A Simple Sound Lesson

The idea for this lesson came to me one day after realizing that my students could benefit from more practice fine tuning their listening skills.  Initially, the thought occurred to me to simply introduce the Sound Boxes to more children or play the Silence Game more often with the entire class.  Given that the school year begins in September with many new members of the class however, I thought it would be the ideal time to put together a very simple sound activity.  Not only does this lesson promote auditory awareness, but also prepares the child for future work with the Sensorial and Science materials.


Inside a wooden caddy:  rolled piece of black felt held together with a napkin ring; Sound/No Sound labels; six small boxes - three are empty and three are filled with beads.



A closer look at the labels.  I made them in Word using clip-art and simply used a red marker for the 'X' - critical for the success of pre-readers using the material.

To do the work, the child unrolls the felt and places the labels at the top.  Then, one by one, he picks up a box, shakes it, and listens for any sound, and places the box under the corresponding label.


Lesson completed.

I feel this lesson emphasizes an important skill needed before working with Sound Boxes or attempting the Silence Game.  Additionally, it prepares my students with the organization and use of materials specifically in our Science area - subsequent work with Living/Non-Living; Magnetic/Non-Magnetic, etc. are presented and utilized in the same manner.  Following Montessori's idea of isolation of concept, identical boxes were used for those making sound and those that did not.  In this manner, the child uses only his hearing in determining sound (rather than by sight if the boxes were marked).  Furthermore, the boxes that make sound are identical in their sound, enhancing the isolated concept of determining sound or not.  Sound matching and grading will follow later with the Sound Boxes... For control of error, I placed colored dots on the bottoms of the boxes. 

Such a simple lesson, yet provides so much for the youngest, newest members of the class!