Coppertops Administrator

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Today we had the class draughts finals. Leah played Archie and Liam played Simon. Both games were very exciting and play was of a very high standard.  Leah and Archie really battled  in their game. In the end Simon won against Liam  in 4th class and Archie won against Leah in 3rd class. After the games we had the presentation of prizes and everyone  got a lovely chocolate Santa for taking part.We also presented the winners with gold coins and the runners up with silver coins. We can’t wait for the next competition !  Well done to  Archie and Simon  – the draughts champions!

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In Science class this week we experimented with friction or lack of friction ! We all completed the tablecloth trick and did very well. We used tins, plastic bottles , large potatoes and spoons so nothing would get broken if it went wrong. Some of us managed to pull the cloth and leave the bottle standing . We tested different weights by using a large and small spoon. The final challenge was to pull the cloth from under everything. We all managed to do it. Archie, Ben and Dylan pulled the cloth  and nothing moved – well done lads.  We learned that the faster pull means less friction and the cloth moves smoothly from under everything and nothing falls.

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For PE this month we will be learning some folk dances. We have already learned The Circle Dance and The German Clap Dance.First we learned the steps and movements with our partners in a line and then in a circle. It was great fun !  When we danced to the music  we moved very fast and we got better the more we practiced.  Dancing is great fun and very good exercise – we were all puffing after the lesson ! Here is a short video of us in action …….

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In science class we learned about forces and friction. We saw Bill Nye The Science Guy on our IWB. He knows a lot about friction. We made card propellers (helicopters) and  investigated how they worked when we dropped them from a height. We added weights (paperclips) The extra weight made the propellers spin faster. We used a large size propeller and a mini propeller. The mini one worked best, it spun really fast with two paper clips as weight. . It was good fun working with forces and friction. Here are some photos …

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Today we started the first round games of our class draughts competition . We have been practicing for the past three weeks and 4th class helped train 3rd class and gave them lots of tips to use in a game. The competition will finish  for Christmas. Everyone will get a prize for taking part, even if they are not  winners. It’s the taking part that is important.  Each game has  a referee to keep the games fair. Good luck everyone !

Heads down and the game is on !
Heads down and the game is on !
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The referee keeps a close eye on the moves.

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As a science investigation we made iron gall ink by crushing oak galls  and putting them in 200ml water with an iron nail. At first the ink was dark brown so  we left the mixture for two weeks and the ink got darker, almost black. Grey hairy mould started to grow on top of the mixture so we guessed it was time to use our ink. We used a feather quill just like in the old days. The ink was difficult to use because it was very runny and we made quite a few blobs. It got used up quickly from the quill and we had to keep dipping. Here is some of our inky handwriting…….

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We decided to keep one jar of our ink and left it safely on the windowsill but first we took out the rusty iron nail.  Just this week we noticed that our ink had disappeared completely ,  the crushed oak gall had settled on the bottom of the jar and the water was almost completely clear ! No more ink !  We figured out that our ink disappeared because we took out the iron nail and that it was an important part of the experiment.      No iron nail , no ink.  We put another iron nail back into the jar and we will watch carefully to see if ink will be  made.

The disappearing ink !
The disappearing ink !