Windpower technology

This week we have been finding out about the technology used in windfarms. Some of these windfarms are offshore and need ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) to do jobs under the water and on the sea bed.

The wind turbines are enormous!
We measure out how big the Hatston turbine is in our school playground.

The height of the turbine from base to tip of blade when it sticks straight up - 67m

The length of one blade from the centre to the blade tip.

We have done lots more estimating and measuring this week too.

and more work with electrical circuits...

 If you are feeling energetic this weekend why not get out on your bike and work on those foundation skills! Here is some inspiration from Danny McAskill. and more here talking about how he made the video.

Observational Drawing

This term we will be going up to Muddisdale to find out about the variety of living things there. It is important to be able to look carefully and see the detail in the things we find. Here are some of the drawings we did of the leaves, flowers and berries of some of the trees that grow there.

Could you identify the trees from our drawings?

Pylon challenge!

As part of our Electricity and Energy topic we tried a technology challenge - to make a model pylon using newspaper. It had to be a tower that would be at least 1 metre tall and hold a rope 1m off the ground, be self supporting and use only minimal tape. We also wanted to work well as a group and listen to each other's ideas. Everyone did really well - with a couple of huge successes in the design and build of the models and hard thinking by everyone.

Happy

We are happy to be back at school!

 

 

Here are a few of the other feelings we like to have at school!

 

 

Last days of P5 2013/2014

What a lot we have done this year! Just have a look back through the blog posts to see all the different learning activities we have done.

This term we presented our personal projects. The standard of presentation was very high so we shared our work with the rest of the school by making a display where everyone could see it and appreciate our hard work.

The solar system, the human brain, dolphins, Meerkats, whales, volcanoes Viking helmets, horses, gardening, Orkney chair making, how to make brownies, sharks, the ploughing match, how to set up a trampoline...
what a variety of topics we know about!

 We will not be bored in the holidays! Now we know how to make a kite from things we might have around the house. There was not much wind for our flying trials but this suited the plastic bag kites. The paper ones are a bit heavier and need a little more wind. Unfortunately and unusually for Orkney there has not been very much wind at all the last two days of term! If you want to look at the instruction video again  here is the link... http://youtu.be/ln9YvlhikAg

 

Have a great summer everyone!