St Edward's NS

Tag: Science (Page 1 of 6)

BLAST programme in 2nd Class

06/06/2023 /

Karen Webster has worked with 2nd class over 4 sessions to do Art and Environmental workshop. We used natural materials such as leaves, branches and charcoal to create artworks!

 

We made letters with branches, leaf and material prints. We also used water colours to paint with and outlined our work with charcoal and black markers.

Our final session consisted of us making bird nests from clay and adding natural materials. We took them outside to photograph them in our beautiful school garden.

 

We really enjoyed our sessions with Karen. Thank you!

 

Senior Infant’s Shadows

02/06/2023 /

Senior infants took advantage of the bright sunny days to learn about shadows.

Shadows are created when an object is placed in front of a light source such as a flash light, lamp or the sun and it stops the light from passing through.

At 10am, the children went outside to draw around each other’s shadows. Some great poses were captured. The children then predicted (took a guess) as to what would happen their shadows later in the day when the sun had risen higher in the sky.

At 1.15pm, we went out to check our shadows again.  The children guessed correctly that the shadow would change direction, however to the children’s surprise, their shadows had gotten shorter. They thought they would get longer. As the sun rises higher it the sky, and reaches above the children’s heads, with no objects to block the light, the shadow becomes shorter.

In the evening time, as the sun lowers in the sky, and goes behind your body, which blocks more of the sun, your shadow becomes longer.

Perhaps you could try this at home!!

Growing Caterpillars and plants in our classroom.

14/05/2023 /

In Junior Infants, we have enjoyed watching our caterpillars grow into beautiful butterflies. When they arrived first they were tiny caterpillars, as they ate the food in their tub, they grew into big caterpillars. Then we watched as they changed into the chrysalis stage and then finally they turned into beautiful butterflies. We gave them some oranges before releasing them outside.

We also watched our beans and cress seeds growing in the classroom. We learned about the needs of a plant, how they need sunlight, water, air, nutrients and space to grow. We watched to see if they would grow as tall as the beanstalk in the story Jack and the Beanstalk. Have a look at our slideshow of photos and videos below.

Junior Infant’s Trip To Homeland

20/04/2023 /

Just before Easter, Junior Infants had a lovely trip to Homeland. We were learning about pets and animals last month and this month we have been learning about The Garden Centre so we decided to take a visit to the Garden Centre and Pet Shop in Homeland. We had a lovely walk down, the sun was shining and we saw some lovely spring flowers. We also looked at the buildings and houses on our way down. We saw semi detached and terraced houses. We passed St Joseph’s church and said a prayer outside it. We remembered our safe cross code when crossing the road. We used the zebra crossing and waited for the green man to appear when using the pelican crossing. We saw many different types of vehicles on the road. We waved to the lorries and they blew their horns at us! There were some big tractors on the road also. We saw Knocknarea and Benbulben mountains and saw many boats at the Harbour. 

When we reached Homeland, we went to the Pet Shop first, we saw a dog getting groomed. There were lots of fish and birds to see. We saw bunny rabbits and hamsters. There were loads of toys and beds for cats and dogs and we saw some big dog kennels. 

Then we went to The Garden Centre, where we saw loads of colourful flowers, pots and soil for planting. There were different types of stones and ornaments for gardens. Then we had a lovely picnic outside Homeland before we walked to the playground. We had a lovely fun filled day. Have a look at our slideshow to see some photos and videos.

The Ark-November

19/12/2022 /

 

We were so busy in the Ark in November that I forgot to add my blog post! We were super busy during Science week. We worked with Beebots (see previous Beebots post) and also made our own Lava lamps in class using water, food coloring, oil and an Alka Seltzer tablet. It was fun to watch the oil and bubbles turn into a Lava Lamp like the one I have on my table.

Our theme this month was Owls and we learned lots of interesting Owl facts and read the story Owl Babies. We made some lovely Art and finished off the theme with some procedural writing and making Owl Toast. Once we finished up in the kitchen, we tidied up and made sure the kitchen was ready for the next class to use.

The children in the Ark were also busy intergrating back into their mainstream class this month and they also managed to get some down time on the swings and outside in the sun for a spot of tennis!

All in all, a very busy and fun month!

Bug hunt in Junior Infants

12/12/2022 /

We had great fun going on a bug hunt with Martina Butler from the Heritage in Schools Scheme. Martina came into our classroom and showed us pictures of different types of bugs that we could find around our school. She talked about the different parts of the bugs body, how many legs they have and where they all live. Then we went on a bug hunt around our school. We found snails, slugs, woodlouse and worms. We used bug pots to put our bugs into. Then at the end we let our bugs free to their homes outside.

