In Junior Infants, we investigated whether water or sand was better at keeping loud sounds out.
In Senior Infants, we investigated Materials as part of our 'Dinosaurs' Aistear theme. We searched for dinosaur bones and fossils on our 'Dinosaur Dig.' We then made our very own fossils! First, we made Playdough with flour, salt and water. We watched how the mixture changed as we added the ingredients and first stirred it, then kneaded the dough.
We made an imprint in the dough with a dinosaur toy, then allowed the Playdough to harden by leaving it out in the air. It went hard very quickly- nearly overnight!
We also helped a dinosaur escape from a block of ice. We tried cracking the ice with a spoon. We tried to rub the ice in order to melt it too. But we found that the quickest method was placing the ice in a warm water bath.
In First Class, we made butter. We put a marble in a plastic bottle and added double cream. Then we shook as hard as we could.
After a while, we noticed that we couldn’t hear the marble anymore. Then we noticed that there was something solid and yellow forming inside the bottle- butter!! We cut open the bottle and poured off the liquid buttermilk.
Cream a mixture. It is made of tiny drops of water mixed with fat droplets and protein. Shaking the cream in the bottle makes the fat droplets stick together. Imagine all of the fat droplets getting frightened when the bottle starts shaking and clinging to each other for safety. This makes butter. The liquid part has the protein and that is the buttermilk.
From yummy baking activities to watching not-so-yummy mould develop on fruit, we experimented with Materials in many other ways in First Class too.
In Fourth Class we were looking at how some solids change when they are heated or cooled. We took some chocolate and we put in a bottle over a bowl of boiling water. The steam from the water rose up through the bowl and caused the chocolate to melt. We were so shocked at how the heat from the water travelled up through the bowl which was thick ceramic. In another lesson we put an egg into a glass of vinegar. We saw lots of bubbles forming, this was CO2. After 24 hours, we were shocked to see that the shell had disappeared. It was really interesting to learn that the acid from the vinegar reacts with the calcium in the shell and eventually dissolves the shell. We were even more surprised to see that the egg was now bouncy!
Below you can see a few more examples of our Materials' experiments from around the school. Flick through and see how much fun we have been having this year.