Infusion of Literacy into the Science Curriculum

Book Information

Title / The Other Way to Listen
Author / Byrd Baylor and Peter Parnall
Publisher / New York: Scribner
Copyright Year / 1978
IBN# / 68416017
Summary / The Caldecott Honor author/illustrator team that brought readers "The Desert Is Theirs" and "The Way to Start a Day" returns with this tale of truly listening to the world around us. In "The Other Way to Listen", a young boy is eager to learn and an old man is happy to share his wisdom.
Availability / Arlington Central Library; APS Library system:
Arlington Science Focus, Campbell, Hoffman Boston, Key, Long Branch
Amazon (for purchase).

How can the book content be infused into the science curriculum?

Grade Level / K-5
Strands / Scientific Investigation, Reasoning and Logic; Force, Motion and Energy
Kindergarten / Scientific Investigation, Reasoning and Logic
K.1; K.2- Five senses, descriptions and sequencing
Grade 1 / Scientific Investigation, Reasoning and Logic
1.1-  Classifying, measuring, predicting
Grade 2 / Scientific Investigation, Reasoning and Logic
2.1- Measurement, classification, graphs, unexpected data
Grade 3 / Scientific Investigation, Reasoning and Logic
3.1- Making predications and observations, data charted, drawing conclusion
Grade 4 / Scientific Investigation, Reasoning and Logic
4.1- Hypotheses, predictions, measurement
Grade 5 / Scientific Investigation, Reasoning and Logic
5.1- Classification key, measurement, graphing data, variables
Force, Motion, and Energy
5.2 Sound

Sample Activities

Grade K-2 / 1.  Discuss how sounds are produced? Have children hold their hand to their throat and say their name. What they feel is a vibration. Say more words using a whisper, growl, cough, etc. Do all these sounds produce the same vibrations? Describe.
2.  Vibrating chords. Using a mirror, have students keep their mouth closed and hum, making a mmm sound. While continuing to hum open their mouths and note the new sound produced. Make the sounds using the following letter D, P, S, A, E, I, O and U while they look in the mirrow to observe the shape of their lips and whether the mouth is open or closed.
3.  Give each student a rubber band and challenge them to make a sound using only the band.
4.  Hold the rubber band tightly between the index fingers of both hands. They can rub their chin across the rubber band to make a sound. What happens when they stretch the band? use different width rubber bands.
5.  Make a box guitar. Choose 5-6 different rubber bands. Remove the box lid. Stretch each band around the box. Pluck one at a time and listen to see if it makes a high or a low sound. Rearrange the bands on the box so they are in order from lowest to highest pitch.
6.  Secure a ruler to on the end of a desk with the palm of your hand. Gently pluck the free edge. Change the length of the overhanging ruler. How does the sound change?
7.  Strike a tuning fork with a rubber mallet against your knee and place it in a container of water. Observe what they see.
8.  Sound Scavenger Hunt. Give the children a list of sounds for a walking field trip. The list may include certain bird songs, insects, leaves rustling, horns honking, etc.
9.  Who Did That? One person stands about 15 feet away in front of the group with his/her back facing the children. Point to one child who will make some sort of sound. The listener turns around and tries to figure out who made the sound.
10. Mystery Tape. Make a tape recording of different sound (nature sounds, instruments, timers, etc). Children try to guess what the sounds are.
Grade 3-5 / Same as above with added discussions and activities.
What enables us to hear sounds? What happens when a sound wave reaches our ear? How is sound transmitted to the brain?
1. Sound waves. Stretch a Slinky out on the floor or a table to about three to four meters with a partner firmly holding the other end. One of you represents the sound source and the other represents the sound receiver (the ear). The sound source person gives the Slinky a push. What happens? Put more force into the push. Observe. Does the wave change? Do the coils of the Slinky travel away from one person toward the other? What is moving from one end of the Slinky to the other?
2. Vibrations through compacted air. Ask a partner to stand half the distance across the room from you and whisper a sentence to you. Blow up a balloon and tie the end. The air in the balloon is squeezed or compacted. Hold the balloon against your ear. Ask your partner to whisper a sentence to you again. Trade places and repeat the experiment. Did the balloon change the sound of your partner's whisper? How and why? Does air or compacted air transmit sound better?