Dear Parents/ Caregivers,

Welcome to learning at home for Week 10 Term 3. Remember our learning at home tasks give you the flexibility to plan these into your day around other commitments.

This Week’s Story Time

This week our spotlight story is That’s What Dragons Do - Read by Miss Dreadon

Special activity: Become a magician!

Mr Seth has a new magic trick for you to try this week, watch this video to learn how to make a coin disappear. See if you can teach yourself how to do the magic trick, make sure you practise, then you can share it with the people in your bubble!

Special activity: Become a fitness pro!

Miss Findlay has a new fitness video for you to join in with. See if you can follow along with all the exercise moves to get your heart rate up!

reading

This week for reading, there is a book to read each day. Each book also has some follow up activities for you to complete.

There are also some skill activities for you to do. This week the skills focus on making the long ‘u’ sound, learning what antonyms are, a poem activity, and lastly some comprehension practice when reading non-fiction texts.

Reminder: Online resources available

Wheelers: When you follow this link https://puhinui.eplatform.co/ you will find access to a range of eBooks and audiobooks.

To sign into this digital library you will need to enter a username, which is the students first name and last name without spaces, with a full stop in between (e.g. Mary.Smith).

Password: library1

Sunshine Online provides access to a range of readers for junior children. To access Sunshine Online for digital readers please visit http://www.sunshineonline.com.au/

In the top right corner of this website, select the red login button and in the dropdown select the option ‘Student Login’

User name: Puhinui

Password: Books2015

Books and Activities

Decodable text- Ready to Read

Click on the link to find the book The Long Swim

Click the link to read the book two times.

You can click on the ‘play’ button beside the story to hear it being read and you can also click on the TEXT (brown button) to download the story and read it yourself.

Activities

This story has a mixture of words with long and short vowel sounds.

Can you find the words with long vowel sounds?

Watch this video to hear some examples of long and short vowel sounds

Questions

Who is standing on the bank?
What is tuna’s job?
Why can’t tuna chat with weka?
Weka and tuna are in the awa. Use the story clues to help you work out what this Maori word means.
In the story, tuna goes on a quest. A quest is a long journey that we go on when we are looking for something. Draw your own quest. Use 3 pictures to show where you are going, how you will get there, and what you are looking for.

Here’s an example:

Need something else to do?

Every year, Tuna Kuwharuwharu (Longfin Eel) really go on a quest. They go out into the deep sea, all the way to Tonga. Here is a video of the longfin eel having some lunch at Auckland Zoo, with zoo keeper Georgia to teach you all about their lives.
Here is an activity pack that can help you learn some more about Tuna Kuwharuwhau.
The word we use for Tuna’s quest is called migration. Here is a story all about how the Tuna Kuwharuwharu get all the way to Tonga
Go on an adventure to the stream closest to your house. See if you can find any tuna. If you can’t, have a think about why not. Would the tuna like to live in that stream? What could you do to make it a nice place for them to live? Don’t forget to take the grown ups from your bubble with you.

Sunshine Online Learning Space 2

Level 10- Nutty Knitting

Before reading this text, have a think about these questions:

Do you have anything knitted at home? Maybe a blanket, sweater, or socks?
Do you know anyone that can knit?

Read the story two times or have someone read it to you. Then complete the activities below.

Activities:

‘Kn’ blend: There are two letters that make the blend ‘kn’. The ‘k’ in this blend is special because it is silent. The blend ‘kn’ makes the ‘n’ sound.

The word knitting has the ‘kn’ blend, so does the word knack. Can you think of a few more and write them down?

___________________ ___________________ ___________________

Silent letters: There are other words that also have silent letters in them. Here are some examples:

Have a look at the words below and see if you can fill the silent letters. Use these letters to help you:

h h u b g b t k

Comprehension Questions: Answer the following questions

Is this book fiction or non-fiction? How do you know?

_____________________________________________________________________________

Have a look at the contents page.

What would you find on the following pages…

Page 2 ____________________________

Page 10 ___________________________

On what page would you find….

How do you knit? ________________

Patterns ____________________

What equipment do you need to knit? (Page 6)

_____________________________________________________________________________

What are two things yarn can be made from? (Page 8)

_____________________________________________________________________________

Design your own knitted jumper: Here is an example to help you

Complete the the online quiz

Level 13-15- Ready to Read

Click on the link The Gardener’s Maze and listen to the story two times. You will need to click on the ‘play’ button beside the story to hear it being read

Activities

Comprehension Questions: Answer the following questions in full sentences

What did the gardener draw on his paper?

