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South Carolina ETV
1101 George Rogers Boulevard
Columbia, SC 29201-4761
Phone: 803-737-3545

Let's Be "Sense-able"! (Grades K-3)

Master Teacher

Lisa Frampton

Overview

When children explore their world, they rely on their senses a tremendous amount. This video will explore the five senses and their relationships and interaction with one another. By illustrating the uniqueness and characteristics of each, the students will gain an understanding of their senses.

SC Math/Science Standards Met

Science Achievement Standards:

II. Life Science (My Body)

A. Characteristics of Organisms
3-a and b

Math Achievement Standards:

III. Patterns, Relationships, and functions

A. Recognize, describe, extend, and create a wide variety of patterns.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

• describe the five senses
• investigate using sensory organs associated with each of the senses
• identify, describe and extend repeating relationship (pattern) found in common, objects, sounds and movements

Materials

• the compact disc, "Gregg and Steve On the Move"
• fruit (onion, orange, lemon, apple)
• napkins
• bandanas
• paper bag
• Koosh ball
• paper clip
• cotton ball
• Silly putty
• Q-tips
• salt
• candy (sweet)

Per student:

• copy of Activity Sheet 1 (Have the students cut out each sensory card)

ITV Series

The Inside Story with Slim Goodbody, "The Sensational Five."

Previewing Activities

Place of the lesson in the unit sequence: Students will have prior knowledge identifying their eyes, nose, skin (hand), ears and mouth (tongue). Introduce the lesson by asking students to name their favorite food. Ask them why they like it. Engage students in a discussion on how each of our sensory organs helps us see, smell, hear, taste or touch.

Focus For viewing

To give students a specific responsibility while viewing, they will identify the role of each of the five senses in helping them to respond to the world. Give each student five sensory cards (Activity Sheet 1). Ask them to hold up the correct sensory organ card, as Slim Good-body describes the role or function of each of the five senses.

Viewing Activities

Start the video at the point when Slim Good-body finishes singing the opening song and says, "Our senses keep us in constant contact with the outside world." Stop the video when Slim is standing next to a model of an eye saying, "some will enter into your eye." Check to see how many children are holding up the sensory card picture of the eye. Ask the students, what the eye allows them to do (see or sight).

Fast forward to the part where you see cheerleaders in long black pants. Slim is saying, "Can you tell what's missing from them?" Stop the video when you see Slim playing the guitar next to a model of an ear and says, "And your ear is specially designed to pick up these sound waves and transmit the information to the brain." Check for student comprehension by seeing if the students are holding up the sensory picture of the ear. Ask the students, "How are sounds made?" (vibrations)

Fast forward to the girl playing the violin. Start the video and then stop when the little boy is shaking his head and Slim is saying, "So they can warn you of a dangerous situation." Check for understanding by seeing if the children are holding up the picture of the hand. Ask the students, "What large organ is responsible for our sense of touch?" (skin)

Start the video with Slim standing next to the model of the nose and saying, "Here's another sense organ that can give our body protection." Stop the video when Slim says, "That means we can smell good food cooking even when we are far from the kitchen." Check for comprehension by seeing if the children are holding up the picture of the nose. Ask the students, "What does our nose allow us to do?" (smell) Then ask them, "What are some things that smell good?" and "Name some things that smell bad?" Also, ask them "What do you do if you don't want to smell something?" (Hold your nose shut.) Explain to the students that this keeps the smell from entering their noses and therefore prevents them from smelling it.

Start the video with Slim standing beside a set of teeth and saying, "But taste is different." Stop the video when Slim says, "The taste buds at the side taste salty and sour things."

Check for student understanding by observing to see if students are holding the picture of the tongue. Say, "The tongue allows us to distinguish different kinds of taste. Who can name where the taste buds are located that tell us if something is bitter? (back of the tongue) Where are the taste buds for salty and sour located? (side of the tongue) and, Where are the taste buds for sweet located? (front of the tongue) Why would we taste something sweet before we taste something bitter? (The taste buds for sweet things are located at the front of the tongue while the taste buds for bitter things are located at the back of the tongue.)"

