Science

Thanks to Mrs Symes for taking Science while I am away!

The program for each class level continues with Foundation students considering what we actually need for shelter as opposed to what we might want - there are bare necessities for survival compared to the wants and comforts we are accustomed to.

 Shelter is one of the four requirements to stay alive, along with food, water and oxygen. 

Grade 1/2 continues to explore the similarities and differences between prehistoric and modern day animals. We have acted as palaeontologists and investigated what types of food certain prehistoric animals ate and where they may have lived by looking at pictures of these animals and particularly their teeth and fossilised dung! 

Did you know that a prehistoric animal is actually only classified as a dinosaur if it lived on the land and had legs directly beneath its body (like chickens). They did not fly, swim or have bent legs like crocodiles!  It’s like saying all dinosaurs are prehistoric animals, but not all prehistoric animals are dinosaurs!

Grade 3/4 - thanks to those students who collected seeds from their homes, either from fruit or from their gardens.  We took the opportunity to examine these, and classified them into groups of what we usually call fruit or vegetable.   Students have also looked at how seeds are spread in the environment for effective dispersal, and the most common creature for doing this is the humble ant.

Grade 5/6 have continued to explore how plants and animals survive in the desert. 

They have turned their attention to the camel, and how camels have structural features and adaptations to do this. 

The students will begin a research project as part of their assessment of this unit. 

They will research the features and behaviours of a particular species and make claims about what adaptations help them to survive in their desert environment, and present this as a poster.   This will take at least two science lessons to complete.