______________________________________________________________________

How did the gardner measure the rows?

_____________________________________________________________________

Why did the gardener water the hedges?

_____________________________________________________________________

What was the main problem for Gardner in the end?

_____________________________________________________________________

Why is it important to ‘plan’ before you make a maze?

_____________________________________________________________________

Complete the maze challenge below

Create your own Maze

Just like the gardener, it’s time for you to create your own maze.

Make a list of items/features your maze is going to have. For example, you may have very tall trees or bushes. You must have an entry point and an exit point. You will need a blank piece of paper for your maze. Once you are finished, ask a family member to test out your maze and give you feedback

Sunshine Online: Learning Space 3 L18 Non-Fiction

The life of Spiders

Read the book twice or have someone read the book to you. After you have read the book, discuss the following questions with a family member and record your answers in full sentences. Remember to use a capital letter at the beginning and a full stop at the end of your sentence.

Comprehension questions

Using the contents page, what do you find out about on page 16?
How many legs do spiders have?
Are spiders an insect?
On page 4 it says, “spiders have fangs to kill its prey”, what does prey mean?
What are baby spiders called?
Why does the spider not get stuck on the web?
Are you scared of spiders? Why/Why not?

Draw a spider and label its body parts

Here are the words you will need:

Legs
Body parts
Eyes
Fangs
Hard skin

Complete the follow up quiz

Greedy Cat at the Market (Level 21) - Ready to Read

Poppy the dog is staying with Katie’s family while Nan is away. Mum and Katie decide to take Poppy for a walk to the market, leaving Greedy Cat at home – or so they think!

Click on the following link to see what Greedy Cat gets up to in Greedy Cat at the Market

You can click on the ‘play’ button beside the story to hear it being read and you can also click on the TEXT (brown button) to download the story and follow the words.

Focus: Prediction, contractions, retell

Prediction: Before you read this story, look at the picture on the cover and think about these questions or write your answers down.

Greedy Cat isn’t in the picture on the front cover. Why do you think that might be?
Where do you think Greedy Cat is?
What do you think Greedy Cat will do at the market?

Now read the story to yourself or to someone in your home.

Were your predictions correct?

Contractions: What are they? To contract means to get smaller/shrink. So a contraction is two words put together to make one word, so the two words shrink into one. Then an apostrophe ‘ is added to replace the letters that have been taken away to make the word smaller.

Can you find the contractions in this story and say or write what the two words are that make the contraction?

Here are two contractions to help you:

On page 2, find the contraction won’t. Read the sentence that won’t is in and write the two words that mean won’t like this: won’t = will not

On page 2 find the contraction He’s. Read the sentence and write the two words that mean He’s like this: He’s = He is

Now try it on your own. Ask an adult to help if you need it.

Page 2: Find each contraction below, read the sentence it’s in then write your answers like this:

That’s = _________________________ We’ll = ___________________________

I’ll = _____________________________

Page 3: Find each contraction, read the sentence it’s in then write your answers:

You’re = ______________________ couldn’t = ___________________________

Page 6: Find each contraction, read the sentence it’s in then write your answers:

where’s = ________________________ don’t = __________________________

Page 7: She’s = ______________________ Let’s = _________________________

Page 9: I’m = ________________________

Page 10: It’s = ________________________ wasn’t = ________________________

Page 11: I’ve = ________________________

Challenge:

Retell this story using the main ideas that happened. You can do this on your own or use the Retell/Story map below to help you.

Skills practice

Long vowel- u

There are different ways to make the long vowel sound u. Today we’ll look at some of these ways:

oo = moon, soon u-e = flute, mute ew = grew, blew

ue = glue, blue ough = through o = do, to ou = you

Watch this video to learn about the different ways to spell the long u sound.

Focus: oo

See if you can fill in the correct word in these sentences using an oo word from the vocabulary box below

At the _____________, the children saw a monkey.
When it’s dark at night, the _____________ is easy to see.
My sister is running late, but she will be here _____________.
I enjoy eating chocolate. Do you like it _____________?
The farmer put on her _____________.

