Tag: primary science

Teaching rocks year 3

Posted on | by Kirsty Williams | Leave a Comment on Teaching rocks year 3

Do you find teaching about rocks a bit dull?! We have created a fun-filled lesson that will bring this subject to life. Pupils will learn how scientists have used rock strata to define when the K-Pg mass extinction happened.

Where would this lesson fit into my medium-term plan?

This lesson would be suitable after pupils have been taught what fossils are, as it explains how scientists know which fossils are from the dinosaur era. Our knowledge organisers are a good way to support your pupils’ vocabulary and ensure progression through the school.

How is this lesson better than a worksheet?

Most children will remember an active, interesting lesson better than the information they complete on a worksheet. They will create their own rock strata sandwich complete with fossils and a K-Pg boundary using bread, sweets and biscuits!

In our downloadable lesson packs, we include everything you need to teach the lesson, apart from some inexpensive resources. Included in this lesson pack is a PowerPoint presentation that explains rock strata and the K-Pg boundary. The pack also includes a sheet of instructions for making the sandwich and a silly science quiz, where pupils will guess which animals roamed with the dinosaurs and are still living today!

If you are not a subscriber to our school resources, you can subscribe here for your school or take out an individual teacher membership here, which will give you access to all of our downloadable resources.

How can I get more science into my school day?

An easy way to get more science content into your school day is to give your pupils quality science-related text during reading time. We have loads of downloadable reading comprehensions as part of our resources. This month we have added three more for year 3 linking to the unit of rocks.

We also have a bank of spectacular science images that are perfect for promoting discussion. They feature a striking scientific image along with a couple of questions. As you click through the PowerPoint presentation, the answers to the questions will be revealed. Pupils should try to answer the questions as you go. The presentation added this month for the unit ‘Rocks’ is called ‘Asteroid crash!’. It only takes ten minutes, so it can slot into those awkward times in the school day, such as straight after lunch while you are waiting for everyone to come in.

See all our discussion topics available for rocks here.

If you would like some FREE samples, sign up here for a magazine and an example lesson pack for years 2 to 6.

How much does it cost to gain access to all of the Whizz Pop Bang resources?

Prices start from as little as £197.99 per year for a copy of Whizz Pop Bang magazine through the post each month and whole-school access to our ever-growing library of downloadable teaching resources, with unlimited teacher logins.

Sign up for whole school access now

We have an individual membership option so teachers and home educators can access all of our amazing downloadable resources for just £20 for the whole year. 

Sign up for individual teacher access

“Whizz pop Bang has developed a refreshing look at science and its resources bring this subject to life” Class teacher Caroline Burton


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Detective science day

Posted on | by Kirsty Williams | Leave a Comment on Detective science day

Do you want to plan a whole-school science day? We have a mystery for the whole school to solve! The children will practise their observational skills and learn about the job of a forensic scientist.

Before the pupils come in, set up a crime scene. The crime is that someone has eaten the last cookie from the staffroom. You will need to decide which member of staff is the culprit and plant the evidence accordingly. There will be lots of clues; a handwritten note, some footprints, a glass with clear fingerprints on. The crime scene will need to be in an area that the whole school can visit and access during the day. You could set it up in the hall and have a whole-school assembly to explain the crime. The evidence could then be put on a crime scene board and each year group given one piece of the evidence to investigate, just like forensic scientists.

Check out our detective science issue!

F2

Part of crime detection is looking carefully for clues. Pupils could play lots of games in which they must spot the odd one out; for example, fill two trays with objects so they look identical, but with something missing from one tray – can they spot it?!

Year 1  

They will investigate footprints. Pupils will first compare their shoeprints to find out if they are the same. They could then ask all the members of staff for their shoeprints. Can they match any of them to the ones at the crime scene?

Years 2 and 3 

They will be taking fingerprints. Are all of our fingerprints the same? Discuss how they are unique. Follow these instructions to take fingerprints.

fingerprint-instructions-1Download

Year 3 pupils could take the fingerprints of all the staff members and see if they can match any of them to the ones at the crime scene.

