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Exploring the Sounds Around Us

Aim: What are the sounds we hear in the city and in nature?
Summary: Students listen to and describe sounds.
Standards: US 6, 7; NYC 1, 2
Grade: Kindergarten
Concept: Form, Dynamics, Articulation
Artistic Process: responding, creating
Materials: audio examples, student worksheets (The Sounds Around Us, What Do I Hear?)
Time Required: 20 minutes

Instructions

1. Play the following sound effects:

2. Have students identify each sound that they hear on the student worksheet.
Download Student Worksheet (PDF)

3. Play the sounds effects again. Ask students questions about what they hear.

  • Are the sounds the same or different?
  • Is the sound loud or soft?
  • Is the sound connected or separated?
  • Is the sound high or low?
  • How can we move to that sound?

4. Have students identify and describe other sounds they hear in the classroom or in their neighborhood. Have students draw a picture of the object(s) that make sound on their worksheet.

Going Deeper

  1. Listen to music that is inspired by nature. What do you hear in the music? Is the music loud or soft? High or low? Connected or separated?
  2. As students listen, have them circle or point to the expressive qualities they hear on the What Do I Hear? student worksheet.
    Download Student Worksheet (PDF)

Video

Kindergarten Activity Exemplar: Exploring the Sounds Around Us

This video is an exemplar of an activity from Carnegie Hall’s Music Educators Toolbox entitled "Exploring the Sounds Around Us." Students listen to and describe sounds.

Assessments

Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

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