Mon, Feb 9

Lesson 1: (30-40 minutes) Searching for Sound

Objective: Heighten awareness of and attention to sounds, recognize
sounds originate from a source, and develop detailed and accurate
descriptions of sound.
Overview: Children focus on listening carefully and making detailed
Tue, Feb 10 descriptions of sound as they become “sound detectives” who search
for, identify, and describe in their surroundings.
Materials: Heavy book to drop, chart paper to make list of sound
related terms, pencil to tap to produce sound demo., science notebook
pg 2 and 3.

Wed, Feb 11

Lesson 2: (30-40 minutes) What makes sound?

Objective: Understand that vibration is a regular back and forth
motion, identify that sounds are produced by vibrations.
Overview: During a science talk, children explore their ideas about
how sound is produced. They learn what a vibration is, and that all
sound are produced by vibrations. They generate a variety of sounds
by making different materials vibrate.
Thu, Feb 12 Materials: Center 1: roasting pan and spoon Center 2: 5 rubber
bands (assorted sizes) Center 3: plastic bottles (one per student with
names on them) Center 4: 2 rulers
Other materials: chart paper to make a sound is vibration chart, 1
meter/yard sticks for sensory observations, class set of class safety
goggles, sound science notebook pg 4, sound assessment 2
Lincoln's Birthday

Fri, Feb 13
 Mon, Feb 16
President's Day

Lesson 3: (30-40 minutes) Sounds travels through many things

Objective: Recognize that sound travels through air and other
materials. Deduce, as a result of experimentation that sound travels
through some materials better than others.
Overview: Children establish that sound travels through air. They
experiment with sound traveling through many different materials.
Tue, Feb 17 They conduct tests to discover that sound travels through some
substances better than others.
Materials: For Pencil experiment- foam pad, plastic lid, roasting pan,
slide whistle, chart paper to record results, pencils, pillow, desk,
science notebook page 5 and 6, sound assessment 3

Wed, Feb 18

***Field Trip: Hands on Museum: Will focus on sound centers and

Thu, Feb 19 information during field trip.
Fri, Feb 20 ***Mid-winter break begins

No School
Mon, Feb 23

No School
Tue, Feb 24

No school
Wed, Feb 25

No school
Thu, Feb 26

No school
Fri, Feb 27
Mon, March 2 ***School Resumes

Lesson 4: (30-40 minutes) How sound travels.

Objective: Learn that sound vibrations can cause vibrations in other
materials, recognize that sound travels by way of vibrations in the air
or in other materials.
Overview: Children do an activity that demonstrates how the vibration
of a sound source can cause vibrations of other materials. They use
Tue, March 3 this activity as the basic explanation and discussion of how sound
travels.
Materials: 22 medium paper cups, 11 pepper packets, plastic wrap,
rubber bands, pencils to tap on cups, sound science notebook pg 7,
sound assessment 3

Wed, March 4
 Lesson 5: (30-40 minutes) Sound through a string.
Objective: Discover that sound vibrations can be transmitted through
a cup-and-string telephone, find ways to affect the transmission of
sound vibrations.
Overview: Children continue to explore sound vibrations and sound
transmissions as they send secret messages to one another using
Thu, March 5 cup-and-string telephones. While experimenting with their telephones,
the children find several ways to affect the transmission of their
messages.
Materials: cotton string (cut into 5 meter lengths), 22 medium paper
cups, 22 paper clips to secure string to cups, science notebook pg 8
and 9, sound assessment 3.

Fri, March 6 ***Kids Fair

Mon, March 9

Lesson 6: (30-40 minutes) Ears Hear

Objective: Learn about the main parts of the ear, recognize how
sound travels into and through the ear, understand that the inner ear
translate sound vibrations into signals that get send to the brain.
Overview: Children enact how sound through the three main parts of
the ear to better understand how ears hear. Student volunteers act
out various parts of the ear.
Tue, March 10 Materials: rubber bands to attach labels for ear parts to children’s
arms, string to represent auditory nerve and tiny hairs in the cochlea
prop, chair for the “stir up” to balance against during the enactment,
plastic bottle, overhead of “ear bones”, overhead of “ear diagram”,
science notebook page 10, teacher masters “ear labels”, sound
assessment 3
Wed, March 11

Lesson 7: (30-40 minutes)

