Wycombe Abbey Chemistry Masterclass

Eighty-five schools were invited to take part in the Wycombe Abbey Chemistry Poster Competition, with the 120 best posters judged and only 15 girls being invited to take part in Chemistry Masterclass and Prizegiving Lunch.  Julia from Year 4 was one of those selected, so it was tremendous achievement for her to be within the best 15 girls today.

At the beginning of the Masterclass the girls were split into 6 groups of  2 to 3 children. The lesson started with explanation of what acid and alkaline is with examples from every day life. Julia was the first one to put her hand put to talk about acids. Then the girls had to work out how to identify them in the lab. Main task was to make a red cabbage indicator. The children used universal indicator, methyl orange and phenolphthalein to work out the changes made by these indicators.

The red cabbage indicator was then used on five different solutions to order them from the most acidic to most alkaline using changes in colour. The solutions used were: jelly baby juice, lemon juice, persil washing powder, toothpaste and washing up liquid.

Once the children mastered the use of the indicators there were given a task of helping Pete, the painter who lost his paints and needed to paint his girlfriend's house. Pete needed six different paints. Children were provided with all necessary equipment and solutions: test tubes, pipettes, universal indicator, hydrochloric acid, distilled water and sodium hydroxide solution. Julia and her team successfully created six different paint colours and were the first team to produce yellow colour which proved to be the hardest.

All the girls with teachers and parents were invited to join the School for lunch and prizegiving.  It was truly special and exciting day.  Well done Julia!

6S are separating

Today 6S learned the rudiments of chemical separations.

One useful technique involves solubilities

So the pupils have to see which substances dissolve

You have to make sure you don't use too much solute.

Or too little solvent

The result needs careful observation

And the results need recording.

It's a Bug's Life

 

Year 5 have been watching caterpillars grow and change into butterflies.  They each named their caterpillar and have been keeping a daily diary on their growth and activities.  After about 2 weeks the caterpillars made chrysalises and we have been waiting in great anticipation for the butterflies to come out.

 

Finally they did and yesterday we set them free!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both 5H and 5L enjoyed watching the butterflies float off into the flower beds.

Year 6 Lancing Science Challenge

Twelve Year 6 students were chosen to attend the 2016 Science Challenge, run by Lancing College.  It was a great event and the children were very excited to be a part of it.  On arrival they were sorted into three teams, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.  They were led off to their various labs, where they were split into teams with other schools.  Everyone was mixed up into a team with people they did not know.  They were then presented with various challenges that they had to solve within the given time.

 

Everyone got stuck in and got to know their team members quickly.   I was particularly impressed with our students, they were enthusiastic, polite and got on with their tasks very well.

 

In the Physics challenge they had to build a tower to balance a tennis ball and carry out various measuring tasks where accuracy was the key.

 

 Charlotte's tower won their challenge!

 Georgia trying to measure the period of a pendulum.

 Felix and his team's tower.

Lexi working with her team to calculate the weight of a small ball of plasticine.

 

In the Chemistry challenge their task was the get a mixture down to 0 degrees, they needed to calculate the correct amount of each reactant to achieve this.

 Alice doing the calculations

 Hermione discussing the method with her team mates.

 Uliana measuring the temperature.

William answering some of the tricky questions.

 

In Biology the teams rotated around various stations that involved different activities about animals, plants and different habitats.

 Efosa doing some drawings of different fruits.

 Jamie working well with her group.

 Robert classifying various things according to different criteria.

William thinking hard!

 

After the challenges there was a great talk by The Cycling Scientist, who demonstrated different properties of carbon dioxide.

 

 

Then the winners were announced.  We didn't place in the top 3 schools, although Robert's team won the Biology section.

 

There is Robert collecting his prize.

 

Overall, the team did really well, showing off good manners and making the most of the day.  Well done Year 6!

 

 

 

Year 6 are a bit seedy

On Thursday Year 6 went to Wakehurst place

 to look at the life cycle of flowering plants.

 They were split into two groups.

Which took turns to visit the grounds 

and the Seed Bank,

 where there are over 2 billion seeds.

Its very cold in the Cryo-storage facility.

The pupils learned lots about the work Kew does 

 to save seeds from plants that may become extinct

 because of habitat destruction due to Man's effects on the planet

 and climate change.

 The variety of seeds is enormous,

 as is the difference in their size.

 This is the worlds largest seed, weighing in at 23kg!

The smallest ones are from an orchid. 

 Pupils learned how useful seeds are.

And made their own films showing the work done at the seed bank. 

Some budding directors and presenters were in their element.

The green houses are for germinating the stored seeds to check they are still viable. 

Outside we saw lots of different flowers 

and examined them without damaging them. 

Some were wind  pollinated

 and others were insect pollinated,

so they have scent to attract the insects 

and pretty petals to advertise nectar is here. 

This was a great mornings education in beautiful surroundings and with excellent weather.

I remember why I love the summer term.