It's puzzling.....

Remember these pretty things?

The CD and the mirror?  Both of which were described, quite accurately, as shiny; warm; flexible?

Well, we tried a little experiment on Friday, using a pen that Virginia had brought to show us, because, as she told us, it was made from metal.

In fact, it was made from two different materials, supposedly metal and plastic.  And I wasn't sure that the supposedly metal was metal, even though it looked shiny, so I touched it to my lip just to make sure.  Of course there were puzzled looks as I did this.....

You see, the upper lip area is very sensitive to heat and plastic tends to feel warmer than metal.

We named this test the 'patent upper-lip touch-test'.  And Virginia kindly tried it out for us:

 

She was able to confirm that indeed her pen was made from metal (the shiny cooler part) and plastic (the dull warmer part).

And now back to our two pretty, puzzling things: the CD.....

and the mirror.

Metal or plastic?

What things stick to a magnet?

As we have seen, one of the properties of a metal allen key is that it sticks to a magnet (or should that be a magnet sticks to it?)  Anyway, on Wednesday we decided to see if we could find out some things about magnets and what kinds of things stick to them. 

This is one of the things we thought we would find out: magnets stick to metal.

OK - let's go.  As we thought, magnets stick to metal.....

what is that exactly, Ryoma?

And to metal pencil sharpener blades:

To metal teddy magnets and metal bolts and metal scissors and metal fans:

 

And to metal paperclips and metal staples and a metal chain:

But not to wooden lolly sticks or wooden pencils or plastic dice or coloured paper:

Scritch, scratch, scribble to record our findings.....

and here is our thinking:

• magnets stick to materials made from metal
• magnets do not stick to materials made from wood
• magnets do not stick to materials made from glass
• magnets do not stick to materials made from plastic

Ah but hang on a minute; wasn't there anything that surprised you?

Amelia: "I was surprised that the metal lock on the cupboard did not stick but the one next to it did."

Now Tommy: "The metal doorknob did not stick."

Aabis: "The metal end of the pencil did not stick."

Shahrbano: "It did not stick to Raamy's metal chain."

It didn't stick either to the metal of Sivert's glasses or to the money (but of course that isn't real money; is it?)

Perhaps we should change our thinking a bit.

"Sometimes magnets don't stick to metal," Sharukh summed up for us.  Perfect.  Next question?  Yes, you've guessed.

Which metals stick to a magnet and which do not stick to a magnet?

To cut a long (and rather exciting) story short, this is what we found out yesterday:

Magnets do not stick to these metals:

• zinc
• bronze
• copper
• brass
• aluminium
• lead
• gold (thank you Meghna, Chloe, for sharing your earrings!)

Magnets do stick to these metals:

• steel
• iron

And now here's a challenge.  Tommy brought two Swiss cow bells to show us.  He told us that the first was made from sheet metal that had been made into a bell shape.

What kind of metal, we wanted to know, was it made from.  How could we find out?  And what would it mean?

And now his other tiny golden one.  Could it be real  gold?

Well, was it?

Now, remember Tatiana's iron or steel key (previous post)?  How could we find out whether it is actually made out of iron or steel?

A quick PS here and Mums, apologies for this.  Your child may just sneak up behind you with a magnet to see if your gold earrings or necklaces or rings actually are made from gold.....Let's hope there are no nasty surprises - of any kind!

And PPS - I did have a teeny fright during the magnet investigation.  Amelia very cleverly observed that her magnet did not stick to the metal on "that memory stick over there....."  Oh no!  My reports; all that hard work - aargh! 

But not to worry, I think they are safe!

What's it like - metal; part two!

We had a few more metal goodies brought to school over the last couple of days.  From frying pans to spinning tops; from nail clippers to a pocket watch.  And we also had two things that were a bit of a puzzle.....

Chloe started us off with her frying pan, which she told us is not flexible and hard.

Ryoma's spinning top.....

which was buried in a bag containing all kinds of goodies.....

is hard and shiny.

Shahrbano's nail clippers.....

are sharp and hard.

Martin's sister's pocket watch (thank you for lending it to us!).....

as well as being beautifully engraved, is warm and shiny.

Tatiana told us her key (*remember the key).....

was made from iron or steel.  It is warm and shiny.

Virginia told us her spoon.....

was made from an alloy (that's a mixture of metals) including lead and it's bendy (or flexible).

Leon's sword (yes, you read it correctly).....

is not sharp (you will be glad to hear!) because it is just a decoration.

Harrison's golf club (his own; he plays with his dad).....

is made from two different metals.  One is heavy and dull and one is flexible and shiny.  He very kindly offered to show us his (no doubt impressive) swing, but, fearing for the lights, we decided that we might be better off seeing him in action outside on a sunny day!

Sivert brought two soldiers to show us.  He made this one with his dad. 

This is what they did.  First they melted some tin (tin melts at 232 degrees Celsius, which is as about the temperature in a hot oven) and then they poured it into a mould where it cooled and went hard.

