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Since the middle of February while were creating our dragon project, I started to notice something. The kids were taking the logs out of our building area and creating "bands" with them as drum sets. Kids were making shaker's at the maker's space, two friends brought three sizes of clay to me and wanted to show the class how when they thumped them each size made a different sound. Another friend took a plastic bottle wrapper off the bottle and pulled on both ends sharply and showing us the snapping sound it made. I was hoping to avoid it this year, but somehow, every year, kids start exploring sound! So....guess what our next large scale inquiry is: Sound! I set out some areas for them to explore first. Then we will let them wonder. I set out glasses for them to compose their own music and perform for the class. I had planned on it being an exploration of pitch, but they noticed something else instead. At first the compositions were very random, then one friend colored an AB pattern and played it. It sparked a discussion on how there could be patterns in sound and also defined "rhythm" as their patterns became more complex. After they were done with this area, I set out these materials to see what they noticed about sound. We discovered that the more water that was in the bowls, the lower the pitch and the less water the higher the pitch! For our Engineers, I put out materials for them to create instruments and show what you have to do to get it it to produce sound. They created instruments that produced sound through shaking, striking, rubbing and strumming. For our artists, I set out pictures of instruments for them to look closer and then draw its outline with a sharpie and creatively paint it with watercolors. We also looked at Picasso's Blue Guitar painting, then hung it at our easel to inspire artists to create their own. As they explored, two main things came up in our wonders which became our driving questions. How is sound made? When does sound become music? We learned that sound is caused by vibrations and that the sound waves travel through the air to our ears. But something had to happen to make the vibrations start? The kids through exploring came to the conclusion that sound is made by striking, shaking, blowing, rubbing, strumming and plucking. We made instruments to model the different ways to make sound. To show that sound can be made by shaking, we made maracas. To explore the concept of pitch, we provided different fillings for maracas: Sand (not pictured), rice and two different sizes of beans, then we compared them. We also used these as guiros to show show that sound can be made by rubbing. They just ran a craft stick over the ridges of the bottle. To show that sound can be made by blowing, we made harmonicas! The first time we tried them they didn't work. I realized that we needed thicker rubber bands to create the sound. They could tell the rubber bands were vibrating as they produced sound. They were very loud! The kids loved them! To show that sound can be made by strumming or plucking, we made cup guitars! They have a great rich sound when you put them by your ear and pluck them as the sound is amplified by the cup! We used three different sized rubber bands to create different pitches. The kids could really see the vibrations with these. They could also feel the vibrations on their hands. To show that sound can be made by banging, we made drums! To organize our data, we created a web map showing the different ways to make sound and the instruments that are used for each one. To explore when sound becomes music, I showed them videos of a group called STOMP. They use random objects to create different rhythms with different pitches. Look them up on YouTube! They are amazing and the kids loved watching them. They were inspired and created their own STOMP inspired groups using random objects we could find in our room and our closet! You can see some videos of these on my Instagram account at darlamyersclass. Through STOMP we realized that when sound has a pattern it gives it rhythm, and when sound has different pitches added to the rhythm it creates music! After all of our exploring and investigating, we wrote informational books about sound to show what they learned. The kids really loved exploring the science of sound! Another thing going on in our room is a Mo Willems author study. These little friends have been in our reading area all year long. The kids didn't think they were really anything special until... we read one of his Elephant and Piggy books. The kids have really enjoyed listening to and reading his Elephant and Piggy books. They have been very inspired by him in Writer's Workshop and many Elephant and Piggy stories have been written by them. They decided that they wanted to turn our dramatic play area into an Elephant and Piggy Workshop where they could read and write stories about them! Now these stuffed animals are extra special to them! Here is our finished area! They made a sign: This area has been very popular! A lot of reading and writing skills are being practiced here! I am sure as we read his pigeon and Knuffle Bunny books, they will be inspired to write stories about them in this area also! We brought out our collaborative canvas again! It just didn't seem finished yet! I poured some paint on it and the kids used large craft sticks to scrape the paint across the canvas. They loved this process! I think next we will start adding some texture and three dimensional aspects to it! Here is a clue as to what we are going to discover next! It fits in this box!

In the changing world of work, it is important to have a good workspace. Many people are now working from home and they need an area that is designed for

I recently developed a slight obsession with Shrinky Dinks. It was one of my favorite crafting activities as a child, and now as a mom, my daughter is having fun with it too. If you’ve never used it, it’s basically thin sheets of plastic that you can cut and color and then bake in the oven, […]

In the past few years, we have seen plenty of exciting augmented reality apps for iOS and Android. With ARKit, we are going to see even more sophisticated

Try these easy sound experiments -- Elementary & Middle School kids will LOVE testing the science of sound with this fun wave experiment to create a 'gong' and explore how sound waves travel!

As part of my quest to learn about AI, I set myself the goal of building a simple neural network in Python. To ensure I truly understand it, I had to build it from scratch without using a neural…

6 tips for the perfect business pitch #startup http://t.co/3K4qGl3oAZ

Make a simple guitar and set up fun and easy sound science experiments for kids. How do sounds sound different in different rooms.

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Here’s an overview of the various creative gadgets for the elderly living alone. I have listed some assistive devices for the elderly and traditional Here’s an overview of the various creative gadgets for elderly living alone. I have listed some assistive devices for elderly and traditional elder care equipment that allows your loved one live independently.

gadgets our grandchildren will likely be using in the future.

Let's all take a moment to appreciate the wonders of video calling — and all these products.

Shadows in CSS are quick and easy, whether you’re slapping on a box-shadow or a text-shadow. But how comfortable are you with inner shadows? Can you pull off an inset box-shadow? How do you do the same thing on some text? Today we’re going to learn some really simple inset shad...

In this video and podcast episode, I'm going to share with you a little-known secret--how to create drag and drop activities with Google Slides.

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Discover inspiring glass block ideas that redefine design possibilities. Transform spaces with creative concepts blending light, privacy, and art.

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In this Python API tutorial, learn about APIs by requesting and analyzing data from the international space station using Python.

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How to Make a Negative Ion Air Ionizer: Two models will be shown, one full-wave rectified and the other a half-wave rectified negative ion ionizer. Featuring an optional fan on the full-wave model. Benefits of negative ions supposedly include • freshen and purify the air • help lift mood…

After recently stumbling across the coolest sewing machine invention I had ever seen, it made me start to wonder. What other super cool sewing related technology is out there that I had yet to discover?! I did a little bit of research, and here is what I found… I mean, this stuff is interesting. Am I right? […]

Time to get APPy friends! Today I am sharing a technology tool that is not quite an app. However, you can press the sharrow and add to home screen to create an app for it. The tool of choice is called, PADLET. Think of an online bulletin board. Instead of students posting sticky notes on a wall, they can post on a virtual wall. At this time, my students are writing expository pieces. I wanted to make sure the kids truly understood what an expository piece was. The class was asked to post what they wanted their topic to be, and after the OK from me, they could begin. This was great for the kids that didn’t understand because it allowed me to provide a refresher for them. This Padlet asked a STAAR-based question from a former STAAR passage. Kids input their responses as if it were an open-ended question. We then analyzed our answers with the answer choices provided. Teaching grammar? Grammar lessons can tie in very nicely with a Padlet. You could integrate this into a KWL chart for not just grammar, but famous people in social studies, science concepts, and much more. We recently ended out geometry unit, and this […]

Build your own email server on the Pi.

We have been talking second grade science! Specifically, we'll chat about the Next Gen standards on landforms and how to implement hands on activities,