Images of Space

Today these photos were on the all whiteboard. They stayed up there all day long. Some of us talked about them. Some of us ignored them.

At the end of the day we stuck up post-its about the photos. We are becoming curious about our topic. There is so much to explore! Which is your favourite image?

Today my friend shared this photo. It is perfect as we start to get into our own inquiry projects based on this key question:

How do stars in the universe have an impact on us?

Speaking of curiosity, today we sent postcards to the Curiosity rover on Mars. Amazing! One of the many super activities you can try on the NASA Kids Club.

The Curiosity rover investigating Mars

Energy Transfer Through Balls

Nga Rakau Nui have a rotation on Wednesday: Te Hui Nui. I get to take a science activity. After last week's experiment was an enjoyably messy failure, this week I decided to keep it simple.

This fun experiment is all about energy transfer. You could easily try it at home. I found it through Science Kids.

The young scientists videoed themselves conducting the experiment. Here are the results. Watch carefully, you might be amazed!



Bouncing Balls from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

What is Matariki?

Created with Padlet

Today we had a shared reading of the short information text, Matariki by Moira Wairama. Our Padlet shows what we now know about Matariki after reading this text. Many of us would like to find out more.

Planets, Stars and the Solar System

This is a great explanation of stars, planets and the solar system from the Science Learning Hub. You can watch their other videos exploring space here.

We are learning to explore, investigate, question and develop explanations. 

Key Question for our inquiry:

How do stars in the universe have an impact on us?

Outside Our Window

Outside our window we have a lovely view. Lately, our literacy groups have been writing hard or interesting words on the windows. I wonder if it will wash off.

Good readers notice words. They especially notice words they don't know the meaning of. They know it is important to find out the meaning of these words. The words in the window are from the Jedi Knights. What might they have been reading about?

How Much Science Can You Fit Into 6 Seconds?

Watch the video below. Which experiments would you like to try? Have you got any ideas to create your own six second science video? Have a try!

 

Race a Speedboat

Goal

Can you make a paper boat race across the water just by gently touching the surface of the water?

Gently does it...

Hypothesis (What I think will happen)

Crighton: "The washing liquid will make bubbles and push the boat along the water."
Hemani: "I think that as you touch the water gently with a little dish wash on your finger the water might get a little bubbly and it might make the water push away. Just like how I wash the dishes at home. As I put the dish wash on any plate or glass the soap starts getting bubbly."
Marcus: "I think that the dishwashing liquid would make bubbles and when the bubbles pop it would let out air and then the air will push the boat."
Bree: "I think the dish washing liquid will make bubbles and the the bubble will make wave and the boat will move."

Materials

Coloured card, washing up liquid, pencil or sharpie, scissors, large container of water.

Method (What we did)

1. Drew and cut a boat shape (bird's eye view) out of the cardboard.
2. Teva: "We gently put our boats on the water, and tapped the water with washing liquid on our finger." 

Observation (What happened)

Elijah: "When we put our fingers in the water, the boats moved." 
When I did it with Room 18, the boats moved across to the other side.

Speedboat from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Conclusion (Why I think it happened)

The water surface tension is broken behind the boat. This means the surface tension is stronger in front of the boat and it pulls the boat forwards.

Short Experiment to Follow Up: Make Metal Float

Gently place a paperclip on the water’s surface.

Heavy metal?

What will happen? Will it sink or float?

Does air weigh anything?

A powerful chop!

We have been doing science experiments around air, movement and force. Check out the wonderful science reports on our students' blogs like this one by Marcus. Yesterday we did a fun little experiment to prove if air weighs anything or not.

 Equipment: 

Ruler, newspaper, table, volunteer (who can karate chop).

 Method:

1. Place table on ruler so it balances with some of the ruler off the table.
2. Karate chop the ruler (to the side of the table).
3. Pick the ruler up, place it back where it was.
4. Screw up a sheet of newspaper, place it on top of the ruler on the table side.
5. Repeat step 2.
6. Repeat step 3.
7. Place a flat sheet of paper so that it covers the ruler on the table side. Smooth it down so that there is no air between the ruler and the piece of paper.
8. Repeat step 2.

 Hypothesis: 

 The ruler will flip with the force of the karate chop. When you put the screwed up bit of paper on, there will be a catapult effect. However, when you flatten the paper down, the weight of the air on the ruler acts like a counter force. When you karate chop this time, your force is met by the weight of air now holding the ruler down and the ruler smashes.

 Results: 

 Look and see!




Ruler Smash! from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Here is a clown doing the experiment:

 

Meteors Over Russia

Photo from National Geographic

A meteor hit Russia yesterday, becoming a meteorite and causing injury to hundreds and lots of damage. Meteors come from outer space.

Click here for more photos of the meteorite from National Geographic.

Click on this link to understand more about the difference between meteors and meteorites.

Watch the video below and leave a comment about meteors and meteorites.

Can We Save The World?

Room 20 has been given a challenge to save the world from a hypothetical asteroid attack. It was given to us by Kevin Honeycutt.

Impact Zone

Mr M's IWB Sketch

World Savers (Groups)

This is the link to the Doomsday-1 Project. It has many resources to help us research information. We are trying to be as accurate as we can with our maths and science.

Wish us luck!

WALT: Summarise

Pluto Summarising from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

The Ewoks reading group read an interesting report, The Problem with Pluto by David Hill today. We are learning to summarise and I thought they did great job summarising the important facts in the report.

Ewoks Reading Group

Stump Your Parents With These (Easy) Science Questions

A great article from one of my favourite websites DOGOnews. Click on the image of Fry to follow the link.