Year 6 - Science - Burglar Alarms

To further develop Year 6's understanding of electricity and circuits, the children had another practical lesson this term. The objective was to construct a burglar alarm!

Before doing so, the children learnt what a burglar alarm is and how modern alarms that are used in our buildings work. Burglar alarms require a disturbance of an infrared light (which is not visible to the human eye), which will then trigger the alarm to sound.

While we did not have infrared light at hand for the children (much to their dismay), we explained that a working burglar alarm could still be made by constructing a switch and attaching a protected item (fake coins from the Maths area) to it. If the protected item was taken, the switch would close, thereby allowing voltage to flow across the whole circuit completely and enabling the buzzer to sound off. 

By constructing an open circuit alarm,  the children's burglar alarm would only produce noise when the item was taken. 

The children really enjoyed this practical lesson and it was a prime opportunity for them to explore how devices that protect them, such as burglar alarms and fire alarms, work. Additionally, it was a prime opportunity for the children to explore the significance of a closed switch in a circuit - specifically because they were able to make their own (using aluminium foil, a peg and some cardboard).

After completing their burglar alarms and testing how it functioned by 'stealing' protected items from the circuit, the children drew circuit diagrams and wrote about their findings in their books. Well done, year 6, for creating some efficient burglar alarms!

Year 6 - Celebration of Work

Hello Year 6,

I hope that you all had a fabulous weekend and that you are ready for another week filled with learning, hope and positive thoughts.

I would like to say a huge thank you to you all for the hard work that you are doing in school and at home - keep it up!

Here is a selection of work to celebrate this week:

Following our English sequence on instructions, Nana has created a clear and concise set of instructions of  'How To Catch An Outlandish Creature'. She has included  bullet points to organise her equipment list and adverbials of time to help the reader - well done, Nana!

Thinking about how aspects of life have changed, Nimrat used a Personal Development (PD) lesson to reflect positively on the changes to her life. A really thoughtful and interesting piece (it seems like you have had lots of fun in the kitchen) - well done, Nimrat!

How has my life change?

A challenge I have overcome

The biggest challenge I have overcome is staying indoors because when we first went into lockdown, I was very bored and didn't know what to do but over the weeks, I have learnt how to keep myself busy by doing different things.

A new skill I have learned

I have learnt how to cook desserts such as carrot cake, chocolate cake and brownies. I have also learnt how to make some Punjabi desserts with my mum. This includes jalebi (an orange swirly desert coated with a sugary syrup),ras malai (round cheese balls in sweet milk-which can include almonds cashew nuts and other things) rasgulla (made from ball-shaped dumplings of chhena and semolina dough, cooked in light syrup made of sugar) and gulab jamun (a milk-solid-based sweet from the Indian subcontinent, and a type of mithai. It is often garnished with dried nuts such as almonds and cashews to enhance flavour).

A kindness I have appreciated

Now that my brother helps me to tidy up his toys, it's less stress for me.

Someone who has helped me

My mum. She always helps me whenever I find something difficult or hard and tells me how to do it the right way.

A time when I had fun

A time when I had is when I just mess around with my brother even when we're indoors. Sometimes it's quite fun to get into trouble other times it's best not to.

Stay safe and keep smiling,

Mr Williams