Week 6 in Hoy Class

Class Four have been busy this week trying out their own digestive system experiments.  They began with a plate of beans and bread.  They then used a fork and knife to cut it up into small pieces (this represented the teeth)  

Once our front teeth had cut the food up the back teeth then ground the food down into much smaller pieces.  The food was then ready for our tongue to help roll it around before swallowing it.  

We used a long tube and a funnel to represent our esophagus. The food then arrived in our stomachs where our stomach acid (vinegar in this case) broke up the food into smaller pieces and made it into a runny mixture. 

The food then went into a sieve (which represented our large and small intestines)  The mixture then separated into two parts.  A liquid which showed us how the nutrients go into our bodies, and a solid mixture which shows us what is left as waste. 

Class Four have also been learning about our lungs this week.  We made a working lung model using balloons, a plastic bottle, plasticine, a straw and an elastic band.   

When we blow into the straw it inflates the balloon.  This shows us how our own lungs inflate and deflate when we breathe in and out.

Lorna came along to take us for a games session again this week.  We did a warm up then we played a game of dodgeball.  We are looking forward to Lorna coming along to help us learn new ball skills over the next few weeks. 

We have also learnt about our muscles this week.  We used cardboard and elastic bands to make a working muscle.  It showed us how our muscles move and how they have to work together to tense up and relax as we move in different ways. 

Week 5 in Hoy Class

It has been another very busy week in Hoy class.  We have managed to finish our model brains.  

Some of us chose to draw a labelled diagram rather than label our models.

We did well to label all the different parts of the brain and their functions.

Some of us worked with Ms Baker to make caterpillar critters!!

YUM!

We competed a baby face challenge where we had to look at our facial expressions and try to work out who each baby photo belonged to.  It was very tricky!! 

We have also been learning about our ears and hearing this week.  We completed various experiments which showed us how sound travels in our bodies. 

We had to work together as a team to make sure each experiment ran smoothly.

We have also been learning about our skin this week.  We learnt that our skin has three different layers.  Each layer has a job to do.

We looked carefully at our own skin using magnifying glasses and by using sellotape.  It hurt a peedie bit taking it off our hands but it showed us our individual skin patterns and cells really well so we decided it was worth it!!

Week Four in Hoy Class

Class four started the week with a very exciting and entertaining trip to the Stromness Academy.  We went to watch a show as part of the Science Festival called Disgusting Digestion.  

It told us all about our bodies and how the different parts of our bodies work together to help digest our food. 

There was a cracker eating competition to show how our saliva helps to break up food ready for digestion.

Then we were shown how the digestive system works using a gruesome experiment!

Class four also had a visit from another team of experts from the Science Festival.  This time it was about electricity and magnetism.  

We were shown lots of interesting and exciting tricks and experiments using different types of electricity.

Some of us used hamma beads to practice our spelling words this week.  

We have also had a visit from the school nurse this week.  She came in to tell us all about head lice and how to wash our hands properly to help keep our bodies healthy.  We learnt how to check our hair for headlice and how to treat them if we did find any.  

We then did a sneeze experiment using glitter to show the bacteria produced when we sneeze into our hands.  We then shook hands with each other and touched various items around the classroom.  We were very surprised to see how much glitter (bacteria) spread onto everything we touched.  

We decided it would be useful to know how to wash our hands properly to stop the bacteria spreading around everyone.

We used a special UV gel and a light box to see the mess on our hands,  then we washed our hands using the special technique shown to us by Alison.  

Some of us realised how difficult it was to actually wash all the gel off our hands!!

But we managed it in the end!!

Class four have also been learning about the human brain this week.  We found out about the three main parts of our brain and what each bit was responsible for.  

We then got ourselves into groups and began making a model human brain using various materials. 

We had to ensure that it was clearly labelled with the three main parts and an extra challenge was to have what each section did labelled too!  Watch this space to see our finished brains.