Start Your Science Units With The 5 Senses: Host a Tasting Party!

We had a 5 Senses Tasting Party:

We had FUN tasting sour, salty, sweet, and bitter things.

Each child got a little piece of wax paper with a pinch of salt, sugar, and unsweetened cocoa on it.

They also got a flat toothpick that had been poked into a lemon.

How It Worked:

First, they tasted the sour taste of the lemon by placing the toothpick on the side of their tongue.  That's where you taste sour things most strongly.

A flat toothpick works best for lifting the grains of salt, sugar, and cocoa,
but a round toothpick works fine too.

Next, they used their wet toothpick to pick up a few grains of salt and taste them.

Then, they used their wet toothpick to pick up a few grains of sugar and taste them.

Last, they used their wet toothpick to pick up a few grains of unsweetened cocoa and taste them.  You should have seen their faces!

We used higher level thinking skills:

We talked about how we could make the cocoa taste better and they decided to mix it with the sugar they had left.  They said it now tasted like a candy bar.  :)

We Integrated Writing:

The students illustrated something they like to eat because they enjoy the taste.  While they drew and colored, I asked each child what they were drawing and we determined which taste (sour, salty, sweet, or bitter) their favorite food had.  Then, they copied the food they liked from my sample and how it tasted.  This was one of the 5 pages in our 5 Senses Packet.

This was my sample.  Students wrote with a pencil.  
They dictated, I wrote on lined paper, and they copied.
For T.K., I wrote with a highlighter and they traced over my printing.  

You can find our 5 Senses Pack by clicking HERE.

Click the image

Enter to WIN 3 GREAT PRIZES & Find Out How We Celebrated The Color YELLOW!

We celebrated "Yellow Day"!

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Now, Let Me Tell You About "Yellow Day":

We all wore yellow, we made individual cups of lemonade, and we made a book about yellow things!

Preparation:

First, I requested organic lemons from our parents by placing a Post-it on our "Giving Tree".  You can grab our Giving Tree FREE here.
I also requested cups, organic sugar, and filtered water.  My great parents had everything we needed at school by 8:00 A.M.  :)

Wow, this has been
downloaded
over 1800 times!

Here it is mounted on construction
paper and laminated.
You can use any type of Post-its.
 The apple ones are so cute! 

Then, I brought in my juicer and a small knife to cut the lemons.  Now, this juicer is older than me, and I'm pretty old!  You can use any juicer, even a fork inserted into a half of a lemon works well.  Just juice over a strainer to remove the seeds.

It's hard work!

They loved working hard to make their own
lemonade!

You can usually find a juicer like this one for about $10 at a swap meet or flea market.  My son bought one, power sanded it with steel wool, repainted the base red, and gave it as a gift.  It looked so amazingly retro!

Problem solving when the juicer started to move.

I like the way his yellow crown covered his eyes.
I didn't have to smudge out too much of his face!

He loved squeezing his own organic lemon!

How we Made Lemonade:

OK, after each child in my small group of 4 juiced 1/2 of a lemon, we poured 1/2 cup of water into a plastic cup.  

Spills are OK.  That's why we worked on
yellow construction paper.  :)

It was interesting to see who knew how to
1st: hold the white cup so it didn't tip, and
B: pour quickly enough so as not to spill.
(Do you like that 1st, then B thing?)

Then we added 2 teaspoons of freshly squeezed, organic lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of organic sugar.

Measuring wet and dry ingredients.  

When they stirred, they got to hear the sugar scraping the bottom of the cup as organic sugar tends to come in larger granules than highly processed sugar.  

Five Senses Link:

So, we saw the yellow lemons, smelled them as we squeezed them, listened to the sugar scraping the bottom of the cup, tasted the lemonade, and felt the bump lemons and the wet, cool lemonade.

Linking Our Color Days To Our Calendar:

For the first 11 Fridays, we celebrate our Color Days.  I use these Color Day Notes

and Color Days Calendar Cards to remind students to wear a particular color on a particular day.

The notes are
in both English
& Spanish.

You get 2 on
a page so they
are easier tocopy.

Color Day
Calendar Cards

You can find these items by clicking on the images.
Then, we made a Color Day Class Book for the color we were celebrating that week!  This download also includes an individual page where your students can write about something that is a particular color. 

