Flight Competition

In our flight unit we have been learning about many concepts such as what makes a plane aerodynamic, how is it affected by drag, and what happens to flight when we adjust controls such as elevators and ailerons. 

So today we held a flight competition to use our knowledge in developing paper airplanes for each of 3 categories. The Distance competition tests our knowledge of aerodynamics, the Air Time competition tests our ability to create drag while maintaining lift, and the Acrobatics competition tests our ability to make a plane do tricks by using flight controls. 

Here are our winners!  Can you see the difference in airplane design?  Do you know which planes won which competition?

Inside The Planetarium

Well today was cool!  We sat inside an inflated dome and got to experience a travelling astronomy show! 

It looks small on the outside but it was big enough for all of us!  

We started off by getting to hold an actual meteorite. It's made of melted metal and it's very heavy. 

Then we moved inside the dome. First we went forward in time and watched tonight's stars come out. 

We learned how to locate Polaris, where the constellations are and we saw how stars move across the sky. 

Next we saw where Jupiter will be. We also got to zoom in close to see Jupiter's rotation and well as how it's 4 biggest moons revolve around it. 

We wrapped up by learning how our own moon revolves around us and what phases it goes through. Today we understand our sky a little bit better. 

Thanks to Dr. D and to Westglen School for inviting us. 

What a Drag!

As we come to the end of our flight unit we find ourselves experimenting with the effect of drag on paper airplanes (it slows them down so they don't travel as far) and parachutes (they will have a slower descent). 

Science Explorations!

     Our learning about air continues!

Here we "submerge" a candle and watch it burn!  How is it possible?  The beaker traps the air and allows us to push the candle under the water. Once the air inside is burned up, the candle goes out.

Air is strong enough to lift objects!

Designing balloon powered rockets that propel along a string to the other side of the classroom. 

Designing hovercrafts that trap air and create lift!!

Proof of Air

We've been on a quest to prove that air exists. It's tricky because you can't really see it or touch it which is how we prove other things exist. So we have completed several experiments to try and prove that air:  takes up space, has mass, has pressure,  has volume, and that it can be compressed. 

Our experiments have been wet and messy but that's totally cool because often messy learning is the best learning. 

Here we were submerging a paper ball attached to the bottom of a beaker. When we pulled it out, the ball of paper was dry!!!  What does that prove?

Here a bottle covered by a balloon is placed in very hot water. Slowly the balloon inflates!  What does that prove?

Here we pull plungers out of syringes while covering the hole. One girl has her ears covered. Hmmmm?  What's about to happen?

Thanksgiving Friday Challenge

What makes leaves turn colour in the fall?    Have you ever wondered why some turn yellow?  Some red?  Some orange?  Do some research to find out what causes this and put your answer in the comment section. Please include the website you used in your answer. Hint!  Look in the 2learn.ca website Science section for help!

Talking Trees

In the next little while we will be investigating what trees can us about their life history. We will be investigating tree cookies but first we needed to polish them down so we could see the story!  It was hard work!  But these are strong little arms. We made a huge sawdust mess too. It was great :)

Transpiration Experimentation

One week ago we began investigating if transpiration really exists. We bagged leaves on tree to try and capture the water that evaporates directly from the leaves. We had lots of questions to investigate. Do needles transpire or just leaves?  Do fall leaves stop transpiring because they are in winter shut down?  How long before we notice results?  Well here is what we saw today.....

We are going to check them again Monday to see if there are further results. We are also wondering if we should run this experiment again in the winter with the needle bags. Do coniferous trees transpire all year long?  Do they transpired as much in winter or do they conserve water???  Oh the questions we have.....