- I'm Brenda, and I care for ten children in my home
ages three to five.
We're investigating sound this week by experimenting
with tubes...
...shakers...
...and making rubber band instruments.
- Can I try that one?
- You can't really do science without talking about it.
Could you shake it again so I can listen?
(faint rattling)
What kind of a sound was that?
- A low sound.
- Jackie, what happens when there's more space
in your shaker?
- I don't know, let me see.
- And talking about science can really help children
develop their understanding of what's going on
in the world around them.
Let's see what the noise does.
(louder rattling)
Now what happens when there's more space in the container?
- Even louder.
- We started our sound unit by reading a book
about musical scales.
And playing high and low notes on musical instruments.
♪ ♪
As we're doing each of our sound activities,
I model using science words like listen, compare,
describe and observe.
All right, Cole, I'd like you to hit that one.
Katie, I'd like you to hit that one and I'd like you guys
to compare the two.
Go ahead, hit it.
♪ ♪
Did they sound the same?
- No.
- Well, what's different?
- Because this one's metal and that one's not metal.
It sounds different.
- After our opening circle, we experimented
with making sounds through different kinds of tubes.
Go ahead, you do it, Taren.
(muffled speech)
I'm going to tap and I'm going to move it away,
and move it close and you're going to tell me
what sounds different, okay?
(tapping)
Does it sound different?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, why does it sound different?
- Do it again.
(tapping)
Slow.
Loud.
- Soft and loud.
Now put this one up and see if this one sounds different
than that one.
- Loud.
Quiet.
- What's the difference between those two?
- Because one's big and one's small.
- I usually ask open-ended questions to help
focus their attention on sound and our science terms.
So I would like you to come here, Elana.
And I'd like you to describe this tube for me.
What about that tube?
- It's longer.
- It's longer...
Can you listen through it, maybe?
- Yes.
- And what do you think will happen?
Go to the other end and listen and see what happens.
- Hi, Elana.
- It sounds...
...like her voice becomes smaller and skinnier.
- Ooh, don't look.
(gasps)
A great way to get kids talking is to present a science activity
as a mystery.
What do you think is in there?
- Yogurt.
- Yogurt?
No, no, don't open it.
Can you shake it for me?
For our mystery shaker activity, I put objects in containers
and had the children shake them, listen, and predict
what was inside.
Anybody have any ideas?
- I think it's a bowling ball.
- You do.
All right, Cole, shake it, tell me what you think is in there.
- Maybe a little bowling ball.
- Two balls.
(faint rattling)
- What does that sound like?
- Strawberries.
- Shake it.
Shake it.
- Strawberries.
- All right.
Is that a high pitch or a low pitch?
- Really low.
- Is it a loud or a soft sound?
- Soft.
(gasps)
(squealing)
- After we finished with our mystery shakers,
they had a chance to make their own.
They loved it.
And the curiosity from our mystery activity
and shaker testing continued right into snack.
Listen.
(rattling)
(imitates rattling)
- Because it's hitting the bowl.
- So now that we started using science talk,
we cannot even talk about an experiment
or an adventure without bringing in the science talk
and the words related to that topic.
- And we can put it in, and we can try to shake it
and it'll make different noise if we put different stuff in.