Classroom Close-Up
Jazmine, a preschool teacher, reflects on what her kids learned and what she learned during their exploration of sound.
"I think the best thing for me during this exploration was the amount of noticing, thinking, and talking that happened for some of the kids. The students who were the most engaged were not necessarily those whose voices are usually the loudest during our class group time. But during this exploration, these kids’ minds were full of ideas and discoveries about making and listening to sounds, and they were bursting to share their thoughts. Some of my favorite moments were listening to Jai’lysa. She was excited about creating sounds in lots of inventive ways—for example, by shaking her head to make sounds with her beads, by holding up a piece of paper to the wall fan to listen to the sound it would make, and by combining different sounds.
At Circle Time, I handed out rhythm sticks, some smooth and some with ridges, and asked, 'What sort of sound can you make with your rhythm sticks?'
The kids experimented. Jai’lysa stamped her feet, then tapped her sticks (stamp, stamp, tap, tap). 'It’s like music!' she exclaimed.
The other kids tried out Jai’lysa’s discovery.
'Does the sound of your feet sound like the sound of your rhythm sticks?' I asked.
'No, different.
'Our feet make a big noise.'
'How do the rhythm sticks sound?'
'A little bit of noise.'
'What if we tap our sticks together really hard?' I asked.
Jai’lysa tapped her sticks together as she stamped her feet in place. 'I can hear both sounds together!' she announced.
Luís is a student who joined our class a couple of months ago. He’s in the process of learning English and is just beginning to feel at home in our classroom. Our hands-on investigation of sounds has led to some breakthrough moments for him as well. He was one of the most innovative and focused explorers during Free Exploration, discovering lots of ways to make different sounds with the materials and inspiring other kids to join in.
Watching Luís come out of his shell makes me appreciate the special benefits discovery science can offer English language learners. Hands-on explorations give kids a level playing ground. ELL kids can demonstrate their ideas concretely, so limited English skills do not hamper their ability to participate and share.
At the same time, our on-going discussions about what kids are hearing and doing and noticing involves lots of meaningful recycling of key words and phrases, and English language learners have the opportunity to hear and use these high interest words repeatedly.
One day, I watched Luís and Shatoya with the flexible hose stretched between them, taking turns talking and listening. Luís was making what he called 'dinosaur sounds,' and Shatoya was laughing because 'it tickles my ears!'
'Can I listen to your voice?' I asked. Shatoya gave me her end of the tube so I could hear Luís’s dinosaur growl.
I held the end up to Luís’s ear and said, 'Want to listen to your own voice?' Luís growled into tube again and laughed, 'It tickles my ears.'
'What happens to your voice when you talk through the tube?' I asked Shatoya and Luís.
'It turns different,' said Shatoya.
'It sounds like a man,' said Luís.
'Yeah, like a daddy,' agreed Shatoya.
I flip through the kids’ pictures and writing and my notes and photos from the past few weeks and realize how much energy this science exploration has generated in my class and what an amazing outpouring of ideas it has sparked. In many ways, I feel that we have just begun. The kids are continuing to discover sounds around them and invent new ways to create sounds using everyday objects. There is so much more content and language yet to be discovered! I think we will be exploring sound for at least another two weeks."