In Science, we have developed our understanding of electricity.

We started our investigation by finding out the difference between mains powered and battery powered appliances and those that run on both. We learned new vocabulary as we found out what components (parts) we need to make a circuit and we cleverly matched then with their correct symbols. The fun part was making a circuit and watching the bulb light up. It was a bit tricky attaching the wires using the crocodile clips but we were super patient and got so much better with practice. We discovered that a bulb needs a circuit and a source of energy to light up and also a buzzer to buzz. What a delight and sense of pride when we heard our buzzers ‘buzzing’! We were so good at making a circuit that we even included a switch to turn our light and buzzer off and on.

We were all ‘buzzing’ with our science investigation!

We have trekked from Antarctica to North America this term, to investigate the life and culture of the Native Americans who roamed across the Prairies of the United States long before the arrival of Christopher Columbus and the Europeans and discovered why the indigenous people were first called ‘Indians’. We have explored their traditions and customs through art. We made our own headdresses like those worn by the Apache Tribe and made a model of a Teepee which were used by the Nomad tribes. We found out that Native Americans relied heavily on bison for their survival and well-being, using every part of the bison for food, clothing, shelter, tools, jewellery and in ceremonies. We designed our own bison hide using brown paper. We learned that the men in the tribes used lots of weapons for hunting and war and designed our own shields. We also found out that the women would weave baskets and tried out this skill too. We enjoyed listening to the story of a famous female Native American – Sacagawea and her journey through the Black Hills. Did you know that Sacagawea is the character in the movie ‘Night at the Museum?’ We love to sing songs and can now sing ‘The Black Hills of Dakota!’

So… is it bison or buffalo?

In American English, both buffalo and bison are considered correct terms for the American bison. However, in British English, the word buffalo is reserved for the African Buffalo and water buffalo and not used for the bison.

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                                                            In Science, we have been carrying out experiments to help us understand the concept of melting and apply the concept to different situations.

We first found out the difference between a solid and a liquid and that when a solid melts, it becomes a liquid. We talked about solids that we use in cooking and discovered that these solids melt into a liquid when we heat them up. We also found out that some liquids can become solid again when they cooled – this is called a ‘reversible change’.

In one investigation, we found out which solid melted the fastest when we warmed them up over a candle.

We were given a challenge for our second investigation: It’s very cold outside and the paths are icy and slippery. Your mum has asked you to try to melt the ice so she doesn’t fall. You look in the kitchen cupboard, what could you use to help you melt the ice?

In our investigation, we discovered that salt melts ice the best and we would sprinkle that on the path.

We also learnt that when huge pieces of ice fall away and float out to sea, they are called icebergs. We listened to the story of Titanic and how it crashed into an iceberg. We made our own icebergs and saw, first-hand, how most of the iceberg is hidden beneath the water. We remembered that salt melts ice and used salt and food colouring on our icebergs to notice the effect of the salt and the patterns it made.

We’ve been on a fabulous learning journey finding out all about the Arctic and the Antarctic. We have explored the different terrains and the creatures that live there. We have found out the amazing ways in which the different creatures such as penguins, polar bears, whales and foxes have adapted to live in difficult conditions.

We explored how the Inuit people live in the freezing cold conditions and in Art we made our own Inuit people and also constructed mini igloos.

We learnt all about the famous British Explorer Scott and his expedition to the South Pole. Sadly it did not end well and his Team were beaten to the South Pole by another Team led by Amundsen, a Norwegian Explorer.

In Science we explored the concept of melting and sadly we know that the ice is melting in these regions due partly to the change in our climate.

We have chosen our favourite piece of work to showcase what we have enjoyed finding out about during this exciting project.

So why do Polar Bears not eat Penguins? Because Polar Bears live in the Arctic and Penguins live in the Antarctic!

Our current class topic in English is poetry and finding out about different poetry styles. One fun activity was for us to enter a poetry writing competition on an animal theme. What better way to boost our confidence and create a buzz than to get close up and personal with some snails to study and write a poem about. We found out what snails look like, how snails move, how they breathe and what they eat. We found out what animals eat snails and even learned that humans eat snails too! Yuk, we weren’t tempted to try that for our afternoon snack. We used all the information about snails to write an Acrostic Poem for the competition and we were delighted with how well they turned out. We even had time to carry out some snail art work. Fingers crossed that one of our poems will be a winner!

The children had an interesting time, this week, finding out about the mummification process using a dead fish! There were a few ‘urgh!’s and ‘yuk!’s when the fish was washed and its organs were put in ‘canopic’ jars. The children were very brave and felt how wet the fish was and then rubbed its flesh with special salt. The fish was wrapped up and we will look at it again next week to see if it has started to dry out and ‘mummify’.