We also made willow tunnels with Martina. Some of the 6th class children helped us to plant our willow trees and then we twisted the trees together to make a tunnel. It was great fun.

Science week In Junior Infants

12/12/2022 /

In Junior Infants we had great fun during Science week. Here are a few of the experiments we tried out:

Experiment 1: Floating and Sinking

  1. First we predicted which objects would float or sink when placed in water. 
  2. Then we tested them out in water to see if our prediction was correct. 

Results: Some objects had air inside them and we learned that the air inside was lighter than the water and that’s why they floated. 

Experiment 2: Skittle colour mixing

  1. We placed the skittles around the edge of a plate in a circle shape.
  2. We poured warm water into the middle of the plate until it reached the sweets.
  3. We watched the colours mix.

Result: The outside of the skittles are made of sugar. When sugar is put into warm water it dissolves. As the colours meet, they mix creating different colours.

Experiment 3: Paper Towel colour mixing

  1. First we put yellow, blue and red food colouring into four separate cups.
  2. Then we added water to each cup.
  3. We used sheets of kitchen towel, folded them and placed one end in one cup and the other end into the other cup.
  4. We then watched what happened.

Result: The water moved up the paper towel because the paper is absorbent. The colour travels with the water, making the kitchen towel change colour from white to red, blue, or yellow. The colours mix when they meet together. Red and blue make purple and blue and yellow make green.

Beebots: 

We had great fun learning how to use the Beebots. We had to key in instructions to make the Beebot move forward, backwards, right, left or turn around. 

  1. We made a maze and directed the Beebots from one side to the other.
  2. We used the shape board to direct the Beebots to different shape colours and sizes.
  3. We used the number ladder to move the Beebots to the different numbers.

We hope you enjoy our experiments.

Science Week 2022 – The Bewitched Egg

14/11/2022 /

This week in Ireland it is Science Week 2022. During Science we will be exploring and experimenting in our role as scientists learning new facts about the world around us.

Today, we did an experiment called ‘The Bewitched Egg’.

  1. First we made predictions (taking a guess) as to whether an egg would float or sink in a glass of water.
  2. Next we filled a glass of water, popped in the egg and it sank to the bottom.
  3. After that we added three spoons of salt to the water and mixed it up until all the salt had dissolved.
  4. Then we predicted again whether the egg would float or sink in the salty water.
  5. Finally we popped in the egg, and guess what – it floated!!!

Here’s why: when you add salt to the water, you increase the density of the water by adding more mass in the same volume of water. The density of the water becomes higher than the egg and so the egg floats.

We then did the experiment again with a carrot and potato slice. Some predicted at first that the vegetables would float in plain water as they felt lighter than the egg and were surprised to see them sink. After adding salt, the vegetables floated too! Overall water density was higher with salt added.

May in Senior Infants

01/06/2022 /

Senior Infants have been very busy for the month of May. A lot of work has been completed and here we are sharing with you what we have been up to.

Our theme for this month was summer, and all things summer related. The children have played in role as travel agents arranging holidays and stay-cations for customers, and as customers looking to book their summer trip away.  They created passports, packed suitcases and wrote checklists of items needed for a holiday to some place warm or some place cold.  We discussed various types of trips you could go on: to the beach, ski-ing, camping and to  water parks. We sure were dreaming of wonderful holidays in Senior Infants!

In small world the children played with the airport, checking in, walking to the plane and taking off as the pilot welcomed them on board. In maths we talked about weight – weighing items to see which was the lightest/heaviest, lighter and heavier. Airplanes were constructed using lego and we went to the seaside making sandcastles and finding shells in the sand area. We thought of summer flowers as we painted sunflowers being inspired by Van Gogh and created our own junk art summer flowers.

We linked water to the theme of summer also, learning about capacity and the volume of water certain containers could hold. We estimated, measured and compared various cups and beakers to see which could hold more/ less water. We also guessed and tested whether certain objects float or sink in water.  Finally we experimented materials to check if they were waterproof, and designed some boots using chosen materials that would keep our feet dry in puddles.

Not only that, we began a new Drama programme with Kate Brown who comes to visit us every week and listen to our stories. We have recorded our stories using words, pictures, voice and video. We are excited to see what first class perform using our stories in the next few weeks!!

Click play below to see some photos captured by teacher of all the activities we have been enjoying…..

 

Spring in Senior Infants

08/04/2022 /

The children of Senior Infants have been very busy in school this Spring.  Our classroom turned into a Doctor’s Surgery, a spring farm and a building site designing and constructing houses with various materials for the three pigs.

The children took part in Lego We Do – building lego machines as part of Engineers Week and completed various pieces of art throughout the weeks.

Have a look at some photos of the children in action below:

 

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