Weekly Activities

Sounds In Our Environment The children identified items in our environment that make sounds.  For example, cars roar, horns beep, dogs bark, etc.  We made a collage of these items representing the sounds around us.  These collages prompted a discussion of how sounds make us feel. For example, some children said that they feel scared when they hear a dog barking, others said the same sound makes them feel happy. Graphing how the sound of a wolf  makes the children feel: 4 happy, 2 scared We continued this inquiry by listening to sound clips ranging from the ordinary (dog, bell) to the unordinary (alligator). The children had a lot of fun identifying these sounds.   After each clip, the children were asked how the felt when they heard the sound for the first time. For each sound, the children made a human bar graph representing their feelings.  Next week, we will explore "how does music make me think and feel". Reflection: what sounds ...

Sound & Vibration Our line of inquiry this week was “how sounds are created”. The children learned that energy is needed to create vibration and that vibration makes sound.  We used a drum to feel and hear how sound and vibration are connected.  As we were drumming, Jared noticed that if he placed his hand on the drum he could stop the vibration and the sound would also stop.   We continued Jared’s observation using triangles and cymbals making loud and soft sounds. The children found when they stopped the vibrations on the instruments, the sound stopped as well. We concluded this activity with comb kazoos.  The children made kazoos using combs and wax paper.  They ended with a rousing rendition of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” on their                                                 kazoos.   When we were con...

We have begun our new unit "Sound Travels".  It will be an 8 week inquiry into how  sound and music are used to represent people’s feelings, ideas and cultures. Our lines of inquiry are: How sounds are created and heard.  The different forms of music across cultures. Music and sound are used to express images, feelings, and thoughts. Trying different instruments. This week we began our formative week of inquiry to find out what the children know about sound and music. We viewed a website ( http://www.dsokids.com/)  that provided information about various instrument groupings such as woodwind, strings, and percussion.  The website allowed the children to see an image of the instrument and hear it play alone and within an orchestra.  The children loved the low sounds of the double bass and the tuba.   "This music makes me want to dance with a King." As the children listened to the various instruments play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Sta...

Weekly Group Time - Week of August 7 Our book this week was "Cook-A-Doodle-Doo" by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel.  As an extension activity of the book, the children asked to bake.  The children made delicious banana bread and strawberry sauce.  Here are the recipes: Strawberry Sauce Stirring the strawberries Puree 3 cups of sliced strawberries. Add to 1/3 cup sugar and 1 tsp of cornstarch.  Cook over medium heat until boiling.  Stir constantly.  Remove from heat.  Stir for 5 minutes.  Cover and chill for at least one hour. Banana Bread 1 cup sugar 1/3 cup margarine 3 bananas (ripe) 2 eggs 1tsp baking soda 2 cups flour Strawberry sauce and banana bread 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp of vanilla 1/4 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg 1/3 cup buttermilk Combine and mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Place in a greased bread pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes.

Stating a preference Our book this week is “Apple Batter” by Deborah Turney Zagwyn.   Our science and math activity connected to the book was to taste 6 different types of apples and record our findings. The children were open-minded and tasted all 6 apples: Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Pink, Jazz and   Spartan. A chart was completed stating the colour and taste of each apple.   The children communicated their preferences by placing stickers under the category of like/dislike and the favourite apple was the Spartan. The Results

Preparing the mask. I can't believe it is almost August!!!  This week our book was "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" by Laura Joffe Numeroff.  We explored the story through art, music and movement. Using their creative  skills,   the children made pig masks complete with curly tails on their hamhocks.  Wearing our masks, we played song games but the hit was the "Pig Hokey Pokey".  A game of "What Time is it Mr. Wolf" ended group time with a very hungry wolf chasing the little pigs. Sharing resources. Waiting for Mr. Wolf

 This week our book study is "Honey, Honey, Lion" by Jan Brett.  We learned how bees collect nectar from the flowers.  Being bees, the children communicated to the other bees through a waggle dance to indicate they found some flowers. Looking for nectar. Found the nectar. Bringing the honey to the hive.  Once the bees found the nectar, they returned to the hive to fill the honeycombs with honey.  The children have asked to have a honey taste test at the end of this week.