Our first full IPC units this term, in Class 3 (Year 5) and Class 4 (Year 6), ‘Making New Materials’ and ‘Existing, Endangered, Extinct’, respectively, both have a science focus.  

In Milepost 3 (Upper Key Stage 2), teachers work hard to develop children’s understanding, at a deeper level, of a wide range of scientific ideas.  In line with the curriculum expectations, we provide children with plenty of opportunities to talk about and explore their ideas, ask their own questions about scientific phenomena, and analyse relationships and interactions that exist in the natural environment.

In particular, there is an emphasis in school on children working scientifically, and as far as possible, they are encouraged to both take part in and reflect on scientific experiments.  Many of these experiments can lend themselves well to the spirit of an IPC entry point, which serves to begin a new unit of work and provides an exciting introduction to the learning that is to follow.

For our Class 3 IPC unit, Making New Materials, children have started to find out about how materials can change and the processes involved.  They learn, for example, how different materials can be shaped, combined, condensed, frozen, melted and even burned!  As part of Class 3’s entry point for this unit therefore, teachers introduced children to the idea of material properties and how materials can change with a fun activity in which children made jelly.

It was great to see children’s enthusiasm about making jelly and hear their scientific ideas about the processes involved.  Having followed step-by-step instructions for making jelly, and seeing the process from start to finish, children had the opportunity to record their observations online.  They also began to reflect on the idea of irreversible changes by addressing the question of whether it would be possible to get the original ingredients back once the jelly was made.  After having made the jelly, children were then given the opportunity to eat it…following our school hygiene protocols of course!  

As part of Class 4’s IPC unit, Existing, Endangered, Extinct, children have started learning about the diversity of living species on our planet, as well as investigating key questions related to adaptation, classification and life processes.  To kickstart this learning unit, Class 4 children enjoyed a wonderful entry point in the science lab.  Following a carousel of five activity stations, children were introduced to relevant scientific ideas.

The practical activities comprised of the following:

Activity 1 – How do penguins stay dry?

Activity 2 – How is it possible for some animals to survive in freezing cold temperatures?

Activity 3 – What makes an effective bird beak?

Activity 4 – Can webbed feet help animals to swim faster?

Activity 5 – What are some of the different ways we can sort and classify animals?

Split into groups of five, children spent about ten minutes on an activity, taking part in the experiment, before moving onto the next activity.

As with the Class 3 entry point, it was fantastic to see children working collaboratively to discuss their scientific observations about animal adaptation and diversity during these activities.  

Part of the success, I believe, of our science entry points in Class 3 and Class 4 is because they have challenged children to answer scientific questions through hands-on and fun activities.  Children have started to draw conclusions based on their observations, using evidence to justify their ideas, and using their previous scientific knowledge learnt in previous years to explain their findings.

As part of any e-learning programme, it is sensible to provide students with a balanced set of activities whilst ensuring that we are aligned with our regular school curriculum.  In order to kickstart our new learning units, for example, in Class 3 and 4 (Year 5 & 6 UK / 4th & 5th Grade US), teachers organised some fun activities for children that would give them time away from their computer screens.

For Class 3’s IPC unit, The Great, Bold & Brave, children have started learning about ancient Greeks – and what better way to get a taste for this unit than to do some Greek cooking!  Students were given the opportunity to prepare one of two dishes typical in Greece: Greek yoghurt sauce or Greek butter cookies!  In the process of having to prepare one of these dishes, we hoped to “hook” children into their learning for this topic about the ancient Greeks while giving them something delicious to eat! 

During the process of preparing one of these dishes, children took pictures in order to create a slideshow of their work along with a reflection (showing what went well and what didn’t).  Some children also made a short video, which showed the highlights of their cooking experience.  We are very grateful to parents at home for helping to facilitate this cooking experience, and by the looks of the media we have received, it’s clear children had lots of fun in the process!

For Class 4’s introduction to our IPC unit, ‘Fairgrounds’, we invited students to film themselves presenting a magic trick.  Following teachers’ magic trick examples, which were also filmed, children were given the challenging task of coming up with “magic” that had to later be explained in terms of science for their knowledge harvest!  For this activity, children uploaded their videos of magic demonstrations to our exciting new tool, Flipgrid, enabling their videos to be shared quickly and safely across the year group.  

The Flipgrid web application has been a great success!  Allowing teachers to spark discussions by providing a platform for teachers and students to share short videos with one another, we have since used Flipgrid for several other projects across the curriculum – and we love the learning that’s taking place with this platform!

As always, you can find additional information about our IPC units along with access to relevant online resources via our Classroom Flipped website (http://classroomflipped.com/).