Green Day

Tomorrow is our Green Day of Action!
 We are working towards our 3rd flag, and this one focuses on water conservation.
We will be conducting experiments and having a car wash challenge!
For €5, staff can have their cars washed by a very enthusiastic 5th and 6th, but all the children can use is one basin of soapy water and one of clean water to rinse. (a quick internet search claims that a carwash can use up to 170 litres of water per car!)
The money raised by 5th and 6th will go to a charity that digs wells in Cameroon and provides fresh drinking water for villages!
Here is a link to their website.   waterforcameroon

Now, I'm off to drive through the muckiest lanes I can find......

Exercise your brain....

Here is the puzzle that Mr. Finnegan sent over today!
An office worker is given a new job.
He will start on Jan 1st 2013.
He will work Mon-Fri 9 a.m - 5 p.m with a lunch break from 1 - 2 p.m.
His job is to count to one million (1,000,000)
If he can count to 60 in a minute, on what day and at what time will he reach 1 million?

Yikes!!

Today we looked at a website about a short story competition.
Children have to write a 500 word story, and there are lots of tips from experts and authors.
You can listen to or read previous entries online also.
We can't enter the competition but we can enjoy the site and have our own version of it!

BBC500words

Heave Ho!

This week's science project is about pulleys.
Try to find information about pulleys, block and tackle and elevators.
Can you get any historical evidence of use of pulleys?

MachinesPulleys
sciencekids
pulleys

Osmosis

Osmosis is the movement of water in and out of cells.
Every living thing is made up of cells and needs water to survive.

We are conducting some experiments to demonstrate how osmosis occurs.
What do you think will happen our celery which are sitting in cups of water mixed with food colouring?
Check back in a few days to see if you predicted the outcome correctly!

If you want to try an osmosis experiment at home, leave a Gummy Bear or Jelly Baby in a glass of water overnight.
Measure how big it is before and after, so you have
proof!
(and the good news is, you can still eat it afterwards :)
Let us know how you get on......
A few days later, this is what our celery looks like:

Osmosis has occured.
Water has passed from the cup into the celery, carrying the food colouring with it.


We tried a second experiment to see how to draw water out of cells.
We cut a potato in half, scooped out a hollow in the centre, and we poured salt into one half.
The salt caused the water naturally in the potato to pool in the hollow:

Here's another experiment to try at home.

Remember to ask permission before you raid the cupboards, and tidy up after yourself!

Have fun :)