Years 4 and 5

Can they match a pen to the note from the crime scene? Give pupils a selection of pens, each one belonging to a different member of staff. (You will need to use water-soluble pens for the test to work.) In the crime scene, make sure there are some pieces of kitchen roll with ink spots on them, which match the note left by the cookie-stealing culprit.

Pupils will try out chromatography. You will demonstrate how to do it and then they will test the staff members’ pens, making sure they work methodically to ensure it is a fair test. Do any of the pens match the clue in the crime scene?

Chromatography-instructionsDownload

Year 6

They should already know that humans are all different and that we carry characteristics from our parents. Explain that we all have DNA – in fact, all living things have DNA – and that it can be used to help to solve crimes. Scientists can extract DNA from all sorts of evidence, including hairs, fibres, etc. Explain that it would require specialist equipment to do this, but we can extract a DNA strand from a strawberry.

Download our lesson pack here for the full instructions:

At the end of the day, bring the whole school back together. Ask each class if they think they know who took the last cookie. Work through the crime scene board and see if they all came up with the same member of staff. Did they manage to solve the crime?

As part of the day, pupils might like to read about some real-life detectives or some animal thieves. Check out these reading comprehensions available to download from our website:

Whizz Pop Bang magazine and teaching resources are brilliant ways to enhance your school’s science teaching:

  • We provide downloadable science lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, hands-on investigations and science reading comprehensions written by primary school teachers.
  • Whizz Pop Bang teaching resources link to the National Curriculum, ensuring correct coverage.
  • All of our resources are year group specific, ensuring progression between the years.
  • We make cross-curricular links to other subjects, such as English, Maths, History, Geography, Art, Design and Technology and PSHE.

Prices from as little as £197.99 per year for a copy of Whizz Pop Bang magazine through the post each month and whole-school access to our ever-growing library of downloadable teaching resources, with unlimited teacher logins.

Whole school membership

We’ve also launched a new individual membership option so teachers and home educators can access all of our amazing downloadable resources for just £20 for the whole year. 

Individual membership


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FREE science activity – craft your own solar system!

Posted on | by Kirsty Williams | Leave a Comment on FREE science activity – craft your own solar system!

Whizz Pop Bang is the world’s most awesomely amazing kids’ science magazine, bursting with hands-on experiments, facts and fun! Every magazine is packed full of hands on science activities to help your kids fall in love with science. Here is a FREE science activity to help you entertain, excite and educate your child.

Learn the order of the planets by making a model solar system. Just download, print, add scissors and glue, and your astronauts-in-training will do the rest. It’s out of this world! 

Download

Our experiments are designed for children from 6 to 12, but this experiment is particularly perfect for year 5, P6 (Scotland) and 9-year-olds and 10-year-olds as it ties in with the National Curriculum topic about the solar system they will be taught this during this school year.

Find loads more science activities, puzzles and games in our award-winning monthly kids science magazine, Whizz Pop Bang!

Did your mini-scientist enjoy this activity? This is just one of the many fun paper craft activities from the Whizz Pop Bang Snip-Out Science Book. Click the image below to discover how much more fun your budding scientist can have with this book!

Not a subscriber? Sign up here!

Fill your child with science wonder with a subscription to Whizz Pop Bang, the award-winning magazine for 6 to 12-year-olds. Watch their face light up with glee when their very own magazine zooms through the letterbox! Packed full of hands-on science awesomeness, it’s the gift that keeps of delighting, month after month.


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Interview with Tim Peake – download this FREE reading comprehension

Posted on | by Kirsty Williams | Leave a Comment on Interview with Tim Peake – download this FREE reading comprehension

We want to inspire the future generation of scientists with our monthly magazine! That’s why, every month we interview inspirational scientists about their jobs so children across the globe can learn about fascinating areas of science and what it takes to do these jobs.

We interviewed astronaut Tim Peake and wanted to share it here for free so that everyone can be inspired by Tim’s story. This pack also includes a reading comprehension question and answer sheet for schools and home educators to teach kids.

Interview with astronaut Tim Peake reading comprehension

This interview delves into what it is really like to travel in space. Tim Peake describes what it feels like to take off in a rocket and to feel weightless, as well as his scariest moments. A must-read for your aspiring astronauts. 