Post-Viewing Activities

Review each of the five senses with the students. Have the students describe orally the five senses.

Blindfold two or three students with bandanas. Start each of the selected students in a different area of the room. Make sure that there are no sharp objects or items on the floor that they could trip over. Ask them to find their way to their desks. When deprived of one sense, what sense(s) take over? (touch and hearing) Repeat, the experiment with other students.

Place unusual objects in a paper sack (Koosh ball, Silly Putty, paperclip and cotton ball). Let students try to identify the object using their sense of touch. What organ allowed them to feel the object? (skin)

Cut up the food on napkins or paper plates. Blindfold several students and see if they can correctly identify the fruit by smelling it.

Place a little salt on the end of a Q-tip. Allow one of the students to taste it on the front of the tongue. Were they able to taste it? Now, try tasting it on the back of the tongue. Next try it on the side of the tongue. Which location were you able to taste the salty flavor? (side of the tongue) Now try the same experiment with a piece of sweet candy. Where were you able to taste it this time? (front of the tongue)

Select a song on the CD "Gregg and Steve On the Move" or any other CD that has rhythmical patterns. Have the children clap or move to repeated patterns. If you do not have a CD available, sing and repeat the movement patterns in the song, "If You're Happy and You Know It." Make sure that the students are listening closely so they can repeat the pattern accurately.

Action Plan

Have the children research, plan and create a senses garden. Investigate plants that are soft and fuzzy or maybe prickly to touch; plants that smell good, and or bad, plants that are edible; and plants that are unusual or interesting to observe. Let the children build simple birdhouses in the garden. During the planting process, allow students to predict the sounds they might hear in the garden (e.g., bees, birds).

After the garden has matured, ask the children to listen and identify the sounds in the garden. Make sure that they use each of their five senses to investigate the garden. If you have visually impaired or blind students at your school, you might want to consider placing Braille markers around the garden identifying the plants. Consider adding additional plants to the garden each year.

Extensions

Physical Education and Math: Allow students to develop and perform movement sequences using locomotor skills (running, hopping, skipping, leaping and jumping). Ask students to include in their sequence a beginning shape or pose. The movement sequence should include two or three locomotor skills that can be performed with smooth transitions. The sequence should end with an ending shape or pose held "like a statue." Give students time to work on their movement sequence. Allow

students to verbally explain the pattern or sequence they have created. Then allow them to perform the movement sequence in front of the class. Check to see that the sequence matches the verbal explanation. Give students an opportunity to repeat other students' sequences. This activity can also be done to music!

Technology: (Science) Visit the Yuckiest Site on the Internet. Explore more about your sense of smell. Allow students to discover more about the connection between the sense of smell and the sense of taste. Also, discover fun facts about our sense of smell.

(Science and Math) Visit the Newton's Apple Web site and have students replicate the smell and taste challenge. When they are finished, have them use a graphic organizer to record their results. Inspiration Software would be an excellent tool for them to create a graphic organizer on their computer.

Additional Resources

Books

1. My Five Senses (Let's Read and Find Out Books) by Aliki (Illustrator)

2. Creating a Garden for the Senses by Jeff Cox, Jerry Pavia (Photographer)

3. Experiment With Senses (Experiment With books) by Monica Byles

Internet Sites

1. Let's Be "Sense-able"! Reeko 's Mad Scientist's Lab has experiments to demonstrate the principle of sound, using marbles to show how sound waves are formed, and another experiment on making a hearing aid.

2. Human Anatomy Online: The Inner Body will teach students more about the inner makeup of their bodies.

CD/ROM

1. The Ultimate Human Body, 1996 Dorling Kindersley

Activity Sheets (PDF)

• Activity Sheet 1