01 February 2008

Always dry your hands......

What is the best type of paper for drying your hands?
Of course, everyone knows how important it is to dry your hands thoroughly after washing them. But today we got thinking; were we using the best type of paper for the job?

We thought that to do the job well, paper towels would need to soak up water but be strong enough not to disintegrate.

This is what we decided to do:
We chose four different kinds of paper: toilet paper, writing paper and the two different paper towels we have in our school.

First we dipped two fingers into a beaker of water.



We let the water drain off onto one piece of paper. We counted up to ten.



We did the same for the other three pieces of paper.
We observed carefully to see which paper soaked up the most water.


Even though it was quite absorbent we noticed that some of the toilet paper had holes in it.
The writing paper had hardly absorbed any water at all; there was a puddle of water on the surface.
The two paper towels had absorbed about the same amount of water.

We also did the 'rip' test (ask someone in Class 2i to explain how!) to see which paper was the strongest; we found that the toilet paper ripped really easily, the writing paper was very difficult to rip and the two paper towels were about the same.

So it seems as though the paper towels at school really are the best thing for the job of drying our hands; they absorb water well and they are strong enough not to disintegrate too easily.

31 January 2008

We have been wondering about glass

We have been wondering about glass.

We know that glass can be breakable.

We know that when it breaks, it goes into sharp, dangerous jagged pieces.



We know that car windows are made of glass.

We wondered what would happen if the glass in a car window broke. Would it make sharp, dangerous, jagged pieces?

This is what Per found out:

The glass in car windows is laminated so that it doesn’t break into sharp, dangerous, jagged pieces. When it breaks, the pieces are small and not sharp, so people don’t get hurt by it!



We also noticed some other special glass in the school. One of the windows had thin metal wire inside the glass. We think this might be to make the window stronger so that it would not break so easily.



What other kinds of glass can you find out about?

..........continuing the story of The Iron Man

At the start of latest episode of The Iron Man, by Ted Hughes, the Iron Man had been living happily in the scrap metal yard, eating his favourite foods of spicy metal stoves and slurping up metal spaghetti chains.


And so, all was calm and peaceful. The farmers went about their work and the Iron man munched away to his heart's content.....that is, until the arrival from the night sky, of a beast most terrible, a space-bat-angel-dragon, the size of the whole of Australia,


who wanted nothing more than to eat living things, lots and lots of them (after all, with a body the size of Australia, can you imagine the size of his stomach?)
There was world-wide PANIC.....until the Iron man thought of a stupendous plan to save the world from the space-bat-angel-dragon.

Before we read on to find out what his plan was, we tried to think what we might have done. Here are some of our more bloodthirsty ideas:

Maybe the Iron Man will go up to the space-bat-angel-dragon while he is asleep and twist him up in iron chain, attach him to one of the iron poles and then swing him round and round, faster and faster. Then he will let him go and the space-bat-angel-dragon will fly up into the sky and never return.....

Maybe the Iron Man will tickle and tickle the space-bat-angel-dragon to make him fly away.....

Maybe the Iron Man will take scrap iron and make a sword with it and the use it to cut off the space-bat-angel-dragon's tail.....

Maybe the Iron Man will make an enormous boat; he will put the space-bat-angel-dragon in the boat and send him to Antarctica, where he will be frozen.....

Maybe the Iron Man will dig a gigantic hole for the space-bat-angel-dragon and then he will cover it with dirt.....

Maybe the Iron Man will grow bigger and bigger and bigger and fight the space-bat-angel-dragon and make him go away.....

Maybe the Iron Man will take a giant rock and throw it at the space-bat-angel-dragon.....

Maybe the Iron Man will hit the space-bat-angel-dragon with a piece of iron and squash him.....

Maybe the Iron Man will ask Hogarth for a knife and fork and he'll tap them together and then the space-bat-angel-dragon will follow him to a farm where he will eat all the animals. Then the Iron man will use the knife to cut the space-bat-angel-dragon.....

Maybe the Iron Man will cut the space-bat-angel-dragon's wings with a cutter so he will not be able to fly any more.....

Maybe the Iron Man will take some fire and throw it and the space-bat-angel-dragon will die but the Iron Man will not.....

Well maybe one of these ideas is the right one.....but I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens in the final.....gripping.....episode.....

I, for one, can hardly wait!

Glass, Plastic, Wood, Metal

We have been doing some more research into our four materials:
glass, plastic, wood and metal.
We tried to find out at least five facts about each.

We now know that glass:
  • is a material made by humans
  • is made by heating sand (just like the sand on the beach) and chemicals together
  • is made in factories
  • is used to make marbles
  • lets light through
  • can be transparent or opaque
  • is used to make mirrors
  • does not stick to a magnet
  • feels smooth and cold

We now know that plastic:

  • is a material made by humans
  • can be made into many different things
  • is made in factories
  • can be very soft
  • is made from oil which is found under the ground in rocks, pumped out using water and sent in pipes to a refinery
  • does not stick to a magnet
  • can last for ever

We now know that wood:

  • is a natural material
  • burns
  • is used for furniture
  • can be hard or soft
  • can be heavy or light
  • has bark which feels rough
  • needs to dry out before it is used
  • does not stick to a magnet

We now know that metal:

  • can be hard and shiny
  • can feel cold
  • can be found in rocks
  • can be magnetic
  • can be used to make nail scissors and spoons
  • is a natural material
  • can be made by humans
  • comes in different types like gold and silver

What else can you find out about glass, plastic, wood or metal?


