Learning and Teaching
The Sound of Music – Year 1 & 2 Inquiry
Our Year 1 and 2 community has been exploring an exciting Inquiry unit titled “The Sound of Music…how can we use sound to communicate in different ways?”
So far, students have been investigating how sound is made and how it travels. They have explored how vibrations create sound and have experimented with a range of materials to observe how different sounds can be produced. Through listening and hands-on activities, students have begun to describe and compare sounds, and to think about how sound can be used to share ideas and feelings.
Over the coming weeks, students will continue to explore sound through creating and performing. They will experiment with rhythm, pitch and volume, and use their voices, bodies and simple instruments to communicate in creative ways.
From this week, students will begin designing and making their own tissue box guitars. This provides a wonderful opportunity to apply their understanding of sound in a practical and engaging way.
If you would like to try this at home, here is a simple way to make your own box guitar:
Make Your Own Box Guitar
You will need:
* An empty tissue box
* Rubber bands (different sizes if possible)
* A cardboard tube (e.g. paper towel roll)
* Sticky tape
Steps:
1. Cut a hole in the top of the tissue box if it does not already have an opening.
2. Stretch several rubber bands around the box so they go over the hole.
3. Place the rubber bands at different distances apart to create different sounds.
4. Attach the cardboard tube to one end of the box using tape to make the neck of the guitar.
5. Pluck the rubber bands and listen carefully to the sounds they make.
Encourage your child to experiment by changing the tension or thickness of the rubber bands and describing how the sound changes.
We look forward to seeing and hearing how the students will create their own compositions using what they have learnt about pitch and rhythm using their voice, body and instruments. They will perform their compositions to families at the end of the term.
Deborah Courtney
(Director of Learning and Teaching)