Simple Machines

Dear 5th grade students,
in this unit we're going to learn about simple machines. They make our life easier.

Simple machines change the size 
and direction of forces. 

A lever, a wheel, an inclined plane or a pulley.

Let's have a look at this video to have a better idea.

Beans party!

Dear students,
this week we finish our second school term collecting the beans we planted. Some of them are really big!
We open them and peel the inside seeds.
Mmmmm..... Delicious!!!

By the way... 

HAVE A VERY HAPPY EASTER HOLIDAY!!

See you again on the third and last term.

Let's change the hose!

Our vegetable patch has a very old hose, with a lot of holes. We decide we have to change it.

We need to calculate...
How many metres of hose do we need for one patch?
270cm x 4
25cm x 2
___________

1130cm 

Then we calculate for the 4 patches, so...

1130cm x 4= 4520 cm

That's the same as 45m and 20cm.

Let's change it!!

We need new hose, rings, measuring tape, pliers and scissors.

Floating egg experiment

The Salt Water Egg Experiment explains why materials (such as an egg) float more in salt water than in fresh water.

Will it float or sink?


Have you ever tried swimming in the sea? Did you notice that you could float more easily in the open waters than when you're swimming in fresh water or even in a swimming pool? This experiment will help you understand why!

Click on the image and listen to the instructions...

A new compost bin!

Hello again!
Last week we received a new compost bin.
Now we have to fill it in layers. Let's remember how we have to do it...

Density tower experiment

Today we work with different liquids:

Dish soap, water, condensed milk, sunflower oil,  body oil and a grape.

We talk about what is going to happen when we pour them in a glass...

Some pupils say they will mix. Some pupils say they will stay separate.

Then they predict which one will stay at the bottom and which one on top.

This is what happened...

After that we watch a video to see what happens with other liquids.

After the experiment we see that

MORE DENSE LIQUIDS STAY AT THE BOTTOM, 

LESS DENSE LIQUIDS FLOAT.

Each layer is less dense than the one below it.

We plant garlic and onions

This week our 4th graders plant garlic and onion.
We separate each other only 10cm, so we plant a lot of them!

We also look how beans are growing.

Flower colouring experiment. Part II

My flower turned blue.
Mine turned green.
And mine turned yellow.
And mine is half yellow half blue! !!

Flower colouring experiment

We need some white carnations for the experiment.
We cut the stem.
We add some food colouring drops in the water.
We mix some colours:
Blue + yellow = green
Blue + red = purple
Yellow + red = orange
Then we put the flowers in the bottle and wait for a couple of days...
See what happens...

Experiment: Changing colour of flowers

Dear 5th grade students,
This week we are going to do the following experiment:
Where does the water go when a plant is watered?
You can have a look before we start...

This time we'll need white flowers, food colouring, water and some glasses or plastic bottles. 

Experiment: Extract chlorophyll from plants.

In this experiment we extract chlorophyll from lemon tree leaves.
We need green leaves, some alcohol, some sugar, a mortar, filter paper, a funnel and a glass.

Beans like the water in Sant Jordi. Peas don't like it.

We look how our seeds grow...
We observe that beans grow, but peas don't grow.
We take out the grass and leaves, and we put it in the compost bin.

Experiment: Onion cells under the microscope

In this experiment we see onion cells under the microscope.
We cut a little onion peel. We put some iodine on it. We use tweezers, we put it on the slide and we cover it.
Now we can look at the onion cells under the microscope.

How to extract chlorophyll from plants

Our 5th grade students are studying the Plants Kingdom.
They know the component that make leaves green is the CHLOROPHYLL.
We have prepared this Powerpoint presentation to explain what 
we are going to do on the next Science experiment...

How to extract clorophyll from plants from nurlorenzo

Composting workshop 28th & 30th October

Last week our 4th grade students received the visit of Juanjo from Amics de la Terra.
We learned what we can put in the Compost Bin: Organic Matter, to reduce our school waste and to have a good compost for our Vegetable garden.

21st &23rd October: Beans and peas.

We go to the shop and buy some seeds. We plant beans and peas.

And we continue...

We leave the ground very flat with the rake.
We prepare a mixture of 4x compost and 1x sand. (We use a shovel and a basket).
We spread the mixture over the ground.

We start preparing the ground...

We have to take out all the grass.
We use a hoe and a rake.

Welcome to a new school year!!

WELCOME everybody to 2013/2014 school year!!!

This year we are going to study Science with our 4th and 5th graders:
we will grow our vegetable garden during the first term, and we are going to do some Science experiments on the second term.

Our 1st and 2nd graders will be doing Arts in English.

Last year we worked with Geina, from Ireland.
Hopefully we will have our language assistant here soon!!

Creating our vegetable garden...

We prepared the ground.
We left it flat.
We put a mixture of 4x compost and 1x sand.
It's ready to plant!!