Energy and Electricity

“Invention is the most important product of man's creative brain. The ultimate purpose is the complete mastery of mind over the material world, the harnessing of human nature to human needs.”

-Nikola Tesla

This week, our Grade 5/6 class deepened their understanding of energy, focusing especially on electricity and its many sources.

We began the week by playing a fun and educational game using the posters the students created. These posters showcased a timeline of energy, highlighting important inventions and discoveries, which we It was great to see the kids actively engaging with history and science in such a creative way.

Next, we began inquiring into energy in the form of electricity. We were thrilled to welcome a special guest speaker, Ms. Alankritha, who is not only a teacher but also an electronics engineering graduate. She shared fascinating insights about how electricity is generated from various sources and explained the process in a clear and inspiring way.

Following her presentation, the students got hands-on experience with circuits. They worked together to figure out the right circuit design to power a light, a fan, and a buzzer. It was wonderful to watch their problem-solving skills and teamwork in action!

In addition to all this learning, the children started planning for our upcoming Assembly on October 9th. They are excited to share what they have learned about energy with the whole community. 

To top off the week, the students enjoyed a posture class with Mr. Didier. They had fun learning how to manage their bodies better, which is so important for their overall well-being.

What a fantastic week of learning, discovery, and fun! We can’t wait to see what next week brings.

Have a wonderful weekend to all of you.

Your homeroom teacher, 
Ms. Pam

Exploring Energy and Human Progress

Energy is the fundamental currency of the universe. 
-Author Unknown

This week, our class dove deeper into our inquiry on potential and kinetic energy through an exciting webquest activity. The students explored interactive online activities where they watched and reimagined rollercoaster designs, helping them see how energy changes form during motion. To make the learning even more engaging, they designed skate park tracks online, experimenting with how potential energy transforms into kinetic energy. It was wonderful to see their creativity and curiosity in action!

In addition to this, we began exploring how energy has supported human progress throughout history. Starting from the discovery of fire, the children learned about significant milestones in how humans have harnessed energy over time. Our class discussions were rich with thoughtful reflections, and some students even created impressive visuals to represent key inventions and discoveries related to energy. We discovered how harnessing energy supports the manual work we do, and has provided us with opportunities to innovate and create. Apart from this, we also learned that despite all the major advancements in technology throughout time, what we first harnessed as human beings -- fire -- is just as important as the latest and most advanced invention that we have to date. It is so hard to imagine what life would be like had our ancestors not discovered how to harness energy thousands of years ago. 

Building on this timeline of progress, we are now working together to create a life-sized board game. Each student has been assigned a tile representing an important invention or discovery. This game will help us explore whether progress is always positive or if there might be some unintended consequences along the way. We are excited to complete the board next week and play the game together.

Have a wonderful weekend to all of you.

Your homeroom teacher, 
Ms. Pam

Transfers and Tranformations

"To Nature nothing can be added; from Nature nothing can be taken away; 
the sum of her energies is constant."

This week, our Grade 5/6 learners deepened their understanding of energy by sharing the stories of energy transfers and transforms that they made last week. The students enthusiastically presented their own ideas with classmates. This sharing helped us uncover some common misconceptions and guided our learning focus. We discovered that by concentrating on just one object per story, we can clearly track how potential energy changes whenever that object moves—and especially into what forms it transforms.

Our class discussion deepened our understanding of potential and kinetic energy. Together, we explored how factors such as the position of an object, its mass, gravitational force, and magnetic force all influence these energies. This helped students see energy as something dynamic and connected to real-world forces.

Afterwards, I introduced a new challenge: focusing on a resource we use every day—the light bulb. I pressed the switch multiple times, turning the light on and off, and asked the students, "We know energy makes the light bulb turn on, but where does this energy come from? It doesn’t come from my finger!" This sparked curiosity and a lively conversation about the source of energy.

Using the Snap Circuits kit, the children worked together to create 'electricity stories' that explain how we can power a light bulb. Through hands-on exploration, they discovered that motion and light (using a solar panel) can make the light bulb glow. Most excitingly, they identified natural elements that can power a light bulb: wind, flowing water, heat, and sunlight.

It was wonderful to see their curiosity, teamwork, and understanding grow as they connected science concepts to everyday life and the natural world around them. 

Have a wonderful long weekend to all of you.

Your homeroom teacher, 
Ms. Pam