Too Much Noise, by Ann McGovern

            What happens when all the noises of the house keep you awake at night?

Materials

Vocabulary

  • Burro (another name for a donkey)

Before Reading the Story

            Ask the children what we use our ears for.  Talk about the importance of ears and how to take care of your ears (avoid really loud sounds/music, do not put things in your ears).    Explain that some people can not hear well or at all with their ears.  Ears sometimes get plugged and you can not hear very well but a doctor can help you to hear better.  If ever you think your ears are not hearing well, tell an adult. Tell the children that some people’s ears do not work properly.  Mime a sentence.Talk about being deaf or wearing a hearing aid.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; bui.lds awareness and ability to follow basic health and safety rules such as fire safety, traffic and pedestrian safety, and responding appropriately to potentially harmful objects, substances, and activities.

Reading the Story

            Explain that today’s story is about a man whose ears work too good and he heard all kinds of sounds at night.  Ask them if they can guess what is going to happen? Introduce the book.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.

After Reading the Story

            Ask the children why they think the wise man had the old man get a cow and a burro and a dog and a cat? 

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems.

Have the children sit very quietly for a minute.  Then ask them to help list some of the sounds that they heard.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develpps growing abilities to colllect, describe, and record information threough a variety of means, including discussion, drawings, maps, and charts.

Discovery

            Make a tape recording ahead of time of familiar household sounds (vacuum, water dripping, shower, door bell, dog barking, car driving by, horn).  Put the tape on and let the children listen and try to identify the sounds.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem-Solving; grows in recognizing and solving problems through active exploration, including trial and error, and interactions and discussions with peers and adults.

Make a set of animal ears and the animals that they belong to. Can the children identify the correct ears to the correct animal?

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops increased ability to observe and discuss common properties, differences, and comparisons among objects and materials.

Music and Movement

            Sing the alphabet song.  The second time around start off very softly and get louder and louder.  The third time start off loudly and get softer and softer.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; knows that letters of the alphabet are a special category of visual graphics that can be individually named.

            Use you classroom instruments.  Can you play loudly?  Can you play softly?  Have the children sort the instruments by those that make loud sounds and those that make quiet sounds.

Creative Arts/Music; experiments with a variety of musical instruments.

            Sing, Do Your Ears Hang Low https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH7A_pBOTkY

Do your ears hang low

Do they wobble to and fro

Can you tie them in a knot

Can you tie them in a bow?

Can you throw them over your shoulder

Like a strong brave soldier

Do your ears hang low?

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems.

Blocks

            Challenge the children to build a house.  Can they make it have a window and a door?

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; demonstrates increasing ability to set goals and develop and follow through on plans.

Art

            Bring in clay or play dough to pound and roll.

Creative Arts/Art; gains ability tin using different art media and materials in a variety of ways for creative expression and representation.

Library and Writing

            Bring in books with pictures animals and note their ears. (Look at this rabbit’s ears; he must be able to hear really well.  Look at this dog’s ears, they hang down)

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops increased ability to observe and discuss common properties, differences, and comparisons among objects and materials.

Sand and Water

            Use water today.  Add containers that allow the water to pour at different rates (sprinkle, rush, splashing).  Talk about the sounds of the water as it flows from the container back into the water table.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops increased ability to observe and discuss common properties, differences, and comparisons among objects and materials.

Dramatic Play

            Act out night time rituals.  Encourage the children to snore as they sleep.

Creative Arts/ Dramatic PLay; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex.

Math and Manipulatives

            Hold two Popsicle sticks side by side and draw a shape that covers both (square).  Do this with a number of sets of Popsicle sticks.  Put all the sticks in a bowl and encourage the children to make the matching sets.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; shows growth in matching, sorting, putting in series, and regroup objects according to one or two attributes such as color, shape, or size.

Outdoor Play

            Sit outside and listen to all the sounds that pass through the play ground.  Do you hear any voices that you recognize?  Do you hear any birds or cars?  Listen carefully and you might hear an insect fly by.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to use senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials and observe processes and relationships.

Transitions

            Ask the children to listen carefully to the letter sounds that you make.  If their name begins with this letter sounds they may go to the next activity. /K/K/Kerry

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; shows growing awareness of beginning and ending sounds of words.

Resources

Thank you Buzz Feed for these animals and their ears.





About Kerry CI am an Early Childhood Educator who has seen daily the value of shared book readings with my preschoolers. I use the book theme in my centers and can daily touch upon a variety of Early Childhood Domains which makes assessing the children easy and individualized.