Sound Travels #2: Feelings Through Instruments

Exploring sounds

Water group agreed that music can arouse emotions and feelings within us. But could feelings be expressed through music?

Painting our tambourines

No peeking

We read the book The Maestro Plays by Bill Martin Jr. and the children were captivated by the way the Maestro plays each instrument. They tried playing some of the instruments we have at Creative Minds. They played loudly, quietly, fast, slow, long, short, and many other ways just like the maestro in the book. They took turns showing others what happy, sad, or scared might sound like. Then we played a guessing game where one child hid behind a screen and the others had to guess which instrument the child was playing and the feeling that he/she was expressing.

Guess my instrument

The children loved the sound a shaker and tambourine make. So we combined elements from both instruments and made tambourine shakers.

Sound Travels #1 - Music and Feelings

This week Water Group explored how music and sound are used to express our feelings. First, we have to make sure if we can identify our feelings and as you can see below the children were quite good at expressing them.

concerned and sad

Surprised!

Then we listened to different sounds and music and each child shared how the music made him/her feel and what they thought of. The children expressed their thoughts through different art forms as they listened to each piece of music. They were so indulged in the music that when it stopped, they all froze and asked: "Where's the music?" Some even said, "I need it to for my art."

Matisse cut-outs while listening to
Vivaldi's Winter from Four Seasons

Painting with water colours while listening to
Spring from Vivaldi's Four Seasons

Express Yourself #2: Spreading Joy Through Flower Arrangments

The Water group explored Sophie's interest in flowers. First we went around the school to look at different flowers and made sketches. They feel that flowers are beautiful and people feel happy when they see them. They felt a little sad when it was time to return to school because they wished there were flowers inside our school. So the next day, I brought some flowers bought from IGA and the children made their own flower arrangements to display. And indeed, when the other children saw the arrangements, a smile would emerge from their little faces and they would comment on beautiful the flowers looked.

Express Yourself #1: Expressing Ideas Through a Book

When we gathered for group time to talk about the new unit, Express Yourself, many of them wanted to make a book to express some of their ideas. I showed the children many types of books. There were picture books, wordless books, scary books, story books, educational books, comic books, and the list goes on. The children eagerly chose a topic, the genre of the book and became authors! Below are their ideas:

Jayla and Allye: My Little Pony story book


Lucas: Eiffel Tower educational book

Sasha: Frozen picture story book

Theo: Pokemon character book

Olympia: Dora comic book

Matthew: Rescue Bots movie book

Charlie: Paw Patrol pop up book

Water Wonders #4: Summative Project - Diorama

For our summative activity (an activity to assess the children's connection to the central idea), the water group children created a diorama with a landscape next to a waterway. Their dioramas show how animals, plants, and people use water. As they worked, the following questions were asked:

1) What do you know about water?

2) Why is water important to people? (what do they use it for)

3) Why is water important to animals?

4) Why is water important to plants?

5) What would happen if there was no water?

6) How can we make sure this never happens; how can we save water?

Water Wonders #3: Water Works Model

                                            

The children were so proud of themselves when they pieced together their water works model. As it was displayed in the sand area, the water group children noticed other children did not know what it was! The problem was solved when Sophie suggested to put signs up so people can read it. 

Water Wonders #2: Where Does Dirty Water Go?

Where is the pipe?

"I like to take baths!" said Theo

Where does the drain take the water?

"I wash my dolly at the sink," said Olympia.
"I wash my feet in the shower," said Lucas.
"You need to wash you hands in the sink after you go to the bathroom," Charlie added.
The children eagerly shared ways they use water at home. They know that fresh water comes out from their taps but what where does waste water go?

Sophie replied, "It goes into the lake!"
Sasha answered, "Dirty water goes down the drain."

We explored how Vancouver's water and sewer system work. We learned that it involves many large pipes that go into the ground and they remove excess water and sewage for treatment. Since there is only 2-3% of fresh water on earth, people found ways to turn dirty water into clean, fresh water. When wastewater is treated and cleaned, it can be put back into the environment without harming anything.

The children imagined what it is like to clean the dirty water at a treatment plant. We added dirt and "trash" to the water table and the children tried to scoop it all out.