Economics

We had a very interesting day learning all about how people and nations make decisions that affect their daily life and economic well being. It was delivered by Mrs Ledger and she helped us to understand a bit more about how people in different countries earn a living and trade their products with each other.

 We found out that lots of the things we wear and the things that we eat have travelled from many different countries. Have a look at the label on your school shirt. What is the country of origin?

 

 In the Global Trade game each group had to be a different country. The children who represented Bangladesh had limited money and limited resources - but through hard work and negotiation they managed to produce good quality goods (well carefully drawn, coloured, cut-out shapes) and managed to pay off their debts and earn some profit.

 

Quality control in the UK was very tight. If the shapes weren't perfect they were rejected. Sometimes the price the UK were prepared to pay fell because demand had gone down for a certain shape. Some people had a tough time!

 

                                   
 In this activity the bank could lend money to the poorer countries. It made us think about how  unfair the global economy could be. But at least our richer countries (USA and Austria) were prepared to pay a fair price for labour the poorer countries offered them.

Then we had to invent a new product...

 

A solar powered torch that fits on the camel's head would mean night time travel for the people of Blandia would be possible.

 

 

 

 

 

A new communication system for the people of Leafland would involve sending signals via and ICORN phone!

 

At the end everyone received a certificate.

Our visitors from the council were very interested in our marketing ideas. Some of the children were very enterprising. 

 

The day really made us think about the skills you need to be employable and successful in business. It also made us think about how times can be very hard for people who have limited resources but still need to make a living in a world dominated by the powerful countries like the USA.

Eaton Vale 2016

 

Spring Science

This term we have been investigating the properties of solids, liquids and gases.

We have watched capillary action as the water is absorbed by different materials. We learnt how this happens due to adhesion and cohesion ('sticky forces') which causes the water to move against gravity

The following week we used the same process to see what colours are present in black ink. We used 5 different types of black pen, and each one had a different result:



The study of colour is called chromatography.
(Click on the picture to see the website with this experiment)

Another day we investigated what happens when you mix solids and liquid together...

 Some of the substances we added to water made solutions, some of the substances did not dissolve and just stayed as mixtures, and some, like the wall paper paste, changed completely.

We experimented with lots of different substances.