Year 4: Gigantic geysers!

Year 4 celebrated an Earthquakes and Volcanoes day this week which was very exciting!

We began the day with a presentation from Miss Roberts, who has actually experienced an earthquake. She discussed her experience, commenting on the safety procedures she had to take. She talked to the children about Yellowstone and the famous geyser which erupts every 48 minutes! Then they got to touch some rocks, which could be found near volcanoes, before learning about visitng a volcano. Some procedures you might take are; wearing special shoes, gloves and long trousers when visiting. Top tip: Watch out for pockets of marshmallows – you can roast marshmallows but don’t eat them due to acidic sulphur!

Next, the children went outside for breaktime and would you believe it – an earthquake destroyed our classrooms! They came back in to examine the damage which had taken place. We displayed the Richter scale and the children discussed the magnitude of the earthquake which had occurred. We decided it was between 3 and 4 on the scale, an earthquake which had caused some minor damage.

In case of another one, we decided we needed to know how to stay safe during an earthquake. Therefore, the children practice the ‘drop, cover and hold on’ drill. When the siren sounded, they dropped to the ground, crawled under the table and waited for the sound to stop. We discussed the importance of protecting our heads and vital organs. Then, the children made posters with advice for earthquake safety, including; what to pack in an emergency kit, how to respond when an earthquake begins and how to examine the damage when the vibrations stop.

In the afternoon, the children carried out debates on the advantages and disadvantages of living in the vicinity of a volcano. Advantages included fertile soil, tourism and geothermal energy. However, we eventually decided that the disadvantages; such as destructions of homes and roads and risk of death or injuries, outweighed the good.

After this, we went outside for our geyser and volcano explosions. We put mentos in bottles of diet coke and watched as the foam shot up into the air – poor Miss Clarke was nearly soaked! Then the children made their own volcano explosions. They buried their bottles in soil and added a mixture of vinegar, soap and bicarbonate of soda, which created a foamy explosion.

 

This was a super ineractive day which really brought our topic to life.