Bells - Sound, shape, movement, and more

11/18/2022

"What's that noise?"

As you have all read, seen, and heard, the sound of the bell ringing during snack (and other times of the day) is where our interest in the Bell Tower and other parts of the school began. The children continuously mention the bell tower, the bell, the steps, and more.

While working, they seek out materials to help build "the bell tower and St. John's". Most recently, Pierce, Henri, and George collaboratively constructed "the inside of the bell tower". This was a plan that they independently made when their first plan was to work in construction.

"I put some windows on it." - Pierce, 3.1 years
[Pierce had said earlier that they were the windows at the top of the bell tower]
"This is the person. These are for to hold it up. These were the seat to sit there to wait for the bell to ring. I don't know what the all the way up there is for."
- Henri, 3.2 years

From the beginning, the actual bell and the sound it makes, has been a driving force for the work. Each time they construct St. John's or the bell tower (almost one and the same), they seek out a variety of bells to add to the structure. Throughout our day they stop to listen to the bell ringing 10, 11, then 12 times, and there have been a few comments made about making a bell; if you recall, George mentioned this back on September16th when he suggested that we could make a bell out of clay.

Exploring the bells

"These bells, they're golden." - George, 3.1 years

Keeping George's suggestion in mind, and a general intention to create a bell(s), we set up a variety of bells in the studio with drawing tools and metal materials for the children to investigate.

Our intention was to explore sounds of the bells, shape, movement, and parts of the bells.

The more experience the children have with the materials, tools, and techniques, the more these become another language for expression -- expression of hypotheses, thoughts, desires, plans, etc. Alongside the bells we had wire/wire cutters (a now familiar material and tool), small metal pieces, metallic paper, drawing tools, and sheets of aluminum and copper.

What do we remember about the bell in the bell tower?
"It looked round." - George, 3.1 years
"And dirty. I touched it with my hands, and then I ringed it with my giant hands." - Lou Lou, 3.1 years

"These bells are wood?" - George
"The top [of the morning meeting bell] is in a circle." - Lou Lou
"These [two different bells] don't make the same noise." - George

"I can hear the bell. It's all the way. Roll the paper all the way." - George

"It's so pretty. It's so cold. It's paper!" - George
[they continued to play]
Well, it's metal. - Elyse
"I love metal. It's so cold." - George

It [roll of copper] not make any noise. This [bell] does make noise. I don't know why." - George

This is the same materials. I've never seen [them] before." - Lou Lou, 3.1 years

How can we change the shape of the copper or wire to match the bell?

When George was asked about how to change the metal to match the shape of the bell, he immediately folded a piece of the copper sheet into a cylindrical shape. After a trip to Tucker closet, where we found plastic cylinders that match the handle of his bell inspiration, he contemplated how to attach them. [see video to the right]

George is familiar with wire, and though the sheet of copper was new, he demonstrates his developing understanding of the pliability of the copper sheet and copper wire. He then applies his knowledge of the properties of the material and how to thread the wire through the holes to create his first draft of a bell.

Even more bells

After collecting an even bigger variety of bells, we revisited the bells and metal/metallic materials. The children were invited to experiment with the bells, draw them, and consider the other materials that were collected inspired by the different parts of a bell.

"They all make different noises." - Will, 3.1 years

"They make a softer noise." - Will, 3.1 years
"Is this a cow bell?" - Cully, 3.1 years

"That a bell." - Win, 3.4 years

We paused to draw some of the bells, which drew their attention to the different parts of the bells. This is when we discovered that we did not know the names for all parts. What we did know what that most of them have "a jingle bell" (Cully) on the inside.

"I traced the bottom." - Cully, 3.1 years
"This one's [yellow bell] not wooden. This one is made of glass." - Will, 3.1 years

"[the cow bell] It's long." - Cully

"It [copper roll] sort of looks like paper you can roll out." - Will, 3.1 years

Win and Cully focused on the body of the bell [right Cully has copper pieces folded] and the handle.

Realizing that we did not know the names for each part of the bell, the next day we had photos with each part labeled. These were on the table with the bells and metal materials.