Duration: 45 minutes

SPIRIT Skills:

• Critical thinking
• Creativity
• Problem-solving

Brief Description:

There are four tables with different material:

• Students explore how to make sounds with the materials. 
• Each group presents their “solutions.”

Students try to imitate the softest sound possible. 

• They try to imitate the loudest sound possible. 
• They try to imitate a sound that is neither too soft nor too loud. 
• THIS ALWAYS HAPPENS WITH THE SAME ‘MATERIAL’ 

Each group presents their ‘solutions.

How does this develop particular SPIRIT skills

Critical thinking (is this the softest sound possible?), creativity (how can we make the sound softer?)

What do we want to achieve regarding SPIRIT skill development (student understanding and/or behaviour)?

Critical Thinking (e.g., “Is this the softest sound possible?”):

Children actively reflect on their sounds and adjust their techniques to produce softer sounds. They compare their sounds and question whether it can be softer. Behaviour:

• Pause and rethink their approach.
• Experiment with materials by making small adjustments.
• Discuss with each other about the result (e.g., “Is this the softest sound?”).

Creativity (e.g., “How can we make the sound softer?”):

Children try new approaches and explore different techniques to achieve their goal. They think outside the box and experiment with the materials. Behaviour:

• Experiment with various ways to modify the sound.
• Collaborate within their group on alternative methods.
• Flexibility in their approach, by making changes when their initial attempts fail

Academic/Curriculum Objective connection

• Students can produce loud and soft sounds with different kinds of materials.

In the translation it must be adapted! They are the national curriculum!

Materials and tools needed for implementation 

• Own body (without voice) – valuable free material – Orff musical instruments – Percussion instruments.

Preparation notes

• group students into small teams. 

Guided Questions

Is this the softest sound we can produce? Encourage critical thinking of the kids by  the following questions (just ask and encourage the child to think:

• Imagine there’s a tiny mouse sleeping in the corner of the room, and we don’t want to wake it up! How could we produce a sound using this object even more gently- almost as if we were just lightly stroking it?”
• I see you just used your whole palm. What happens with the sound if next time we touch it very slowly with just the tip of your little finger?

When children think they’ve made the loudest sound they can, help them with the following questions: (encouraging creative experimentation.)

• If I were standing out in the yard, do you think I’d hear this sound? Which part of this instrument would you have to hit or shake to make the sound grow really loud?
• If we want to imitate the loudest storm, would hitting it just once be enough? What happens if we repeat the movement many times, quickly? Let’s try it together!”

When they can’t think of how to use their own bodies as instruments

• What are two parts of your body that you can touch together? Try rubbing your palms together really fast next to your ears! What does that sound like?”
• Do you think your feet are only for walking, or can you use them to make a sound on the floor that sounds like soft rain falling?

When it’s hard to find the “medium” sound

• Do you remember the mouse’s very soft sound and the bear’s really loud one? Now try making a sound that’s just right for an average-sized puppy! Not too tiny, not too scary. Let’s see how we can do that!”

Who liked this sound?  Empathy and emotional communication building support:

• Let’s all close our eyes for a moment and listen to this sound again! How did it feel to your ears? Was it pleasant, warm, and soothing for some of you, or was it rather cold or too loud for others? If this sound were a small animal, would it be a sweet, cuddly puppy, or a grumpy, scary lion? Ask the person sitting next to you: do they see the same little animal in their mind as you do, or did this sound make them think of something completely different?

Stage Debriefing Questions (Optional)

• When you first thought you’d found the quietest sound, but then managed to make an even quieter one: how did you figure out the trick? What changed when you decided to try again instead of giving up after your first guess?
• I noticed that you tried many different methods using the same object or your own bodies until you finally found the sound you were looking for. What did you do when your first idea didn’t work – how did you come up with something completely new?
• How did you notice within your group if someone really liked a sound, or, on the contrary, if it was unpleasant to their ears? How did you understand each other’s feelings? How were you able to agree on a volume level that everyone on the team liked in the end?

