Group 1- Slide

Hi everyone,

Today in class our group (Sarah, Jackson, Jason and Emma) had to decide the final design of our new slide. We decided that we want our slide to look the same as the slide from the Lake Ellen park and Alexander park. Here is a photo of the slide we chose.


Why did you choose this design?
We chose this design as everyone in our class thought that Alexander park and lake ellen were the best playgrounds. So we thought our slide should be the same as theirs. We think everyone will like this slide as you can race your friend down it. Having two slides also means that we won't have to wait as long for a turn.
What will it be made from?
The slide will be made from plastic. We decided it this because plastic doesn't get as hot as metal does and we don't want to get burnt. We also thought that plastic would hurt less if you ran into it
What colour should it be?
We think it would be good if the red bits were purple, the blue bits were a lighter blue and the yellow was bright green. These are colours that boys and girls will like.

From,
Jackson, Sarah, Emma and Jason

Choosing Materials- Lauren

Hi everyone,

This lesson we were asked to choose which materials we should use to make our playground. My group got given the climbing equipment. So we had to decide what material the climbing equipment should be made from.

Here is a photo of the climbing equipment at Lake Ellen park. It is my favourite climbing equipment and I would like the same sort in our new playground.

What type of materials have been used to make your piece of playground equipment?
Our piece of equipment was made out of lots of different materials. The poles of the climbing fort is made out of metal. The climbing bits are made out of metal chains covered with rubber. The floor of the playground equipment is made from little wood chips.

What are the advantages/ disadvantages of using this type material?
Metal poles- Advantages
The poles are made of metal which is really strong and will make sure the climbing fort doesn't break.
Metal poles- disadvantages
The metal poles might rust eventually and they would need to get new ones. Metal poles are really hard and they might hurt if someone runs into them.
Climbing net- advantages
The net is good because the rubber stops the metal chains from hurting you.
Climbing net- disadvantages
It might be expensive
Floor- advantages
the floor is pretty soft and is made of recycleable products.
Floor disadvantages
All the little pieces of wood get stuck in your shoes. Wood catches on fire easily.

What other types of materials could be used to make this type of equipment?
Metal poles
The metal poles could be wrapped with rubber or some soft material so people don't get hurt.
Climbing net
The climbing net could be made from rope which might be cheaper but the rope might be easier to break
Floor
The floor could be made from that rubber stuff like at the turtle park but that might be more expensive.

What types of materials should we use in our playground?
Metal Poles
I think the poles should still be made from metal but covered in something softer.
Climbing net
Tbe climbing net should be the same as the one in Lake Ellen park
Floor
I would like the floor to be made of sand so we can play in it

from
Lauren

Choosing playground equipment- Jackson

Hi everyone,

Last lesson we went on our excursion to visit some playgrounds. While we were on this excursion we went to Alexander park, the turtle park, the botanical gardens, Neilsons park and Lake Ellen. We took lots of photos of the equipment and looked at the materials they were made from.

Alexander Park

While we were on our excursion we went to Alexander park. I really like this playground because my grandma takes me there some times.

What makes this playground a good one?

I really like Alexander park because it has three different areas to play in. It is has lots of shade so that it doesn't get hot and so kids don't get sun burnt. It has lots of things to climb on and even has a fire engine!

What sorts of equipment did you like best?

The thing that I like best at Alexander park is the climbing nets. They have lots of different things to climb on like the one in the picture. One part of the playground even has a rock wall to climb on.  

What have you seen that you would like to include in our playground?

I would like lots of trees in our playground and lots of things to climb on.

What didn't you like about this playground?

I liked everything about this playground. It has lots of different things to do. 

The Turtle park

What makes this playground a good one?

I like this playground because you can go inside the head of the turtle. The turtle is really cool because Bundaberg has lots of turtles. It has a nice soft floor too.

What sorts of equipment did you like best?

The thing that i like best is definitely the head of the turtle. It would make a really good cubby house.

What have you seen that you would like to include in our playground?

I would like a cubby house in our playground. Maybe one that is tall and can see the rest of the playground from.

What didn't you like about this playground?

This playground doesn't really have many types of equipment. It used to have a few water things that you could play in but they don't work anymore. It doesn't have any big slides or swings. I think all playgrounds should have a big slide and swings. 

The Botanical gardens

What makes this playground a good one?

This playground is kind of the same  as our old one. I like that it has lots of different ladders and a bridge. All playgrounds should have a bridge that join different pieces of equipment together. It has a big shade over it which is good. 

What sorts of equipment did you like best?

I like the see saw kind of equipment. It kind of looks like a swing but one person sits on one end and another person sits on the other end and it goes up and down like a see saw. I also like the rock climbing wall. I think we should have one of them.

What have you seen that you would like to include in our playground?

I think we should get the rope climb that climbs up to the playground and I also think we should have a climbing wall

What didn't you like about this playground?

This playground is a bit small and maybe a bit old, like our old playground. It should be bigger and have more swings so you don't need to wait as long for a turn.

Neilsons park

What makes this playground a good one?

This park is really cool because it has lots of separate equipment. There is a flying fox which is cool and a see saw. Its really colourful and new.  

What sorts of equipment did you like best?

I really like that it has more than one slide and it has a bridge that joins them together. I like the spinning equipment but Miss Isaacs said they might be too dangerous to have in our playground. 

What have you seen that you would like to include in our playground?

I would really like a flying fox in our playground. 

What didn't you like about this playground?

This playground was really fun but it needed more shade and some drink bubblers near it. 

Lake Ellen

What makes this playground a good one?

This playground is the best playground I have ever been to! It is really big and has lots and lots of equipment. There are two sets of swings so we didn't have to wait for very long for a turn. It has lots of climbing equipment and a little pretend shop. It looks really new and is very colourful.

