Literacy Group 2 - Whirligigs

Literacy Group 2 have been reading about how helicopters work and we had a go at making whirligigs (or straw helicopters) using these instructions:

The instructions weren't very clear and none of our whirligigs worked! So, we skyped Drew who is training to be a pilot in the Air force. He told us a bit more about how flying and helicopters work and gave us some tips to improve our whirligigs:

1. Make the rotor blades shorter. This is because most of the lift happens at the tips of the rotor blades and if they are too long they won't create enough lift.
2. Angle the rotor blades slightly. This helps because the rotor blades then push some of the air downwards which creates the lift.
3. Spin them faster!

Using Drew's advice, we had another go at making the whirligigs and this time some of them worked!