National Science Week Demonstrations: Science is all around us and the Preps are always keen to understand more about the world, so we’ve spent some extra time this past week discussing and observing science in action. To get started, we unpacked what ‘science’ means to them.
- Teo – When you do stuff and make stuff
- Conrad – Researching about stuff
- Theodore – Mixing chemicals to see what happens. At home I have a little volcano.
- Angus – Trying to see if it works or not
- Leon – Studying things. It can be fish or animals – not just plants. Anything you want to find out more about.
- Ruby N – Making crystals at home.
- Poppy – Seeing if different ingredients work, even if they’re not in the recipe.
This year’s theme was ‘Species Survival – More Than Just Sustainability’. Linked with this we have talked about how people adapt to their environments and can come up with clever ways to use scientific knowledge. We looked at how plants draw water up from the soil and how we can ‘notice’ science in action through careful observation. We demonstrated a syphon and watched it ‘pull’ coloured water through a clear plastic tube from one end of the performance space to the other. Wow! We also looked at how water behaves when it’s hot and when it’s cold. We did this by adding drops of food colouring (clearly, a quintessential science tool) to a glass of hot water and a glass of cold water – what a big difference! This got us talking about how water molecules move differently depending on their temperature. The kids then turned themselves into water molecules and changed their speed depending on how hot or cold they were.We’re always keen for more science ideas, so if anyone has any suggestions for fun experiments or demonstrations that we could share with the preps, we’d love to hear them. Food colouring is optional!
What an adventure we had for our first excursion, this week! The preps did an amazing job of walking ALL the way to Carlton North Library. They looked ahead, paid attention to the adults and the crossing signs, held their partners hand, and even braved the rain on the walk back to school. We were very proud of them.
When we arrived at the library, our superstar librarian, Erin, greeted us dressed up as a Minion! The children were very excited to hear her share 2 of her favourite stories with the group, before encouraging them to find a story they wanted to look at with a partner.
Unbeknownst to us, Erin mentioned that she had a man in recently with a suspicious Grey Beard, wearing a hoodie and she told us the book that he had borrowed – Going on a Bear Hunt. She located the book and, what do you know, there was another secret message in there from G.B! The group was thrilled that he knew where we were going and managed to pass on another message to us all about the joys of reading and encouraging everyone to continue with the Premiers Reading Challenge!
After our long walk back, and many tired children, we reflected on their favourite part of the excursion:
- Jade: I liked when she dressed up as a Minion.
- Evie: I liked when we got to look at the cool books.
- Theo: I chose an earthquake book!
- Mary: Meeting Erin was my favourite.
- Alexa: I was so tired of walking, but that was my favourite part.
- Ruby P: I saw the books that I can read on my own!
- Dexter: Getting to see that library for the first time.
- Poppy: That they’re going to make their own sherbet!
- Ottis: The walk back in the rain was fun – It was like an adventure!
Erin gave us a sheet to take back to school that the children could fill in about why they read. There was some wonderful reflection about why they enjoy stories and reading books. The attempts at writing new words, blending their sounds, and “having a go” was amazing! They truly did a wonderful job.
Carlton North Library (and Erin) run activities regularly for a range of events. She enthusiastically told the group about a belated science week workshop she is holding this Thursday where the students will make their own sherbet! You can book on the below link if you would like to join.
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/chemistry-chaos-fitzroy-tickets-924893931647
There’s definitely been lots of enthusiasm about science and science ‘experiments’ so look out for more of these in the future. Likewise, the children have been really enjoying getting to try out their letter sound knowledge to spell new words on their own, so that too will be a big focus. If we’re lucky, we may also hear more news from our pirate friend, Grey Beard.