Mould Mould Mould

We have been very busy scientists undertaking mould growing experiments. Each group set up a fair experiment to test different conditions. We tested temperature, moisture, air and light to observe which samples would grow mould. We used our noticing muscles to observe and record the changes.

Olivia, Ben and Camden stretching their noticing muscles to examine a bread sample with a magnifying glass.

Issy noticing changes in a cheese sample for the light and dark experiment.

Scientist Angus stretching his noticing muscles.

Emily noticing that the cheese sample absolutely stinks!

Gemma recording changes she noticed.

We have also been learning how mould is used in food production. We discovered that mould is used in the creation of soy sauce, black tea, blue vein cheese, camembert and brie and salami. We had a mould feast.

Cam trying soy sauce.

Oliver taste testing raw mushrooms (a food from the fungi family)

Ngahere discovered he quite liked sweet black tea.

Scientist Hannah

Scientists Zach and Liam

Keiarliya testing the salami

Alex really likes raw mushrooms

Katie taking a risk, being brave, tasting black tea

Glue made from MILK!

We are learning to observe carefully like a scientist. 

We are building our noticing muscles. 

We have been learning about physical and chemical changes in science. We created glue out of  milk. To do this we needed to create a chemical change. We all thought this was quite strange. 

 We warmed the milk with some vinegar and it curdled and separated.  

Charlotte and Claire using their noticing muscle.
The whey is dripping through the cloth to leave the curd.

Squeezing out all the whey

What happens when baking soda combines with the curd?
The curd is full of a protein called casein.  

Jack and Tyler working together.

Will the milk turn into glue? 

Many years ago people made glue out of many different ingredients: milk and flour, sap from trees, boiled up animal bones and hides. The glue we were making was first made in Egypt for boat building. It is called casein glue. 

This was a chemical change because the particles in the substance changed. We saw evidence of the chemical change when the solid and liquid separated.

Yay, our glue worked.

Tuakana Teina

Totara Whanau are amazing buddies to younger children at Parkvale School. They are kind, caring and patient. They encourage their buddy. 

We shared a morning with our buddy whanau Kowhai reading, learning and teaching the  sounds letters make and ICT skills. 

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Milk

We are learning about milk.

After thinking about our prior knowledge and reading some information about where milk comes from and how milk can make other products we asked lots of questions. 

We are carrying out experiments to answer our questions. 

Is there water in milk? 

We heated the milk with a cold plate over the milk. When we tasted what was on the plate it was...WATER!

 The milk did some strange things like bubbling up in one big bubble and then going back down.

 We learnt that all milk is made up of 87% water and the other 13% has different substances depending on the kind of milk it is.

What makes different kinds of milk different?

 We are learning to observe like scientists and using our noticing muscles. 

 We compared different kinds of milk and noticed what colour they are, how they pour, how it tastes and what state it is in. 

One of things we noticed was some milk tasted fattier than others. We thought how they poured showed us how much fat was in each each kind of milk. 

We added dishwashing liquid which opens up the fat molecules in milk. The more fat in the milk the more it moved. The food colouring was just there so we could see the fat molecules open up and move. 

 "It's so weird watching all the colours move by themsleves".

 We used the microscope to find out what milk looks like really close up. We couldn't see the molecules because they are tiny but milk did look bubbly under the microscope.