Using the Digital Microscope

Today we used a digital microscope to take a closer look at some of the minibeasts we have been bringing in to the classroom.
We used 10x, 60x and 200x magnifications to look at the very fine detail on our minibeasts.

Here is a fly at 10x magnification, with closeups of the wing at 60x and 200x magnification:

Libby took these pictures of a honeybee wing at 60x and 200x magnification:

We also looked at a live spider at 10x magnification - he moved around a lot and was really interesting so we kept him under the microscope and he kept us company on the big screen while we did our maths and reading! Everyone liked it when we could see all his eyes looking back at us!

Have you used a microscope before? Does looking at a spider close-up make you feel shivery?!

Mangrove Ant Display

Today we completed our learning about Australia's mangrove ant. We created a display of our reports with our scientific diagrams of the ant, then we made 3D ants out of egg cartons and pipe cleaners to really make our display POP!
What do you think?

The String Family

This term in music we are learning about instruments of the orchestra. This week we examined the string family, listening to the violin, viola, cello and double bass playing together and on their own. We all had a go at playing a viola, we thought some people made lovely sounds and others sounded like a creaky door! This was a video we watched of a very talented viola player - we love the mellow but rich sound of the viola.