Our Color Days
Class Books.  

This download also includes an individual student book.  We used this as we integrated Writers Workshop into our day.  :)

REMEMBER TO ENTER MY 2 RAFFLECOPTERS BY CLICKING HERE. 

You can win a Show & Tell Apron or Ond Year of ESGI.

So Good You Can Taste It

We had a 5 Senses Tasting Party:

We had FUN tasting sour, salty, sweet, and bitter things.

Each child got a little piece of wax paper with a pinch of salt, sugar, and unsweetened cocoa on it.

They also got a flat toothpick that had been poked into a lemon.

How It Worked:

First, they tasted the sour taste of the lemon by placing the toothpick on the side of their tongue.  That's where you taste sour things most strongly.

A flat toothpick works best for lifting the grains of salt, sugar, and cocoa,
but a round toothpick works fine too.

Next, they used their wet toothpick to pick up a few grains of salt and taste them.

Then, they used their wet toothpick to pick up a few grains of sugar and taste them.

Last, they used their wet toothpick to pick up a few grains of unsweetened cocoa and taste them.  You should have seen their faces!

We used higher level thinking skills:

We talked about how we could make the cocoa taste better and they decided to mix it with the sugar they had left.  They said it now tasted like a candy bar.  :)

We Integrated Writing:

The students illustrated something they like to eat because they enjoy the taste.  While they drew and colored, I asked each child what they were drawing and we determined which taste (sour, salty, sweet, or bitter) their favorite food had.  Then, they copied the food they liked from my sample and how it tasted.  This was one of the 5 pages in our 5 Senses Packet.

This was my sample.  Students wrote with a pencil.  
They dictated, I wrote on lined paper, and they copied.
For T.K., I wrote with a highlighter and they traced over my printing.  

You can find our 5 Senses Pack by clicking HERE.

Click the image

See you all tomorrow!

Palma :)

Exiting Ways To Teach All About The Five Senses

Hearing:

We spent the entire morning on this sense, but I integrated so many other subject so we covered a lot of standards and had FUN learning.  Here is how:

This was our culmination activity each day.
My K students dictated, I wrote on lined paper, they copied & illustrated.
My TK students dictated, I wrote with a highlighter on their paper, they traced & illustrated.

We started by listening:

We listened to soft sounds and LOUD sounds by using this Thunder Tube.  

Click the image to see this on Amazon.com

We read about the sense of hearing and how our ears pick up vibrations and send the info to our brains.  

Then, We Went On A Listening Walk:

We listened to The Listening Walk, by Paul Showers.  

Click the image to see the book on Amazon.com

If you are lucky enough to find a cassette tape or audio version of this book, grab it.  It has wonderful sounds in the background.  The link above is for the book only.  

We followed up by taking our own listening walk on the playground.  We heard leaves crunching beneath our feet, cars driving by, birds, a dog, an airplane, and even the air conditioner outside of one of the classrooms.  We even counted how many different things we heard.  :)

We returned to our classroom and I met with small groups of five children.  We started by illustrating one thing that we heard while on our listening walk.  As the students drew and colored, I asked each child what they were drawing and I wrote it for them on lined paper so they could copy it or I used a highlighter and let them trace over it.  It all depended on each child's ability. 

This was our culminating activity each day.
This was my sample.
We always add blue background by using
broken, unwrapped, blue crayons to fill in the background.

This page is part of a 5-page book about out 5 Senses.  Students meet with me each day, experience hands-on activities having to do with one of the 5 senses, and then they write about it in their 5 senses packet.  You can find a similar packet in my TPT store by clicking HERE.  

Then we listened to our hearts:

If the child is holding the stethoscope, make sure they are not standing near a table or anything else the end of the stethoscope can drop onto.

If you are lucky enough to have a stethoscope, be very careful.  If a child has the ear buds in their ears, and they drop the end of the stethoscope on the table, it can hurt their ears.  I ALWAYS hold the end of the stethoscope carefully in my hand.  I tap gently on the end so they can hear how loud a gentle tap sounds.  Then, I carefully hold the end to their chest so they can hear their own heart beating.  I LOVE watching their eyes light up when they hear their own heart beating.  This activity drives home how you can HEAR something that you can't see.

I clean off the stethoscope with a baby wipe before the next child puts the earbuds in their ears.

