5th class Making Parachutes

Gravity

by Fifth Class

Title: Making Parachutes



Science: Forces
Skills: Predicting, observing, experimenting
Exploring, planning, making, evaluating



Integration
MATHS: Number: operations
Measures: Weight – estimate and measure
Geography: Natural Environments: Planet Earth in Space



Equipment
paper, bouncy ball, stone, marble, plastic bags, cloth and paper, string, puncher, sellotape, figures

Activity
1. Dropping things of different weight: One piece of paper, a stone
2. Dropping two things of same weight but different shape:
Two pieces of paper (the same weight and size)
4. Design and Make a Parachute:
Tissue paper, sellotape, thread, small  figure

Background Info
Gravity
-is a force
-it pulls everything down towards the centre
-it keeps us on the Earth
-it stops us floating
-holds everything together
-its known as 'The Universal Glue'
-it keeps the Earth and other planets revolving around the sun
-it acts like a magnet(it pulls objects together)

We dropped a bouncy ball and a stone from the same height. ( H. and .J 5th Class)

The stone and the bouncy ball landed at the same time because they have mass and anything with mass has gravity.( J. 5th Class)

We dropped paper, one was scrunched into a ball and mine was flat. (K. and W. 5th Class)

Mine took longer to fall on the ground because the bigger it is the longer it takes to hit the ground.( W. 5th Class)
Fact; The greater the surface area the slower the objects fall as gravity is affected by the size of objects.
Maths;
Weight; The heavier/more dense the object the quicker if falls
Time; measuring speed and length of time

Making Parachutes

We cut open the plastic bag ( H. and P. 5th Class)

I am drawing an octagon on the plastic bag with marker. (J. 5th Class)

I drew an octagon on the plastic bag, she measured each length and calculated the length and the perimeter of the octagon. (Róisín)
Maths; Shape

We cut different lengths of thread to tie onto the parachute.( D. 5th Class)

We used a ruler first then links to measure the thread. (M. 5th Class)


Maths; Length - measuring the length of thread

I used fabric to make my parachute, I am measuring the length of the sides( H. 5th Class)

 I'm tying the thread to the edges of my parachute, I used an Irish coloured plastic bag.(M. 5th Class)

Me and the girls made a very big parachute. (M. 5th Class)

We all tied figures to the end of the threads. (P.5th Class)

We had great fun letting our parachutes go from the top yard to the bottom yard, we measured the height of the wall, my friend Faye timed how long it took for the parachutes to fall. (Ellie 5th Class)
Results; the greater the surface are the longer it took to fall.  Parachutes go against gravity.  The air pushes up the canopy of the parachute.  Gravity pulls everything down so that is why parachutes are pulled down much slower.

My took longer to fall because it was bigger than other peoples (M. 5th Class)

Mine took a long time too because my parachute was very thick and no air could get through it( M. 5th Class)

My fabric parachute fell quickly to the ground because air could get through it. (M. 5th Class)

We had a great time letting go of the parachutes. (M. 5th Class)



Integration
Maths;
Weight; estimating and then calculating the weights of different objects
Shape: drawing and cutting out hexagon shapes, finding the perimeter of shapes(octagon)
Length; estimating and measuring the length of different threads
Time; calculating the time it took for the parachutes to fall



Science: Materials; properties characteristics of materials
Geography: Natural Environments: Planet Earth in Space