This half term, the children worked on compasses. We started off by thinking about what compasses were and why they were used. We looked at some different compasses and then found out about the history of compasses and how they have developed since they were first invented by the Chinese, a very long time ago.

 

The children found out about how and why compasses worked and looked at a number of different ways that we could make our own compasses. They completed their own designs. After this, they made their compasses and to test them, Mrs Hanigan set a trail around school. The childten had to go to a number of different locations in school; once there, they allowed their compass needle to settle and wrote down the letter or letters that the compass needle pointed to. Never one to make things too simple, Mrs Hanigan had also put letters in the wrong places as well, not just where North was!

 

Once the children had all of the letters, they had to put them together-or in the case of the Gold and Diamond group, rearrange the letters- to give the name of a famous explorer. Finally, the children evaluated their work, thinking about what had worked well and what had not worked quite so well. The very encouraging thing, was that lots of the children were very proud of themselves for persevering when things were not quite going the right way for them.

 

Take a look at the photographs of the children creating their compasses and hot on the trail!   

 

Spring II 2017 Compass Project