Unit Plan Calendar

Mon, Feb 9

Tue, Feb 10

Lesson 1: (30-40 minutes) Searching for Sound Objective: Heighten awareness of and attention to sounds, recognize sounds originate from a source, and develop detailed and accurate descriptions of sound. Overview: Children focus on listening carefully and making detailed descriptions of sound as they become “sound detectives” who search for, identify, and describe in their surroundings. Materials: Heavy book to drop, chart paper to make list of sound related terms, pencil to tap to produce sound demo., science notebook pg 2 and 3.

Wed, Feb 11

Thu, Feb 12

Lesson 2: (30-40 minutes) What makes sound? Objective: Understand that vibration is a regular back and forth motion, identify that sounds are produced by vibrations. Overview: During a science talk, children explore their ideas about how sound is produced. They learn what a vibration is, and that all sound are produced by vibrations. They generate a variety of sounds by making different materials vibrate. Materials: Center 1: roasting pan and spoon Center 2: 5 rubber bands (assorted sizes) Center 3: plastic bottles (one per student with names on them) Center 4: 2 rulers Other materials: chart paper to make a sound is vibration chart, 1 meter/yard sticks for sensory observations, class set of class safety goggles, sound science notebook pg 4, sound assessment 2

Lincoln's Birthday

Fri, Feb 13

Mon, Feb 16 President's Day

Tue, Feb 17

Lesson 3: (30-40 minutes) Sounds travels through many things Objective: Recognize that sound travels through air and other materials. Deduce, as a result of experimentation that sound travels through some materials better than others. Overview: Children establish that sound travels through air. They experiment with sound traveling through many different materials. They conduct tests to discover that sound travels through some substances better than others. Materials: For Pencil experiment- foam pad, plastic lid, roasting pan, slide whistle, chart paper to record results, pencils, pillow, desk, science notebook page 5 and 6, sound assessment 3

Wed, Feb 18

Thu, Feb 19

***Field Trip: Hands on Museum: Will focus on sound centers and information during field trip.

Fri, Feb 20

***Mid-winter

Mon, Feb 23

No School

Tue, Feb 24

No School

Wed, Feb 25

No school

Thu, Feb 26

No school

Fri, Feb 27

No school

break begins

Mon, March 2

Tue, March 3

Wed, March 4

***School

Resumes

Lesson 4: (30-40 minutes) How sound travels. Objective: Learn that sound vibrations can cause vibrations in other materials, recognize that sound travels by way of vibrations in the air or in other materials. Overview: Children do an activity that demonstrates how the vibration of a sound source can cause vibrations of other materials. They use this activity as the basic explanation and discussion of how sound travels. Materials: 22 medium paper cups, 11 pepper packets, plastic wrap, rubber bands, pencils to tap on cups, sound science notebook pg 7, sound assessment 3

Thu, March 5

Fri, March 6

Lesson 5: (30-40 minutes) Sound through a string. Objective: Discover that sound vibrations can be transmitted through a cup-and-string telephone, find ways to affect the transmission of sound vibrations. Overview: Children continue to explore sound vibrations and sound transmissions as they send secret messages to one another using cup-and-string telephones. While experimenting with their telephones, the children find several ways to affect the transmission of their messages. Materials: cotton string (cut into 5 meter lengths), 22 medium paper cups, 22 paper clips to secure string to cups, science notebook pg 8 and 9, sound assessment 3.

***Kids Fair

Mon, March 9

Tue, March 10

Lesson 6: (30-40 minutes) Ears Hear Objective: Learn about the main parts of the ear, recognize how sound travels into and through the ear, understand that the inner ear translate sound vibrations into signals that get send to the brain. Overview: Children enact how sound through the three main parts of the ear to better understand how ears hear. Student volunteers act out various parts of the ear. Materials: rubber bands to attach labels for ear parts to children’s arms, string to represent auditory nerve and tiny hairs in the cochlea prop, chair for the “stir up” to balance against during the enactment, plastic bottle, overhead of “ear bones”, overhead of “ear diagram”, science notebook page 10, teacher masters “ear labels”, sound assessment 3

Wed, March 11

Thu, March 12

Lesson 7: (30-40 minutes) Objective: Discover that sound vibrations can be transmitted through a cup-and-string telephone, find ways to affect the transmission of sound vibrations. Overview: Part 1: Children listen to and compare sounds that have different pitches and describe them as high, middle, or low. Children explore various pitch stations. Part 2: Children explore ways of changing pitch using a variety of sound-producing materials. They identify which parts vibrate to make a sound, and reflect on the relationship between vibration and pitch. Materials: plastic bowls and chopsticks for drums, PVC tubes of different lengths to experiment with pitch, rope, rubber bands of assorted sizes, rulers, slide whistle, trash bags, chart paper, chimes, glass jars, meter stick, plastic tub, science notebook pages 11-14, sound assessment 1 and 2.