Tips and Tricks for dealing with stage challenges

• Place the groups in a different room or space so they can carry out their sound investigation without interruptions.
• It is important for you, as the teacher, to visit each group during the activity to challenge them to explore even more creative ways to produce loud or soft sounds with their instruments.
• Encourage multiple solutions and really challenge them to find an even softer sound

Duration: 90 minutes

SPIRIT Skills:

• Critical thinking
• Problem-solving
• Creativity
• Curiosity, sense of wonder and openness

Brief Description:

Warming up

In the previous lesson, we learned how precipitation forms.

• Who can explain this again? 
• What was ‘condensation’ again? 
• What is a cloud made of? 

Tweets and weather photos from the past few days are shown; Ask the students what they see and read. This way, the students will understand that there are different forms of precipitation.

Explanation

We discuss the different forms of precipitation (with their associated intensity) and their typical appearance. The photo is shown, and the teacher asks questions (e.g., what do you see here? How is this photo related to precipitation?). The teacher writes the different forms of precipitation on the board (+ explanation + different intensities).” 

Students record each form of precipitation on their sheet and can choose how to explain it (through drawing or words). Ask the students what they would like to know more about regarding one of these forms of precipitation

Review exercise 

The whole classroom together: First, review the photos/tweets from the orientation phase and see if they can now name/describe them correctly 

Individual: Distribute a worksheet. In the left column, you will find the different forms of precipitation. In the right column, you can find the descriptions of the different forms of precipitation. It is up to the students to determine which description matches which form of precipitation. Be careful: there is one description missing. We will then correct the worksheet together.

How does this develop particular SPIRIT skills

• Wondering (By mentioning various facts and records about the forms of precipitation, you create a sense of wonder—for example, how large the biggest hailstone was), 
• Curiosity, critical thinking (They need to make choices about what the correct solution is. This is critical thinking).

What do we want to achieve regarding SPIRIT skill development (student understanding and/or behaviour)?

Wondering (e.g., “How large was the biggest hailstone?”)

Children’s sense of wonder is sparked by the interesting facts and records shared, prompting them to ask questions and express surprise. Their curiosity leads them to explore and seek answers to new questions about precipitation. Behaviour:

• Wide-eyed curiosity when new facts or surprising details are shared.
• Raising hands or sharing thoughts about facts they find intriguing (e.g., about hailstone size).
• Engaging in discussions with peers about unusual or surprising facts, showing excitement to learn more.

Curiosity (e.g., “What do you want to know more about?”)

Children show their curiosity by asking questions and seeking further exploration of precipitation forms. They feel the need to explore topics that spark their interest. Behaviour:

• Asking follow-up questions based on the teacher’s explanations or photos.
• Sharing personal observations or wondering out loud (“How does hail form?” or “How big can hailstones get?”).
• Looking for patterns or connections between different types of precipitation and their real-world implications.

Critical Thinking (e.g., “What is the correct solution?”)

Children demonstrate critical thinking when they are tasked with making choices about the correct descriptions of precipitation forms. They compare options and evaluate the accuracy of information based on their understanding. Behaviour:

• Looking carefully at the pictures or tweets and then deciding which form of precipitation matches which description.
• Discussing with peers to evaluate which description fits best, showing they can compare and analyse.
• Cross-checking their choices with others or with the teacher’s explanations, showing confidence or hesitation as they refine their answers.

Academic/Curriculum Objective connection

The students can name and describe the different forms of precipitation

In the translation it must be adapted! They are the national curriculum! 

Materials and tools needed for implementation 

• PowerPoint with photos of the different rain forms + board notes + Worksheet.

Preparation notes

• PowerPoint and worksheet.

