Sensory Overload

This is Wrinkles. He's taking a nap as he is regularly worn out by excited Grade One students. This year's class loves him a LOT! He helps me make sounding out words more interesting for the little ones. It's not too much fun to have them say the last sound of a word, but it is more fun to correct a bad puppet who won't obey the teacher :)

Last week we learned a bit about our sense of hearing. We split into our four gym squads to go to different stations. This group had to go into the hallway for space reasons, but more importantly, it was the quietest place to be. They tried out the ol' cup and string telephone. We were showing how sound is carried through vibration.

Unfortunately they didn't all understand that for it to work the string had to be taut.
I also laughed to watch kids with both cups to their ears and wondering why they couldn't hear anything. Or as in this picture, both speaking into the cup and no one listening on the other end.

There were three areas in the classroom. Here the students shook the sealed coffee tins. There were four pairs of tins and each pair contained a different item like pennies or macaroni. Students had to shake them to identify the matching sounds. Vigorous shaking ensued.

Other students went to the corner with the elastic band "instruments". They were experimenting with how different sized elastics changed the sound. They also pulled some elastics tighter than others to see what difference that made. It was good in theory, but there's that one other group in the corner which made an impact...

And that was this area right here. The instruments corner. Strange how all the students were attracted to the drums and cymbals and experimenting with what kind of sounds they could make there. It got...loud. The most fun instruments were the instruments that they could hit as hard as they could to make the loudest noise that they could.
Perhaps they were not used to the concept of purposefully being very loud in class. Ha, I know, I wish. :)

Look they found matching pairs!

A brief glimpse into my quiet classroom. I didn't think pictures could quite convey what it was like this morning, so you get to listen and watch -- use that sense of hearing!!

No I did not pack any Advil for the day ;)

Grade One and Two: