Our Five Senses

Libby Bouma

Reading in the Content Area Dr. Staplin Drake University June 28th, 2012

How we learn with our Five Senses

Overview: In this unit, students will learn about the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. With the use of authentic books, graphic organizers, hands-on activities and peer interactions, students will be interacting with their five senses. Students will be learning about each sense individually, breaking it down by vocabulary and the body parts it is associated with. Students will also be introduced to a couple of disabilities associated with senses. Each mini-unit has authentic books where students will be required to apply their background knowledge, make connections and ask questions for further understanding of the content. Not only will students be learning about the five senses individually, they will also be working on activities that pull together the sense of sight and sound and the senses of smell and taste. For a summative assessment at the end of the unit, students will be engaging in a cumulative lesson plan and activity that combines all five of the senses. By learning about the senses, students will have a better understanding of their body and how they are used to make the world more meaningful. Rationale: This unit was designed to help students better understand their body and the functions of their senses. Students will have a better understanding that our eyes are to see, our ears are to hear, nose is to smell, our tongue is to taste and our fingers and hands are to feel. Learning about the five senses gives students better appreciation for their body and the ways we rely on them in our everyday life. Diverse Learners: This unit offers a wide variety of authentic literacy and hands-on activities for each student. By incorporating the cognitive, developmental and social learning theories, this unit is able to reach all students no matter where they are on the continuum of learning. Readers who are struggling will be able to pair up with a more knowledgeable peer to help them with any reading. When working in groups, students will be grouped together based on their learning level. ESL students will be provided pictures of vocabulary words if needed to further promote their understanding. Extension Learning: For each unit being discussed, the main bulletin board will be changed to reflect that theme. When student are done early or have free time, they will be encouraged to look through books that have been set out specifically on the five senses. If there is concern through formative assessments that students are struggling with a sense, I will ask for them to work on something at home. For example for hearing: I could ask each student to come prepared to share something they heard last night with the class and then write a story about that sound and create a picture to go along with it. For taste: I could have students come up with a list of Sweet, Salty, Sour and Bitter food items and pick out their favorites. They would need to write a sentence about the foods they selected.

Novel: The Magic School Bus Comes To Its Senses by Kristin Earhart, Carolyn Bracken and Joanna Cole Focus Standards from the Iowa Common Core: RL.K.1: With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. RL.K.3: With prompting and support, identify characters, settings and major events in a story. RL.K.I.A1: Employ full range of research-based comprehension strategies, including making connections, determining importance, questioning, visualizing, making inferences, summarizing, and monitoring for comprehension. RL.K.4: Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text. RL.K.10: Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. RI.K.2: With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas or pieces of information in the text. RI.K.7: With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear. RF.K.3 (c) Read common high-frequency words by sight. W.K.3: Use a combination of drawing, dictating and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened. SL.K.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners and kindergarten topics and text with peers and adults in small and large groups. SL.K.2: Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood. SL.K.6: Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings and ideas clearly. L.K.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. (a) Print many upper and lowercase letters. (d) Understand and use questions words (e.g. who, what, when, where, why and how). (f) Produce and expand complete sentences in shared language activities. Student Targets: The Student will be able to: Name the five senses. Identify body parts associated with each sense. Identify vocabulary words associated with each sense. Develop prediction skills with written text. Describe how the senses work together. Predict senses that would be used in a given situation.

Essential Questions that will be answered: How many senses do you have? How many ears, hands, nose, feet, etc. do you have? What do you touch, taste, smell, hear and see with? What objects can you touch, taste, smell, hear and see? Introduction Lesson Activities: 1. Have classroom discussion about our five senses. Ask questions to gain formative assessment of what students know about the five senses. Make anchor charts about each of the senses and hang up on the wall. 2. Introduce the My Five Senses book. Show students front and back cover, and inside table of contents. Have discussion about the non-fiction book. Introduce the KWL graphic organizer and model how it works. Have students work individually on their own KWL organizer. Read My Five Senses to the class. Have class join in on sight words that they know. Have students fill out KWL organizer. Have whole class discussion on new things that they learned. Read The Five Senses (Explore Your World) book. Ask students why type of book (fiction/non-fiction) was just read. Have discussion on what makes fiction different than non-fiction. 3. Have students work on vocabulary graphic organizer for the main five senses. Will be turned in for a summative assessment. 4. Play Dr. Jean song about My Five senses. 1 (Recording of the song will be played throughout the unit as transition song). Oh Say Do You See? Unit: 1. Ask questions of what they remembered from the two books read previously. Ask scaffolding questions about their eyes and seeing. Anchor chart what students come up with. 2. Introduce new vocabulary to seeing and eyes. Have student work on worksheet with new vocabulary. 3. Introduce Brown Bear, Brown, Bear What Do You See? Ask students to predict if this is a non-fiction or fiction book. Read Brown Bear, Brown, Bear What Do You See? Have a class discussion about what students heard in the book and discuss something they learned. Have students write a sentence about what they learned from the book and create a picture from the book. 4. Find childrens article that provides text and picture of the eye. Have class discussion on the different parts of the eye. 5. Have students pair up. Have them look at partners eye color and note what color of eyes they saw. Have class discussion and make graph on students eye color and any other observations they noted.

