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4th grade · Science · Unit 5 of 14

Sound

Vibrations, pitch, echoes and hearing

What your child practices

Vibrations and sound waves, pitch and volume, how sound travels through different materials but not through empty space, echoes and absorbing sound, how we hear, and how noise and sound devices affect people and animals.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 4.5 · sound as vibrations and waves, pitch and loudness

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Sound is made by vibrations that travel as waves through air, water or solids.
  2. Fast vibrations make a high pitch. Slow vibrations make a low pitch.
  3. Sound needs matter to travel through, so there is no sound in space.
  4. An echo is sound bouncing back. Bats use echoes to find food.

Example: A guitar string is tightened so it vibrates faster. What happens to its pitch? Faster vibrations make a higher pitch. Answer: it gets higher

Sound in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 5 of 14 in 4th grade Science, after Waves & Codes and before Light.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Is the sound high or low in pitch? Tap an item, then tap its basket.

    Sort into: 🔼 high pitch · 🔽 low pitch

    • ⛈️thunder
    • 🎶a piccolo
    • 🐻a bear's growl
    • 🎺a tuba
    • 🐦a bird chirp
    • 🪈a whistle

  2. Question 2

    A bigger vibration makes a…

    🔊
    • higher pitch only
    • silent sound
    • louder sound
    • quieter sound

  3. Question 3

    A fire alarm uses a loud, high-pitched sound. Why?

    🚨
    • it is quiet
    • it makes the fire go out
    • it is easy to notice and warns people of danger
    • it is pretty

  4. Question 4

    An echo is…

    🏔️
    • sound that stops
    • a type of light
    • a very loud sound
    • sound that bounces off a surface and comes back

  5. Question 5

    Put the steps of hearing in order.

    • 🦴tiny bones in your ear vibrate
    • 🧠a nerve sends a message to your brain
    • 🥁your eardrum vibrates
    • 👂sound waves enter your ear

  6. Question 6

    A stethoscope helps a doctor…

    🩺
    • measure temperature
    • make things louder outside
    • listen to sounds inside the body
    • see in the dark

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