Oh the joy and excitement that shaking a jar full of jingle bells, beans, or even cotton balls can bring to first graders! They really enjoyed exploring how different materials can produce different sound waves! Thank you!
The Goleta Union School District’s STEAM teachers received an Innovation Grant to enhance the lessons they were teaching about sound. The grant funds covered the cost of the materials for all nine schools, including books, storage tubs, beakers, jingle bells, drum sticks, and the supplies for making drums and kazoos.
These lessons impacted 470 students in 1st grade and were based on grade-level science standards designed to help deepen 1st graders’ understanding of sound, vibration and pitch. They experimented with various materials over several labs. Students read The Beat in My Head, built drums and analyzed the sound differences between various materials, tested the pitch of beakers with differing amounts of water, and created their own kazoo to take home. GEF also funded the purchase of Sounds All Around to support lessons for TK students, who created their own maracas.
Jessica Zavala, a STEAM Specialist at Kellogg Elementary, says, “The opportunity to teach lessons that make our students excited to attend class in the lab each week, is a win as an educator! When we are provided with the necessary resources to make lessons hands-on, the students show interest and in-turn complete the unit with a thorough understanding of the subject – components for success, as an educator.”
Thank you to our 2023-2024 Lemon Run sponsor
for funding this STEAM grant!
1st graders found each sound lesson fun and engaging. Having the opportunity to test different sounds allowed them to be explorative and inventive.