Opposites Attract!

This term in our science lessons we have been looking at how magnets work. After making some predictions, we tested which materials are magnetic and were surprised to find that not all metals are.
This week we investigated which part of a bar magnet is most magnetic. Using various objects, we observed that the ends (poles) of the magnets were the most magnetic. We found out that magnets have north and south poles. We observed that two magnets were attracted when the north and south poles were placed together, but repelled when north and north or south and south poles were placed together.
We then took our learning into the playground and labelled one of our hands "north" and the other "south". In groups, we had fun creating different ways of linking ourselves remembering the repel and attract rule.
We also looked at how compasses work due to the magnetic needle always pointing to the the Earth's magnetic north.