Experimental Learning Activities

This week, Year 5 classroom has been a hive of interest. As part of their learning journey about the Mayans, they have been constructing model Mayan houses and making creative decisions about decorating them.

With careful construction and assistance from their peers, they worked together to assemble the models, securing pieces onto the base. Some children opted to paint the outer walls, while others experimented with applying mud for a more authentic effect. Choosing materials for the roofs required patience and trial and error, with options ranging from straw to sticks, leaves, or grass

In Science they carried out an investigation to help a company who wants to make a new lunch box for children to bring their packed lunches to school. Food will be stored in the lunch box for quite a long time – probably all morning - so the children needed to make sure that the material used in making the lunch box would keep the children’s lunches cool and fresh.

They had to find out the best material to use to make the inner lining of the lunch box. They did this by using ice cubes in pots and wrapping the pots with the various materials as they checked the temperatures over a given time. After recording their results, they used their Maths skills to present this information in line graphs.

Just last week we were on a trip to Nairobi to bring our learning to life. We visited Karura Forest to make comparisons with the jungle in the novel we are reading in class. The children made several conclusions up to and including Karura Forest is not as thick as the one in our novel that is set in Central America. We walked for a total of one hour and you can be sure everyone was extremely exhausted.

We decided to have a bit of a break by going bowling. As you know, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Here, our low energies from the walk were recharged and we had a wonderful time. It was the first time bowling for many of us countryside folk - one to be remembered!

The following day, we were privileged to visit a plastic recycling company as we are learning about properties of materials in Science. It was exciting to learn and see that plastic can be crushed and mixed with sand to create stronger than concrete paving blocks. We had an opportunity to even design a parking lot using these blocks.

If you have loads of heavy plastic waste and you do not know what to do with it, reach out to the school and the Year 5s will tell you what you can do with it.