Materials
- How Thunder and Lightning Came to Be: A Choctaw Legend by Beatrice Orcutt Harrell
- 3 or 4 pairs of stones, various sizes
- Chart paper
- Markers
What to do
1. Briefly provide the scientific explanation for thunder and lightning.
2. Introduce the book listed above by explaining to the children that many stories and legends of the Native American people explain natural phenomena using great imagination and emphasize the close relationship between people and nature. Emphasize the fact that the story you are about to read is a legend. The book tells the story of two birds, Heloha and Melatha, who accidentally create thunder and lightning as a way to warn the Choctaw people of coming rainstorms.
3. Discuss the objects used in the story to create the sound of thunder and how this feat was accomplished. Then explain to the children that they, too, can make their own thunder in much the same way.
4. Place pairs of stones of various sizes on a table or tile floor. Use one pair of stones to demonstrate how they can be rolled together to create the sound of thunder when they collide, just like the eggs did in the story.
5. Let the children experiment with the different pairs of stones and combinations of pairs to determine the difference in the sounds made. Be sure to rein force such concepts as loud and quiet, hard and soft, slow and fast.
6. Help the children create a chart depicting the levels of sound made by each set of stones or a graph representing the set of stones each child feels best depicts the sound of actual thunder.
More to do
Art: Explain that the lightning bolt shape is found in many crafts made by Native American tribes, such as beadwork, traditional clothing and especially the shawl. Have the children tear a large piece of aluminum foil into strips and glue to construction paper to represent their interpretation of lightning. While children are completing this activity, ask such questions as, "What else happens when there is lightning?" and "Have you ever seen lightning?"
Language: Read the book Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco, which tells the story of how Grandma finds a way to dispel her grandchildren's fear of thunderstorms. Discuss characteristics of thunderstorms that can make them seem scary. Then write a recipe for thunder cake. Use the class recipe to make and enjoy a special snack.
Music: Using their bodies and/or a variety of musical instruments, the children can create stormy sounds to match the words of familiar rhymes, for example, from, Ring a Ring "O Roses: Fingerplays for Preschool Children, edited by Charles A. Hansen and Cynthia S. Stilley.
-Rebecca McMahon, Scranton, PA
