Appendix Three: A sample request letter to parents

Dear Parents/Caregivers

Each year we use a number of household items in our science programme. Please look at home to see if you could spare any of the items listed below.

• Aluminium foil and aluminium foil containers
• Balls
• Bubble-makers (loops of any sort)
• Cardboard tubes
• Coloured cellophane
• Corks
• Cotton
• Cotton reels
• Empty plastic soft drink (PET) bottles
• Fabric samples
• Feathers
• Glass jars with screw-top lids
• Household appliances that no longer work, such as toasters, hairdryers, electric kettles
• Ice cream containers
• Lenses (old spectacles)
• Newspapers, magazines
• Old cutlery
• Old perfume bottles
• Old toys
• Pipe (plastic or metal)
• Plastic bags and containers
• Plastic jars with screw-top lids
• Rags
• Shells
• Shoeboxes, wine cask boxes
• Wool
• Yoghurt pottles

Thank you for your help. We hope you enjoy discussing your child's work in science with him/her.

Yours sincerely

(name)

Teacher in Charge of Science

It may be helpful to quantify the items in the list above to ensure that unwanted quantities of a particular item are not received.

Note: Cutlery used in science activities must be clearly labelled at school and kept separate from cutlery used for eating.