SCIENCE ACROSS THE GRADES
Science and Technology is taught across all grades at Claremont College throughout Semesters 1 and 2. It is our aim to foster every student’s sense of curiosity and wonder about the natural and made world by engaging them in the processes of Working Scientifically and Working Technologically. Through our hands-on and in-depth units, we encourage our students to question and seek solutions to problems, in order to develop an understanding of the significance of our contribution on society.
Take a peek at what we are focusing on this term:
KINDERGARTEN - Kindergarten have loved looking at all the things that both humans and animals need to survive. They have undertaken hands-on activities looking at our different senses and how they all help us to function. The students loved talking about ‘Big Why’ questions such as ‘Why do we need water?’ and ‘What would happen if we couldn’t touch anything?’ One student had this response: “Sometimes I WISH I couldn’t smell… Especially when my brother needs to go to the bathroom.”
YEAR 1 - As you would have read in the ‘Literature around the School’ article in the Week 5 Newsletter, our students in Year 1 are currently exploring the topic of minibeasts, which is based on both Literacy and Science experiences. The students are involved in hands-on learning activities and the deep immersion of rich quality literature. They have been carefully researching and exploring factual texts as well as reading fictional stories about different minibeast characters. This has provided opportunities for the students to develop a clear understanding of the purpose of different types of texts. Year 1 has also been recording their investigations using joint and independent construction of report and fictional style writing.
YEAR 2 - Year 2 has been learning about different forces through lots of practical experiments. They have learnt about the different forces of gravity and buoyancy to make a ball float in water. In one experiment to keep a tissue dry underwater in a cup, Year 2 impressed their teachers by using inquiry questions such as “What happens if we try….?” to see if that concept was transferable to other situations.
YEAR 3 - This term Year 3 has been exploring how heat can change an object. They have investigated the common properties of solids and liquids and found objects which are similar or different to each other by looking at how they feel, look and move. The students now know the difference between a chemical and a physical change and have been discussing which types of changes are reversible and which are not. In the next few weeks of term Year 3 will be performing a series of experiments to find out if they can predict if and how heat can make an object change it state.
YEAR 4 - This term, Year 4 has been investigating forces and motion. They have been exploring how different-sized forces affect the movement of objects. Students have been doing some interesting experiments including how to reduce friction when going down our new slide and building and launching catapults, looking at how energy is transferred.
YEAR 5 - Year 5 have been exploring Earth’s place in space. Students have enjoyed creating models to demonstrate the relationship between the Earth, Moon and Sun, and investigating the unique features of the planets.
“I liked making the model of the phases of the moon in the Science Project. I also enjoyed making the slide show and watching interesting videos about the relationship between the Sun, Moon and Earth.” - Jack Stone
“I liked doing the poster in a small group because we got to research Saturn and we got to choose what planet we wanted to look at. I like working collaboratively”. - Taya O’Loughlin
YEAR 6 - Year 6 have begun a unit on Chemical Sciences. They have started looking at how to formulate a question and make predictions. Over the course of this unit, students will plan and conduct tests of different factors to see if and how they affect the speed of a chemical reaction. Year 6 are refining their skills in making and recording observations and they are learning to provide evidence to support their conclusions.
Mrs Melanie Stewart
Head of Science