Focus: u-e

Use your magic e wand to turn the short u sound in these words long.

Hug → huge
cut
cub
tub
dud
Plum

Focus: ue

Write some more words with the ‘ue’ sound

Blue glue ____________ _____________

____________ _____________ ____________ _____________

Focus: ew

Read the poem called, “The boy who liked to chew”. See if you can find the ‘ew’ words and write them down.

_____________

Focus: ough, ou, o, oe

Here are some other ways to make the long vowel u sound. Read these words and underline the long u sound. Here is an example: to

Focus: Revision

Sort these long u words into the right groups

Poem with a simile focus

A simile is when you use the word like or as to describe someone, or something.

An example is, “I am as fast as a cheetah,” or “My eyes are blue like the ocean.”

Can you find the simile in this poem?

Other activities

Watch the story My best friend is as sharp as a pencil
Write a simile to describe your best friend
Make some artwork using your simile, just like the author in the story

Here is an example:

My friend is as busy as a timer,

As creative as a stained glass window,

As hardworking as an elephant,

As happy as a well-loved dog,

And as sleepy as a pillow.

Antonyms

What are antonyms? Antonyms are words with opposite meanings like this:

So antonyms are opposites. Hot is the opposite of cold. Big is the opposite of small or little. Black is the opposite of white.

Write the antonyms (opposite words) beside each word below.

girl ____________________________

day ____________________________

good ____________________________

happy ____________________________

cold ____________________________

in ____________________________

hard ____________________________

on ____________________________

open ____________________________

tall ____________________________

up ____________________________

wet ____________________________

night ____________________________

fast ____________________________

win ____________________________

light ____________________________

run ____________________________

thin ____________________________

Challenge: Try these ones that are a little harder

more ____________________________

before ____________________________

even ____________________________

weak _____________________________

sunny _____________________________

noisy _____________________________

positive _____________________________

weak _____________________________

love _____________________________

Can you think of any more antonyms? If you can write them down like this. I’ve done one to help you:

problem solution

___________________ ____________________

___________________ _____________________

Non-Fiction Comprehension Skills Activity

Read the information about the layers of the ocean twice.

Comprehension questions: Answer the following questions by picking the correct statement

How many layers of the ocean are there?

Which layer is warm?

The Sunlight zone
The Twilight Zone
The Midnight Zone

Which layer is also called the ocean floor?

The Midnight Zone
The Abyss
The Trench

What can you find lots of in the sunlight zone? Choose two

Animals
Rubbish
Plants
People

The Abyss is...

Bright and warm
Pitch black

Draw the layers of the ocean and label them. Can you draw what you might find at each layer?

Use these words to help label the layers:

The word “ocean” has a ‘c’ that makes a soft c sound, this means it sounds like a ‘s’ sound rather than the sound ‘c’ makes in the word cat.

Can you circle which words have the soft c sound?

Card
Circus
Cent
Candy
Citrus

Writing

A pirate adventure

Imagine you are on board a large pirate ship sailing towards a deserted island.

I wonder if there could be treasure on this island…

Your task is to write a narrative (an imaginative, made up story) about a time when you were a fierce pirate searching for treasure.

Imaginative play: Before you plan or write your story, you could pretend to be a pirate roaming around your house and have a make-believe adventure searching for treasure. Your bed could be your pirate ship and you may have to search for gold and gems under couches or in the garden.

Plan your writing: Draw a picture of your pirate adventure and write down keywords you may need in your story. Here is an example:

Write your story: Tell the reader how you would feel and what you would do. Can you use creative language in your story? ‘Wow’ words are more interesting words to use, for example, instead of saying you were ‘looking’ for treasure, you could say ‘searching’ for treasure.

Read your story back and make sure you are checking for capital letters and full stops.

Challenge: Use describing words to add detail (+D). For example, some words to describe treasure could be sparkling, glittery, incredible

Swimming with the Sharks

Imagine you are going swimming in the ocean with sharks. Have a think about the following questions

What would you see in the ocean?
How would you feel swimming with the sharks?
What would you like to do with the sharks?

You will be writing an imaginative piece of writing to convince your reader why swimming with the sharks is the best idea.

Plan your story with a picture and key words (See example below)

When writing your imaginative story- remember to re-read it so it makes sense. Remember to add detail (+D) to your ideas, so it’s engaging for the reader.

