Christmas lunch

Wednesday was Christmas lunch day at school and we helped at the first sitting. The tables were decorated with crackers and set out like a party. We served the little ones their dinner, helped them cut their meat and tidy away the rubbish afterwards. Then it was our turn to eat!

Speedfacting

Yesterday we tried a new way to learn facts. In pairs we read some information about global warming and climate change and chose the main idea from our reading. Next we used the main idea to write our own sentences which we memorised.
We set the tables out so that we were facing each other. we told the person sitting opposite our information and listened to theirs. The inside group moved round in a circle until we had told everyone our facts and listened to everyone else's. A bit like speed dating!
It got a bit noisy! It was however a fun way to learn and we would like to try it again with another topic.

Scrimshaw

After our visit to Stromness museum last term and looking at how walrus tusks and whale teeth are used to make decorative scrimshaw, we had a go ourselves using blocks of wax and toothpicks or needles to etch our design. Next we used black paint and washed off the excess to leave our pictures highlighted.
Here are some of our designs.

Ice magic

Last week we were experimenting with ice and salt to see if there is any difference between fresh and salty water. 

In our first experiment we discovered that salty water took longer to freeze than freshwater and even after 48 hours in the freezer it still felt a bit slushy compared to the solid block of fresh water.

For the second experiment we needed water and ice cubes with various amounts of salt. We tested the buoyancy of the different 'ice bergs' in different salt solutions and discovered that the saltier the water the higher the cube floated. Some of our science boffins explained that it is because salt water is denser than fresh water. (Thank you James and Ronan)

 After research we discovered that icebergs are made of fresh water as they come from broken glaciers on land. (Thank you Kaitlyn.)

In our third experiment we looked at the effect salt has on ice. We added salt to blocks of ice made from fresh water and saw how it started to pit and melt the ice. After adding drops of food colouring we watched the patterns made in the ice as the salt made cracks and fissures and the colour trickled through. Some of the patterns reminded us of glass paperweights and it was fascinating to watch the changes.

You can see some of the patterns in the slideshow below.

During the winter, the top layer of the ocean near the North Pole freezes solid. Every summer some of this ice melts. But not all of it melts. Some of the ice is so thick it stays frozen all the time, even throughout the summer. However, since 1979, when Earth-observing satellites began watching, the ice remaining at the end of summer has been getting smaller and smaller. At the end of summer 2009, the ice was only two-thirds as large as at the end of the summer of 1979. In August 2012, is was the smallest on record.

To find out more try some of the Arctic links on our science tab on the right.

Book Week

On Friday 30th November we invited p1 into our classroom to share our favourite books. Everyone had a buddy and we read our books together. We gave our buddies the bookmarks we had made for them. Everyone enjoyed the session and we all agreed that we would like to do it again sometime. Here is a slideshow of our session.