Summer Term - Boats
This term we have looked at different types of boats, from enormous cargo ships and cruise liners, to car ferries, speedboats, tall ships and kayaks! We have investigated materials and shapes that are suitable for making boats from, thinking about whether they are waterproof and float well. We tested how well different shapes moved through the water and noticed that most boats have a pointed bow or prow at the front.
We then designed and made our own boats from junk modelling, making sure that we added a pointed, waterproof bow to the front, and adding either a sail or a funnel using different joining techniques.
These are some of our ships-in-progress. You can watch a video of us all testing our finished boats on the News Page here.
6.11.23 Baby Bear's Chair, Lesson 1
Stable Shapes
Today we started by discussing structures and looking outside for examples of natural and manmade structures.
After that we investigated which shapes were the most stable, looking at cylinders, cubes, pyramids and spheres. We made each shape from playdough and put them on a board. We slowly tilted the boards up until the shape rolled off, and measured the height we had been able to tilt the board.
At the end of the lesson we looked at some examples of possible chairs for baby bear and rated them according to how stable we thought they would be.
13.11.23: Baby Bear's Chair, Lesson 2
Strengthening Structures
Today we took one of last week's stable shapes ( a cylinder) and used it to make flimsy, floppy pieces of paper into strong, sturdy structures!
In teams of three, we made tubes that could support the weight of items around the classroom.
At the end of the lesson we looked at the tubes we had made and discussed which were the most stable (the neatest, straightest edges) and what width tube was the most sturdy (not too thick and not too thin!)
Final Lesson - Make and Evaluate
Using the strong shapes we had previously tested, we made chairs for Baby Bear!
Spring Term - Joining Techniques
This week we explored joining materials using:
-safety pins
-glue
-staples
-safety pins
-glue
-staples
We evaluated what worked well and what could be better about each technique, and chose which one each child plans to use to make their own hand puppet next lesson.
