Balloon Surfing

Today we tried an experiment to test how much force is needed to burst balloons. 

We called it “Balloon Surfing”. 

Our question was: How many children can stand on a table that is balancing on balloons?

Here are some of our predictions:

  • It will hold 3 children
  • The balloons will slip out from under the table
  • It will hold 6 children, the balloons will then pop and the table will fall
  • The balloons will get squashed, not burst
  • Three children that are the same size (only tall) will pop the balloons
  • The smaller the children the more that will be able to balance on the balloons

For our experiment, we placed 15 balloons under a table.  We needed to make sure the balloons were only half blown up and that they were evenly placed beneath the table.  We also needed to have this experiment on the carpet.  Ms. Tieppo helped balance the table while the children in our class hopped onto the table. Very slowly each child carefully climbed onto the table.

 Were we surprised!!!  We managed to get 16 children on the first time and when we repeated it we got 18 children.  There were so many giggles and screams as we kept adding another child!  It was such great fun!

Here is why the balloons didn’t burst:  When the balloon flattens out enough, the pressure of the air inside the balloon equals the pressure of the desk on the balloon and the balloon can support the weight of the desk.

 

Balloon Surfing on PhotoPeach

Our Billycart Incursion!

Last week, Mark came to our school for a Billy Cart incursion.  He talked to us about force and motion.  Everytime we pushed or pulled the Billycart, we were using force.

There were four activities that we worked on.

1. Designing our own billycarts

2. Building a billycart with our team.

3. Creative construction using wood, bolts, washers and spanners.

4. Driving a billycart.

It was such a fantastic learning day!  We especially loved steering the billycarts! 

Can you think of anything you do that requires force?

 

Skyping With Lombok School!

We were very lucky last week to be able to skype with a small village in Lombok which is in Indonesia.  Stephanie came to our school to help us skype with the village school.  She spent some time there as a volunteer teaching the children English.  She asked if our school would be interested in skyping with the village.  Ms. Tieppo and Mrs. Mosbauer were very excited and said yes.  Miss Y also helped us out on the day by giving us the Library space and her IWB.  A few children in our class asked some great questions. 

We learned so much!

Here are some things that we learned or noticed when we were skyping the school in Lombok:

  • They liked playing football.

  • They went to school on a Saturday.  They leave home at 7:00 am and go home at 1pm.

  • Not everyone gets to go to school.

  • There are 37 children in their class!

  • The boys sat on one side of the room and the girls sat on the other side.

  • There are 1000 children in the one school.

  • There are white walls and windows in there classroom.  There is no work up on the walls.

  • After school the children go home to do chores.

  • They have 3 lessons for the day and one 10 minute break.

  • They pray 5 times a day.

  • They have fun at school like us.There is only one library in the whole village .  It has one shelf of books.

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Our Favourite Foods!


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Today is Blog Action Day across the world.  It is a chance for all of us to blog about an important global topic on the same day. 

 This year the focus is on Food.  Today is also World Food Day.  In a time when many countries in the world are suffering because of floods and droughts, we think about how lucky we are to have food in Australia.

As a class we decided to write and draw about our favourite food.  If you read the clues in our quiz, you may be able to guess which are our favourite foods.

 Our Favourite Foods! on PhotoPeach

 

What is your favourite food? Let us know!

Our Favourite Foods! on PhotoPeach