We buddied up with Year 2s and as Space cadets, we did fun Space activities. We helped them make astronaut helmets, we showed them out TV show, launched our paper rockets and explored the Solar System outside using the AugmentifyIt app!
Tag Archive | #space
Y5 trip to marvelous Magna Science Museum!
Last Tuesday, Year 5 went to Magna, which is a science museum on the edge of Sheffield and Rotherham, to end our Space topic. We had a Space workshop where we looked at constellations and we watched a bottled rocket fly across the room with real fire! The noise was really loud!
After dinner, we then explored the 4 elements of the museum, fire, earth, water and air. In each one, there were interactive activities linked to each element. There was a fire tornado, huge fans that we stood next to and powerful water guns!
Here are just a few photos:
Astronaut training: The Results!
We have had some very hard working Space Cadets here at Totley over the half term! You may remember the homework given that were NASA inspired astronaut training tasks. They were:
- Hand eye co-ordination with a ruler
- Strength training – squats and push ups
- Balancing – catching and throwing on one leg
- Core strength – bear and crab crawls
Today, we worked as a class to create line graphs to show our data clearly. Talking about the X and Y axis and how to lay them out, we were able to show our progress.
Living life like an astronaut!
Today, we found out more about the International Space Station and explored the life astronauts have. We watched videos posted by Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield, who showed us how to do day to day things in space. We saw how to brush our teeth, sleep, rinse a towel and even how to be sick!
After this, we looked at astro-nappies and discovered that ‘fake snow’ is used in astro-nappies to absorb moisture. We dipped our fingers in and it was completely dry!
To end our mission, we got to taste astronaut puddings! There was mint choc chip and Neapolitan ice cream flavours. They were very dry but had a strong, good taste!
Year 5 over and out.
-
- Mint Choc Chip Ice Cream
-
- Astro-nappy test
NASA parachute: Test 2
Hello! We’re back for another half term!
Today, we repeated our NASA space parachute from last half term. After evaluating them, we decided we wanted to improve the designs and have another ‘crack’ at landing eggs as safely as we could to the concrete ground.
Using larger surface areas and different shapes, most of them improved especially the egg shown below by the Messy Pigs table, well done!
-
- Messy Pigs
-
- Crazy Apples
-
- The Illusions
-
- Raining Popcorn
-
- Red Eclipse
-
- Team Emoji
-
- IPRR Speed
-
- Secret Seals
-
- An ‘eggcellent’ landing!
Apollo 11 news report
NEWS FLASH!
Apollo 11 mission to the Moon blasted off in July, 1969! We pretended the event had just happened and tried to put into practice direct and reported speech, relative clauses and make sure it was all punctuated accurately.
Here are just a few.
NASA challenge: Part 2
Weather conditions were fantastic and the testing of our NASA parachutes were able to take place. However, the results were not as good as we expected.
Many of the eggs didn’t survive the test with many scoring 1 (cracked and leaking) and even 0 (broken and lost egg shape). This does mean we were able to evaluate our designs and hopeful improve them after half term!
Homework: Sci-Fi characters
We have seen some excellent homework this half term and this week has been no exception. Our task was to present a real or imaginary Sci-Fi character and provide facts about the character. Some designed top trump cards and others have written short paragraphs about the character. There is also some fantastic drawing!
-
- HB
-
- CM
-
- JB
-
- EG
-
- EC
-
- ArB
-
- TS
-
- RC
NASA challenge
After Mr C showed us a tweet from one of the head chiefs of NASA asking for help, we tried to find a solution.
He wanted to have a new design of parachute for the return of expensive equipment such as Mars Rovers.
Today, we have planned, designed and constructed our parachutes and we are all really excited to test them tomorrow! To record how successful the parachutes are, we have created a grading system:
0= broken, no egg shape
1= cracked and leaked
2= cracked but no leak
3= no visible damage
Balanced argument – Did we really land on the Moon?
All this week, Year 5 have been exploring the evidence about the Moon landing in 1969. After watching clips from the landing and a video presenting all the evidence, we collected all the information needed.
Then, we practised using linking adverbials such as furthermore, in addition and however along with PEEing in our work! Don’t panic. PEE stands for Point, Evidence, Explain.
Here is a selection of our balanced arguments and Mr C is very pleased! Simply click on the image to have a closer look. Do any of the points make you think twice about your own opinion?
I want to make a special mention here that everyone’s work is a first draft and not their absolute final piece!
