Earthquake-Proof Building Challenge

To round off our study of earthquakes in Humanities, we learnt about how architects have developed building designs to minimise damage in the event of an earthquake.  

We looked at the ways in which buildings are constructed, using cross-braces to strengthen their structure, and at the different building shapes architects choose in order to increase stability.  

We loved looking at the Taipei 101 building, which features an enormous spherical pendulum designed to counteract any tremors and help the building to remain stable in the event of a quake.

Finally, it was 3V's turn to be the architects.  Mrs Vaqueiro set the class the challenge of building the tallest, yet most stable, structure possible, using a maximum of 20 cocktail sticks and 15 mini marshmallows.  The constructions were then to be tested on Mrs Vaqueiro's patented earthquake simulator: a wobbly jelly!

Each team rose to the challenge and produced their own design.  The green team's tower was the tallest at 13cm, but would it be the most stable?

All the teams gathered apprehensively around the testing area.  The first few tremors did little damage, but a very forceful shudder began to cause significant damage to the designs.  Soon, only the yellow and red teams' designs were left standing. Both towers measured an equal 9cm, but their designs were very different.  

After a very prolonged battle, the yellow team's structure began to collapse, leaving the red team the clear victors!

Well done red team!

Brilliant teamwork from the purple team, who quickly settled on a design idea.

The red team thought carefully about the stability of their design.

Super teamwork from the blue team in constructing their design. 

The yellow team, deep in collaboration.

The green team spent the longest designing their structure before embarking on their build.  They held a very democratic vote to decide on their best design! 

The yellow team tested their design against a wobbly table.

The red team worked hard to improve on their original plans.

The green team finally agreed on their design and began the construction.

The red team with their winning design!

The green team's tower was the tallest!

The state-of-the-art testing area.

Everyone was very excited about the testing!

Frosty Forest School

3V once again braved the chilly weather for their second and final visit to Forest School for this academic year.

Despite the icy temperatures, the children had a wonderful afternoon building dens in the woods, playing in in the mud kitchen, digging and decorating Santa Sticks (a Scandinavian Christmas tradition).  

During our initial circle time, we were lucky enough to be visited by a very friendly robin.  We learnt from Sarah (the forest school leader) that robins will sing in response to each other's calls.  To prove it, Sarah played the sound of a robin singing.  To our delight, our little robin chirped his response!  

The Twits

Over the past three weeks, we have been working with the ladies from Artbase who have been helping us to create a new display for our classroom.  Following our literacy work on Roald Dahl's  'The Twits' we decided to create portraits of the vile Twits themselves, in the style of the artist Quentin Blake, who illustrated many of the recent editions of Roald Dahl's books.

We began by making pencil sketches of the couple, under the expert tuition of George and Beth from Artbase.  Then, we used black ink to go over our drawings.  Finally, we completed the portraits using watercolour techniques.

Don't they look terrific?