Once you are finished, read your story to a family member. Discuss with them- would they like to go swimming with sharks? Why/Why not?

Record their response at the end of your imaginative story.

Challenge: Begin your story with an interesting opening sentence like the example below:

One fine morning, I decided to go for a swim in the deep blue ocean. In the ocean, I met a friendly shark who loved interacting (talking) with humans…

Building a fort

Have you ever built a fort out of blankets and pillows? I know it's such a fun thing to do, you can build one and have a sleepover in it. Or you can imagine you are camping outside.

Before writing, have some fun and build a fort, it can be in your lounge or in your bedroom. What are you going to build it out of? Pillows? Sheets? Chairs? Towels?

Now I want you to write step by step instructions on how to build this amazing fort.

Plan your story, draw a picture of your fort, plan what materials you used or will use and write key words for the steps.

When writing your instructions, use time words (refer to the table below for words). Time words can be used instead of saying and... and... and.

Challenge: Conclude your instructions by telling the reader about how much fun you had, or what you did inside your fort. Did you pretend to be hiding from enemies? Did you fall asleep? Did you read a book or eat dinner in the fort?

Stranded at Sea - Write a narrative (made up story) with a problem and a solution

What’s happening in this picture? It looks like a mouse is stuck in a tin can and is floating out in the ocean! It has an umbrella for shade which is good because the sun is shining brightly.

I wonder how he or she got there? What a big problem? How is he or she going to get back to land or get rescued? What’s the solution to this big problem?

Write a narrative (a made up story) about this picture. Here are some keywords to help you:

Your narrative can be as weird and as wonderful as you like.

Planning your narrative

First you need to plan a beginning, a middle and an end to your story.

To write a beginning, think about these kinds of questions for the beginning of your story:

Is the mouse a boy or a girl?
How did the mouse get stuck into the tin can?
How did he get the umbrella?
How did she get into the ocean or sea or is it a very large swimming pool?

Write your beginning key ideas in a planning box like this below:

Next, write a middle for your narrative. Think about these kinds of questions to write the middle part:

How is the mouse feeling?
Does she have a family that she is thinking about?
Is he enjoying the experience or is he scared?
Is she thinking about who might rescue her?
Is he thirsty or hungry?

Write your middle key ideas in the planning box above or on your own paper.

Last, write an end or solution to your story. Think about these kinds of questions for the solution/ending:

How long did the mouse stay at sea?
Did he find food or water to drink?
Was she rescued or did she get back to land all on her own?
How did he feel when he was back on land?
What was the first thing she did when she got to safety?

Write your end/solution key ideas in the planning box above or on your own paper.

Write your narrative

Now use your keyword ideas from your planning to write your narrative, starting with the beginning, then the middle and finally the end.

How weird and wonderful can you make your story?

Challenge:

Can you use some ‘WOW’ words? ‘WOW’ words make your story much more interesting. For example:

Instead of writing, “it was rainy,” you could write, “it was stormy” or “it was stormy and the lightning struck the sea”.

Or instead of writing, “the mouse thought about his family,” you could write, “the scared mouse thought about his lovely family” or “the very frightened mouse thought about his tiny babies and was hoping that mum mouse was ……”

Lost Shoes

What if your lost shoes weren’t lost, instead they were just hiding?

Imagine you are your shoes. What does a day as your shoes feel like?

Maybe your person takes you on amazing adventures, or maybe your person has left you at the playground.

Where would you go if you were hiding from your person?

Tell a narrative story. (A pretend story that has a beginning, middle and end.)

Play your story:

Once you have drawn your pictures, write at least 2 topic words that you plan to use in your story.

Here are some ideas for topic words. If you would like to use other words, remember to sound them out.

Challenge:

Choose one sentence in your story to add some more detail to.

Here is an example:

My shoes went to the park.

My shoes turned their laces into wings and flew to the park to try going on the swings all by themselves.

Need some help?

Try finishing off these sentences by sounding out the missing words to build your own story.

My shoes are feeling ______________.

So, they are going to _______________.

First, they are going to ______________.

Then, they will ____________.

They are (never/definitely) coming back.

