British Science Week 2022

Thornton Primary School participated in British Science Week. This year the theme was ‘Growth’. We carried out a whole school investigation into caring for and growing sunflowers. Here is what each year group has been doing!

-        Reception looked after and cared for sunflowers. They also planted their own dwarf sunflower to take home!

-        Year 1 investigated whether sunflowers need soil to grow. They planted sunflowers in soil, sand and a mixture of soil and sane.

-        Year 2 investigated what sunflowers need to grow. They planted sunflowers to grow in their classroom window and also one to grow in the dark in a cupboard.

-        Year 3 investigated whether the size of the pot will affect its growth. They planted sunflowers in small and large pots.

-        Year 4 investigated whether temperature affects growth. They planted sunflowers in warm and cold conditions.

-        Year 5 investigated whether different types of soil would affect how their sunflowers grow.

-        Year 6 investigated whether sunflowers grow better with fertiliser.

We are all looking forward to observing our investigations over the next few weeks and seeing what happens! In the meantime, here are some of our poster competition entries for you to look at.

Summer 2021

There has been some more wonderful Science learning this term. The children have enjoyed taking part in British Science Week 2021 where they explored 'bubbles and biscuits' throughout the week. There were investigations into how many times you can dip different types of biscuits before they break and investigations to see how to make the most bubbles. Children used the same amount of water and bubble mixture and tested four different methods (stirring with a spoon, a fork, using a hand whisk and blowing through a straw).  

As part of our weekly Science lessons, we have been learning lots on new things. Some children have been exploring different conductors when making circuits while some have been testing which rocks are permeable and allow water to pass through them. 

Autumn Term 2020-21 Science 

There have been lots of fantastic Science activities happening throughout the school during the Autumn term. Each class has been focusing on different aspects of ‘Scientific Enquiry’. Take a look at what each class has been doing!

Reception have participated in lots of activities to explore their different senses.

Year 1 have been looking at the similarities and differences of life cycles. They have learnt about the life cycle of a butterfly, frog, bee, sunflower, apple tree and sea turtle.

Year 2 have been looking at the importance of a balanced diet. They grouped foods into those we should eat a lot of, those we should eat some of and those we should eat little.

Year 3 have been investigating magnets and testing different materials to see if they are magnetic. 

Year 4 have carried out an investigation to see which drink damages teeth the most. They placed eggs into coke, apple juice, water and milk!

Year 5 have been classifying living things. They used secondary resources to research mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians.

Year 6 have classified living things using the Linnaean classification system. They have also produced graphs to display data about the growth of babies.

                                    British Science Week 2020

Reception

Reception explored their sense of touch using a feely bag and different materials with various textures. They had to guess which material was inside the feely bag using their sense of touch alone.

Year 1

Year 1 investigated rain clouds. They looked at different types of weather across the world and explored how rain clouds are formed. They used shaving foam and blue coloured water to visualise how clouds fill up with water before rain pours onto land.

Year 2

Year 2 have been celebrating the diversity of humans. They have been comparing their weight, height, eye colour, shoe size, hair colour and type, eye sight and whether they can curl their tongue!

Year 3/4

Year 3/4 have experimented with planting beans. They discussed whether beans will grow better inside a greenhouse or in the natural air. They made predictions and used plastic bags to create mini greenhouses in the classroom. We are looking forward to seeing the results!

Year 4/5

Year 4/5 have been researching scientists. First of all they drew their idea of a scientist and then chose a scientist to research using iPads. They then drew pictures of the scientist they had chosen to research and presented some of these in our Science assembly.

Year 6

Year 6 have been investigating recycling. They estimated the percentage of waste from Mr Barton-Harvey’s kitchen which could and could not be recycled. They then sorted the items using the packaging details and produced pie charts to show their findings.

Also, well done to the winners of the homework poster competition! We will be sending them off to the British Science Association in the hope that an entry from Thornton Primary School wins a prize…

Y4/5 and Y6 have spent the Spring term investigating gravity. They started by learning about gravity and its discovery, as well as other forces such as air resistance. They measured different items in Newtons using a force measure. Children then got the chance to design their own parachutes and learnt about how air resistance acts upon parachutes.