Science
Grade 3/4
The Grade 3/4 students are finishing up their unit ‘Heat’ and have started their unit ‘Gravitational Forces’. Students have ended their Heat unit by applying their knowledge to an esky design task with Mr Kerrins.
As we move into our unit on Gravitational Forces, students are revising their knowledge of planets and the solar system. Our first lesson focused on developing our understanding of what makes up a solar system. The students revised their knowledge of the order of planets and learned about what each planet is made of (rock or gas). Students have also focused on the difference between stars and planets and were surprised to learn that the sun is the only star in our solar system.
Focus vocabulary for this fortnight:
Sol: Latin word meaning ‘sun’.
Orbit: The path that a celestial body (e.g. planet) takes around another object (usually around a star).
Anti-clockwise: Movement in the opposite direction to the way in which the hands of a clock move.
Some songs that we have also introduced to help us revise our solar system knowledge are:
- Planets song (Teaches about the order of the planets)
- The Solar System song (with lyrics) (Facts about the planets)
- Space Song Rocket Ride (How the systems work within the universe)
Grade 5/6
The Grade 5/6 students have finished their unit on ‘Animal Adaptations’ and started their new unit ‘Space Travel’. As we engage in this unit, we will develop our knowledge about space in order to practically consider what we would need to survive in space.
So far, we have learned about stars, galaxies, nebulae, black holes, and exoplanets. The students have learned about the features of these entities and compared their sizes, temperature, colouring, and composition. Students engaged in a discussion about hotter stars being blue and cooler stars being red.
Focus vocabulary for this fortnight:
Light year: A light year is the distance light travels in one year (about 9.5 trillion kilometers).
Exoplanet: A planet outside the solar system.
Nebula: A nebula is made up of clouds of dust and gas. It is where new stars are formed and what remains when stars collapse.
An interesting video that the students have enjoyed watching to develop their understanding of the size of celestial entities is: