How a Kaleidoscope Works

This week the Year 4 students have been finding out about what happens when you put 2 mirrors close to each other. They found out that the mirrors reflect each other and make reflections of the reflections.

A Kaleidoscope works because of this.

The students made simple Kaleidoscopes by taping together 2 mirrors and a piece of black card into a triangle. They covered each end with clear cellophane.

On one end they put some coloured beads then covered this end with greaseproof paper.
Now they are ready to use and view the amazing patterns.

How a Kaleidoscope Works (By Zoe A6)
One mirror makes a reflection from the beads and the other mirror gets the reflection. The reflections go back and forward. When you turn the kaleidoscope the symmetrical pattern changes because of the moving beads.

Look at the beautiful pattern our Kaleidoscope made.

Opaque is a strange word!

You might be wondering what opaque means too. (You say it like O-PAKE)

The clever students in the Juniors found out this week.

They have been learning about shadows and discovered that if light cannot shine through an object the light is blocked and a shadow is made.

Objects that don't let light shine through are called opaque.

They made shadows with their hands by blocking the light coming from a torch with their hand.

Hands are opaque.

Next they tested some other objects to see if they were opaque too. This is what we found out:

Leaves

Leaves are important on a plant because the sun shines on the leaves and the leaves make food for the plant by Photosynthesis. The veins carry the food into the plant and water around the plant.

We looked at a collection of different leaves and grouped them together depending on their features. We thought about:

• Texture - is the leaf smooth or rough?
• Edge of leaf - is it smooth or serrated?
• Size of leaf
• Shape of leaf
• Colour of leaf
• Position of leaf on the stem of the plant
• Vein pattern
  

We chose our favourite leaf and observed it closely and drew a scientific diagram of it.

Planting our beans

Today in science club Miss Harrison brought in some old plant pots for us to use to plant our beans.

First we got a pot and put some soil in it. Then we had to dig a hole and carefully put our bean into it. The roots had to be facing down and the shoot facing up.

Then we covered it with soil but left the shoot poking out.

Next we watered our plants so they would grow.

Finally we put our bean plants in a sunny spot in the classroom.

Hopefully they will grow.

By Olivia

Planting our bean seeds on PhotoPeach

Fun with mirrors

This week the Middle syndicate has been having fun with mirrors. We got to read and write mirror writing, try drawing when looking in a mirror, look at ourselves in mirrors and use a mirror to see if shapes are symmetrical.

It was really tricky to draw between the stars when looking in the mirror. Your brain didn't know which way to make your hand go because it looks opposite in the mirror.

Joshua was really good at writing in mirror writing. His name looks backwards on the paper but the right way round in the mirror.


Each class thought about what they discovered about mirrors. This is what they had to say ...

A9

• Mirrors turn things backwards.
• It is hard to write in mirror writing.
• Your reflection copies you but looks like it looks like you are touching your left ear when you are really touching your right ear.

A10

• A reflection is the opposite.
• When you write your name in mirror writing it looks backwards and upside down.
• If you put something in front of a mirror it can reflect on the wall.
• When you look at a picture in the mirror the picture is symmetrical.
• When you look at a reflection in the mirror it looks like it is behind the mirror.
• You can read mirror writing using a mirror.

A6

• Mirror writing is upside down and back to front. You can read it with a mirror.
• You can use 2 mirrors to see the back of your head.
• You can look at your face in symmetry using a mirror.
• You can use a mirror to see if things are symmetrical.
• Shapes in a mirror appear the same distance behind the mirror as they are in front of the mirror.

A7

• When you look into a mirror it looks like your reflection is doing the opposite thing.
• Mirrors reflect light onto other things.
• If you put a mirror on the edge of a shape you can reflect the shape to make a new pattern.
• To read mirror writing you need to put a mirror at the bottom and read from bottom to top.
  
• It was tricky to write in mirror writing because the letters are upside down and back to front.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Stain the Veins

We all know that plants need water to stay alive, but what do they do with that water?

Today in Year 4 Science Club we set up an investigation to find out.

We knew that the roots of a plant soaked up the water from the ground and we thought that the water would go into the stem and up to the leaves.

This investigation proved that we were right.

What we did...

1. Carefully cut up the middle of a stick of celery (but not all the way up)
2. Fill 2 jars with water and add blue food colouring to one and red food colouring to other.
3. Put 1 part of the stick of celery into each jar and leave for a few hours.

What we saw...

• Almost straight away we could see the red colour going up the stalk of the celery.
• After a few hours the leaves had started to turn red.
• It was harder to see the blue colour (maybe because blue is similar to the green colour of the celery).
• When we pulled back the skin of the celery we could see that the veins were stained red and blue.

We are going to leave the celery in the coloured water until Monday to see what happens.

What is a shadow?

Year 2 students are learning about shadows. This week they had to draw a picture of them and their shadow and write about what they know about shadows.





They all knew different things.

So we went outside to explore our shadows and found out that:

• Shadows are the same shape as us.
• We can make our shadow move.
• Shadows copy us.
• We can hide our shadow in a friend's shadow.
• A shadow is made when the sun shines on us and we block the light.
• A shadow can be long or short.
• When we stand on the ground our shadow is joined to our feet.
• When we jump our shadow is not joined to our feet.

What does light do when it hits an object?

This week the year 4 students were finding out what happens to light when it hits an object.

We had to learn 3 new scientific words.

Reflect
Absorb
Transmit

We held up different objects in front of the bright light from the projector to see what would happen.

Some objects let the light shine through. This means that the light is being transmitted.

Some objects blocked the light. This means that the light is being absorbed.

Some objects bounced the light back. This means that the light is being reflected.


It was amazing to see how well some of the objects reflected the light. The mirror and the CD were really shiny so they reflected the light well.

The wood and cardboard were opaque (not see through) so the light was absorbed and did not go through.

The glass and clear plastic were transparent (you could see through them) so the light was transmitted and went through them.

Look at these pictures of us trying to reflect torch light using a mirror.


We learnt how to angle the 3 mirrors carefully to reflect the light from one mirror to the next.

The first sprouts appear

This morning I was sitting at my desk doing some work when one of the students from the Science Club came in to check on how her bean seed was doing.

We were amazed when we saw that it had already sprouted in only 3 days. WOW!!!!


I wonder what it will look like in another 3 days?

Year 4 Science Club - Studying Seeds

This year at EHS every class is going to have a small garden to plant and care for.

So the students in the Year 4 Science Club got a head start this week by studying seeds.

Before we started looking at seeds Miss Harrison asked us:

What do plants and all living things need to survive?

We suggested things like water, light, food. But living things need lots of other things. Miss Harrison showed us a good way to remember all the things.

Today we learnt about reproduction of plants. This means how new plants grow from seeds.

We found out that all plants grow from a seed and seeds come in lots of different shapes and sizes.

We looked at some bean seeds in their pods fresh off the plant. The seeds were attached inside the pod. Then we looked at some dried bean seeds. You could see the part where they were attached to the pod. The outside of the bean was all wrinkly.

Miss Harrison had soaked some bean seeds in water overnight. These seeds had got bigger than the dry seeds. Carefully we split the seeds open to see what was inside.

We carefully observed the bean seeds with a magnifying class. Inside the seed we could see the tiny plant ready to start growing and the food that feeds the plant until the first leaves appear.

Next we got a whole bean seed and planted it inside a clear container with some damp tissue and cotton wool. We are hoping that it will grow and we will be able to see what happens to the seed.

Here are our bean seeds all ready to start growing.
I wonder how long it will be before the first shoot appears?

Does light travel in a straight line?

The second part of the lesson was to investigate whether light travels in a straight line or if it could turn corners and move around things.

We were given some pieces of cardboard with holes in the middle and a torch. Using this equipment we had to prove if light travels in a straight line. Most of us decided to line the holes up and shine the torch through them. If we had the holes lined up carefully then the light went through all the holes. If the holes were not lined up then the light was blocked by the cardboard. This showed that light could not move around the card and only went in a straight line.

Lots of us had to change our ideas because we thought light could go around things.

When the cardboard blocks the light a shadow is made behind it.

Investigating with torches was lots of fun.

Sources of Light

The 2011 school year has started and so have science lessons at Eastern Hutt School.

This term I am working with the Junior and Middle syndicates to investigate light.

Our first lesson involved thinking about where light comes from (sources of light).

Each class did a brainstorm. Here are some examples:



I was really pleased that each class said that the sun gives us light and just about everyone thought the sun was the most important source of light. 1 person thought the TV was most important!

Why is the sun so important?
Without the sun it would be dark and cold on earth and plants would not be able to grow. Without plants we would have no food.

Does the moon make light? What about mirrors?
Lots of students thought the moon made light because when you look at it at night it seems to be shining. The moon does not make its own light but reflects light from the sun that is shining on it.

Some classes got to see how this happens with a mirror. When a mirror is positioned with the sun shining on it the light can be reflected across the room in the other direction.

2011 Science Adventures

G3 was thinking about what they want to learn about in science this year. This is what they said:

• Ben wants to learn about chemical reactions and amphibians.
• Jesaiah wants to learn about land animals.
• Rose is interested in finding out more about kiwis.
• Joe wants to dissect a frog. MMMMM!