Guided Questions

• If precipitation is almost always made of water, how is it that snow is fluffy and white, ice is hard and makes a clinking sound, and fog is almost impossible to grasp with our hands? What could be happening to them up high in the sky, or on their way through the air, that makes them arrive here so differently?
• When a child has trouble distinguishing between different types of precipitation in a picture (drizzle, rain, or hail), the following question can help: Imagine you’re standing outside in the schoolyard without an umbrella! How would it feel on your skin if drizzle were falling on you, and how would it feel if hail suddenly started falling? Which would make a louder thud when it hits the ground, and which would you barely be able to see in the air?
• Did you notice that one of the types of precipitation disappeared, leaving an empty space? What’s the word that doesn’t have a description? If you were the weather forecaster, how would you explain this precipitation to others?

Stage Debriefing Questions (Optional)

• When you were filling out the worksheet, how did you figure out which description belonged to which type of precipitation? What was your strategy: did you just guess, or were there descriptions that you ruled out step by step because they didn’t fit with the others?
• What was the strangest or most surprising thing you learned today about fog, snow, or ice from the pictures and the worksheet? What question about the weather are you now even more curious about—after completing this activity—than you were at the beginning of class?
• Was there a moment when someone in your group thought a completely different solution on the worksheet was correct than the rest of you? How did you manage to discuss this: were you able to convince each other with arguments without arguing, or did you work together to find the right answer?
• What do you think was the size of the largest piece of ice that fell from the sky during the hailstorm? Could we research this together afterward?

Tips and Tricks for dealing with stage challenges

• Ask plenty of questions about the photos showing different types of precipitation. Have the students describe what they see.
• Choose very recognizable and recent weather photos and phenomena.
• Review exercise: If necessary, work through it as a whole class.

Duration: 45 minutes

SPIRIT Skills:

• Critical thinking
• Problem-solving
• Creativity,
• Empathy
• Resilience
• Flexibility
• Emotional awareness, regulation and communication

Brief Description:

The teacher gives each group a card with a description of a precipitation situation.

Possible sentences they need to vocalize: ·

• First, the snow falls slowly and then turns into a heavy snowfall. 
• The thick fog rolls slowly over the field, and visibility disappears. 
• The hail taps softly at first, then harder, until eventually a threatening hailstorm arrives. 
• On a sultry summer evening, the thunderclouds ominously approach. 
• After a loud thunderclap, a short, intense rainstorm bursts out, gradually turning into a fine drizzle.

 It is up to each group to imitate the sentence/precipitation. They must pay attention to the volume, varying between ‘loud’ and ‘soft’. The students are given time to vocalize their sentences about precipitation. As an interim check, the teacher visits each group. This way, the teacher can hear if the vocalization is correct (test phase of the STEMOOV model)

Afterwards, the goal is for each group to ‘vocalize’ their sentence to the rest of the class without reading it aloud. Each group comes forward and ‘let’s their sentence be heard’. The other students do not look and must try to figure out what was on their card. 

It is important for the teacher to pay attention to the quality of the vocalization: are they really soft or loud sounds? Does the vocalization accurately match the weather situation? If not, it is important to point this out and have them go back to the ‘test’ phase.

Play a sound clip of precipitation The students listen (and do not look) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGRoX2jy7dI ).

• Discuss which precipitation forms were heard and how the sounds were represented. – What differences did you hear? Focus especially on the volume 
• Reflect on how their understanding has grown since the beginning of the lesson. Let them listen to the video again, but this time they can watch and participate. 
• Discuss how their associative field has expanded compared to the first lesson phase

How does this develop particular SPIRIT skills

Stage 3 is a complex task in which the children must combine the meteorological knowledge they acquired in the previous two stages with “music” and the sounds they create, and then present it to the others, (who must figure out, with their eyes closed, what kind of weather the group has translated into music) fundamentally develops the creativity of both the performers and the audience. To do this, they must think outside the box.

When children have to figure out and plan how to use the limited objects available to them in unusual ways for their performance, (for example, slowly and rhythmically rubbing their palms can imitate the whisper of fog, while rapidly drumming their fingertips on the desk brings drizzling rain to life), they develop both their creativity and their problem-solving skills.

