Why Fly Planes?

Tomorrow in class we will be making paper airplanes. We will cut-out four types of aircraft and assess their flying capabilities. Remember to read up on Bernoulli's principle of flight. Particularly focus on air flow across a plane's wing. Be prepared for questions on thrust, lift, drag, and gravity since these forces affect flight.

We will test our aircraft for various flight maneuvers: flying the greatest distance, aerial loops, and smooth landings.

As a class we will discuss the various designs of our paper airplanes and postulate why they have certain design elements. We will compare and contrast our paper aircraft designs to real commercial and military craft. We will consider their purpose for sustained flight, maneuverability, heavy cargo, or reconnaissance missions.

So see you tomorrow and hopefully, we will get our crafts airborne.

For those of you who want to investigate the various types of aircraft and aircraft design before class, check out paper air planes and thinkquest/airplanes.

Understanding Flight

Dear Students and Parents,
We will begin our flight unit in science soon. This unit is part of the grade 6 Ontario science curriculum requirement for Understanding Structures and Mechanisms. Students, you will be expected to understand the principles of flight and the properties of air that both benefit or hinder flight. You will also explore and investigate how the science of flight has changed our society's ability to travel and how this has impacted our environment.

My expectations for this unit:

• understand the properties of air that influence flight
  
• investigate the properties of living and man-made mechanisms that aid in flight
• identify the four forces that affect flight - weight, thrust, lift, and drag; and how they can alter flight
• design, create and flight test a model aircraft
  
• able to use appropriate scientific vocabulary to describe flight

Students can you guess what is special about the image at the top right? Do you know where this image was taken? Send me a response.

Check out these sites for footage on early flying machines.
Problems with Flight Design
The First Successful Flight

Student Friendly Educational Sites

Hi Students,

Here are some websites you might like to check out.
learningplanet.com
linktolearning.com
discoverykids.com
theteachercorner.net
starfall.com
edu.gov.on.ca

Welcome to Ms. Kinsman's Education Zone

Hello Students and Parents,
Welcome to my blog site. This site will keep you informed on the activities that will occur throughout the school year in our class. I hope you will find the information useful. You may blog me with any questions you may have concerning what we will be learning in this current term. We will be exploring the properties of air and the characteristics of flight in our science unit. So be prepared to take flight with me. We will also be sailing with Samuel de Champlain and Jacques Cartier to explore the New World. Pack light, we will not be able to take many items with us on this journey. In math, we will be looking at place value of large and small amounts. Then we will move on to multiplying whole numbers by 1 000, 10 000, and 100 000; and later by 0.1, 0.01, and 0.001.


Keep in touch and don't forget to comment,
Ms. K.