Then We Matched Sounds:

Each sealed film canister has objects inside for the students to shake and listen to.  I placed the same objects into 2 canisters so every jar has a matching jar.  Students shake the jars and match the two that have the same sound.  

Make sure you number each jar and keep a "cheat sheet"
so you know instantly which 2 jars match.

Shake, shake, shake, and listen for a matching sound.

The following day, we learned about another one of our 5 senses until we finished our entire 5 Senses packet.

This is the cover sheet for the 5 Senses Packet.  Click the image to see the product.

This is what the "hearing" page looks like (minus the logo).Click the image to see the product.

See you all tomorrow for another one of our 5 Senses.

Let me know if you have any FUN ways to learn about the five senses. 

Palma :)

A Name On EVERY Paper Guaranteed

How do I get EVERY child to write their name on their paper?

These are tropical fruit scents.

It's easy.  I use scented lip gloss.  Well, not on lips.  This is how it works:

You, or an aide or volunteer, walks around the classroom with scented lip gloss.

If you see a student's name written neatly on the line (no flying letters allowed), you rub a tine dot of scented lip gloss on the back of their hand.  We call it a "smelly spot" and you get one if you have a name on your paper by a certain time.  

I also love how it goes great with our 5 Senses unit.  The kids love it and will hurry to their tables and write their names just to get a smelly spot.  You can find them at the Dollar Store and I even saw some cute crayon-shaped ones at the Target Dollar Spot.  Have fun with this one.  

Check out my:

FaCeBoOk:  Click Here to see my Facebook. (Tons of FREE ideas.)

PiNtErEsT:  Click Here to see my Pinterest Boards.  (Oh, the ideas on these boards!)

TeAcHeRs PaY tEaChErS:  Click Here to see my TPT Store (Did you say, "15 freebies?!")

And you might like my 5 Senses Writing Pack:

Click the image to see the writing pack.

See you all tomorrow.

Palma :)

'Twas The Night Before T.K.

Updated My Poem From Last Year:

'Twas the night before TK...
When all through the school,
The work's on the tables,
These hats will look cool...

Work is on the tables... 1st day star hats.

The centers are ready...

Painting easel covered with a plastic table cloth &
 paint cups covered with wet sponges.

Our "Five Senses" center.  This is the vision mat.

Bunny's in his seat...

Library chairs

 The Discovery Center looks kinda neat,

Discovery Center

 The light on the desk of this cute TK room,
Will light up the faces of children here soon,

My desk

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear?

But Clifford the dog...

Clifford will stay in our pet shop until we need it for our chickens.

 And a cute, cuddly bear!

A soft bear and tissues just in case we have criers.

With a little, old playhouse so charming and sweet,
I knew in a moment we could cook up a treat...

Home center.  Everything is labeled.

At the "dress-up" center,

the children all played...

Bookcase on its side makes a closet.

 And later they stopped,
To make lemonade...

Our lemonade stand.  

We made individual cups of lemonade.

The message was written,

On the board with care...

Lined dry erase contact paper on an easel and
a magnetic cork board with a giant #1 for the 1st day of school.

 And the rules at the front,
Told us all to beware....

Front table

 The new ten frame numbers look like Common Core,
And our alphabet letters left us begging for more....

Our Money Pig helps us to count each school day,

And the abacus shows us in a "different" way...

Attach magnets to coins and you can display them on a metal pig or...
Just paint a pig with paint pens on a cookie sheet and attach your coins with magnets
to show the number of days you have been in school.

And ESGI's testing file is all ready to go,
It tells me what each child does and doesn't know...

I LOVE using a dish rack for my testing files.
I test kids on the computer using ESGI.
Try it for FREE for 60 days, then sign up with my $40 off discount code:
B2174
Click HERE to see their site.

Then the last thing I did was to make this cute sign,

I'm exhausted, wiped out, now please bring me some wine!

Look through the frame and say, "Cheese!"

Say, "Cheese!"

Please visit our TPT store and have fun setting up your classroom!

COMING SOOOOOON:

Look for my FUN "1, 2, 3 Sale".

Each day, 3 items in my TPT Store will be deeply discounted.

One item will be $1.00.

One item will be $2.00.

One item will be $3.00.

Wishing you the best First Day EVER.  :o)

See you all tomorrow!

Palma