Kindergarten Kindergarten

My Big, Fat Five Senses Unit

I am happy to announce that I (finally!) have a new packet up on

 Teachers Pay Teachers!

 

I've taken the classic Five Senses centers that we've all been doing for years, and created fresh and fun Science Notebook recording sheets for them. They are simple enough for kindergartners to do at the beginning of the year...

I've included over 15 smelly, messy and loud center and activity ideas!

I'm especially proud, because I created all of the graphics and clipart myself (except on the cover).

So click on over to my Teachers Pay Teachers Store and check it out!

And for those of you that have been asking, I've been working really hard on Math Notebook Prompts and will publish them by August 1! In the meantime, I'm going to put up some more fun math freebies, so check back often!

Our Big Five Senses Book

Today I thought I'd share some pictures of a big class book my kids and I made this year. Basically, it's just a lot of anchor charts stapled together in a big book. I made it out of chart paper with a butcher paper cover. 

We would generally work on the pages as a wrap-up after we did some sort of hands-on activity.

 

There's the recording chart for an earlier version of the salt/sugar activity, and a page with pictures the kids cut out of magazines.

 

Here is a page where the kids talked about what their brain thinks when they see something.

 

Here's a page that talks about what their brains think when they hear certain sounds (that I played on one of those old sound effects tapes) and a page with all of the sounds we heard on our listening walk around school.

 

This page has different papers and materials with different textures. The kids thought of words to describe those textures and then things in real life that have those textures. (They also put some of these papers in their own science notebooks).

 

This page has texture rubbings and a page where we discussed how our sense of touch helps keep us safe.

 

Here's a page with magazine pictures of smelly stuff plus a page about what our brains think when we smell certain smells.

 

Here's a page with Good Smells/Bad Smells. Yes--that is a toliet, dirty diaper, poo, and underwear. We keep it real in kindergarten...

This page has magazine pictures of things we like to eat and a diagram of a tongue.

 

This page is a fold-out page and is a graph of our Five Senses Taste Test.

Often, the kids did similar pages in their own science notebooks. I'm working really hard on a TPT unit of Science Notebook recording sheets for my Five Senses Unit. I'm hoping to get it up sometime this weekend.

In the meantime, let me leave you with my favorite YouTube Five Senses Video. Warning: Once you get it in your head, it's hard to get out! I will now be singing this song for the rest of the day. Thank-you very much.

Five Senses Sort Freebie

Here are some Five Senses cards I made for my kids to sort. There are 30 cards plus one card for each of the five senses. Many of the cards can be sorted by more than one sense.

Download Five Senses Picture Sort

Enjoy!

Solving Real-Life Problems with our Five Senses

I love teaching about the Five Senses!

Afterall, we use our Five Senses to gather information and learn about the world. They're the basis for all learning that we do! There are a TON of really cute Five Senses activities out there...and trust me, I do them all. The smell jars, the sound eggs, the touchy-feely boxes...I mean, come one, who doesn't want to watch a five year-old stick a lemon wedge in their mouth? (It's funny.)

But I want to find a way to take my Five Senses unit a little deeper. Most of my kids already come to kindergarten with a pretty solid understanding of the Five Senses. So I'm always looking for activities that are a little more rigorous, inquiry-based and connected to the real world.

I start with a problem:

And yes...in my life, this could be a real problem!

I let the kids figure out how to solve this problem. Notice that I activate their schema by asking what they already know that could help us solve this problem. They know that although salt and sugar look the same, they taste very different! Now, these kids are really smart. So they all suggest just tasting them--end of problem. (DUH!)

But I ask them if they think any of our other senses could help us out. I "guide" them into coming up with a plan. We test the "stuff" in each jar using one sense at a time--purposely saving taste for last.

Sight is easy--they're both white. But get out a hand lens and the kids might see the crystals, which is always fun.

Sound? Neither one makes a sound. Unless you shake them. Then they both sound like a rattlesnake (who knew?)

Smell--I can tell the difference, but kids usually cannot. Although this year, my kids actually said the sugar smelled like cookies. Lucky Guess? Who knows...

Touch--The sugar will leave your fingers sticky. If kids make connections between sugar and candy or sweet drinks, they'll get it.

And then, of course, taste...the big give away!

Problem Solved!

Questions for discussion:

• Which senses helped the most? Why?
• Which senses helped the least? Why?
• Which sense(s) would you use to figure out the softest pillow to buy? What TV show is on? What TV show is on in the other room? What your mom is making for dinner? ETC.

So hopefully, after this lesson, the kids will see their Five Senses as another scientific tool we have for exploration, investigation and problem-solving!         

Safety Note: It is important to remind kids to never taste things in scientific explorations without specific permission from the teacher. Many things are not safe to eat.