Monday, 12 May 2014
Monday, 31 March 2014
Starch
31st March:
Today we did the final part of our work for the Discovery Science award. We were learning about starch and where you might find it. Starch is a carbohydrate and is found in plants, so it can be found in some foods, and also things like paper. Years ago people used to use starch to make the collars on shirts stand up nice and straight, but this usually led to lots of itchy necks!
Our job today was to test eight everyday things to see whether they contained starch. First of all we had to guess, or estimate, whether we thought they would contain starch, and record this on our log sheet. Then we got to test our ideas out. We used iodine, which makes things with starch in them turn a dark black colour when you drop it on them. It looks like black paint or ink from a pen. We used a syringe to suck up iodine from a jar and then drop it onto each item. Iodine can leave stains on clothes, so we had to be careful when handling it!
Check out some of our work - can you guess which items had starch in them?
Today we did the final part of our work for the Discovery Science award. We were learning about starch and where you might find it. Starch is a carbohydrate and is found in plants, so it can be found in some foods, and also things like paper. Years ago people used to use starch to make the collars on shirts stand up nice and straight, but this usually led to lots of itchy necks!
Our job today was to test eight everyday things to see whether they contained starch. First of all we had to guess, or estimate, whether we thought they would contain starch, and record this on our log sheet. Then we got to test our ideas out. We used iodine, which makes things with starch in them turn a dark black colour when you drop it on them. It looks like black paint or ink from a pen. We used a syringe to suck up iodine from a jar and then drop it onto each item. Iodine can leave stains on clothes, so we had to be careful when handling it!
Check out some of our work - can you guess which items had starch in them?
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| Rhys was a great help with filling up the syringes with iodine |
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| Biscuit |
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| Bread |
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| Flour |
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| Potato |
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| Apple |
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| Paper/cardboard |
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| Pasta |
Sunday, 30 March 2014
Catapults
On Wednesday we took off up to the hall to carry out a science experiment - and have a bit of fun in the process! We were looking at forces and things that can create energy. We used an elastic band tied to a clip, which was attached to a ruler. There were four different kinds of elastic band: small, medium, large, and extra large. Our task was to try out each one and see which could send a small paper ball the furthest. To measure we used a measuring tape and we recorded each distance on our log. We had great fun trying this out and we had some interesting results. We also discussed the reasons why some paper balls went further than others. If you can think of any, make sure to let us know by commenting below!
Bull Island
30th March
On Thursday, we headed off to visit Bull Island as part of our Discovery Science work. Despite it's name, this is not an island with bulls on it, but a nature reserve with some extremely rare animals, insects and plants living on it.
Our host, Pat, gave us lots of information about the animals and the things that live there. He told us about eco systems and how important it is to keep the island going as a nature reserve. He had plenty of cool photos and interesting facts for us.
Next we had lunch and had a look at some of the animals on display in cases in the centre. There were plenty of crabs and sea creatures, as well as some pretty real-looking birds!
Finally it was time to head out and explore the island to see if we could see any of the wildlife that Pat had told us about. We saw Brent geese, which come all the way from Canada to Ireland for the winter, a heron, a falcon, a crab and plenty of other shells of sea creatures. We finished off the day with a run around on the beach. All in all we had a great day and certainly learned plenty.
On Thursday, we headed off to visit Bull Island as part of our Discovery Science work. Despite it's name, this is not an island with bulls on it, but a nature reserve with some extremely rare animals, insects and plants living on it.
Our host, Pat, gave us lots of information about the animals and the things that live there. He told us about eco systems and how important it is to keep the island going as a nature reserve. He had plenty of cool photos and interesting facts for us.
Next we had lunch and had a look at some of the animals on display in cases in the centre. There were plenty of crabs and sea creatures, as well as some pretty real-looking birds!
Finally it was time to head out and explore the island to see if we could see any of the wildlife that Pat had told us about. We saw Brent geese, which come all the way from Canada to Ireland for the winter, a heron, a falcon, a crab and plenty of other shells of sea creatures. We finished off the day with a run around on the beach. All in all we had a great day and certainly learned plenty.
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| Check out those claws! |
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| Pat taught us lots about the wildlife on the island |
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| Listening carefully to Pat |
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| Fun at the beach! |
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| Ryley and Isabelle found a crab |
Monday, 10 March 2014
Signs of spring
As part of the Greenwave "Signs of Spring" project we have been keeping an eye on two things in our area.
Every day for the month of March we will be checking the temperature in the yard at 12 o clock midday. This will help to give us an idea of whether the days are getting hotter as Spring goes on.
We are also checking on an ash tree in the yard behind the prefabs. The ash bud is black, which makes it different from every other Irish tree, and we will be checking every week to see how the buds are progressing. The buds will flower first and then later the leaves will appear. Here are a few photos of us wit our first visit to the ash tree.
Every day for the month of March we will be checking the temperature in the yard at 12 o clock midday. This will help to give us an idea of whether the days are getting hotter as Spring goes on.
We are also checking on an ash tree in the yard behind the prefabs. The ash bud is black, which makes it different from every other Irish tree, and we will be checking every week to see how the buds are progressing. The buds will flower first and then later the leaves will appear. Here are a few photos of us wit our first visit to the ash tree.
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