INQUIRY

Hi - Here's where you find out about our //INQUIRY// topics

We like "Inquiry" because - we learn about interesting things. And - we can use **all** our skills, like reading, writing, drawing, making, computer skills, discussing, questioning ... We all want to get better at **researching.** You can help us at home by asking and answering questions together.

**__November__** **Wow!** We didn't think our pine seeds were going to grow ("germinate"). The lettuce and swan plant seeds came up but we had to wait for more than 2 weeks for the pine seedlings to appear. They look really cool! See the seed case being pushed up by the tiny pine leaves ("needles"). One day we might have a Christmas tree! **__October__** Holidays are over! We are back looking at the growing things around us. We have all planted some **seeds**. Some of us planted pine seeds because we have discovered lots and lots of pine seeds hiding in pine cones! Will they grow? We hope so. We also planted lettuce seeds and swan plant seeds. The swan plants should give us good food for **monarch butterfly** caterpillars. Also this term we will be focusing on "**//FITNESS//**". The school **cross country** is coming up soon so we are doing a lot of running. Our teachers tell us that we also need to be "fit" with our learning and behaviour. "Are you **fit** to be a useful member of Room 8?" asks Mr Beggs and Mrs Blenkhorn.

**__August__** We are finding out about **//HOT and COLD.//** Here is a fun bottle experiment. Bradley is holding the bottle upside down in some water. How did he get the water to go up into the bottle? Our teacher said it was because of the magic words he was chanting. Did we believe him? Of course not! Do you think you know how it was done? It has something to do with HOT and COLD - not magic words! 

It is **winter** - and it can get **COLD**! This is a good time to make hot-air balloons. We have some questions! We tried making a plastic super-market bag go up by heating up the air with a candle - did it work? Oh NO!! Our teacher showed us a way to make a balloon that works. We used drinking straws, some very thin wire, sellotape, a cotton ball - and some meths (to make a hot flame). Click on the movie to see what happened.
 * Can we make a hot-air balloon?
 * Why does a hot-air balloon go up in the air?
 * What shall we use to make a balloon that flies?
 * How do we make it light enough to go up?

media type="file" key="R8 Balloon short.mov" width="224" height="211"

**__June__** We have been doing fun things with //**water**//. Did you know that a boat can go right under the water without getting wet? We didn't believe it until we tried it! We made little boats and used a tumbler to push them right under the water. Guess what? They DID NOT get wet! You try it. We found out that the air in the tumbler stopped the water going in and sinking the boat. 

We have been doing interesting things with letter "Ff". Here is some of our work on FEET:
 * FEET** ! Our research showed us that there are many different feet in the world - smelly feet, horses hooves, gumboot feet, webbed feet, 2-toed feet, 3-toed feet...


 * FROGS** ! We have discovered a lot about FROGS. Especially the //**poison dart frogs.**// Here are some questions about poison dart (arrow) frogs. We should be able to tell you the answers!
 * //Where do dart frogs live (what is their **habitat)**?//
 * //Why are they brightly coloured?//
 * //How does father dart frog look after the tadpoles?//
 * //Why does he climb a tree looking for a special plant?//
 * //What does mother dart frog do to look after the tadpoles?//



**__May__** Autumn is a great time to look at leaves. We looked at trees around our school and collected leaves of different shapes and colours. Some leaves we used to make crayon leaf prints. We pressed some leaves and laminated them. On the computer we drew leaves and wrote Autumn poems. Mr Beggs found some leaf skeletons, so we looked at them through the magnifiers and stuck them on black paper. The tiny veins were amazing. There were so many of them. How cleverly designed they are! We asked questions like: **//"Why do trees have leaves? Why do some trees lose their leaves? What is the inside of a leaf like? Why does the leaf have so many tiny veins?//** 


 * __April__ **
 * Have you heard of a __//dandelion//__ __//clock//__? Our teacher read us a story about a Grandad who showed his grandson a __//dandelion clock.//__ The dandelion clock is the seed-head of a dandelion plant. We had fun telling the time by blowing the seeds from the dandelion stalks. It was interesting watching the little seeds floating through the air like little parachutes. It was amazing how all the seeds could fit on top of the stalk. **

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<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">MONARCHS <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800080; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800080; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800080; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">We are excited about George and Georgina, our monarch butterfly caterpillars! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">On 7 March we watched George changing from a caterpillar to a chrysalis. How does he do it!! How does he know when to change and how to spin a silk pad to hang on to - upside down! So George is now a lovely green chrysalis with gold spots. Some of us think he might take 2 weeks to change to a butterfly, others think maybe 10 weeks? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">....Well, it is now 23 March and, guess what, both George and Georgina (some of us call her Georgiana) have hatched into 2 beautiful butterflies - amazing! __**February**__ <span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffff00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">SUMMER TIME <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">~ We all have art work on the classroom walls. Ask us about the **//seasons//**//,// what we like doing in summer, clothes we like to wear and places we like to go. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">~ Some key words we are learning to read and write are**//: summer, seasons, fun, sun, games, beach, swim, fruit, water//** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">**//~//** We are enjoying swimming in the school pool (even if the water is a bit cold!)  <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">~ On our Interest Table we have some lemons (we learnt that these come from the flowers on the lemon tree). We also have some cicada skins. What does a cicada look like? Why do we see their skins on tree trunks in the summer time? Can we find any at home? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Feb 20**: **What have we learnt?** // <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800080; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">
 * __March__ **
 * //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">A cicada is an _ _ _ _ _ //
 * //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The egg hatches into a grub which digs into the g _ _ _ _ _ //
 * //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The grub eats t _ _ _ roots //
 * //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">It crawls up the tree trunk and changes into an a _ _ _ _ cicada //
 * //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Mr Cicada makes a loud n _ _ _ _ to attract Mrs Cicada //