Lesson video

Hello, everybody.

My name's Miss Hughes.

How are you today? I'm feeling excited today because I get to learn something new with you.

And in today's lesson, we will be learning about things that float and things that sink, and we will understand what that means.

There's going to be three lessons on floating and sinking, the first with me, the second with Miss Sidenius, and the third with Mrs. Garrard.

In this lesson, we will listen to a story, learn about floating and sinking, and do a quiz to see what we've learned.

You're not going to need much for this lesson, but you'll need to use your brain, which is already in your head, to work hard.

And you'll need your favourite teddy to help you.

This is my teddy, Toffy.

Can you say hello to Toffy? Pause if you need to get your teddy or move to a quieter space, and restart when you're ready.

Great.

Let's begin by listening to a story about something that floats on water.

What do you think it might be? That's right, we're listening to a story about a boat that floats on water.

It's called Brilliant Boats and it's by Tony Mitton and Ant Parker and published by Kingfisher, who have given us permission to use this book.

Let's begin.

Boats are really a bit brilliant for sailing us around.

They travel through the water with a slippy, sloppy sound.

It's fun to go out boating, especially in the sun.

The water's cool and sparkly, so come on everyone.

A boat sits on the water like an empty bowl or cup.

It's hollow and it's full of air and that's what keeps it up.

An anchor holds you steady when you're bobbing in a bay.

You wind a chain to raise it when you want to sail away.

Over lakes and seas and rivers, wind blows very strong.

Some boats have sails to catch it so it pushes them along.

To manage boats with masts and sails, you need a clever crew.

The captain is the one in charge who tells them what to do.

A dinghy or a rowing boat is useful near the shore.

You make it travel backwards by pulling on each oar.

A motorboat is powered by a propeller from the back.

It washes through the water and leaves a foamy track.

And just in case, by accident, you tumble from the boat, you have to wear a life jacket made to help you float.

Some boats go out fishing where the ocean waves are steep.

Their nets are cast to catch the fish, then haul them from the deep.

A ship can carry cargo, which is loaded at the docks.

Ho ho, look out below, here comes a giant box.

A ferry carries cars and lorries where they need to go.

The people travel up above, the vehicles stay below.

A mighty ocean liner has a big and busy crew.

It carries many passengers, they're waving now, yoo hoo.

The ship has cosy cabins where the passengers can stay and out on deck, they stroll about and watch the sea or play.

The end.

Your turn.

I enjoyed listening to that story because it told me a lot about how boats work.

It explains how boats, even though they're really big, float.

A boat sits on the water like an empty bowl or cup.

It's hollow and it's full of air and that's what keeps it up.

Let's think a little bit more about things that float and things that sink.

Not everything behaves the same way in water.

Some things, when you drop them in, will go to the bottom.

We say they sink.

We say they sink.

And some things will not go to the bottom.

Some things will stay floating on the top.

We say they float.

Goes to the bottom, it sinks.

Stays on the water, it floats.

Now, we're going to do a demonstration to see what floats and what sinks and to see if we can notice a pattern.

Here are some of the materials we're going to test.

We're going to test a fork, which is made of metal.

We're going to test a coin, which is made of metal, too.

We're going to test a stick, which is wood.

And a plastic bottle.

I'm going to test these materials in a bowl of water.

I filled the bowl about halfway full so that it doesn't spill over and I'm going to test each item one at a time to see whether it sinks and goes to the bottom or whether it floats and goes to the top.

I'm going to start by testing my fork.

Hmm.

I'm going to predict that the fork will sink because it's quite a big object.

Do you think the fork will float or sink? Tell your screen.

Let's find out.

Give me a countdown, three, two, one.

And it sunk! It's gone straight to the bottom.

We can see it here.

The metal fork has sunk.

I've got a plastic bottle next, and that's quite big, too.

I predict that the plastic bottle will sink.

What do you think it will do? Tell your screen.

Some of you think it will sink, but some of you aren't so sure.

Let's find out.

Give me a countdown, three, two, one.

It stayed floating on the top.

That must mean that the size of the object doesn't mean that it floats or sinks.

It must be to do something else.

The plastic bottle has floated at the top.

Let's try the coin next.

Now, the coin is made of metal.

What else was made of metal? That's right, the fork was made of metal and the fork sank.

I'm going to predict that the coin will sink too because it's made of metal like the fork.

What do you predict? Let's find out.

Ready, three, two, one.

And the coin has gone straight to the bottom.

It has sunk.

The metal coin has sunk.

Finally, I'm going to test this stick and this stick is made of wood.

It's quite light, like the empty plastic bottle, so I predict it's going to float.

What do you think? Tell your screen.

Some of you think it will float, too.

Let's find out in three, two, one.

The stick has stayed floating on the top, on the surface of the water.

Wow.

The metal fork and the metal coin sunk and the plastic bottle and the wooden stick floated.

Hmm.

Did you notice a pattern? Tell your screen if you did.

I noticed that.

Well done.

Lots of us noticed that the metal sunk.

Most metal sinks because it is quite dense, but what does that mean? Well, this is how floating and sinking works.

Every single object in the world has particles in it.

My turn, particles.

Your turn.

And particles are tiny, but different objects have different numbers of particles in them.

Some objects have particles which are really far apart and things with particles that are far apart will float, like the stick and the empty plastic bottle.

But some things have particles that are really close together, which makes them very dense, and those things will sink.

And most metal is very dense.

It has particles that are very close together.

There are some other things that will change whether an object would float or sink.

Sometimes, changing the shape of an object will change whether it floats or sinks.

Sometimes, changing the size or changing the material.

I wonder if that plastic bottle had been full, would it have floated or would it have sunk? What do you think? Maybe you can test it later.

Now, it's time for a little quiz to see what we've learned.

You need to get your teddy in front of you to help you to find out the answers.

On the screen, you can see a picture of an object.

What do you think it is? It's a feather.

You must tell your teddy, do you think the feather will float or sink? Tell your screen.

Let's find out.

The feather has floated.

Were you right? Well done.

Feathers are not very dense, so it has floated on the top of the water.

Number two.

Here is a key.

It's a metal key.

Do you think the metal key will float or sink? Tell your teddy.

Toffy thinks it will sink.

What do you think? That's right, the metal key has sunk.

Remember, most of the metal will sink.

And finally, what things can you change that might change whether something floats or sinks? Tell your teddy.

The size, shape, or material of an object may affect whether it floats or whether it sinks.

Now, I'd love for you to use what you've learned today and test things in your house to see whether they float or whether they sink.

You may do that when you're having a bath or when you're helping your grownup to wash up.

Remember to check that what you put in the water is okay because some things would be dangerous to put in water, so always ask a grownup first.

I've enjoyed our science lesson today and I feel like I would be much better at making predictions at how things float and how they sink.

I hope you've enjoyed too and I'll see you soon.

Bye!.