Other ideas:

Publish your story as a book with lots of pictures.
Make a pair of paper shoes, or use an old pair of shoes and take them on a real adventure

maths

Reminder: Online resource available

Matific: Follow this link https://www.matific.com/nz/en-nz/home/ and access the website by using the login your teacher gave you.

Measurement focus: Volume and Capacity

This week, our maths activities are all about measurement. In particular, we will be focusing on measuring volume and capacity. There is a different activity for you to complete each day.

Ordering the capacity of containers - Most to least

What is capacity?

Capacity is how much a container can hold. For example: How many cups of water will fit into a jug? Or how many marbles will fit into this small box?

What is volume?

Volume is how much space an object takes up so it’s the measurement of the size of an object.

For example: How much space does a banana take up? And how much space does a gumboot take up? Which one takes up more space? Is the banana or the gumboot bigger?

If you can, watch Mrs Harland's video about volume and capacity and find which toys and objects fitted best into which boxes.

Capacity:

We are going to look at capacity and find out which container holds the most water and which container holds the least amount of water.

Mrs V found four containers to measure capacity. You can choose three or even two but I chose four. I have an empty blue ice cream container, a white bowl, a tall glass jar and a red plastic container.

Because I’m measuring capacity, I’m going to see which container can hold the most cups of water and which holds the least cups of water.

This is the cup that I’m going to use to measure the capacity of these containers and I’m going to fill the cup with water.

Prediction:

Before I begin, I’m going to predict which one will hold the most cups of water and which will hold the least?

I think the blue ice cream container will hold the most and the white bowl will hold the least. Now let’s see if I’m correct … … ...

Step 1:

Choose one of your containers to measure it’s capacity. I chose the red plastic container. Now fill a cup to the top with water and pour it into the container. Repeat this until your container is full to the top with water and count how many cups of water you used. Like this:

Step 2:

Next choose your second container to fill. I chose the blue ice cream container and I counted how many cups of water it took to fill to the top, like this:

Step 3:

Now choose your next container and count how many cups of water. I chose the tall glass jar and I used a funnel to pour the water into because the glass jar is tall so it makes it harder to pour water in without spilling it, like this:

Step 4:

Now fill your last container with cups of water and count how many it took, like I did:

Results:

The red plastic container took 3 and a tiny bit cups of water to fill
The blue ice cream container took 8 cups of water to fill
The tall glass jar took 2 cups of water to fill
The white bowl took 2 and a half (2 ½) cups of water to fill.

So one of my predictions was correct and one was wrong. I correctly predicted the ice cream container would hold the most cups of water and the white bowl would hold the least but the tall glass jar held the least cups of water.

Holds the most cups of water Holds the least cups of water

How did you go? Was your prediction correct?

Challenge:

Choose something else to measure capacity instead of cups of water, like: marbles, ice cubes, lego bricks, cuddly toys.

Make a prediction before you start about which container will hold the most and which one will hold the least.

Then fill each container and write how many it took to fill.

You can change your containers to different ones too, smaller or bigger.

Measuring capacity using non-standard units of measurement - liquid

What is capacity?

In mathematics, the term capacity is used when measuring how much fluid fits inside a container

Watch Mrs Say’s video to learn about capacity and volume.

For this activity, we will be looking at measuring capacity using water.

Look carefully at the containers below

Make a prediction which container has the largest capacity. Explain your answer

Activity One

Find 4 containers of different heights. Draw a table (see example below) When you measure the capacity of containers, you will need to use a non-standard unit to pour the water. This can be a cup, glass, bowl or something else of your choice

Reminder- when pouring the water into containers, it needs to be the same amount each time

Container

Prediction

Capacity-How many non-standard units to fill the container

Next, order the containers from largest to smallest. What did you find out?

The tallest container has the largest capacity. Is this correct? Explain your answer to an adult.

Activity Two

Read the sentences and complete each task in the next column by either recording or drawing your answer

Extra Practise Activity

Measuring capacity using non-standard units of measurement - solid items

In our last activity we used liquid non-standard units of measurement, in this task we are going to use solid non-standard units of measurement.

Remember: a group of non-standard units of measurement need to be exactly the same. Here are some examples of non-standard units that you might have a lot of at home:

Problem one: I am going to bake three cakes using different shaped tins. A circle, rectangle and square baking tin will be used. I am not quite sure which cake tin has the largest and which has the smallest capacity. Can you help me measure the capacity of each tin using non-standard units of measurement?

