RE and PE with Mrs. C!

Happy Tuesday year 6! This week I'm mixing RE and PE together, it will all become clear soon. I hope you all had a lovely half term holiday. Did you have pancakes on Tuesday? We did! Do you know what day follows Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day)?

That's right - Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of Lent.

(If you don't know what Lent is, research it.) 

Below you will find a web link to follow, which takes you to The Scottish Bible Society website. During the season of Lent, there are 'Wonder Walks' to complete. Try to do 'Week 1' this week - make the most of the warmer weather and sunshine. Get your whole family out 'wondering' and 'walking!'

Science - Useful Microbes (25.02.21)

Hi Class 6,

I hope that you have had a lovely half term holiday. This week, we are continuing our investigation of microbes. Remember, microbes are single-celled organisms and today we are looking at those which are helpful. One of the main ways in which microbes are beneficial is in the food industry. Cheese, bread, yogurt, chocolate, vinegar and alcohol are all processed through the growth of microbes.  The microbes used to make these products cause a chemical change known as 'fermentation'. The microbes break down the complex sugars into simple compounds like carbon dioxide (a gas) and alcohol. Fermentation changes a product from one food to another.

This week, we are going to investigate  one of these helpful microbes - yeast. I have included below a fun home experiment for you to try using dried yeast.

Yeast is used to make bread and dough products through fermentation. In order to multiply and grow, yeast needs the right environment, which includes moisture, food (in the form of sugar or starch) and a warm temperature (20º to 30ºC is best). As yeast ferments if gives off gasses which get trapped in the dough and the lump of dough expands. Our investigation demonstrates the fermentation process.

I hope you enjoy this investigation at home, but if you don't have the ingredients to carry it out yourself I have included a video which shows what happens during fermentation.

Enjoy investigating microbes!

Mrs M

The instructions say to use measuring cylinders, you will not have these at home, but you can use tall glasses instead and measure the height of the yeast using a ruler, recording that on your sheet.  You could even try your own investigation like the one in the video below.

Like all Science investigations, you need to take care and work safely, ask an adult to help you if you need to. Have fun!

Further research.

One use of yeast, or Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is in making bread. Why not look in your cupboards and fridge at home to find other examples of foods containing microbes. Make a table of the food name and the microbe name and type. (Hint: Use the food labels to help). Alternatively you could use the internet for your research, I'd love to see how many you can identify.