6. Provide hand held mirrors to students. Have them exam their eyes. Have students look at mirror and exam their eyes. Go over the parts of the eye discussed in previous lesson. Ask questions about what they see. 2 7. Sorting activity where students go to different stations and group and sort items according to color, shape and sizes.3 8. Find article from a childrens magazine about being blind. Have class discussion on what it means to be blind. Have discussion on how those who are blind see with their hands. Show students examples of braille and have discussion about reading with their fingers. Find video that is kindergarten friendly to show students about someone who is blind and reading with braille. Have stations set up where students are blindfolded and feel an object and then are required to draw a picture of what they saw with their hands. In the second station, have students write their name in braille from example cards of braille given. Do You Hear That? Unit: 1. Ring a bell to get students attention. Ask the students what reaction they had when they heard the bell. What did it mean to them? Have a class discussion about the ear and anchor chart what students know. 2. Show a diagram of ear. Label Inner, Middle and Outer ear parts. Have discussion on what the ear looks like, and how it works. 3. Matching Game with vocabulary words for the ear. 4. Whats that Sound? activity 4 Play a cd that has multiple sounds on it. Students will have a worksheet in front of them so that they can number the sounds they hear in the correct order. 5. Play Bingo with animal sounds and matching to animal pictures. 6. Ask students what they remember about hearing and their ears. Read Shhh, A Book about Hearing Have whole group discussion about what they learned about hearing and refer back to anchor chart in beginnings lesson to see what more they learned about hearing. 7. Find kindergarten friendly article about people who are deaf. Have class discussion on what it means to be deaf and how those who are deaf communicate with one another. Teach students a couple of sign language words. Hearing and Sight Lessons/Activity 1. Read The Listening Walk Assess for students knowledge of non-fiction or fiction book. Have students work on a beginning, middle and end graphic organizer on their own.

2. Take students on nature walk around the school and outside. Let students know that they will be asked to create pictures of what they see and hear outside. Students will observe what they see with their sense of sight. Students will create pictures of what they saw outside, using their sense of sight. 5 3. Ask questions on how hearing and sight can work together. 4. Have discussion on how hearing and sight can keep one safe. Have students a sentence on how they can keep safe with either their sight or hearing. Check-in lesson 1. Review previous lessons and activities. Have class discuss what they have learned. 2. Show video on the five senses. 6 Whats That Taste? Unit 1. Have classroom discussion on what students know about taste. Anchor chart their responses. 2. Show students Yum! Book. Ask them if it is fiction or non-fiction. Make anchor chart about questions they have about the book. Read students Yum! Discuss questions and if we were able to answer them. Have class discussion. 3. Vocabulary activity 4. Find and show video of tongue and taste buds. Students work independently on chart of tongue. 5. Activity: Students sample various foods and are able to chart the different tastes. Sweet, Salty, Sour, Bitter 6. Students work on writing activity where they match different foods to tastes. Experiment with tasting with holding nose. 7 7. Discuss what we have learned about our tongues. 8. Discuss why taste is important. 9. Show students book, Stick Out Your Tongue. Have them predict what the book is about. Chart questions. Read book and throughout book have discussions on what was predicting and if they are answering questions. Do You Smell That? Unit 1. Have classroom discussion about what the nose is. Ask questions about the nose and what students know about smelling. Ask why do we need our nose? Anchor chart their responses. 2. Vocabulary activity working in pairs. 3. Read: Smell (The Five Sense) Check for non-fiction/fiction understanding. During reading, check back to the list students made to see if connections are made with background knowledge.

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After reading, classroom discussion comparing what we learned with the questions on the chart and if their background knowledge compares. Add any additional questions. Activity: Place various scents in jars. Have students smell each item and check what they think they smelled from the list provided. Whole class discussion on what smells they encountered. Have class discussion on how students think smelling can help us. Find article to read about smelling and how it can help us detect dangerous things such as smoke, bad food, poison, etc. Show students book: The Story of Ferdinand. Ask if book is non-fiction or fiction. Have students heard it before? Have students come up with questions they want to know about Ferdinand. Have students predict what the book is about. Have discussion on the elements of a story and that we will be discussing this when the books is done. Give prompts while reading the book to help students recognize the elements. Read book. Have classroom discussion of questions and statements provided prior to reading the book. Have students work on graphic organizer of Elements of the Story. Individual activity where students make a scent collage. Students cut out pictures in a magazine of things that smell good to them and things that smell bad to them. Have them present collages to class.