Here are my 3 baking tins:

You can use any 3 containers or baking dishes at home. You can also use any form of non-standard unit of measurement that you have at home. Here is an example of a baking tin filled with pompoms:

Record your findings, make sure you say how many of each item it took to fill the baking tin. You can create a table like the one below:

Problem two: Now that I have baked the 3 cakes, I would like to share them with my family. I want to put each cake into a box to deliver them. I just need to check that each container is bigger than the baking tin, to make sure the cake will fit. Can you help me decide which box each cake should go into by using non-standard units to measure them?

Measure the containers the same way you measured the baking tins. Then decide which box will hold each cake. You can use any containers or boxes you might have at home. Here are some containers at my house:

Extra Practice: Measure the capacity of other items in your kitchen using non-standard units and record your findings. You could measure: bowls, cups, muffin trays, jugs or pots.

Measuring capacity using standard units of measurement

In our last activity we used non-standard units. For this activity, we are going to look at a standard unit of measurement called a millilitre. A millilitre is a way to measure the volume of liquids and often is used when measuring for baking or cooking.

At home I have a measuring jug, it measures how many millilitres. The lines on the jug show me how many milliliters the jug holds. Watch this video to see how to read a measuring jug. The short writing for millilitres is ml, so if the liquid is 100 millilitres you can write it as 100ml.

Problem: Tonight I am cooking dinner for my family. I am cooking a chicken curry. The recipe I am using needs coconut milk, chicken stock and water.

The recipe says

100 ml coconut milk
150 ml of chicken stock
50ml of water

Can you help me measure out the liquids so I can make my yummy dinner? Colour in the amount I need for each of the ingredients.

Challenge: Can you tell me how many millilitres each of these measuring jugs hold?

______________ ml 2. _____________ ml 3. _________ ml

These next 3 don’t have the numbers right next to it so you will have to work out what the answer is by figuring out what it is halfway between.

___________ ml 2. _________ ml 3. _____________ ml

Extra challenge:

Time - concepts of length of time

Watch this video to learn about seconds, minutes and hours.

A second is about the same length as clicking your fingers, or saying the word ‘chocolate bar’
A minute is about the length of time you need to read a page of a story
An hour is about the length of 2 episodes of your favourite TV show
There are 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in an hour

A clock has 3 hands, and some digital clocks have 3 sections. One for hours, one for minutes and one for seconds.

Use a timer to help you work out which is longest. Second, minute or hour.

Here is a link to an online timer

Today, we are going to bake a cake. I want to know which parts of my recipe take one minute to do.

Which of these things do you think would take one minute?
Which things do you think would take one second?
Which things do you think would take one hour?
Is there anything that you think would take longer than a minute, but less time than an hour?

Turn on the oven to 180℃
Grease a cake tin
Beat together 125g of butter, and 1 ½ c sugar
Crack an egg into the mix
Crack another egg into the mix
Beat it well
Add in a teaspoon of vanilla
Add ½ c self-raising flour
Stir well
Add ½ c milk
Stir well
Add ½ c self-raising flour
Stir well
Add ½ c milk
Stir well
Pour the mix into the cake pan
Put the cake pan in the oven
Wait for it to cook.
Decorate the cake so it looks beautiful

Try out the recipe yourself, put on a timer. How much time did it take you to make the cake?

Were your predictions right?

Here are some more activities you can try

Using your online timer, work out what things you can do that take a second, minute and hour.

science

Wow experiment- Magic Milk

You will need:

Milk
Food colouring (2-3 colours)
Dishwashing liquid
Earbuds
Bowl
Cotton ball

Instructions

Pour milk into a bowl
Add three drops of food colouring into the milk (using different colours is best)
Dip an earbud or cotton ball into dishwashing liquid
Place the earbud/cotton ball into the milk and watch what happens

Magic Milk- watch this video

Your turn

Time for you to conduct the wow experiment. Once you have conducted the experiment, think of the following questions:

Why does the milk swirl?
What would happen if you add a tablespoon of dishwashing liquid?

Challenge

If you used tap water instead of milk would you still get swirls? Test it and explain your findings to an adult

The Science Behind It

When the dishwashing liquid is added to the milk, it reduces the milk’s surface tension. It attracts the fat particles in the milk and forms a strong bond. When this strong bond is created we can see the swirls, if we didn’t put the food colouring in, the swirls would still happen, it would just be harder to see.