In cases when the audience cannot figure out what kind of weather they have “set to music,” the performing group must examine why the others did not “understand” their performance and, based on this, must modify and re-create it. In addition to the above-mentioned transversal skills, this process also develops their resilience, ability to overcome failure, and flexibility in a playful way—all of these are also two important elements of the SPIRIT skills.

What do we want to achieve regarding SPIRIT skill development (student understanding and/or behaviour)?

Critical Thinking (e.g., “Is this the correct sound for this weather situation?”)

Children show critical thinking when they evaluate their vocalizations to see if they truly match the described weather situation. They think about whether their sound choices are appropriate in terms of volume and accuracy. Behaviour:

• Pausing to reflect on whether their vocalizations match the weather description (e.g., “Is this a loud or soft sound for a thunderstorm?”).
• Discussing with group members if the sound represents the weather correctly and making adjustments.
• Listening carefully to their own vocalizations and comparing them to their peers, ensuring the sound fits the situation.

Problem-Solving / Creativity (e.g., “How can we represent this specific weather situation through sound?”)

Children use creativity to experiment with different vocal techniques to capture the essence of a weather situation, focusing on the volume and intensity of their sounds. They engage in problem-solving to figure out how to best replicate precipitation sounds. Behaviour:

• Collaborating within their group, trying different methods to vocalize the weather situation (e.g., soft snow vs. heavy rain).
• Exploring different vocal techniques (e.g., using whispers, loud shouts, or varied rhythms) to match the weather description.
• Adjusting their approach after testing, showing flexibility in their solutions and trying again until they feel satisfied with their representation.

Academic/Curriculum Objective connection

Students can produce loud and soft sounds with different kinds of materials.

In the translation it must be adapted! They are the national curriculum.

Materials and tools needed for implementation 

• Cards with a precipitation situation
• Own body (without voice) – valuable free material –
• Orff musical instruments
• Percussion instruments.

Preparation notes

Cards with a precipitation situation

Guided Questions

• When the sound has to be improved:
• If I closed my eyes right now, would I really feel like I was standing outside in thick fog or a pounding hailstorm, or does this feel more like something else? How about we try this out?
• Let’s say just one of you performs the sounds while the rest of us close our eyes and describe how it feels. Then based on that, we could make some adjustments.
• Empathy / Reflection: Which sound is the most pleasant?
• Which sound did your ears like the most? Ask each other if they had the same feeling like you when they  hearing that sound, or if something completely different sound would be  pleasant  to them.  What do you think – by understanding each other’s feelings, could we choose the best sound more effectively?
• When kids get stuck before their own presentation
• I notice you’re a little nervous about the performance. When you start playing, everyone else will close their eyes completely, so no one will actually be watching you! How about we all take a deep breath together before the performance, and as we exhale, pretend that the wind is blowing all our nerves away?

Stage Debriefing Questions (Optional)

• How did you use your imagination when you had to recreate the sound of a quiet fog or a knocking hailstorm using objects or instruments that are not meant for that at all? What was the biggest challenge you faced while coming up with these sounds, and how did you work together to overcome it?
• How did you manage to completely forget what these objects are normally used for and think outside the box?
• How did you feel, and what did you do when the others didn’t immediately guess your weather story during the presentation?
• How did you manage to quickly adapt and come up with something new without losing your enthusiasm for the game?
• How helpful was it to you in preparing and ensuring the success of your presentation to try to think and feel like your classmates, who would be listening to your presentation with their eyes closed? How could you do it?
• How did you feel when your classmates figured out your weather stories? How would you describe the feeling of success?

Tips and Tricks for dealing with stage challenges

• You can also give the same sentence to two groups. This way, they will realize that not everyone vocalizes the same sentence in the same way.
•  The different sentences can be written on the board as a help for the other students who need to guess what was vocalized.
• Ensure that the sentences describing the weather situations are understood (so that students know what they mean). If necessary, review the sentences with the whole class beforehand.