This downloadable reading pack includes: 
– An interview with Tim Peake for you to print or for your child to read on a tablet.
–  Reading comprehension question sheet and answer sheet.

Interview-with-astronaut-Tim-PeakeDownload
Yr5-Tim-Peake-QuestionsDownload
Yr5-Tim-Peake-AnswersDownload

Our teaching resources are designed for children from 6 to 12, but this reading comprehension is particularly perfect for year 5, P6 (Scotland) and 9-year-olds and 10-year-olds as it ties in with the National Curriculum topic about earth and space they will be taught this during this school year.

Did your mini-scientist enjoy learning about Tim Peake? Why not discover our other space themed issues of Whizz Pop Bang in our shop here! Or click on one of the magazines below for some of our favourite space issues!

Not a subscriber? Sign up here!

Fill your child with science wonder with a subscription to Whizz Pop Bang, the award-winning magazine for 6 to 12-year-olds. Watch their face light up with glee when their very own magazine zooms through the letterbox! Packed full of hands-on science awesomeness, it’s the gift that keeps of delighting, month after month.


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Teaching Evolution and Inheritance in year 6

Posted on | by Kirsty Williams | Leave a Comment on Teaching Evolution and Inheritance in year 6

Are you looking for some help and ideas for teaching animal adaptations in year 6? Here is how to use our downloadable teaching resources in your unit of work on evolution and inheritance.

When planning a unit of work on evolution and inheritance it can be quite difficult to think of relevant practical investigations for your pupils to do. This unit involves a lot of research, looking at how animals and plants have changed over time. It is important to first revisit their understanding of fossils from year 3 and then build on that knowledge. Take a look at how characteristics are inherited, starting with themselves and their family; how do they look similar? You can then start to look simply at genes. Our resources include a great game where pupils look at how genes are passed on to puppies.

Dog breeder lesson pack

Teaching adaptations should come towards the end of the unit. In our lesson pack, pupils will plan a simple investigation around animal paws and how they can access food to survive. They will carry out a simple investigation and record their results. They will then draw on their knowledge about habitats and animal survival to decide if the species would evolve or eventually become extinct.

Animal adaptations lesson pack

Getting children to do some research and read trustworthy sources of information is important. We have created a lesson pack from our ‘Prehistoric Monsters Of The Deep’ issue, which contains several texts for them to use to locate information. Pupils will look for similarities and differences between megalodons and sharks that are alive today.

More science reading links…

There are four reading resources for year 6 that link to the topic and will spark your pupils’ curiosity.

Whizz Pop Bang magazine and teaching resources are brilliant ways to enhance your school’s science teaching:

  • We provide downloadable science lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, hands-on investigations and science reading comprehensions written by primary school teachers.
  • Whizz Pop Bang teaching resources link to the National Curriculum, ensuring correct coverage.
  • All of our resources are year group specific, ensuring progression between the years.
  • We make cross-curricular links to other subjects, such as English, Maths, History, Geography, Art, Design and Technology and PSHE.

Prices from as little as £254.99 per year for a copy of Whizz Pop Bang magazine through the post each month and whole-school access to our ever-growing library of downloadable teaching resources, with unlimited teacher logins. <add in link>

We’ve also launched a new individual membership option so teachers and home educators can access all of our amazing downloadable resources for just £20 for the whole year. <add in link>


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Teaching Light in year 6

Posted on | by Kirsty Williams | Leave a Comment on Teaching Light in year 6

Teaching the unit ‘light’ in year 6 builds on the foundations they will have learnt in year 3, and also in year 5 when they covered ‘Earth and Space’. Pupils should already know how shadows are formed and that light is reflected from surfaces, as well as that we have night and day due to the Earth’s rotation. In year 6 you should be able to build on this, but in your first lesson it is a good idea to revisit and secure their understanding to avoid gaps in knowledge before you move on.

