Making a bird feeder - Junior Infants

Junior Infants decided to make a bird feeder. We brainstormed what resources we would need. We decided on the materials below.

We discussed how the birds would be able to access the seeds. We decided to make holes in the bottle using a pen.

Once this was completed we took turns putting the seeds into the bird feeder.

 We put a pencil through two of the holes to act as a perch for the birds.

We attached string at the top so we could hang it. We were so excited that we brought our bird feeder outside straight away and searched for a suitable place to hang it. 

Which material will make the best parachute?- 1st class

First, we brainstormed what a parachute was and discussed how they work. We watched a video explaining how parachutes work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab_g5sLoXoY

Then we examined some materials and voted which ones we thought would make the best parachute:

We decided as a class that a circle shape would be best for the parachutes. Some of the class thought that small pieces of material would work best, but other students felt that bigger pieces of material would be better. Therefore we decided that we would divide into pairs and some of the class would use small pieces of material, while others would use larger pieces. Some very clever students pointed out that we needed to keep all the large circles the same size and all the small circles the same size to ensure that the experiment was fair.

After we had measured out the circles, we cut them out. Then we used a hole puncher to punch 4 holes in each circle. We then tied a piece of string to each hole and joined these together at the bottom- this was going to be the harness to connect the parachute jumper ( we used a lego man).

To conduct the experiment we had to stand on a tall surface and drop the parachutes.











After dropping all the parachutes we decided it was very obvious that the larger parachutes were much better than the small parachutes. They floated down much slower and safer, but the small parachutes fell very quickly and dangerously. We discussed that this was because of the larger amount of space that the wind was pushing against.

The card and foam parachutes worked well but we all agreed that the best parachute was made from tissue.

Design and Make a boat - 2nd & 3rd Class

For this experiment the children were divided into teams.  There was a huge selection of materials and the children had to choose items that would be best used to keep their boat afloat and keep their little pig from getting wet. The children were judged on how well their boat could float in the water and their designing skills to make an attractive and exciting boat for their little pig. The children were very creative and below you can see some examples of their work.

Designing and making boats - senior infants

Designing and Making Boats

 First we discussed what types of materials would be good to use when making boats. After testing paper, fabric, plastic and tinfoil we concluded materials such as paper and fabric would not be good as they got wet and soggy. We decided we would need to use waterproof materials.

We were amazed when we tested the orange. It floated with the skin on however when we peeled the skin off it sank.  We discovered that there are tiny pockets of air in the skin which helps the orange float. We decided the orange skin was like its very own life jacket.

 We had great fun designing and making our boats and even more fun when we got to test them out! All of our boats were able to float but not all of them could hold the weight of more than 20 peas.

We learned lots from discussing why they did and didn't hold this weight. At the end we decided to see which boat would hold the most weight, and one of our designs held more than 60 dried peas before it finally sank!

Design a Traffic light - Senior Infants

Science: Energy and Forces –Light

 In Senior Infants we have been learning all about road safety. We learnt all bout crossing the road safely with the help of a traffic light. We went outside and observed the sequencing of the traffic lights at our school gate. Then we discussed the shapes, and colours of traffic lights. We talked in our partners about where each colour is placed and what each colour means.  We even played a traffic light game in the hall to test our knowledge of the meaning of each light. 

From our observations we were able to draw our traffic light design we decided we needed needed the colours red, orange (or yellow if we have no orange) and green. The shape of the traffic light would be a cuboid and the lights would be circle shapes.

Next we tried various materials to see whether they let the light through (transparent) or blocked all the light (opaque).  We tested this with a torch and the sunlight coming in from the window.

Felt and coloured sheets of paper didn't work at all because they are opaque.

Crepe paper and tissue paper were a little better, they let a little bit of light through.

Cellophane was the best as it was extremely transparent.

To make the traffic light we covered a shoe box in black paper. Then we cut out 3 circles shapes. Next we used cellotape to stick on the coloured cellophane. 


Now all we needed was a light source. We used a torch to shine through the each colour to create the traffic light we took turns to practice the sequence of the lights.

Designing a parachute - Fifth and Sixth Class

During a section of work on World War 2, we looked at the role of parachutes. We learned about a doctor who arranged for sweets to be dropped from planes to starving children on the ground.

We were given a number of different materials and told to come up with a design for a parachute. The materials included a plastic bag, string, j cloths, sellotape and tins.

We came up with different variations on a design, using the plastic bag as the parachute. The aim was that the parachute would have to be able to hold a small, light object and drop to the ground. We had great fun trying out different designs and testing them to see whether they worked.

As a result of our work, we discovered a number of learning points. Firstly, the width of the plastic bag had an effect on how quickly the parachute fell to the ground. Secondly. the weight of the basket which was used to hold the object, also affected how slowly or quickly the parachute fell. Finally, the design of the basket was also important, and it needed to be able to safely hold the object until it reached the ground.

Filming a 'meteor strike' from a 'moonbuggy'

 

4th class studied electricity last year and learned how to make electrical circuits. 

Using this knowledge each person in the class took home some basic electrical parts (motor, cables with crocodile clips, wheels)  over the Easter holiday with a view to making a 'moonbuggy', a moving vehicle that could carry a camera, analogous to the moonbuggy used on the Apollo space missions.

We hoped to put a phone in our moonbuggy and record a 'meteor' landing on the moon (our science experiment, see science blog.

Here is our 'moonbuggy' (Louie' work)

And here is our meteor landing