Year 5 went on an exciting trip to the Catalyst Museum in Widnes at the end of April. After a few wrong turns due to Widnes’ road closures we arrived at the museum.
The day was split into two workshops; the first workshop gave our pupils an introduction to some surprising chemical reactions. They then used their investigative skills to have a go themselves at mixing some ‘potions’ and seeing how their potions behave.
The second workshop of the day was a “Find out with Forensics” session. This was a great way to combine practical science with collaborative skills. Pupils worked in small groups collecting evidence to enable them to solve ‘The Mystery at the Manor’ using a variety of forensic techniques. The session was held in the Catalyst Crime Lab and areas covered by the clues were: scene of crime observation, using simple soil analysis, using a microscope to match fibres, testing unknown powders, separating colours using chromatography, lifting and matching fingerprints, constructing an electrical circuit to create a burglar alarm, matching footprints, blood testing and DNA matching.
The day was a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting learning experience for the boys.
Learning objectives: addition, subtraction, and place value to 4-digits.
Year 5 pupil, Isaac Lancel Watkinson, has recently been performing in Daniel Taylor’s acclaimed production of Romeo and Juliet, which finishes its 10 day run at the Epstein Theatre on Saturday. Isaac was cast as The Choir Boy in his first professional Shakespearean part and has received some great reviews in the press, with personal mentions in both the Liverpool Echo and ArtsCityLiverpool reviews of the show:
Learning objectives: Develop recognition of patterns in the number system. Develop pupil’s confidence in their mathematical ability.Our Key Stage 2 children worked with the Professor and went through the genius training booklet. Students learned some of the Professor’s techniques for multiplying any three digit number by 7, 11 and 13 really fast. This trick is not the easiest, but is super effective when pulled off well. With a bit of practise your child will be the local genius in no time!
Learning objectives: Recognise the place value of each digit in a five-digit number (10,000s, 1,000s, 100s, 10s and 1s).This is a trick that allows the children to add up four 4-digit numbers on the ‘Mental Logs’ SUPER fast without even using a calculator, other than to check if it is correct…which it will be if done correctly!
The start of the Summer Term has seen the exciting arrival of Claire Tao, the new Headmistress at Merchant Taylors’ Senior Girls’ School.