-
- DW
-
- HB
-
- AlB
-
- SF
-
- IO
Y5 Wonders of the Solar System TV show
After research, script writing, analysing of Brian Cox’s TV show, filming, peer assessing, rewriting a script, and refilming (lots of work basically…) Year 5 can broadcast their very own Solar System space TV show!
Sit back, relax and enjoy! Let us know what you think 🙂
Coding ‘Unplugged’
After looking at the Mars Rover and how we explore the Martian world, we have started looking at how we create and control electrical objects such as robots and even vending machines.
We had to create lines of code to get from our outdoor classroom all the way into school up to our food hatch for dinner. We used lines of code to show distance and direction such as forward(2) and right(90). This would mean walk forward 2 steps and then turn 90 degrees right.
ALL of us needed to debug the code we had made so that the program ran smoothly.
-
- Some of us were sent in slightly different directions!
-
- Some of us ended up facing the wrong way…
-
- Rupert had nowhere else to go following someone else’s program!
-
- Lines of code and debugging
Mars Exploration: Part 1!
Today, we explored the surface of Mars and took soil samples from ancient volcano craters!
Using Bicarbonate of Soda, vinegar and play dough, we were able to recreate the lava flow of erupting Martian volcanoes from billions of years ago. With every eruption, we drew where the lava flowed to and then covered it with a layer of cooling lava (play dough). Each eruption was a different play dough colour.
After this, we visited a different volcano and had to decide where to take a sample from. We decided to take it from where we could collect the most layers, and therefore data, in one sample. Our high tech sampling technology was an empty pen!
Below are a range of photos from this afternoon…
Kepler test
After researching about the different planets, we held a test to understand the orbit of the planets.
We altered the length of the string and span the ball around for 10 seconds whilst counting how many times it orbited us. The data showed that the further away the ball was, the longer it took to orbit due to the increased distance to travel.
Our Solar System
This morning, we took a closer look at our Solar System. Mr C had fruit that represented the planets and we had to try and order it accordingly. Then, we went outside with LOTS of toilet paper and created the Solar System to scale. Mercury was 4 individual sheets from the Sun and Earth was just 10 sheets away from the Sun. Neptune was 206 toilet sheets away from the Sun!
-
- You can’t even see Neptune very well in this photo!
-
- Solar System in fruit!
We also watched Brian Cox explain why the planets travel in a disc motion and how having a large mass means a larger gravitational pull. Mr C tried explaining it with a parachute…
We also made pocket Solar Systems this afternoon to help us understand that the planets aren’t as ‘spaced’ out as we sometimes think…
-
- Full sized pocket Solar System
-
- The first 5 planets were in the first 1/8 of the strip!
-
- Pluto is a dwarf planet 5 billion km away from the Sun!
We did so much today!
Phases of the Moon
Today, we were all amazed that we could see the phases of the Moon by using a ping pong ball and a bright light! It helped us understand why the Moon appears to change shape during each month.
-
- Waxing Gibbous
-
- Waning Gibbous
-
- Waning cresent
Homework: Space 1
Some absolutely fantastic homework arrived over the past few days and it was genuinely lovely to see how much time and effort children have put in. I can’t wait to see more in a few weeks time…
Below are a few examples of our homework!
-
- Use of IT to provide real images
-
- Oreos to show moon phases
-
- Very interesting Moon facts and illustrations!
-
- Graphs and charts about different seasons
-
- Flaps to reveal Moon facts
-
- Jaffa cakes to show moon phases
Sun, Earth and Moon
Here is an example of the models we made this afternoon in Year 5. Using card and split pins, we were able to show how the Sun, Earth and Moon orbit and rotate together.
We also acted how they moved outside in groups of 3.
Mr C gave us very little instructions but we were able to create these models and conquer the challenge!
Bust the thrust!
During the morning, we found out about air resistance, gravity, thrust and friction. You can show how strong these forces are on objects or people by drawing force arrows.
We looked at different sporting equipment such as javelins, cycle helmets and even wind tunnels for cars.
To feel the air resistance, we tried to run holding a plastic lid. This increased the air resistance and made it harder to run. Here are a few of us feeling the force and busting the thrust!
Feel the Force!
Yesterday, we discovered how to measure the amount of force used to push or pull objects.
Newtons measure the amount of force required to move something. Newtons are named after a scientist, Isaac Newton, who discovered gravity and it’s effects.
We held a fair test to see how many Newtons it takes to pull objects. Using Newton meters, we pulled objects across the carpet and smooth tables. Our conclusion was that friction effects how much force is needed to move an object and that materials or surfaces can alter the amount of force needed.
-
- 2 Newtons
-
- 25 Newtons
-
- 2 Newtons