What sorts of equipment did you like best?

I liked the big piece of climbing equipment and the double slide. The double slide was great because you can go down with a friend and its not dangerous. You can also have races on it. I really liked the train too. It has a bike obstacle course as well but Miss Isaacs said that we were not allowed to ride our bikes in the school grounds

What have you seen that you would like to include in our playground?

I would like a double slide and an obstacle course with balance beams and stuff for people to go on. 

What didn't you like about this playground?

I liked everything about this playground. It has lots of different things to do. 

Thanks for reading,

Jackson

Planning the investigation- Hannah

Hi everyone This week we have been given some questions to answer about how we planned our playground investigation. Here are the questions and my answers.

What did you do during today's lesson?
Today we looked at planning our investigation. This investigation will help us to design our new playground. The first thing we needed to do was listen to Miss Isaacs' recording on the steps of the investigation. Next we had to think of different ways to do the investigation steps. Our group decided that we could ask a professional on what sorts of materials our playground could be made from.

What is Step 1 of the investigation and how will it be completed?
Step 1 of the investigation is choosing the types of things we will have in our playground. Our class decided that the best way to do this was to interview the grade 3-5 students to see what they want in our playground. We also thought that we might be able to visit some playgrounds and see what they have.

What other possible investigation methods did the class think of for this stage?
We also thought that we could do some research on the internet to find different types of playground equipment that we like

What is Step 2 of the investigation and how will it be completed?
Step 2 of the investigation is deciding what materials the playground will be made from. Our class decided that the best way to do this is to have a look at the materials other playgrounds use. We could also consult a professional playground builder.

What other possible investigation methods did the class think of for this stage?
We also thought that we could do some research on the internet about different types of materials.

What is Step 3 of the investigation and how will it be completed?
Step 3 of the investigation is creating a playground design. We decided that we would draw our playground design on big pieces of butchers paper as it may be to hard to make our design on the computer.

What other possible investigation methods did the class think of for this stage?
We didn't really have any other ideas for this stage of the investigation

What is Step 4 of the investigation and how will it be completed?
Step 4 of the investigation is presenting our playground design to Mr Smith. We decided that it would be best to show Mr Smith our design and not create a video of it. We thought this because if we show Mr Smith our design he will be able to ask us questions to get more information but if we used a video he couldn't.

What other possible investigation methods did the class think of for this stage?
Other than presenting it straight to Mr Smith or making a video we could make a voice recording or just send him our playground design but these wouldn't be as good.

What did you enjoy today and what are you looking forward to in the investigation?
I liked using the iPad to do the survey, i think it was a really good idea because everyone got a say in how to make our investigation. I am looking forward to going and looking at other playgrounds.

What did you find difficult today and is there anything you are worried about doing in the investigation?
Sometimes it was hard to come up with ideas on how to do each step of the investigation but Miss Isaacs asked our group lots of different questions and that helped us think of some ideas. I am a bit worried about showing our idea to Mr Smith. I don't like talking in front of people.

From
Hannah

Creating an investigation question- James

Hi everyone,

For this weeks blog we have been given some questions to answer about today's science class. Here are the questions and my answers.
What did you do this week in science? (don't forget to embed your audio boo)
This week in science we were asked to create an investigation question. To do this we had to make a voice recording of what we need to investigate. Here is sally and I's audio boo recording.

listen to ‘Our playground 2’ on Audioboo

Once we knew what had to be investigated we were asked to create an investigation question. Sally and I thought of the question: What should our playground be made from? we entered this idea onto our iPads and the teacher recieved it on her computer. Once everyone had to submitted their ideas we got to vote on the idea we liked the most. Sally and I chose: What should our playground include and what should the equipment be made from. Out of all the questions this was the most popular one.

What is the research question? why is it the best choice?
Once the most popular one was picked Miss Isaacs and the class decided that we should change the question a little to make it sound more scientific. The question we decided on in the end is: what equipment should we include in our new playground and what should they be made from? I think that this is a good question because it relates to the things we need to investigate and it will help us to create our playground.

How do you think this will help us create our playground design?
Now that we have a research question we will know what we have to do to make a good playground. We will know what we have to research and what we will need to show Mr Smith at the end of the term.

What did you enjoy most about science this week?
I really liked using the iPad to record our voice and to share our research question with class. I can't wait to see our playground when it is finished.


What did you have trouble with?
I think that the hardest part of today's lesson was thinking of all the different things we would need to research. Sally and I had to watch the video on the class website a few times to figure out what Mr Smith needs us to do.

From,
James

Week 1- Sarah

What is our new science unit about?
Today our class started our new science unit, which is called 'our school... our playground'. It is called this because this term, our school is getting a new playground!

What will we being doing in this unit?
It is our job to help Mr Smith create a playground that has safe equipment that everyone will love.

What did we do in class today?
Today in class we had to brainstorm different ways we could help Mr Smith.

What did your group put in your brainstorming? 
Our group suggested that we could help Mr Smith by creating our own design for the new school playground. We decided that our playground design will need to include the types of equipment, where they should be placed, what materials they should be made out of and what colour they should be. Our group also decided that the playground should be very safe, fun and have lots of gardens and shade.

Insert your brainstorming map.
Here is our brainstorming map.

From Sarah

Welcome year 4 to our classrooms science blog

Good afternoon grade four,

I hope you are enjoying our first science lesson for the term. I am really looking forward to developing our new grade 3 to 5 playground. Today you will be need to post a blog which describes different ways we could help Mr Smith design our playground. This blog should include your popplet which each group made in class today.

Looking forward to hearing your suggestions.

Miss Isaacs.