***Videotape lesson and write extended lesson plan

Fri, March 13

Mon, March 16

***continue lesson 7 if not enough time Thursday.

Tue, March 17

Lesson 8: (30-40 minutes) Exploring Volume Objective: Investigate ways to change volume by hitting, blowing, or strumming materials harder or softer, investigate ways to amplify sounds by adding a sound box of sound tube, distinguish between pitch and volume and use appropriate descriptors for each, consider the relationship between volume and the size of vibrations. Overview: Children experiment with changing the volume of sounds by tapping, blowing, or strumming a variety of materials harder or softer, and amplifying sounds with a “sound box” and “sound tube” They identify materials that vibrate to make a sound, and consider the relationships between vibration and volume. Materials: chopsticks to tap to make sound, rubber bands (large size) to pluck to make sound, cardboard boxes to make sound boxes, paper to make sound tubes., sound science notebook page 15, sound assessment 1, 2, and 6.

Wed, March 18

Thu, March 19

Lesson 9: (30-40 minutes) Designing Musical Instruments Objective: Explain how a homemade instrument will vibrate to produce sound, and describe how to change the pitch and volume of a planned instrument. Overview: Children apply their knowledge of sound and vibration by using a variety of common materials to design percussion, wind, or stringed instruments. They plan and draw pictures of their designs, and then explain how their instruments will work. The instruments need to be able to change pitch and volume. Materials: Various recycled materials from scrap box and home to make instruments (beans, tape, string, chopsticks, cups, bowls, popcorn kernels, dowels, electrical tape, nylon, trash bags, popcicle sticks, masking tape, tins, aluminum, boxes, etc. Science notebook pages 16-20, sound assessment 4.

Fri, March 20

Mon, March 23

Tue, March 24

***Videotape lesson and write expanded lesson plan

Wed, March 25

***Multi-Cultural Day

Lesson 10: (30-40 minutes) Building a musical instrument Objective: Experiment with different materials to determine how to build a stringed, percussion, or wind instrument that can change pitch and volume. Overview: Children experiment with using various materials to build the musical instrument they designed in the previous lesson. They redesign their instruments, if necessary, and discuss any problems they have implementing their designs. Materials: bags or boxes t o store supplies for instruments in progress, labels, science notebook pages 17-19 and 21-24, sound assessment 2 and 4.

Thu, March 26

Lesson 11: (30-40 minutes) Refining musical instruments Objective: Evaluate whether a building buddy’s self-designed musical instrument meets the project criteria, refine or redesign musical instruments as needed, be able to explain the parts of their instrument that vibrates to produce sound and how the instrument changes pitch and volume, and become adept at changing the pitch and volume of a self-designed instrument. Overview: Children work with a “building buddy” to evaluate, refine and, if necessary, redesign their musical instruments. Materials: cotton string (cut into 5 meter lengths), 22 medium paper cups, 22 paper clips to secure string to cups, science notebook pg 8 and 9, sound assessment 3.

Fri, March 27

Mon, March 30

***Students write invitation to their family inviting them to their concert and celebration on the morning of Wednesday, April 8th.

Tue, March 31

***Field trip to the Natural Science Museum

Wed, April 1

Thu, April 2

Fri, April 3

Mon, April 6

Tue, April 7

Continue Lesson 11 (Students complete musical instruments)

Wed, April 8

***Video tape lesson and write extended lesson plan

Thu, April 9

Fri, April 10

Lesson 12: (60 minutes) Sharing Instruments with peers and parents Objective: Describe the sources of vibrations that produce the sound in a self-designed instrument, show and explain how to change the pitch and volume of a self-designed instrument. Overview: Children demonstrate the musical instruments they designed and built to Kindergarten class. They explain what parts of their instruments are vibrating to produce sound and then demonstrate and explain how to change the pitch and volume. The children also reflect on the design and building process, describing the problems they encountered and evaluating how well their instruments meet the initial design criteria. Families and students also celebrate the completion of their musical instruments with treats from teachers and volunteers. Materials: Student’s musical instruments. FAMILIES INVITED!