For two weeks the Harinui Syndicate was studying wheelbarrows. One day Mrs O’Grady saw Mr Tufuga using the wheelbarrow in his work at school. We looked at the photos on the ActivBoard and talked about why it helped Mr Tufuga to use the wheelbarrow.
Next we went outside our classrooms and looked carefully at the wheelbarrows Mrs de Koning had brought to school. We described its shape, names the parts and thought about its uses.
Then we went onto the field to do some relays with first the bag of chicken feed which weighed 10 kilos. It was pretty heavy to lift and carry. We could do it but it was hard work.
Then we moved the same bag, but this time used one of the wheelbarrows. We took turns at both using the big adult wheelbarrow and the children’s wheelbarrow. It was much easier to move the bags up and around the bucket and back again. Once you lift the handles the wheelbarrow takes most of the weight of the bag. The wheels roll round easily and we can smoothly take the bags from one place to another.
We talked about some of the simple forces we were using. We mentioned lifting, pushing, rolling, carrying and other interesting things that were happening. We really liked it!
