Unit: Life Science: Unit 3: Cells and the Human Body (Five Senses)
Grade Level/Course: Kindergarten
Teacher: Groh
Learning Goals (Question 1)
Complex
Simple
Science:
*Use the senses to observe surroundings and describe the observations (sight--color, size, shape, etc.;
hearing--(vibrations) loud, noisy, quiet, squeaky, etc.; smell--sweet, stinky, rotten/yucky, etc.; taste--sweet,
sour, salty, bitter; etc.; touch--(textures- smooth, rough, squishy, bumpy, sticky, etc.) soft, hard, cold, warm,
hot, pain, etc.
Science:
*Know describing words that relate to the five senses (sight--color, size, shape, etc.;
hearing--(vibrations) loud, noisy, quiet, squeaky, etc.; smell--sweet, stinky, rotten/yucky, etc.; taste--sweet,
sour, salty, bitter; etc.; touch----(textures- smooth, rough, squishy, bumpy, sticky, etc.) soft, hard, cold,
warm, hot, etc.
*Identify/name the five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch)
*Know the body part for which each of the five senses is related (sight-eyes; hearing-ears; tasting-tongue;
smelling-nose; touch-skin)
Senses, See, Hear, Taste, Smell, Touch
Senses- The body parts/organs that people and animals use to know what is going on around them
Six-Step
Vocabulary
*Some body parts have a sense that is related to that body part.
Big Ideas/Key
Understandings *The five senses and the corresponding body parts help students interpret the world around them
Essential
Questions
Assessment
*What are the five senses?
*What part of our body is related to each of the five senses?
*What describing words/descriptions can we use with each of the five senses?
*Identify/name the five senses and their related body parts
*Match the sense to the body part that is related to it
*For each object, tell which sense organ it is related to and describe each object using your senses.
Planning for Question 2
Preview
Six Step Vocabulary:
*See attached vocab
Instruction sheet
*Body Parts
Wordwall
*Brainstorm for list
of five senses
Touch: Tell students
that while your
other four senses
(sight, hearing,
smell, and taste) are
located in specific
parts of the body,
your sense of touch
is found all over
(skin and nails).
Critical Input Chunk
*Books-My Five Senses by
Aliki
My Five Senses by
Rosa-Mendoza,
Gladys
All About Me: My
Five Senses by
Leon Read
Magic School Bus
Explores the
Senses by Joanna
Cole
*Song-“The Five
Senses Song” by
Dr. Jean Feldman
*Songs for
teaching
website(health)
“Five Senses”-by
Ron Brown
*Video—“”Learn
Actively Process
*Game— “Simon Says”
*Senses-“Seaside Senses” gameStudents choose an object from a bag
and decide which sense it relates to.
Sensory centers: Sight: Display a
small tray with 5-10 items on it.
(Items might include a leaf, cotton
ball, rock, crayon, and rubber band).
Let students study the tray. Then
cover the tray and challenge each
child to draw the items they saw on
the tray.
Sound: Fill 12 or more small boxes
with small items such as paper clips,
rice, pebbles, pennies, and marbles.
Each box should have a plastic-egg
"partner" with the exact same items
Planning for
Question 3
*Senses activity: quiet
time: Dim the lights,
draw the shades, close
the door, and minimize
any noises. Have
students relax and pay
attention to what they
saw, heard, smelled or
felt during the quiet
time and tell what
senses they used.
*Taste: Give children
their own drawings of
the tongue and have
them classify the tastes
by drawing the foods
they sampled in the
appropriate section on
the tongue(sour, salty,
sweet, and bitter).
*Touch-“Touch to Tell”
activity—Everyday items
in paper bags-students
touch items in each bag
Planning for
Question 4
Senses:
Video
w/questions
higher level
question at end:
“The Five SensesWhat if You
Couldn’t Smell?”
Senses:Which one
of your five senses
do you enjoy the
most? Explain
your answer.
Senses: Which of
the five senses do
you think is most
important?
Which do you
think is least
important?
Explain your
reasoning for
each.
Unit: Life Science: Unit 3: Cells and the Human Body (Five Senses)
Grade Level/Course: Kindergarten
Teacher: Groh
Five Senses”
(Rajshri (3:41)
*Video—“All
About the Senses”
(Safari Montage-22
min.)
*Poetry-“Five
Senses” poem
Touch: Put out a
variety of items
under a towel for
children to feel
(pine cones,
sandpaper, rocks,
leaves, velvet,
feathers, sponges,
leather, wax paper,
bubble wrap).
Have them feel
each item as the
teacher tells and
describes the
texture of the item
to them.
Touch Surfaces:
Make your own
touch surfaces by
coating index cards
with glue, then
spreading on
separate cards
items such as
popcorn, sugar,
flour, seeds, sand,
paper, soil, etc.
Have students feel
the surfaces and
describe the
surface texture to
students. Tell
students that we
use our sense of
touch to feel the
texture of different
surfaces.
(This is also a good
time to get some
"expert" help by
asking students for
suggestions as to
surfaces you could
in it. Children can shake the eggs and
listen carefully to find each egg's
partner.
