Today, we carried out an experiment to see if sounds can travel through solids, liquids and gases. First we made a prediction as to whether we thought that sound would travel through the different mediums. Then we started by investigating if sound could travel through solids. Partner one rested their ear on the table while partner two tapped underneath. We recorded how clear the sound was. Next, we then used a bowl of water and a plastic bottle to investigate how sounds travel through liquids. We put the bottle into the water and gently rested our ear on the bottle. We then tapped the cubes in the water to see if we could hear the sound. The last experiment we conducted was to test to see if sound travels through gases. We used a balloon to test this. We placed the balloon next to our ear and our partners talked into the balloon from varying distances. We concluded that sounds can travel through solids, liquids and gases but from the results of our experiment, they travelled best in the gas and worst in the liquid.

Today we started our science slice on sound! We explored and identified how sound is made by vibrations. First we looked at a variety of instruments, thinking about how the sound is made. We then looked more into vibrations and volume, linking back to the vocabulary we explored in our activate. From here we listened to the sounds in the classroom and outside, noting these down on our whiteboards. We worked in mini crews to discuss the sounds heard, the sounds that surprised us, which sounds were familiar and which sounds were the loudest and quietest. We then moved onto the ears thinking about external and internal ears. We thought about other animals that fall into these two categories. Next we explored the ear in more detail, looking at the parts and their function. After this we thought more about how sounds are made and what we have to do to make a sound. We voiced lots of objects that make sounds, then explored a range of musical instruments. We tried to work out how the different instruments made a sound. Finally we took part in 3 short investigations to find out more about vibrations and sound. Our exit ticket assessed our understanding where we wrote a small paragraph about how sounds are made.

Today we carried out an experiment to investigate what happens to chalk when it is exposed to different types of weathering. This investigated represented the three different types of weathering: biological, chemical and physical. We set up our experiment by pouring water (physical weathering) into a cup and vinegar (chemical weathering) into the other. We put the chalk into the cups and set a timer for 5 minutes. We observed what happened to the chalk during the 5 minutes. We then used a piece of sandpaper to lightly rub the piece of chalk for 30 seconds. We concluded that the chalk in the vinegar changed the most because after the 5 minutes in the vinegar it had holes and slight cracks in it. The chalk in the water didn’t have any changes after the 5 minutes.

Today we carried out three different experiments to test the hardness, permeability and buoyancy of different types of rocks. First, we completed a prediction on whether we thought the rocks would be hard or soft, permeable or impermeable, or sink or float. We used a range of equipment to test a variety of rocks including chalk, sandstone, granite, basalt, slate and marble. We found that chalk is soft, sandstone is permeable and marble is not permeable. After carrying out the experiments, we checked our results against our predictions to see if we got any right.