Spark City Children’s Museum was such a wonderful way to start off the school week! Monday’s group (and all those who joined) had a great time role playing in a renovated school busy, shopping for food, serving, preparing and sorting waste into bins labeled TRASH, RECYLCLE and COMPOST. As I was helping to re-stock the shelves in the grocery store area of the bus (take the items out of the recycle and trash bins), one student decided to help me out. As we dove into the bin and discussed if the items inside were sorted correctly, he began laughing at the way he heard his voice “echo” inside of the bin. I smiled and reflected to him how keen his sense of hearing was at that moment (yes, we were also learning about our sense of hearing today).
During work time, I introduced the children to letter C. We made the hard letter C sound and listed words that began with the letter. Each child worked on tracing and trying to copy letter C and also completed a simple maze. I also introduced the concept of letters either being AIRY or LOUD. We put our hands in front of our mouths and on our throats while we make the sound of the letter. If we feel allot of air on our hands then the letter is AIRY. If we feel the sound in our throats, the letter is loud. After making the hard sound of C, we decided it was both AIRY and LOUD.
Finally, we learned about our sense of hearing. We read about the parts of our inner ears and how the sound “bounces” off the drum and sends information to our brains. We touched the different parts of the outer ears and labeled them as well. We discussed how some parts are soft and fleshy while others are hard and bendy. The children had a blast playing a listening bingo game. They listened to sounds played on a tape player and tried to match those sounds to pictures on different cards. If they had the picture, they covered it with a bingo chip. Even if they did not have the picture, they were all encouraged to help identify the sounds they heard. Many sounds were familiar while some were puzzling. We will repeat this game on Wednesday and see if the children will recall sounds they were exposed to for the first time.