Smell and Taste Working Together 1. Read Sniff, Sniff: A book about smell Check for understanding of non-fiction/fiction. Activity: Students eat jellybeans while plugging their noses and then without plugging them. Have class discussion on what they observed. Ask questions on how smelling and taste work together. How Do You Feel? Unit 1. Open lesson by asking students questions about what they know about touch and feelings. Have discussion on the differences between touch and feelings. Have students make a list of what they can touch with their body parts. Have students make list of things they can feel with their heart/inside body. As a class come up with questions students have about touch and feeling. 2. Read Touch to class. Ask if book is non-fiction or fiction. Have students work on graphic organizer of visualizing of what they saw while listening to the book and what it means to touch to them. Read Feelings Ask if book is non-fiction or fiction. Have classroom discussion on the difference between the book touch and the book Feelings. Have students work on compare and contrast graphic organizer.

3. Vocabulary Activity. 4. Activity: Whats in the bag? Have students work in groups where each group is given five bags of items. Students have to place hand inside of their bag and draw what they touched and saw with their hands. Discuss as a whole class. Bring back questions and reminding then what was different or the same about the sense of sight we learned about earlier. 5. Classroom discussion on textures. Have students predict what textures are and chart their answers. Students are shown different objects and asked to write down what texture they predict it has. Have students feel objects to see if they are correct. Sight and Touch Working Together 1. Have classroom discussion on blindness and braille. 2. Try to find video on children and being blind. 3. Read The Secret Code Ask if book is non-fiction or fiction. Braille activity where students see the alphabet in braille and can copy their names on big paper in braille with beans. How They All Fit Together: Assessments Popcorn Activity: (Summative) 1. Have classroom discussion about all five senses. Go back to the main vocabulary words from each sense. Formative assessment of students understanding. 2. Tell students that they will be using all five senses with the next activity and matching what phase of popcorn making triggers which of their five senses. They will be provided with a worksheet that has each stage of making popcorn to cut out and glue in order. 3. Make popcorn for the class (provided no allergies). 4. Allow students to eat popcorn and work on worksheets. 5. Have students turn in their worksheets. Have a classroom discussion on what order they glued their senses. Oral Summative Assessment: Students will meet one on one with teacher or teachers aide and have a discussion about all of the five senses and what body parts are used for each one. Students will need to be able to give examples of each of the five senses. Formative Assessments: Students will be formatively assessed throughout the unit with questioning, participation, peer work, and discussions. Each unit will contain a graphic organizer to help assess students overall understanding and reading comprehension.

Literacy My Five Senses by Aliki Look, Listen, Taste, Touch, and Smell: Learning About Your Five Senses (Amazing Body) by Hill Nettleton, Pamela, Shipe and Becky The Five Senses (Explore Your World) by Adele Ciboul, Clementine Collinet, Benoit Debecker, Frankie Merlier and Anthea Bell The Listening Walk, Paul Showers by Aliki Shhhh A Book About Hearing by Dana Meachen Rau and Rick Peterson Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin and Eric Carle Yum! (Amazing Body: The Five Senses) by Dana Meachen Rau and Rick Peterson Stick Out Your Tongue: Fantastic Facts, Features, and Functions of Animal and Human Tongues by Joan Bonsignore and John Ward Smell (The Five Sense) by Maria Rius, J.J.Puif and J.M. Parramon Sniff, Sniff: A Book About Smell by Dana Meachen Rau and Rick Peterson The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson Touch by Maria Rius, J.M. Parromon and J.J. Puig The Secret Code by Dana Meachen Rau Feelings by Aliki References:
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Video found on Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWPJoI5lMOY&feature=related

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Idea from Tricia Williford, Lincoln Academy Chart School, Arvada, CO found on http://themes.atozteacherstuff.com/
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Idea from Freddie Sexton, Shilder Elementary, Oklahoma City, OK found on http://themes.atozteacherstuff.com Lesson plan taken from http://voices.yahoo.com/free-preschool-kindergarten-lessonplan-sense-of-5058008.html?cat=4
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Lesson plan idea taken from http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/3896.html Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFJil7WlT0w&feature=related

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Lesson plan idea taken from http://www.sedl.org/scimath/pasopartners/senses/lesson6.html Overall References: What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know: Preparing Your Child for a Lifetime of Learning (Core Knowledge Series) E.D. Hirsch Jr. Integrated learning activities for young children (Getting Started) by Trostle, S. L., and Yawkey, T. D.