Objective: Discover that sound vibrations can be transmitted through
a cup-and-string telephone, find ways to affect the transmission of
sound vibrations.
Overview: Part 1: Children listen to and compare sounds that have
different pitches and describe them as high, middle, or low. Children
explore various pitch stations.
Part 2: Children explore ways of changing pitch using a variety of
Thu, March 12 sound-producing materials. They identify which parts vibrate to make
a sound, and reflect on the relationship between vibration and pitch.
Materials: plastic bowls and chopsticks for drums, PVC tubes of
different lengths to experiment with pitch, rope, rubber bands of
assorted sizes, rulers, slide whistle, trash bags, chart paper, chimes,
glass jars, meter stick, plastic tub, science notebook pages 11-14,
sound assessment 1 and 2.
***Videotape lesson and
write extended lesson
plan

***continue lesson 7 if not enough time Thursday.

Fri, March 13

Mon, March 16
 Lesson 8: (30-40 minutes) Exploring Volume
Objective: Investigate ways to change volume by hitting, blowing, or
strumming materials harder or softer, investigate ways to amplify
sounds by adding a sound box of sound tube, distinguish between
pitch and volume and use appropriate descriptors for each, consider
the relationship between volume and the size of vibrations.
Overview: Children experiment with changing the volume of sounds
by tapping, blowing, or strumming a variety of materials harder or
Tue, March 17 softer, and amplifying sounds with a “sound box” and “sound tube”
They identify materials that vibrate to make a sound, and consider the
relationships between vibration and volume.
Materials: chopsticks to tap to make sound, rubber bands (large size)
to pluck to make sound, cardboard boxes to make sound boxes, paper
to make sound tubes., sound science notebook page 15, sound
assessment 1, 2, and 6.

Wed, March 18

Lesson 9: (30-40 minutes) Designing Musical Instruments

Objective: Explain how a homemade instrument will vibrate to
produce sound, and describe how to change the pitch and volume of a
planned instrument.
Overview: Children apply their knowledge of sound and vibration by
using a variety of common materials to design percussion, wind, or
stringed instruments. They plan and draw pictures of their designs,
Thu, March 19 and then explain how their instruments will work. The instruments
need to be able to change pitch and volume.
Materials: Various recycled materials from scrap box and home to
make instruments (beans, tape, string, chopsticks, cups, bowls,
popcorn kernels, dowels, electrical tape, nylon, trash bags, popcicle
sticks, masking tape, tins, aluminum, boxes, etc. Science notebook
pages 16-20, sound assessment 4.
 Fri, March 20

***Multi-Cultural Day
Mon, March 23

Lesson 10: (30-40 minutes) Building a musical instrument

Objective: Experiment with different materials to determine how to
build a stringed, percussion, or wind instrument that can change pitch
and volume.
Overview: Children experiment with using various materials to build
the musical instrument they designed in the previous lesson. They
Tue, March 24 redesign their instruments, if necessary, and discuss any problems
they have implementing their designs.
Materials: bags or boxes t o store supplies for instruments in
progress, labels, science notebook pages 17-19 and 21-24, sound
assessment 2 and 4.
***Videotape lesson and
write expanded lesson
plan

Wed, March 25
 Lesson 11: (30-40 minutes) Refining musical instruments
Objective: Evaluate whether a building buddy’s self-designed musical
instrument meets the project criteria, refine or redesign musical
instruments as needed, be able to explain the parts of their instrument
that vibrates to produce sound and how the instrument changes pitch
and volume, and become adept at changing the pitch and volume of a
Thu, March 26 self-designed instrument.
Overview: Children work with a “building buddy” to evaluate, refine
and, if necessary, redesign their musical instruments.
Materials: cotton string (cut into 5 meter lengths), 22 medium paper
cups, 22 paper clips to secure string to cups, science notebook pg 8
and 9, sound assessment 3.

Fri, March 27

***Students write invitation to their family inviting them to their concert

Mon, March 30 and celebration on the morning of Wednesday, April 8th.

***Field trip to the Natural Science Museum

Tue, March 31
Wed, April 1

Continue Lesson 11 (Students complete musical instruments)

Thu, April 2

Fri, April 3

Mon, April 6

Tue, April 7
 Lesson 12: (60 minutes) Sharing Instruments with peers and parents
Objective: Describe the sources of vibrations that produce the sound
in a self-designed instrument, show and explain how to change the
pitch and volume of a self-designed instrument.
Overview: Children demonstrate the musical instruments they
designed and built to Kindergarten class. They explain what parts of
their instruments are vibrating to produce sound and then demonstrate
Wed, April 8 and explain how to change the pitch and volume. The children also
reflect on the design and building process, describing the problems
they encountered and evaluating how well their instruments meet the
initial design criteria. Families and students also celebrate the
completion of their musical instruments with treats from teachers and
volunteers.
Materials: Student’s musical instruments. FAMILIES INVITED!
***Video tape lesson and
write extended lesson
plan

Thu, April 9

Fri, April 10