Our ‘constellation torch’ lesson is a great way to start your topic. At the beginning of the lesson, elicit the pupils’ understanding by asking them to name different light sources and tell you how shadows are formed. Creating a simple brainstorm mind map in their book with the word ‘light’ in the middle is all that is needed. Give the children ten minutes to complete it and then start your lesson, discussing their ideas or addressing misconceptions. At the end of the topic, get them to use a different-coloured pen and add what they have learnt to their mind map; it is a brilliant and easy assessment.

In this lesson pack, pupils will play around with making star constellations by using simple printable templates, cardboard tubes and single-bulb torches. They will consider how light travels. They will then draw a simple diagram to show that light travels in straight lines, that light will travel through the holes in the paper, and that it is reflected from a surface into the eye.

As part of your sequence of lessons, include our activity of making a periscope. It is a great way for pupils to build on their understanding that light travels in straight lines and is reflected into the eye. Our lesson pack includes simple instructions and a scientific explanation for teachers – we know how hard it is to remember everything, so we always explain the science behind every lesson. There are also some ten-minute science activities around the topic of light, which are great for creating science discussions in your classroom.

Our ‘Starry Skies’ edition of Whizz Pop Bang delves into the wonders of the universe, which children are enthralled by and often have loads of questions about! Our resources include several reading comprehensions linking to the topic of light.

Using quality science text in your reading time helps to squeeze a little bit of extra science into the day!

Whizz Pop Bang magazine and teaching resources are brilliant ways to enhance your school’s science teaching:

  • We provide downloadable science lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, hands-on investigations and science reading comprehensions written by primary school teachers.
  • Whizz Pop Bang teaching resources link to the National Curriculum, ensuring correct coverage.
  • All of our resources are year group specific, ensuring progression between the years.

Prices from as little as £197.99 per year for a copy of Whizz Pop Bang magazine through the post each month and whole-school access to our ever-growing library of downloadable teaching resources, with unlimited teacher logins.

We’ve also launched a new individual membership option so teachers and home educators can access all of our amazing downloadable resources for just £20 for the whole year. 


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COMPETITION CLOSED: WIN a bumper bundle of gifts!

Posted on | by Kirsty Williams | Leave a Comment on COMPETITION CLOSED: WIN a bumper bundle of gifts!

📣 We’re super excited to announce that we’ve teamed up with Den Kit Company and Tim Peake for October’s online competition which we are running on Instagram and Facebook only! Head over to our socials to find out how to win this bumper prize! ⭐

You could win:

⭐ The new Potions Making kit from Den Kit Company. Take your Potion Making Kit on an outdoor adventure and collect any special petals, leaves, grasses or soil to create a marvellous mixture of your own making. Add a pinch of natural colour, a splash of water, a sniff of sunshine – and just imagine the spells you could cast. Find it here.

⭐ Astronaut Tim Peake’s brand new book – A Cosmic Diary of our Incredible Universe. Are you bursting to know the answers to REALLY BIG questions? Like, how are stars made? What will we find in a black hole? Which fruit can create antimatter? What even IS antimatter? Put on your seatbelts and blast into space with your guide, astronaut Tim Peake (and a host of expert STEM characters) in this fascinating adventure through space, time and the diary of our truly incredible universe. Find it here.

⭐ A bumper bundle of 6 magically intergalactic issues of Whizz Pop Bang magazines that will have any scientist-in-training zooming to the Moon and cooking up peculiar potions, all with items you will probably find you already have in your kitchen cupboard. Each issue is jam-packed with science news, fun makes, puzzles, jokes and more!

To enter this competition please head over to Facebook or Instagram to find out more!

Enter on Facebook
Enter on Instagram

T&C’s: This giveaway closes at midnight on Monday 31st October 2022. One winner will be selected at random from all entries via Facebook and Instagram and will be contacted in the first week of November. This competition is open to UK residents only. Winner will be informed via the original comment you made on the appropriate platform and will be from @whizzpopbangmag – please be wary of scams, do not give personal details or follow any links from other accounts. For full terms and conditions visit http://buff.ly/3ij98Q3?fbclid=IwAR0eEqSY-V9JtUvvaYsKhjvmSRBURmapUOmYBaR7hl5XESRIS3hdqsWTqHI. This competition is in no way affiliated, endorsed, sponsored or administered by Instagram or Facebook.


