I'm Brenda and I care for ten children in my home
ages three to five.
(rattling)
Children learn through their exploration.
But when the exploration is documented,
they really get a chance to reflect on
and think more deeply about what they've learned.
There are a variety of tubes, and hoses and sticks.
I'd like you all to experiment with them
and I'd like you to play with them.
And we could document it.
I took pictures and wrote down their observations
so they could remember and reflect on what they did.
What happens to your voice?
- It makes music.
- Very good.
Tell me the sound this makes.
Is it a loud sound, a soft sound?
(soft tapping)
- A soft.
- It's a soft sound?
This helps me assess their understanding.
- It feels soft.
When I do it like that, it feels loud.
- The tube changes the sound of my voice.
It makes my voice sound like an elephant.
- This showed them that I'm interested
in what they're doing and I think it's important.
When we finished, we created a poster
of what we have done.
This gives us something to talk about as we review our work.
What are you doing here?
What a funny face. Who's that?
- That's me.
- What are you doing in that picture?
What did you do with the tube?
Did you make a loud sound?
I had the children take turns presenting to the group
what they had learned.
You're on the board?
What are you doing on the board?
- I was playing on there.
- Yeah, what were you doing with the tube?
- I was playing on it.
- You were?
Show me how you do that.
Show me.
Can you make a loud noise for me?
(imitates elephant)
Whoo!
Can you make a soft noise?
(faint sound)
Was that soft, guys?
- Yeah!
- This is container three.
During an activity, I used documentation
to record the children's predictions.
One of my favorite sound activities is predicting
what's inside mystery shakers.
During the activity, I wrote down their predictions
before we looked in each container.
Owen, what do you think is in the container?
- Coffee beans.
- Coffee beans, a lot or a little?
- A lot.
- So we have the majority of you say that it's some sort
of a bean.
We have salt.
And we have cotton candy, yucky sprinkles and jelly beans.
Let's find out what's in the container.
Meredith?
I'd like you to open it.
Afterwards, we looked back on our predictions
and talked about what we discovered.
Guys, why do you think they were beans?
- Because coffee beans and paperclips
is like when you put them in a box and put them together
it makes the same sound.
- Making observations...
Is that a high pitch or a low pitch?
- Really low.
- ...recording predictions...
The majority of you say that it's some sort of a bean.
...and then testing them is great science.
My children love it.
(squealing)
And when we're done with our explorations,
we will share our discoveries and our observations
with our families.
- And this, when we did the shakers,
I made my own shaker.
- And what did you put in your shaker?
- Coffee beans, elastics, sprinkles...
- And it's wonderful.
The parents love seeing it, I love the joy the children have
in showing their parents.
And it's a great way of documenting what they have done.
What did it sound like when you shook it?
- Loud, really loud.
- It was loud?