Drumfad NS 2018 Step 1 Science 6 hands on science investigations, with at least one from each of the four strands: Growing Vegetables 1. Living things: Every year in Drumfad, we plant lots of different vegetables in our school garden. We try and time it so as the vegetables are ready for harvesting in Autumn. Then, in Autumn, we will make rhubarb crumble, blackcurrant cordial, chips and this year we will make vegetable soup! Here are some of pictures of us working in our garden. We linked with our local secondary school s Green School committee in March to plant this beautiful willow tunnel! As you can see, the children love it!
2. Energy and Forces: Build and use a solar oven Materials: Cardboard pizza box (sealed lid) Pencil Ruler Scissors Tin foil Clear tape Black paper/black plastic bin bag Cling film Newspaper
Oven mitt Dish/pie plate Marshmallow Thermometer Method I. Clean any stray bits of cheese, sauce or crumbs out of your pizza box. II. box. III. Using the ruler and pencil, draw a square 3 cm in 3 cm in on the pizza Use the scissors to cut out 3 of the 4 lines. IV. Make a crease along the uncut side of the pizza box to create a flap that stands up. V. Cut out a piece of tin foil large enough to cover the inside of the flap. VI. VII. VIII. box. IX. Wrap the foil and secure it with a piece of tape. Line the bottom of the pizza box with black paper or a black plastic bag. Cut 2 pieces of cling film that are the same size as the top of the pizza Use tape to secure the cling film. Our oven needs to be air tight. X. Roll up the newspaper into tubes. XI. Now it s time to cook something! The best time to cook it is from 11 am to 2 pm. By Iona and Tallulah 3rdclass
Here are our solar ovens in action! 3. Materials How to Make Slime! Cups Bowl Water PVA glue Food colouring Borax [ Sodium Tetraborate] Method 1. Dissolve 1 tea spoon of Borax powder into 1 cup of warm water.
2. Measure out ½ cup of glue and mix it well with ½ cup of water. Add food colouring 3. Pour the Borax mixture slowly into the glue / water mixture and stir with a spoon. 4. After all the Borax mixture has been added, get your hands in there and mix. 5. Spend a few minutes kneading the mixture together 6. Store in a clean container and keep it in the fridge to stop it from getting mouldy What is borax? Borax is a chemical that can be used as a cleaner, to keep pests away, to get rid of rust to preserve fresh flowers and unblock drains. It is no longer available in Ireland Here we are making slime!!! Testing Acids and Bases Materials: Red cabbage, bread soda, soap, toothpaste, lemon, pipettes, beakers
How to Make Butter Ingredients Double cream Plastic container Salt [optional] Crackers Method 1. Fill the container half-way with cream. 2. Pop the lid on, and start shaking. 3. When the sloshing sounds stop, remove the lid, and check for whipped cream! 4. Pop the lid back on, and continue to shake until the mixture separates into buttermilk and butter. 5. Cut the container open and pour off the butter milk. You should be left with butter. 6. Spread on crackers and enjoy. The science behind making butter
By shaking the cream, the fat molecules begin to separate from the liquid. The more the cream is shaken the more these fat molecules clump together forming a solid which is the butter. The liquid left is called buttermilk. Recycling & Composting 4. Environmental Awareness and Care: In Drumfad, we are very aware of our carbon footprint and our need to protect our environment. Our Composting Cottage is used for all of our compostable waste and we are hoping that we will soon have compost from it for our vegetable garden! We are a green school, and recycle plastic, glass, batteries, paper and cardboard. We are also working this year on reducing by photocopying less, printing less, printing in black and white and using both sides of the paper when we print. Here are some of the signs we made to remind people of our reducing and reusing policy! Environmental Science Day with Brendan Little, local environmentalist!
Trash n Fashion While learning about environmental care, we undertook a recycling and reusing project that involved making new, funky clothing out of old, recycled clothing and reusing different materials. Here are some of our Trash n Fashion creations! As you can see, we reused everything from empty crisp packets to bottle tops! We then put on a fashion show for the other children in our school and invited parents, grandparents and other family members along. We taught them lots about the benefits of recycling and reusing! Host a Science Week Event: Due to weather conditions, our Science Week was delayed this year. However, we hosted it in March instead! On 7 th March, we hosted Science workshops and invited visitors from Anyone For Science to come in and teach us about acids and bases. We invited our neighbouring schools along to take part in the fun too! Here is a report of the event:
Anyone 4 Science On Wednesday the 7 th of March 2018 Ballyheerin NS joined together with Drumfad NS to do a program called Anyone 4 Science. Ballyheerin arrived at half ten. Firstly Drumfad showed them their projects on the Donegal coastlines, and soon after it was break time. After we came in, Angela (the scientist) came into the senior room to do some science with both Drumfad and Ballyheerin for 45 minutes. We firstly were given safety goggles to wear. We were then split up into pairs. Next the schools were given tiny little cups, which we were going to mix all the acids and ingredients together. Angela explained that everyone was going to put different ingredients like cabbage indicator, vinegar, bread soda and lemon juice. Everyone used pipettes to mix everything in very well. While mixing together, the mixture started changing colour like blue, purple and pink. It was really weird seeing how the colour changed nearly every time you put a new ingredient in. There was nearly a rainbow of colours at the end!
