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A Celebration of Noise
Introduction:
Purim is a time when we celebrate and make a lot of noise. But whydo we make so much noise? In Exodus 17:14 and in Deuteronomy 25:19 it is written: "You shall blot out the name of Amalek." During Purim, we blot out the name of Haman and his ancestors (the Amaleks) any way we can - by literally erasing Haman's name, by writing Haman on the soles of our shoes and stomping our feet, and especially with groggers (noise makers). The underlying message is: We are Jewish. We endure. We will not disappear! Purim presents a wonderful opportunity to celebrate noise and explore sounds with your students.
An Exploration of Noise:
- Noisemakers -
- Make noisemakers by filling containers (non-breakable jars, film canisters, etc.) with materials such as rice, beans, small bells, rocks, etc. and by sealing them with a lid or duct or cloth tape.
- Have students shake the containers and compare the noise that the different materials make.
- Put the fillings (rice, beans, etc.) in non-seethrough containers and have students try to identify the sound-producing material.
- Object Identification -
- Have students try to identify different objects (such as an Elmo doll, a toy horn, a noisemaker, a toy telephone, a noisy ball, etc.) by handling them and hearing their sounds (while blindfolded or while sticking their hand in a box or bag).
- Have students compare and contrast the different sounds that the objects make.
- Classroom Music -
- Have students make "music" using hands, feet and a variety of materials in the classroom to compare the different sounds that they make.
More Ideas for Celebrating Noise with your Students (submitted by educators who have visited this site):
- Connecting to sounds throughout the Jewish year (from Michelle in New York):
Before we made our groggers, I had my students try to identify other sounds (with their eyes closed) that they might hear during the Jewish year. This was a fun way to trigger our noisemaking exercise. Some examples were:
- Biting into an Apple - We eat apples on Rosh HaShana
- Doll that makes a kissing sound - We kiss the mezuzah when we walk in the door
- Hammer - Building a Sukkah
- Striking a match - Lighting candles on Shabbat
- Dreidel spinning - Chanukah
- Whistle blowing - Playing games on Lag B'Omer (they didn't get that one).
- Who's talking now? (from Debbie in Massachusetts):
In our nursery class, we play the following game in which students identify their classmates by the sounds of their voices. This year, due to the presence of a student from Israel in our class, we have been interested in accents and the pronunciation of words. Before playing this game, we talk about disguises, and how to disguise our voices. Needless to say, we get a lot of funny sounding voices, but what could be better in the month of Adar?!:
Directions:
- One student (Student A) sits with his/her back to the class.
- Another child (Student B) says a prearranged phrase, such as "Chag Sameach" or "happy Purim".
- Student A has to try to identify Student B by his/her voice.
Note: Another variation for this game is to blindfold all the students and to select one student to say a phrase. The rest of the class has to guess who the student is. The first one to guess, gets to speak next.
Students take turns and try to disguise their voices to make it difficult for their classmates students to guess who they are.
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