States of matter

Our science word for stuff is matter. Everything in the whole wide world is called matter, and matter comes in three states:

Solid
Liquid
Gas

Solids

Solids are things that don’t change shape or size even when we squeeze them

Can you find 3 solids in your house?

Liquids

Liquids are things that we can pour, or change the shape of easily, and the amount always stays the same like water.

Can you find 3 liquids in your house?

Gases

Gases are things that float around in the air, like steam and the oxygen we breathe. Gases can change shape and spread out to change size.

Here is an experiment you can do to find and feel the difference between a solid, a liquid and a gas.

You will need:

3 balloons
Some water
A freezer

Instructions:

Fill up one balloon with water and put it in the freezer overnight
The next day, fill another balloon with water
Fill the last balloon with air
Label your balloons

Squeeze and squash your balloons to feel the difference in the states of matter. Use some words to describe what you can feel. For example, the liquid one is wobbly and squishy, while the solid one is hard and cold, I can’t squash it.

Weigh your balloons, which one is the heaviest? Use your coat hanger scale that you made in maths last week, or put one in each hand to feel which is heavier

Drop your balloons. What happens to each one as it falls? Be careful to do this one outside

Experiment: You can watch water change all the way from a solid to a gas.

For this experiment, you will need:

Some ice cubes
A hot, sunny day
Some chalk

What to do:

First, put the ice cubes outside in a sunny spot outside. Trace around the edge of the ice cube so you remember what size it was
Go inside and do something else for 20 minutes
Go back outside to check on your icecube. What happened? Can you describe what happened to a grown up in your house? Can you draw a picture of what happened?
Trace around your icecube puddle now, so you can remember how big it was
Go back inside and do something else for 20 minutes
Go back outside to check on your icecube. What has happened to it?

The science behind it

Water can become solid when it is very very cold. As it warms up, it starts to melt. When the ice melts, it becomes liquid water. On hot and sunny days, the sun can heat up your water even more and turn it into steam. You might see steam when your family is cooking dinner, or when your parents make their coffee in the morning.

When this happens in nature, we call it the water cycle.

Click on this video to learn some more about the water cycle

Jumping Pepper

What!!!!!! Jumping pepper!!! How can pepper jump?

Try this easy experiment and see how pepper can jump and find out why it jumps.

All you need is:

Pepper (the granulated pepper works best)
Salt
A plastic spoon or a comb or a balloon
A cloth or hand towel or your own hair

Mrs V doesn’t have a balloon or a comb so she tried it with a plastic spoon.

Step 1:

Pour some salt onto a bench.

Step 2:

Pour some granulated pepper onto the salt.

Step 3:

Mix the salt and pepper together with

your fingers

Step 4:

You have a few choices here. You can either rub a plastic spoon onto your hair or onto a cloth, like this:

or this:

Or, you can rub a comb or a balloon onto your hair or a cloth.

Step 5:

Put the spoon or comb or balloon close to the pepper and salt but don’t touch it and watch!!!

What happens?

The pepper should jump up to

spoon or comb or balloon and

stick to it like this:

If the pepper isn’t jumping then rub the balloon or spoon or comb onto your hair or a cloth for longer than you did before and the pepper will jump up.

The science behind why the pepper jumps

When you rub the comb or balloon or plastic spoon onto your hair or a cloth you give it a negative electricity charge. Pepper has a positive electricity charge so when you hold the object close to the pepper it jumps up because the positive charge on the pepper wants to be close to the negative charge on the comb, spoon or balloon.

So really it’s all about electricity!!

Experiment with static electricity

To experiment with static electricity try one or both of the following activities: Explore static electricity with a balloon and a drink can

Or try: Move water with a balloon or comb by rubbing the balloon or comb on your hair and holding it close to running water. Watch the water move closer to the comb or balloon.

Answer these questions for the experiment you tried:

Why does the can of drink or the water move closer to the balloon or comb?
Why do you need to rub the balloon or comb on your hair?
What happens if you don’t rub the balloon or comb on your hair?
Does the balloon or comb have positive or negative electricity?
Does the can of drink or water have positive or negative electricity?

Page updated

Report abuse