Year 5 – 06/06/24 | Trip to Bayfordbury Observatory
Yesterday, Y5 had an absolutely stellar time at the Bayfordbury Observatory! 🌌
Our adventure began with a fascinating tour of the telescopes. We got to see these giant instruments up close and learn how they help astronomers explore the far reaches of space. It was amazing to think about how much of the universe these telescopes can reveal to us! We also used Sunspotter telescopes, which project a magnified image of the Sun onto a piece of paper. The image was large and crisp enough that even fairly small sunspots were visible.
Next, we had a fascinating talk about the scales of the planets in our solar system. To help us understand just how different the sizes of the planets are, we used a clever model. Imagine this: a tiny mustard seed for Mercury, a peppercorn for Venus, another peppercorn for Earth, and a second mustard seed for Mars. Jupiter was represented by a tennis ball, Saturn by a ping pong ball, and both Uranus and Neptune by marbles. We also asked loads of burning questions, many of which impressed our tour guide (and some of which left her stumped!).
The highlight of the trip for many was the visit to the planetarium. As we sat back and the lights dimmed, we were transported into the vast expanse of space. The dome above us lit up with dazzling stars, planets, and asteroids. Seeing the cosmos in such a vivid and immersive way provoked many gasps! We felt like astronauts exploring the universe, witnessing the wonders of space up close and personal.
Home learning for this week:
| Maths | Mathletics assignments:
· Multiplying a unit fraction by an integer · Multiplying a non-unit fraction by an integer · Multiplying a mixed number by an integer |
| Reading | 5 tests on Readtheory or 20 minutes of reading per day |
| Spelling | Log on to Spelling Shed using your EdShed login, and play a variety of games to practise this week’s spelling rule: Words that are adverbs of possibility and frequency
· definitely · occasionally · possibly · rarely · probably · certainly · frequently · obviously · infrequently · often |
