Sound

When I heard I was going to be teaching at a middle school, I must confess that I got very excited thinking that I wouldn't have to plan so many lessons, that I'd be able to repeat some of the lessons.  I was wrong.  Much like back home, I teach a variety of subjects and the only thing I am getting to repeat is my American Studies class as I get a new crop of kiddos each term.

I teach science back home, and I have been teaching science here, too.  Science has never been my forte, neither as a student nor a teacher, but thanks to some truly wonderful training through AMSTI (Alabama Math and Science Technology Institute), I had detailed training on the specific topics that I taught.  Now, that doesn't mean I could even move to a new grade level and teach it very well, that means that I had thorough training on four topics that I taught to fourth graders.  Here, I have enjoyed the science topics I have taught, but I've truly known very little about them, so I've found myself first having to learn the material before I even begin the planning.

This half term though, that all changes!  I'm teaching sound, a unit that I teach back home - one that I truly love!  I had such a fun time today setting up the investigations for the students, using ideas from resources here and incorporating some of my own from home.  Today, the kids were discovering that sound is made through vibrations.  They "plucked" a rubber band, felt their throat as they talked, "plucked" a ruler, stuck a tuning fork in a bowl of water and watched it spray, and my favorite one, the tuning fork and the ping-pong ball:


It was so much fun to see the kids' faces light up as they watched the ball bounce back and forth because of the vibrations.  The kids quickly made the connection that sounds are made through vibrations, and I'm pretty sure it was a lesson that will stick with them!

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