Mrs Morris explained: “Cornflour creates a Non-Newtonian fluid when mixed with water. When a sudden large force is applied, the starch grains jam together, squeezing water out. When the force is removed, the mixture relaxes and water surrounds each of the particles again, so it becomes runny.”
What a lot of messy yet clever fun! Why not have a go at home this weekend?
In mathematics, the children have continued with their learning of fractions this week by learning to use a fraction of an amount to find the whole, and starting to make comparisons between fractions. They brought together their learning so far in this block to understand the concept of unit fractions and non-unit fractions. They began to generalise that a unit fraction is any fraction with a numerator of 1 and that a non-unit fraction is a fraction where the numerator is greater than 1. Lots of hands-on activities helped develop the children’s understanding of this new concept.
In English, the children imagined that they were one of the creatures who inhabit ‘The Great Kapok Tree’ and set about writing letters to the man who had come to chop the tree down. Written with passion and conviction, the children set about persuading him why our planet depends on trees and how the habitats of a huge variety of creatures are at risk. We look forward to continuing our rainforest learning journey next week, reading another text by Lynne Cherry and researching more about the creatures who inhabit the tropical rainforests.
Continuing our science topic about ‘Living Things and their Habitats’, the children found out about the difference between something that is living and that is not living. They worked together in small groups to sort and classify objects and images, followed by going on a hunt in the front garden to find items that are living, had once lived and have never lived.
Wishing you all another wonderfully extended weekend!