Smell: Fill brown envelopes with
items such as cinnamon, potpourri,
vinegar, perfume, garlic, and coffee
beans. Encourage students to identify
and describe the smells without
looking into the envelopes. Use
describing words to tell how the
different items smelled.
Taste: Show a diagram of the tongue
with the sections marked for sour,
salty, sweet, and bitter tastes. (back:
bitter tastes; sides: sour tastes; tip:
salty and sweet tastes)
See Your Sense of Taste:
http://tqjunior.thinkquest.org/3750/t
aste/taste.html for reference. (See
diagram below). Have students
sample different foods on the
different taste buds of the tongue to
help them understand where each
taste is experienced on the tongue.
*After each touch
surface/material/etc. critical input
activity, put students in groups of five,
and have students take turns feeling
the objects again and telling what
texture the object has.
*Nature Walk
without looking and
classify items by their
texture (describing
words for texture):
Examples below:
Touch: Put a variety of
items under a towel for
children to feel (pine
cones, sandpaper, rocks,
leaves, velvet, feathers,
sponges, leather, wax
paper, bubble wrap).
Then have them identify
and describe the texture
of each object.
Touch surfaces: Put
each Touch Surface card
in a separate, numbered
paper bag and have each
student reach into each
bag and identify each
surface.
Younger students can be
helped by having a
duplicate reference set
of cards available to
compare.
Touch Fabrics This time
put in each numbered
bags a sample of each
touch fabric items such
as: a towel, a sock, a teeshirt, denim or corduroy
jeans, a sack, a lace
curtain, something
suede, something furry,
and so on.
Touch: Chart some
different touch
sensations (description
words), determine their
opposites and select
common items and chart
their touch
characteristics.
Senses: If you had
to live without
one of your five
senses —hearing,
sight, touch, taste,
smell—which one
would it be and
why?
Unit: Life Science: Unit 3: Cells and the Human Body (Five Senses)
Grade Level/Course: Kindergarten
Teacher: Groh
add to the activity
next time!)
Touch Fabrics:
This time put in
each numbered
bags a sample
from a variety of
fabric items such
as: a towel, a sock,
a tee-shirt, denim
or corduroy jeans,
a sack, a lace
curtain, something
suede, something
furry, and so on.
The rules are the
same as the
Surface Quiz
above.
*Senses-Nature Walk
mini-book—classify
observations from
surroundings with the
sense with which it is
related (what they saw,
smelled, heard, touched,
tasted).
Resources: Please add any text page numbers, web links, articles, or other unit resources here.
*Parent Letter: “Teaching Children About the Five Senses”
*Books ( RVT Library): My Five Senses by Aliki; My Five Senses by Rosa-Mendoza, Gladys; All About Me: My Five Senses by Leon
Read; Let’s Read About Our Bodies Series: by Klingel & Noyed (Includes the following 3 titles): Ears, Eyes, Nose; Our Skin by
Charlotte Guillain; The Five Senses Series by Rebecca Rissman (Includes the following 3 titles): Hearing, Seeing, Smelling
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by B. Martin, Jr.
The Five Senses (It's Science) by Sally Hewitt
The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses by Joanna Cole
My Eyes Are for Seeing by Jane Belk-Moncure
My Five Senses by Aliki
My Five Senses by Margaret Miller
*Games— “Simon Says”; Body Parts bingo
*Songs—“Hokey Pokey”
*Videos—“All About the Senses” (Safari Montage-22 min.)
Questions:
Seeing:
What other things can you do besides those we have talked about to help protect your eyes from harm?
Imagine that you could not see. Which of your other senses do you think would become most important to you? Explain how it
would help you to sense what you could not see.
Why do some people wear glasses and others do not? What does wearing glasses do for a person? How would a person know
if he or she needed to wear glasses?
Unit: Life Science: Unit 3: Cells and the Human Body (Five Senses)
Grade Level/Course: Kindergarten
Teacher: Groh
Hearing:
Tell about some of your favorite sounds.
Tell about a time when hearing helped keep you safe.
Tell about some things that would be hard to do if you couldn't hear.
Senses:
Give an example of a way that each of your five senses can help you to stay safe.
Choose a favorite object and describe it using your five senses.
Which one of your five senses do you enjoy the most? Explain your answer.
Which of the five senses do you think is most important? Which do you think is least important? Explain your reasoning for
each.
Choose a holiday and write an essay describing what it feels, sounds, tastes, smells, and looks like. Do not use the name of the
holiday in the essay. Leave it for the reader to guess.
If you had to live without one of your five senses—hearing, sight, touch, taste, smell—which one would it be and why?
Smell:
Explain what happens inside your body to allow you to smell a pizza.
List three things that you like to smell. Why do you like these scents? Name three things that you don't like to smell. Why
don't you like these odors?
Think about your favorite holiday. What are some of the many scents associated with that special celebration? How do those
scents make you feel?
List three ways that our sense of smell is helpful. Give an example for each.
Taste: A child has about ten thousand taste buds. An older adult, like your grandfather, might only have five thousand taste
buds. What might this mean? Do you think it would be a good thing or a bad thing to have fewer taste buds? Explain.
Touch:
Explain what happens when you put your hand on a hot pan.
What happens with your sense of touch? Your nerves? Your brain?