Circulation

We took what we have learned about the blood, heart and lungs into the gym hall and created the circulatory system using movement and drama. 
Yellow hoops were the lungs and red hoops for the heart. We made a rough body outline with skipping ropes. Red cubes represented oxygen and blue cubes were carbon dioxide. Different coloured bands were used for the different types of cells in the blood. Watch the video below to see how we got on.

Blood and lungs.

We created " blood cells" in a jar. You can see the red blood cells with some white cells floating in the plasma. The purple pom poms represent platelets.

The microscopes were great for examining blood cells and other cells on slides that we borrowed from the science department at KGS.

The next thing we looked at was the lungs and how they change when we breathe in and out.
We have a model lung in the classroom and here is Emma explaining what happens when we breathe.

We wanted to find out how our breathing changes when we exercise so we did an experiment. First we rested for two minutes and then counted how many times we breathed in a minute. Next we walked for two minutes and counted again. Finally we ran for two minutes and then counted. We did each action three times and took an average of each one. Most of us found that our breathing rate went up when we exercised.

Resting

Walking

Running

The Human Body

This term we are studying the human body. We started off by researching the yucky things like burps and earwax and creating powerpoints or posters to present to the rest of the class. It was a bit gross but interesting!

We moved on to the digestive system and created a "stomach" with a paper tube and poly bag filled with water. We "fed" it with some bread so that we could get the idea of food being broken down by acid in the stomach.

We tried to look at fat globules in milk but our microscopes were not powerful enough. Instead we made a "lava lamp" with coloured water and oil to show what it might look like.
The addition of fizzy alka seltzer made an interesting effect in the bottle.

We are even growing a brain in the classroom!

Mountains

Our topic for term 2 was Mountains which covered aspects of geography, science and the environment.

We managed to set up a link with a British School in Kathmandu, Nepal and have been communicating by e mail with our buddies. It is interesting to contrast the lifestyle and climate of a mountainous region with our own, although it is clear from the e mails that children enjoy the same things wherever they live in the world!

We investigated how fold mountains form by using cloth.

We even had a go at a mountain range!

We simulated a volcanic eruption with food colouring, baking soda and vinegar on a model volcano.

Mountain Art

Volcanoes

Achievements

Term 2 achievers
Throughout the term there were more cups, medals, belts and achievements by individuals in various sports such as badminton,athletics, football, rugby, golf and martial arts. Well done to all! It's great to see dedication and commitment to out of school clubs and is also a great way to develop sportsmanship and fitness.

Tudor Banquet

To find out what food was like in Tudor times we prepared our own from Tudor recipes. Everyone got a chance to help with cooking and baking - and we did our own tidying and washing up afterwards! 

Peeling vegetables for the potage.Thankfully no cuts from the knives and peelers!

Preparing the spicy apple tarts

These biscuits are called lover's knots!

Not much left of the potage by the time we  remembered to take a photo!

We had to use plastic plates and cutlery so the colours were a bit bright and not very Tudor! Don't worry the wine was just grape juice!

Waiting for grace to be said.

Ready to eat.

In costume!

We learned a Tudor dance called The Old Mole and danced it after we had eaten our food.

Here is one version.

 

 Afterwards Emma read us a special type of poem written by William Shakespeare. It is called a sonnet. A sonnet has 14 lines and follows a particular pattern of rhymes and rhythm.

 

Tudor Portraits

We painted Tudor Portrait with careful attention to detail, colourful backgrounds and gilt frames.