25 January 2008

Take a look at our Iron Men

I expect you remember that we are reading 'The Iron Man' by Ted Hughes
I expect you also remember that we had a go at making our own 'Iron Men'
Well, here they are.....



If you like what you see, why not pay someone a compliment?

Investigating the properties of plastic - in a roundabout way!

We have been taking a closer look at plastic. We already know that there are a LOT of things that are made out of plastic. We decided to go on a plastic hunt to see what we could collect; we planned to use it in our art lesson......

By the time Thursday came around, we had a HUGE plastic sack full of goodies; and as luck would have it, for lunch that day we had yoghurt, which came in plastic pots!

First we tipped all the different plastic things onto the carpet and took a careful look at them, keeping in mind their different properties. Then we decided what we wanted to make and chose the things that had the properties we needed. Finally we set to work - with rolls and rolls of plastic sticky tape.

Look what happened when we were talking about it afterwards!

Tanmay described what he made:
This is a robot and its eyes are long. The head is made out of plastic knives and its tummy is made of a plastic milk bottle.



‘I like your robot because he has black eyes,’ said Azri.

Then Azri described what he made:
This is an animal that goes under the sea. I used a plastic knife for his hair and he has a tiny tail made from a plastic lid.



‘I like what you have used on it,’ said Per.

Then Per described what he made:
This is a parachute and it is made out of a plastic bottle and three plastic bags.



‘I like the bottom part of the parachute,’ said Justin.

Then Justin and Matthew described what they made:
This is like everybody and it’s someone that walks with hair behind him. It’s made from plastic bottles and lids and straws.



‘I like the way you made the hair,’ said Matthew.

Then Matthew and Chris described what they made:
We made a rocket and it has stands and boosters and also it has a way that they can get out. Two of the boosters are made out of plastic straws and the big booster is made out of a plastic cup and the stands are made out of plastic yoghurt pots.



‘Well I like the way you put the boosters on,’ said Rekik.

Then Rekik described what he made:
Well I put a booster there and then I put plastic knives on the rocket. It’s made out of plastic.



‘I like the way you made the booster,’ said Giulia.

Then Giulia described what she made:
I made a rocket and it is made out of plastic. It has 4 windows made out of plastic. I put some fire on it. I used the red plastic net from oranges.



‘I like the way you put the fire on it,’ said Fiona.

Then Fiona described what she made:
I made a fairy and she is mostly made out of plastic knives. Her eyes are made out of plastic straws and her wings are made out of plastic knives.



‘I like her face,’ said Isabella.

Then Isabella described what she made:
I made a boat and it’s made out of plastic. I used a plastic knife to make the paddles.



‘I like the way you used the knives,’ said Patricia.

Then Patricia described what she made:
I made this snail and it is made out of plastic ribbon for the tail and the head and I used plastic bottle tops for his shell.



‘I like the way you did the shell,’ said Evie.

Then Evie described what she made:
I made a rocket and it has a yellow window made out of a plastic lid and the plastic boosters have fire made from three plastic straws.

‘I like the way you made the boosters,’ said Danah.

Then Danah described what she made:
This is a puppet girl and she’s mostly made out of plastic. Her hair is made out of a plastic label and her tee-shirt and skirt is made out of a plastic bag.



‘I like the way that you made her hair,’ said Sofia.

Then Sofia described what she made:
This is a flute. It’s made of plastic straws. I asked Danah to give me a piece.



‘I like how you made the bits for your fingers,’ said Maya.

Then Maya described what she made:
This is a crocodile and I made it and first I took this plastic grape box and then I put this plastic yellow straw and then I attached it to a parachute.



‘I like how you did the body,’ said Michelle.

Then Michelle described what she made:
This is a girl and it is made out of plastic and her hair is made of plastic ribbon.



‘I like the way you made it,’ said Swati.

Then Swati described what she made:
I made this and the first thing that I did, I put a plastic yoghurt bottle over here and then I put a plastic straw inside it and then I put sellotape over it.



‘I like the bottle,’ said Naoya.

Then Naoya described what he made:
This is a rocket. I made it out of a plastic yoghurt bottle.



‘I like your rocket,’ said Umar.

Then Umar described what he made:
I made a rocket with fire down here. I made it with plastic bottles and a very long pointy part.



‘I like your rocket,’ said Vaishnavi.

Then Vaishnavi described what she made:
This is a telephone. This is made out of plastic. I used plastic knives and plastic bottles and plastic straws and a plastic label.



‘I saw the same pictures in a cartoon and I laughed and laughed. I like your telephone,’ said Tanmay.

Then Tanmay described what he made:
This is a robot and its eyes are long. The head is made out of plastic knives and its tummy is made of a plastic milk bottle..........