Week 9, Term 2

Hello Everyone!

We have started our next immersion block for the year.  it is inspired by the NCREL research and is 21st Century skill of Digital-Age Literacy.  In LC1 our key concept taken from this is 'Change'.  We have begun by looking at pollution.  This week we have looked at water pollution, with a specific focus on powerful digital images that evoke wonder and inspire thinking.  Below are some of the immersion workshops and independent learning we have been doing around this:

Hexagons

We asked the children 'What is Pollution?'  We gave them no clues or insight and they recorded their thinking on a hexagon.  From there, in smaller groups of 8, we shared our thinking and discussed any shared understandings that shone through.  There were three main ideas that came through:

Pollution is ... working together

Pollution is ... working by yourself

Pollution is ... something to do with rubbish

Alongside the main thinking there were many stand alone ideas, here are a few of them:

Pollution is ... a mermaid's house

Pollution is ... a rainbow

Pollution is ... a star

Powerful Images

To engage the children, we have looked at a range of digital images this week.  We have discussed our thinking, feelings and wonderings about the images and it has left us with many unanswered questions!  Below shows some thinking about water pollution.  The children sorted them into two groups - oil pollution and plastic/rubbish pollution.  

Can We Clean Polluted Water?

On Wednesday Yodette led a workshop on cleaning polluted water.  She filled trays of water with oil (from the kitchen!), food colouring and chopped up plastic bags.  Then the children had to try to clean the water! Hmmmm this was difficult.  They tried to sieve out the plastic... but that was only part of the problem.  They tried to make it rain (with a watering can) ... but that wasn't enough!  

They then explored this further independently.  Ashley realised that if you only use water the oil doesn't come off, but if you use soap you can get rid of it.  As I was cleaning up and emptying the dirty water down the sink Nathan turned to me and said 'Rosie, does that water end up in the ocean? That's not very good pouring it down there is it?!' Wow! 

Weeks 4 and 5, Term 2 2015

Hello Everyone!

Half way through the term already! We have welcomed lots of new children into LC1.  It's very exciting as our space is growing!

Our Autumn Provocation

In linking with the season and our environment we have set up an Autumn area in the 'I Wonder' station.  We have linked our art work and have been studying the colour, shape and texture of leaves.  We went for an Autumnal walk and collected many interesting things! When we got back to school some children were inspired to sort out the things we had found - what an amazing real life maths opportunity!

Collaboration

We have continued working on our disposition 'Do I collaborate effectively with others?'.  Last week we worked on how to share ideas and this week we worked on how to ask people to stop doing things we don't like.  We then went on to produce a collaborative piece of art.  I can't believe the amount of progress the children have made over the past four weeks! Lastly we reflected on our successes and problems we may have encountered. 

The Food Group

Last week we planned and made scones using our knowledge of tastes and flavours.  This week we have learnt about the Food Groups.  We then looked in our lunchboxes and sorted our food into the groups.  

The Experiments Group

We have looked into the different reactions with acids and bases.  We have learnt that when strong acids and bases are mixed they create energy called Gibbs Free Energy.  We did an acid test to see which acid reacted the most with our Baking Soda base.  In joint 3rd place came lime and orange juice, in 2nd place came lemon and ... in first place was vinegar!!