Experimenting with Sound
Before break, second graders spent a couple of weeks thinking about and experimenting with sound. To kick off the lesson, we read the book, The Listening Walk, about a little girl who goes on a walk with her dad and all of the sound she hears in her neighborhood and town. Afterwards, students did some evaluative thinking about the most important and most irritating sounds they hear everyday. One of the more popular important sounds was either that of the teacher or their parents talking. Without question the most popular irritating sounds they hear everyday is their alarm clock! :D I have to agree with that. Students also compared and contrasted sounds that the little girl heard during the day and sounds that she might have heard if she went on a walk at night.
The following week, I brought in various instruments for the students to play with. We looked at each instrument and students discussed the relationship of pitch and rate of vibration.
Finally, it was time for students to experiment with the instruments. While playing each instrument, they were to keep in mind how they could use elements from that instrument to create their own instrument from recycled materials.
At last, students created their own instruments with materials like paper tubes, tissue boxes, soda cans, rubber bands, beans, etc. They used a lot of creative thinking to develop instruments that could make sound using 2-3 materials. Check out their short concert below.
