GRADE 1 NEWS

Year 1 Science with Steph Cool Chemical 

The children have enjoyed participating in our science incursion ‘Cool Chemicals’ with Steph Spincer. 

The purpose of these sessions was to introduce our Science Unit for Term 1 – Spot the Difference. Steph introduced the unit by discussing with the children ‘What is a chemical?’ The children then participated in hands-on activities.

Experiment 1- Yes, No Maybe:

In this experiment the children had to establish which objects were chemicals. They did this by classifying objects while working in small groups. Steph then took away the ‘maybe’ and the ‘no’ label because all the objects were chemicals. This shocked most of the children!

Experiment 2- Chemical reactions:

For this experiment, Steph explained that chemicals can react with other chemicals to create a new substance. This is called a chemical reaction. The children got to mix a (liquid) Vinegar with a (solid) Bi-Carb soda to make a gas in this experiment. In the second part of this activity, the children used a beaker and a pipette. They placed an alkaliser into the water to make a gas. The top popped off, which the children thought was lots of FUN!!!

Experiment 3- Using an indicator to change the colour of a substance:

The children had many different liquids that were colourless and odourless that they had to mix with an indicator (red cabbage juice). They had to try and detect if a substance was an acid, neutral or alkaline.