Our Y5s have combined science, technology, engineering and maths - together with a great big dose of creativity and teamwork - to build their fairground rides this year! On Tuesday 21st July, we revealed our creations to parent visitors and the rest of the school! See videos below!

'Fairground Rides' is an annual summer-term topic for our Y5 children. Here's how it works.

• Get inspired - watch videos of real and model fairground rides (including those built by Y5s in previous years), and research to get each group's ideas flowing!
• Learn - use computer software to explore how models can be moved using gears, cams and pulleys. Revise work from Y4 Science on electrical circuits. Use Y5 Computing topic on Programming and Control to learn how to program a logic box which controls motors and lights, and uses sensors.
• Design - model the ride on paper. Use skills and knowledge from our Y5 Science topic on Forces, together with computer software, to decide how to make the ride move. Research and think about the theming, music and sound effects, and how the ride will behave once it has been programmed. Make a small-scale mock-up to learn how to reinforce structures so that the ride can support its weight.
• Build - build the basic structure of the ride, using woodworking tools, hot glue (low temp! ), pulleys, gears, cams, motors, lamps and a whole mess of wiring! Careful measurements make for an easy build!
• Add the finishing touches - make the ride fit the theme using paint and modelling materials, and then design the soundtrack using sound-editing software. Bring it all together by writing a program which completely controls the ride.
• Co-operate - make sure everyone in the team is useful and makes a contribution. Good time-management ensures that no group member is watching paint dry!
• Press the button - the ride's attract sequence of lights invites spectators to PRESS THE BUTTON... and then the ride sequence begins! After that, it's back to the 'attract mode' to lure the next customer!

Videos!

Fairground Rides Exhibition!

The rest of our fairground rides are all here in the video below.
We'd love you to take a look!

A note about music

The music in the fairground rides above is available to use under a Creative Commons Licence. Fairground rides whose music is not covered in this way (e.g. chart songs) cannot be shown on the website with their original music; however videos of the rides can be viewed in school. The children chose and edited their music and sound effects.