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Teaching the impact of drugs in Primary Science

Posted on | by Kirsty Williams | Leave a Comment on Teaching the impact of drugs in Primary Science

As part of the ‘animals including humans’ topic in science, you are required to teach the impact of drugs on the body. It is important to teach children about the dangers of drugs but also about how amazing medicine can be. In our ‘Marvellous Medicine’ edition of Whizz Pop Bang, we look at common illnesses and find out how medicines can help to treat them.

The medical world has made so many amazing discoveries and introduced drugs and vaccinations that have saved millions of lives. As out interviewee Dr Chris van Tulleken states in this month’s issue; “Vaccinations have saved more lives than any other invention in human history!”

How many pupils in your class have asthma? Do they understand how their inhaler works? Or why they should use their spacer? Our ‘How Stuff Works’ page explains in detail how these helpful devices work.

Allergies and asthma can affect your lungs so you can’t breathe in as much air as normal. In this lesson pack for year 6, pupils will test their lungs to see how much air they can breathe in and out. As well as linking with the topic ‘animals including humans’, it also covers an enquiry type; pattern seeking. The experiment is simple, it involves blowing up a balloon and measuring the circumference. They will choose what other information they need to collect and who they will ask to blow up the balloon.

Vaccinations have been a hot topic of conversation for many in the last couple of years. Edward Jenner was the first scientist to create a vaccination. In this reading comprehension, your pupils will discover the unconventional methods he used!

Whizz Pop Bang magazine and teaching resources are brilliant ways to enhance your school’s science teaching:

  • We provide downloadable science lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, hands-on investigations and science reading comprehensions written by primary school teachers.
  • Whizz Pop Bang teaching resources link to the National Curriculum, ensuring correct coverage.
  • All of our resources are year group specific, ensuring progression between the years.

Prices from as little as £197.99 per year for a copy of Whizz Pop Bang magazine through the post each month and whole-school access to our ever-growing library of downloadable teaching resources, with unlimited teacher logins.

We’ve also launched a new individual membership option so teachers and home educators can access all of our amazing downloadable resources for just £20 for the whole year. 


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Science knowledge organisers for primary schools

Posted on | by Kirsty Williams | Leave a Comment on Science knowledge organisers for primary schools

Are you wondering what knowledge organisers are and how to use them? The purpose of a knowledge organiser is to collate all the information and vocabulary a pupil needs to know for a unit of work in one A4 sheet. However, these are not meant to be given to pupils to learn, they should be a guide for both pupils and teachers to use. For teachers they are useful when it comes to planning, to make sure they cover the correct content. For pupils they should serve as a reference. They should not give all the answers, but should provide support with vocabulary and knowledge – they are not for acquiring knowledge, but for securing it.

As a science co-ordinator, giving staff a good set of knowledge organisers that have been written to the curriculum and ensure progression between year groups is invaluable. In particular, when Ofsted questions you during a deep dive, they are a good source of evidence.

Whizz Pop Bang’s knowledge organisers, for years 2 to 6, have been written by a teacher with all of the above in mind. They have been carefully crafted to the curriculum, making sure there is a progression in both knowledge and vocabulary. We have included an A3 vocabulary poster for teachers to share in displays or working walls for pupils to refer to.

The A4 knowledge organiser has the same vocabulary on the front but without a colourful background, plus definitions of the vocabulary and any information which is key to the topic. All of this is displayed in a child-friendly way.

Visit our website to see the whole collection.

“These are really helpful – the pictures are good clues for the children to help jog their memories about the words, and having both a bright version for displays and a printer-friendly version for copies, is a great idea!” Maria Bennett, class teacher

How much does it cost to gain access to all of the Whizz Pop Bang resources?

Prices start from as little as £197.99 per year for a copy of Whizz Pop Bang magazine through the post each month and whole-school access to our ever-growing library of downloadable teaching resources, with unlimited teacher logins.

We have an individual membership option so teachers and home educators can access all of our amazing downloadable resources for just £20 for the whole year. 


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