March 11: Charles Ellis
This afternoon I met with a 1st grade teacher to go over some ideas I had worked on for a science unit on sound that we will conduct the week of the 22nd. I will be conducting three sessions - one each on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday - with her class as well as create a wiki for her that will list the resources in her school library plus some on-line resources. We plan to get together again on Monday the 15th to concrete the details, but so far it looks pretty good. On Monday, I will read one non-fiction book (Hearing Things by Allan Fowler) and one fiction book (Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?). I chose these because both deal with sounds, but each in a unique way. We will discuss sounds and the fact that the sounds have to be written as words such as buzz or swish to represent the actual sound. I will also cover some book basics such as the difference in fiction and non-fiction, title and author. Since one of the books is by Seuss, I will also discuss the rhythm of sound. (covers indicators 1.1.1., 1.1.2, 1.1.3 , 1.1.4, 1.1.9) On Tuesday we will readdress the sound words by reading some of the words and having the students draw a picture of something that makes that sound - we will read "buzzz" and they will draw a bee, insect, etc. (indicator 1.1.6). On Thursday we will reinforce actual sounds by creating a sound test. We will make actual sounds (velcro, pop bottle opening, etc). The source of the sound will be hidden. The children will work in small groups to decide what they believe created the sound. Also, because the non-fiction book makes a point to say that you can recognize and differentiate the voices of different people, we will invite some "secret quests" (principal, art teacher, etc.) who will talk behind the screen and the students will guess who they are. (indicators 1.1.9 & 2.1.5) 3.5 hours