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Saturday, September 3, 2011

Five Senses

Five Senses Song
to the tune of "Where is Thumbkin"

Five Senses, Five Senses
We have them, We have them
Seeing, Hearing Touching
Tasting and Smelling
There are five, There are five

What a fun science unit to kick off the year with, and it's probably one of my favorite science units that I'll teach in kindergarten.  Much like any other unit, it's very exploratory and hands on.  But, what makes me smile the most is seeing the children rely on just one sense at a time--and then realizing how very valuable they all are and just how much they work together. 

I've collected quite a few GREAT books over the years to go along with this unit as well.  Here are just a few of my favorites.


Each day we talked about a different sense and then explored various items relying solely on that sense.  We played "Eye Spy" when talking about sight.  Then, brown paper bags where filled with items such as popcorn, peanut butter, and peppermint to smell; a napkin, a marker, and a puppet to feel.

Smelling

Feeling

At the art center, the children painted the body part we use for the sense we explored that day. 


 Painting eyes


Painting noses


Painting hands



I added another center to the rug area this week.  It is a Five Senses Picture Sort I purchased from Lakeshore



For shared reading I gave the children each a copy of the Five Senses Poem to read and practice.  They illustrated around it. 




Let me go ahead and apologize if you now can't get the tune of "Where Is Thumbkin" out of your head--I've had it in my head all week!

3 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed your senses ideas. I would love to do this but unfortunately my day is spent teaching 5's how to read and do math. My centers are all about reading or math.

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  2. I integrate many of these activities (painting and bags) during developmental play center time. The poems and books you see are a part of my literacy time. Read alouds and shared reading allow me to integrate. Check out my schedule as a tab at the top of this blog and you'll see that the majority of my day is literacy and math as well!

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  3. Love your post! great down to earth activities that kids can really do and learn from!
    Thank you!!!

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