After a lot experimenting our session was up and it was time for Ballyheerin to go home! Thank you so much Angela! By Kate McAdoo Step 2 Technology and ICT Use technology to record and analyse data collected (graphs & powerpoints) In the Senior Room, we undertook individual projects on coral reefs of the world early this year. We each chose an area that we were interested in researching, we then carried out this research, using the internet, books and our local library and put our findings together to form a powerpoint presentation. Each person then gave a presentation to the class and then to other classes in our school. So as well as learning ourselves, we also taught others about the coral reefs of the world and global warming! Graphs
As you can see above, the pupils each chose their own topic to carry out a survey on, gather data and represent in graph form. Some children chose to do theirs using ICT while others chose to do theirs by hand. Step 3 Engineering On 18 th April, the engineers from Bricks4Kids will be visiting Drumfad. All children will take part in a lego based engineering workshop that promotes scientific and engineering principles through play based activities! Step 4 Maths We held our annual Maths Trail during Maths Week this year. It was so much fun. Below is a copy of the trail. As you can see, it was tricky!
Maths Trail Booklet Senior Classes Here are a few important guidelines before you begin: Ø Safety is the number one priority so act responsibly at all times Ø Follow any directions your teacher gives you Ø Respect other classes at work by (a) Being quiet and (b) Walking at all times
REMEMBER THIS IS NOT A RACE! Ø Stay with your group during the trail Ø You will need the following- Pencils/ a rubber/ a measuring tape or metre stick/ wrist watches/ Trundle wheel Ø Attempt ALL questions this isn t a test! Ø Enjoy the maths trail! Group members: 1 2 3 4 5 Date: Starting point: Starting time: : At the front of the school 1. Look at the school wall-plaque. In what year was the school built? = 2. How many digits are in this number? = 3. How many Hundreds Tens Units
4. What is the smallest/ biggest total you can make with these digits? Smallest = Biggest = 5. Now calculate many years ago that was? = 6. In what year was the school 10 years old? = 7. Estimate the length of a wall (at teachers staffroom) = m cm Measure the length using tape/ metre stick: m cm 10. How many vertical and horizontal bars are in the main school gate? Vertical Horizontal How many vertical bars would be needed to make 7 of these gates? In the Playground 1. Estimate and then find out how many giant steps there are between the basketball hoops in the yard. Estimate: steps Real answer: steps What instrument did you use to measure? 2. Count how many pillars are in the wall. times your answer by five =
3. How likely is it to see a clown in the school yard today? Definitely Likely Fairly Likely Not Likely Impossible 4. Pick a leaf off a tree and draw it below. Does the leaf cover more space than your hand? Find 2 things you can cover completely with the leaf 1 2 Find 2 things that you can t cover with your leaf 1 2 Which has the larger area your leaf or your hand? Fold the leaf in half. Mark the fold line in your drawing. This is the line of symmetry. Draw another symmetrical shape here. In the playground continued 5. Stand in front of the boiler house door. Make a full turn and than make a half turn. What are you facing now (e.g. looking at the trees/yard/front gate)?
6. Go to the tap. In what direction does the tap turn clockwise or anti-clockwise? 7. Label all the points of the compass What direction is opposite North? What direction is opposite South-East? 8. Walk around the circumference of the school. Examine the school building carefully. Take note of the shape of the outer walls of the school. Is the school a regular/ irregular shape? Regular Irregular Draw a basic outline of the shape of the school below In the hall 1. What time is shown on the clock in the hall? :
2. List all of the odd numbers on the clock face 3. How many windows are there in the hall? 4. Count how many grooves are there in the radiator behind the box. How many would 6 of these radiators have? 5. How long have you been on the maths trail now? If you were to finish the trail in 30 minutes what time would it be then? : 6. Using your hands measure the wooden box. How many hands? = 7. Find 3 right angled corners. Name and draw each below. 8. Find an example of as many of these shapes as you can! Draw and label them below. 2D 3D
You have now completed the maths trail!!! Congratulations J Here are some photos of us doing our maths trail.
Step 5 Stem Show and Tell