observation skills to see how fast each one melted. I was very impressed that they didn't all come out with chocolatey fingers!
Year 2 had great fun with fruit. After investigating whether a range of fruits would float or sink, they then investigated which fruits made the biggest splats when dropped from a height. After making impressive predictions, they headed out to their 'splat zones' and measured the fruits' splats.
Year 3 played detective for the day - they were tasked with stopping a pesky burglar from using a magnet through their front doors to turn off the alarm systems. Testing different materials and different layer amounts, the children came to a conclusion as to which material would be best at preventing the magnet working and therefore stopping the burglar in his tracks!
Boat making was the challenge for Year 4: could they design a boat out of foil and tape that would not sink, and which designs could hold the most weight? They researched boat designs, created their own designs and then made a prototype to test. They then watched with anticipation as they each got to test their design - would their design be a success?
Have you ever wondered whether oat milk is healthier than cows' milk; is coconut milk healthier than almond milk? Using their enquiry skills of research, Year 5 now have the answer. They investigated what milk should contain and what makes it unhealthy, such as added sugars and artificial ingredients and came to their own conclusions as to which milk was in fact the healthiest.
Finally, Year 6 took on a sweet investigation. They used chromatography paper to investigate the different chemicals in sweets. They watched as colours from sweets changed before their very eyes, proving that there is more to a sweet than what you see. They even discovered that natural sweet colours can come from crushed insects!!
I was so very impressed by the team work, curiosity, and enthusiasm shown in all the classes and thank you to all of the teachers for all of their hard work with making it a fun, memorable but also an educational day for our pupils.
In Tuesday's assembly, the SCIENCE HOME LEARNING project was launched and letters have now come out. Greswold will be hosting its very own Greswold's Science Fayre this year on March 9th to kick of British Science Week and the best science projects will be displayed here. We can't wait to see all of the interesting projects the children bring in.
Mrs Foster and Mrs Groves