Mark Pollard

Related to our science topic this term of space, both year 5 classes have created experiments using balloon power!
Initially, the plan was to investigate whether a balloon with a larger straw (exhaust) attached to it would travel further than one with a smaller straw, though in the end a completely different result was proven, as Lola will now explain:

The string we used in the first place was wool so it was fragile and had too much friction, but when we used a different kind of string that Mr Wise gave us it worked perfectly well and traveled over a metre each time, as it had less friction.

Thank you Lola! Sometimes we enter science experiments expecting one thing and we then unexpectedly out something else entirely!

At the start of the year, Penpol School’s answer to David Attenborough asked Mr Pollard if he could bring in some caterpillars and store them at the back of the classroom until they turn into moths. Not a problem came the reply. It was then that Taran revealed that it would take 7 months for this transformation to happen!

This week, after returning from Easter break, the ever-observant Taran found that one of the caterpillars had broken out of its chrysalis and had turned into a beautiful moth, which is incredibly well suited to match a certain environment, as it looked just like a piece of wood!

Hopefully it won’t be long until the others hatch and they can all live in their natural habitat on the tree outside the classroom window.

“When I first saw the moth I recognised it immediately and got super exited because it had hatched from a cocoon  that had been in the back of the classroom since September.” – Taran