Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, and is trapping heat from the sun in the Earth’s atmosphere. Carbon dioxide has a big part to play in Climate Change, so we did a few experiments about carbon dioxide. 

We mixed vinegar and baking soda to create a chemical reaction. The vinegar and baking soda fizz and hiss, and together create carbon dioxide.

When we mixed vinegar and baking soda in a bottle, and put a balloon on the top of the bottle, it inflated the balloon with carbon dioxide! Have a look at our experiment.

We also used carbon dioxide to put out a lit match, and to put out a candle. Carbon dioxide is used in fire extinguishers to put out fires as well. Below are YouTube videos of experiments similar to the ones we did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwwBeDBh_ik

We’ve been learning three amazing Science facts a day as part of Science week. 5th and 6th class have been reading three facts out over the intercom every day. 

On Tuesday, we made anemometers. Anemometers measure the speed of wind. We worked in pairs to make the anemometers and then took them outside to measure the wind.

On Monday, we did an experiment about rising sea levels. We put clay in two containers as ‘land’. We put ice in the water of one container, and ice on the ‘land’ in the other container. We predicted which container we thought the sea level would rise more. We found out that the ice on top of the land melting made the sea level rise more. This is like glaciers melting in the Arctic.

We’ve been learning about Money in Maths and have been doing some practical problems involving money. We used Chinese and Thai menus to solve some problems and use a budget to plan a meal! We thought this was a really fun Maths lesson.

We’ve been baking already this year – we went to the wellness room in October and spent the afternoon baking and cooking. We made Halloween cookies, chocolate apples and pizza wraps. They were delicious! 

Science Week 2019 

We’ve been doing lots of experiments this week for Science week. The theme for Science Week is ‘Climate Action’. We’ve been learning all about Climate Change and Global Warming. We looked at photos and videos of melting ice caps and glaciers. We learned all about renewable sources of energy. 

We had a fun time dressing up for Halloween this year. We had a lot of babies, a dead pirate, a skeleton, a witch, two devils, a vampire and a grim reaper! Check out our costumes 

We went on a tour to Finglas Garda Station on Wednesday 9th October. We really enjoyed our visit! When we arrived, we were welcomed by the Garda band who played a few songs for us. Next, we went onto a Dublin Bus and got a talk from a local bus driver. Then we got to get into Garda cars and try on some of their uniforms. After that, we got to see police vans, army gear and went for a visit in the Den van. We also learned how to give CPR. 

Next, we went into the station and got to see the cells and camera room. To finish off our great day we got to hit a policeman’s shield with a baton and try to crack the shield! 

We are learning all about Photosynthesis for Science this week. We planted some lentils in cotton wool in groups to see if they will grow and make their own food. We put cotton wool in the bottom of a cut bottle. We wet the cotton wool and sprinkled on some lentils. We’re watering them every two days and looking forward to seeing what happens! We’ve also placed one pot in a cupboard where it won’t get any sunlight. We want to see if they will be any different to our lentils in the sun. 

Check back here for results! 

Day 1 – lentils are planted

Day 3 – lentils begin to sprout and grow roots