We have had an awesome week celebrating Science week and have all had so much fun carrying out investigations and learning new things! The theme this year was Exploration and Discovery so we have all had an explorer to learn about including Christopher Columbus, Gertrude Bell and Valentina Tereshkova. Each year group have been taking part in a range of activities – have a read below to find out more! We hope you are enjoying creating your science week posters and look forward to seeing them all!

In EYFS, the children have been reading the book Baby Brains and carried out an Astro-Nappy investigation to find out what are the best materials for absorbing liquid. They also created mini fact files about the astronaut Valentina Tereshkova and found out she was the first woman in space!

Year 1 carried out different investigations linking to materials. For their first investigation they needed to create a shelter box that would keep an egg safe on impact. Each group chose one material type and chose to fill their box in any way they thought would best protect the egg. They dropped the egg from a height to watch whether their predictions would be correct. Only one egg broke! They then had a problem from the three little pigs. They had to help them build a house from new materials to test what would keep them safe from the wolf. In groups, the children chose their materials and structure style to build a safe home and tested it using an air blower.

In Year 2, the children were looking at different conditions of growing a bean plant in, specifically focusing on sunlight. Some children decided to see if they could grow theirs in a cupboard, some put theirs in direct sunlight in the window and some just on the side to investigate the different effects. Year 2 also became plant doctors and have been trying to nurse a plant back to health. Year 2’s focus explorer was Sir James Cook and they created informative posters about him.

Year 3 also focused on plants and carried out an investigation into what a plants need to survive. The children planned their investigations with some deciding to cut off the roots of their plant, cover the leaves or only give it a limited amount of water. They also researched Charles Darwin, finding out about his discoveries linked to natural selection and evolution.

Year 4 have been learning about Sir Edmund Hillary, the 1^st man to reach the summit of Mount Everest. They created posters about him and his life. As well as this, they had the task of saving a ‘sleuth’ of gummy bears who had been trapped in ice from the cold weather a few weeks ago. They had to investigate which was the quickest way of melting the ice. The children planned what they were going to do and came up with some super ideas such as putting it under the hand-dryers, holding it in their hands and running it under the tap. Luckily they managed to save the majority of the gummy bears!

Year 5 and 6 had the task of designing an ecological house to help look after the environment. Their ideas were amazing; they all thought carefully about each aspect of a house and how to make it more environmentally friendly. Ideas included putting solar panels on the roof, insulating the walls of the house, recycling water and having an electric charger for electric cars. They also carefully followed instructions to make wind turbines from paper and learnt about Gertrude Bell - an English explorer who travelled through the Middle East.