The Sunroom - 8s & 9s
Inquiry
The Sunroom Unit of Inquiry this term has explored the Central Idea:
Harnessing energy influences human progress.
We have inquired into: the different forms of energy; how energy is converted, transformed and used; how energy use has changed over time.
To fully understand the concepts and knowledge associated with this inquiry, the children built various ‘Rube Goldberg’ machines, as well as machines powered by wind, water and gravity. Through this hands-on approach, the group applied and developed their knowledge of the forms of energy, as well as the formal language of explanations, as they built, filmed and wrote about how their constructions worked.
STRUCTURE OF AN EXPLANATION TEXT - TEMPLATE FOR DRAFTING
1. TITLE - How does a weight lifting water turbine work?
2 .STRONG OPENING STATEMENT - the next few pages explain how a water turbine works and how it could be used to lift an object.
3. SEQUENCING - First we use some of the chemical energy stored inside our body to squeeze the water bladder, which causes water to flow through the tube. The water from the tube transfers its kinetic energy to the blades of the turbine. Then the energy is transformed in to rotational energy in the axle. As the axle turns it draws up the string, this results in the object being lifted against gravitational energy.
4. WRAPPING IT UP - When energy is transferred or transformed an action occurs, such as an object being lifted by a water turbine.
1.TITLE - How a Hydropower machine creates energy.
2. STRONG OPENING STATEMENT - Energy is made from movement and force. You can use energy for a lot of things and your body uses a lot of energy. We use water as liquid to make the machine create energy.
3. SEQUENCING - to begin, the machine lifts a small object using kinetic energy and gravity. The machine uses water through a wheel and the water spins the wheel. Consequently it causes the skewer to spin and therefore that causes the string to wind the skewer and as it is on the end of the string, finally the small object lifts up in the air.
4. WRAPPING IT UP - we use Hydropower for this task. This is a renewable energy because water is an infinite resource.
How My Wind Machine Managed To Pick Up A Clip
Wind power is the use of wind to provide the mechanical power through wind turbines to turn a rod to lift an item.
By using wind power (or a hairdryer), it spins the turbine that is attached to the rod. Since the string with the clip attached spins around, it lifts the clip and makes it spin around a bit.
The more wind, the more power, which makes it go faster. If you have a heavier thing to lift, you might need a stronger wind source to be able to lift it.
LITERACY
Creativity and laughter have been very much a part of our days throughout this challenging time. Weekly writing tasks have provided a space for the children to express their humour and creativity, from which we all benefit.
Last week we fractured some familiar nursery rhymes:
Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow...jumped over the farmer’s wife.
The little baby laughed to see such fun and the dog ran away with the knife.
Jack and Jill went... to a cave to fetch a pail of lava.
When they got there, the zombies stared,
and Jack was dead soon after.
Little Bo Peep lost her... feet so she couldn’t find her sheep. Sheepishly she ate her knee because she couldn’t eat her sheep’s knees.
Little Miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet, eating... A burger and chips.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a texta.
Humpty Dumpty had rolled away.
Jack and Jill went to McDonalds,
to get fat.
Baa baa Black sheep, have you...dyed your hair?
No sir, no sir, I ate my underwear.
Little Miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet, eating... la soupe a la citrouille (French!)
With most of the news a little on the grim side at the moment, we played with creating some somewhat, ‘flippant’ new stories of our own.
Guidelines for writing like a reporter:
- Always write in past tense (as if it already happened)
- Start with the most important information.
- The first paragraph tells the reader the WHEN, WHO, WHERE and WHAT
- The following paragraphs tell about what happened in more detail.
Sheep Invade Seaside Town
Reporter: Charlie Cavagna
It was a normal day in Inverloch when a car crashed into the fence of a farm, causing 20 sheep to run wild in the town.
We spoke to the owner of the farm. He said, "It was horrible seeing all of my sheep that I was about to shear run wild. But the other bad thing is that the car that crashed went on fire causing a small grassfire but I got my hose out and washed it down".
We went and Investigated the crash site. The driver was okay but was flung out of his vehicle. Then we saw about 5 sheep chasing a car. There were 20 sheep that escaped. We quickly drove to the town on A'beckett Street and sure enough there was sheep invading the grocery store.
Soon the Ambulance had come because someone got rammed by a sheep.
Finally people came with nets and caught the sheep and put them in a new farm while the old one got fixed.
Sheep Invade Seaside Town
Reporter: Griffin Marsland
At a paradise seaside town in Fiji a "sheep invasion" occurred.
Early on Thursday afternoon villagers were going about their business when they noticed what they thought was a big cloud on the hill. The cloud seemed to be travelling quickly down the hill and as it came closer they noticed that the cloud was actually a flock of angry, wild sheep, jostling with each other and charging towards Farmer Joe's farm.
The sheep sprinted past Farmer Joe, spraying him with mud from the ground, to the sheep pen. The sheep then worked together to make stairs out of themselves. Like acrobats they jumped on each other forming stairs. The sheep from the pen were glad to see them. Then on the other side of the pen more sheep were forming stairs to get the sheep out.
The sheep rushed out of the pen and into the wild and they have not been seen since.
SHEEP INVADE SEASIDE TOWN
Reporter: Rupert Black
At 6.37am this morning in Flinders, seven brown sheep broke into a house.
They looked like they needed food. The owner said that in the morning that he went to the shops, the day before the sheep broke into the house. The sheep ate two cakes, one baguette, four avocados, one orange, three bananas and six apples. The Police came 10 minutes after the crime and the sheep were not to be found.
Last seen in a plane area of grass. Police are scattered around Flinders. The sheep names are Bob, Freddy, Luke, Tom, Will, Josh and Gevin.
If you see sheep anywhere make sure to call 0456 362 799.
The group consolidated their understanding of the spelling skills that we have targeted over the past six weeks, by developing texts that used the phoneme/graphemes studied. Through the use of an online book maker, the children published their simple stories that will soon become available to the Arlington community.
Grand Design - Indoor Play Centre and Community Garden Plan.
Over the course of this term, the children have developed and applied their continually growing knowledge and understanding of scale drawing to design a number of floorplans/designs. Most recently, the concept and skills associated with calculating and using ‘area’ was added to this exploration.
Problem Solving
The focus for much of our inquiry into problem solving has involved investigating the process, identifying and applying suitable strategies, as well as recording our thinking as part of the process.
However, for some of us, one of last week’s tasks seemed to be more about perseverance!
Although sometimes thinking there is no answer, turns out to be, the actual answer!
As so well explained by Charlotte -
Michael Price and Sophie Dall'Ava
8s & 9s classroom teachers
sophia.dall'ava@preshil.vic.edu.au michael.price@preshil.vic.edu.au