The other soldier was one his dad made when he was a boy.  It is made out of lead.

What differences can you see between the two metals, tin and lead?

And now, here are the two things that were a bit of a puzzle:

A CD which is shiny and  flexible.

And a mirror which is shiny and warm.

We know that metal can be shiny; warm; flexible.  I wonder; does this mean that our CD and the mirror are both made of metal?  What do you think?

What it's like - metal

Amelia brought a little bag of treasures to school today.  She delved inside.  'This is an allen key,'

she began, 'and it's made of brass.'

Hmm.....

'Or maybe steel?  My dad told me it is a mixture of iron and carbon and it sticks to a magnet*.  We've been building lots of furniture from Ikea,' she explained.

'And,' diving in again, 'this is an English coin and it's a pound.

It's made out of a mixture of metals and it's called brass.  It's shiny and it's not transparent*,' she continued.

*Just so you know, something that is not transparent (or see-through) is opaque.  And something that sticks to a magnet is magnetic.

'And this is tinfoil and it's soft metal.  It's not strong, it's light and it's bendy.' she finished.

'Flexible,' clarified Tommy.

'It's shiny,' added Shani.

Next up; Quentin.  Sporting something clipped to his nose.  'It's metal.  Precious.'

Precious; what does that mean?

'It's like a treasure for pirates,' he explained.  'It's an earring,' he continued, clipping it in the right place.

 

Very fetching!  What's it like?

'Hard and shiny.'

And now Raamy.  'This is a chain.

If you want to cut it in half you have to use a special thing; special scissors.  It's made of metal.'

What's it like?  Is it light or heavy?  Is it warm or cold?  Is is strong or not strong?    

'It's heavy; it's warm; it's strong;' he told us.

So to conclude (for now at least!)  Metal is

• shiny
• opaque
• warm
• soft
• strong or not strong
• light or heavy
• flexible
• magnetic

Keep your eyes open for others things made from metal.  Ask yourself; 'What's it like?'  And think.

Is all metal shiny?

Is all metal opaque?

Is all metal warm?

Is all metal soft?

Is all metal flexible?

Is all metal magnetic?

What other words can you use to answer our question, 'What's it like'?

'Things which are used to make other things'

'These,' says Virginia, pointing to her tights.....

'are made from cotton and paper is made from a tree.'

'If something is broken,' continues Tatiana, 'you fix it with materials.'

'Some things are liquids.  Some things are solids.  Their names are materials,' confirms Tommy emphatically.

'This,' points out Meghna, waving towards the bookshelf, 'is made out of paper.'

So began our discussion on what materials are.

Then Amelia provided a definition for us.  'Materials are things which are used to make other things,' she explained.

Next we tried to think of as many different materials as possible.  As we were working we reminded ourselves of our definition, by asking the question, 'Can things be made from this?' or by thinking of something and asking, 'What is it made of?'

Between us we came up with an impressive list, including resin and rubber, cotton and wool, leather and bamboo.  And then of course there was wood and glass and metal and plastic.  Although not everyone had heard of resin and not everyone knew that bamboo was a material, nearly everyone had added those last four to their own list; wood and glass and metal and plastic.  Quite clearly, as far as we were concerned, these were some of the more common materials.

So we decided to take a closer look at them; using scissors, glue and a heap of magazines.  A furious flurry of snipping followed, resulting in four separate towering piles of pictures; these were subsequently stuck onto paper to make four separate posters - of things made from wood.....

and glass.....

and metal.....

and plastic.

Next we had a bit of a 'treasure hunt' in the classroom.  Our challenge?  To find as many different things as possible made from wood and glass and metal and plastic.

This is what we found:

Things made from wood

Things made from glass

Things made from metal

Things made from plastic

After looking at the photographs, what would you say is the most common material in our classroom?  And what is the least common (of the four)?  Why do you think this is?

Our Fourth Unit of Inquiry - a note for parents

With the start of a new term (and a new year!) so we are just beginning to think about our new unit of inquiry on Materials.  It is in the Organizing Theme: 'How the world works' and the Central Idea is that ‘The world is made up of different materials which have different uses’.

During the unit we will pursue the following Lines of Inquiry:

· Where materials come from

· Properties and uses of materials

· Changing materials

Questions such as Where do materials come from?  What are materials like?  What can different materials be used for?  How do materials change? will be posed.

As we work towards answering such questions, we will investigate the origins of a range of materials,  describe and sort materials according to their properties and examine, for example, the effects of heating and cooling on different materials.

During the unit a range of skills will be developed; from Social skills where children will learn to share materials; Research skills where children will describe and record observations; Thinking skills where children will grasp meaning from material learned; Communication skills where children will read for information; and Self-management skills where children will plan and carry out activities effectively.

The main emphasis of course will be on science, but there will also be opportunities for work across the curriculum, including using different tools and materials for different outcomes in art activities and sorting shapes according to specific properties and/or attributes in maths.

Why not watch this space and keep an eye on where our curiosity about our 'material' world takes us?