On the 6^th of May our first chicken eggs hatched! Our chicks are all different breeds and are all different shapes and colours. We have even found, what we think is, a black silky! We have a great a selection of chicken breeds such as silkies, pekins, legbars and wyandottes. We were lucky to be able to see some more hatch on the 7th.

All eggs were sponsored; so all chicks have an owner. They’re not fully used to the lab yet however with the comfort Miss Hogan is giving them I’m sure they will soon.

With 30chicks in the brooder, we only have 6 more eggs to hatch; hopefully they will be strong enough to break free. At least 3 keep shaking around. The owners of the chicks (that have not yet hatched) are sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for a beak to

take a tiny peek out of the shell. Trust me the shells are really hard so don’t panic it might just take some more time.

They are becoming more sociable and are more interested in their surroundings now that they are about 4days old.  They like shiny things and their own reflections!

Irina N said that “They are really cute; I like the one dark one called darkfada.”

Kamilla S said “They are all very, very cute.”

Paige S said “They are gorgeous!”

Georgia said “They are friendly and nice.”

Carmen B said, “They are cute and also fluffy.”

Amy J said “They are very cute and I think they will make a good a friend.”

Jake H said “I really like them, and I’m glad they came. But the committee have got to be on poop patrol!”

The winner of the sponsor an egg will be announced this Friday gold award assembly. Also the winner will be produced with a delicious chicken cake, made especially by Jake’s dad.  Good luck.

]]> http://lab13network.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/irchester-chicks/feed/ 0 DSCN8835 lab13network DSCN8835 ?????????? ?????????? 2013-05-08 14.32.25 2013-05-08 14.35.27 DSCN8836 http://lab13network.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/our-chicks-are-here/ http://lab13network.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/our-chicks-are-here/#comments Tue, 07 May 2013 19:57:18 +0000 lab13network http://lab13network.wordpress.com/?p=2058 ]]> We are in the middle of writing a blog all about the new chicks but in the mean time here is a video of our adorable day old chicks!

We sold out of Alien eggs and Thumper balloons.We are looking into were we can buy stock cheaply on the internet but for now Bryson has found somewhere in London, so he bought eight of each thing but forgot to bring them back to the lab. Doh!

He also bought some Tippy Tops - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tippe_top

These are really old scientific toys, scientists are really puzzled about why they turn over when you spin them. We hope that lots of people buy them and come up with lots of good ideas.

We are still looking for little scientific things so, if you are reading the blog  could you give us some ideas of what would sell good in a science shop by leaving a comment!. We’ll let you know which idea is most successful!

Bayleigh, Charlie, Liam and Daniel.

We especially can’t wait for the fabulous workshops that will be going on for each class with special guests. The committee will be giving a brilliant scientific mini-lecture for assembly where we will repeat the success we had at our Lab_13 Lectures in March. But that’s not all… later on in the evening at 6ish, we are having a celebratory science party so you can party your socks off! Dads’ Club will be doing some fun experiments too. Bring ANY family members (brothers, sisters, mums, dads, nans, grandpas, cousins, aunties, uncles). We really hope you can come!

-Ellen

Year 6 children have been collaborating with the Medical Research Council to help celebrate their centenary(100 years birthday!). All of our work was showcased in an exhibition in Imperial College, London over Easter holidays.

There was a series of installations each telling different but overlapping stories. There was a historical lab showing research that was being done 100 years ago next to a modern lab which is researching neurotechnology or brain science.  The part we worked on was the Future Sound Installation where we shared our hopes and fears for the next century. What will the world be like in 2013? Our opinions were among those of famous public figures who gave their views also.  For example, Chloe and Brooke worry that the earth will be overpopulated by 2013 because of so much research in keeping people alive longer but this will cause a problem as we will run out of resources very fast!

Photos of the children who took part were being displayed on a giant wall and you had to wear 3D glasses to see them. Jordan went to visit the exhibition and was very proud to see his work displayed. He said that it was very funny seeing people match him to the photos on the wall and the video interviews being played in the cinema.

We might still be alive in 2013 so it was good to see our faces up next to famous people and everyone listening to what we had to say too – Jordan Year 6

You can watch all of the video interviews on the Strictly Science Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/strictlyscience/videos

We used to run it after school on a Tuesday but we found there were a number of problems doing it that way.  Half the school go out by an exit that doesn’t go past the Lab so they NEVER remember that we’re open!  Also Mums and Dads are rushing to get back home or collect  children from other schools. Finally, it’s VERY cold and dark in the winter time so people don’t really want to hang around at school.

So, we shut the shop last term but are reopening today with a whole lot of new items for sale that we got at the National Space Museum last week and some new ones that we have put together.

……

Well, we’ve just finished break and we made £8:50 with a LOT of people saying they want to bring in their money to buy stuff tomorrow or next week.  So, I think it’s fair to say that the shop is a great success again.

Now, what we want to do is add some some cheap simple items so that people can spend a bit of their pocket money every now and again rather than having to save up for something expensive.  For example, the Thumper balloons @ 50p each were our biggest seller.

We’ll keep you all posted.

Lab_13 MT Dovecote

-Chloe W, Year6

at the opening of Gillespie Lab_13, the children are full of wonder

Summer Term 2013 Projects in Gillespie Lab_ 13

All classes at Gillespie School are jostling to work in our new Lab_13 this term! We also have two exciting projects in partnership with two of our local secondary schools to look forward to. Y5 will be working with Devinder Guram, Biology specialist at Highbury Fields Secondary School. Devinder will be teaching our children how to dissect sheep hearts so that the children have first hand experience of observing the four chambers of the heart and the blood vessels that enter and leave it. Children will be interested in comparing real hearts to ones presented in diagrams. There’s nothing like the real thing to explore real science.

Y4 have already started a Design and Technology project to design and construct a fantastic 2 metre x 1metre sign for our Lab_13. Our children visited St Martins College of Art and Design at King’s Cross to be inspired by signs and lettering going back a thousand years. In return, colleagues at St Martin’s College were inspired by Lab_13 and our project and are going to work with us, and Dan, Design teacher at Islington Arts and Media School, in our Lab_13 on our Project. In the meantime Gillespie parent, Amelia, and Mark our Headteacher are working hard to find funds so that we can employ our own resident Scientist or Inventor. Wish us good luck!