Exciting STEAM Day inspires Pre-Reception to Year Six
Pupils from all year groups in the Junior School spent a full day immersing themselves in science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics activities for a STEAM Day.
Pre-Reception children enjoyed reading the story ‘Mouse Paint’ by Ellen Walsh before mixing and exploring their own colours in a host of ways – in foam and by dipping paint onto wet icing sugar to make some amazing pictures. They also baked some tasty rainbow cookies together.
Reception girls and boys took part in a ‘walking water’ experiment in Science where they predicted what they thought might happen throughout the day. They learned about a special process called capillary action and saw how coloured water travels into different cups through paper towels. They were amazed to see the colours mixing together as the day went on.
The children also did some ‘fizzy’ painting – mixing food colouring with vinegar and baking soda to cause a chemical reaction. They were delighted when their paintings started to fizz and, once they were dry, the baking soda was scraped off to reveal a beautiful coloured pattern.
In Year One pupils learnt about tessellating coloured shapes, colour mixing and shades and marbling. They were fascinated to see the oily marbling ink floating on the surface of the water and how the colours blended and swirled to make different patterns. They also enjoyed songs about colour in their Music lesson.
Year Two children loved creating their own three-dimensional shapes with some wonderful patterns.
Year Three started off STEAM Day with a Science investigation looking at how animals use colour and pattern to camouflage. They designed a shell for Sammy the Stockport Grammar snail and used Sir David Attenborough’s ‘Life in Colour’ series to guide them as to which patterns and colours to put to the test to see which were best camouflaged in the plants around school.
As part of their Technology and Engineering lesson, pupils made models using K’Nex construction toys. They had a go at designing and creating their own models, producing lots of different creations, including UFOs, robots, go-karts and various shaped buildings.
Year Three’s Maths lesson used Smarties as children completed various colour investigations. They divided the eight colours and created a pictogram, completed a Venn diagram (based on the three primary colours and the remaining colours in their packs), created a symmetrical image and completed a fractions investigation.
Year Four children started the day with Maths and investigated nets to make 3D shapes, which were then used to create spinners, decorated with various patterns and colours. In Science, they became detectives and used chromatography to solve a crime. The children were shocked as they watched the ink separate, helping them to identify the culprit. The amazing technology of the green screen allowed the children to perform a colourful poem against a colourful background before finishing the day discussing hot and cold colours and producing their own artwork.
Amelia B exclaimed: “It was all my favourite subjects put into one day!”
Year Five children also used chromatography to solve a crime as their culprit had left a note that had got wet. They created chromatography designs which they then made into flowers and monsters. They also used Smarties in Maths to predict, estimate and calculate a variety of fractions and calculations, as well as creating symmetrical shapes.
Year Six children looked at how animals use colour in nature. Comparing environments, they looked at camouflage, confusion, attraction, dangers and warnings. In Maths they used Skittles to do an investigation into flavour distribution and used ratio to help predict the amount of each flavour in different sized packets.
In Art, the boys and girls looked at how we use our eyes to detect colour and how our brains process that colour. They then tried to use colour to trick their brains into seeing things that weren’t there by creating their own optical illusions called ‘after images’.
