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 :)

Open House, A Give-Away, AND The BIG QUESTION...

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow UP?

I ask my students that every year and then, I take their photograph dressed up as if they are working at that profession!  It makes the best bulletin board for Open House!

She wants to be a farmer.

A police officer.

A dentist

An ice cream truck driver!

Getting Started:

I present a unit on Community Helpers.  We learn about the different jobs around our community AND our school.  I used images I found on the Internet to talk about each job and what they do.  You might even want to have parents come in a talk about their jobs too.  I also taught them the song from Sesame Street called "Who Are The People In Your Neighborhood?" You can find the book on Amazon:

Click the image.

The 1st Bulletin Board:

At the beginning of the year, I take my students on a tour of the school and they get to meet the principal, assistant principal, office workers, health clerk (or nurse), librarian, cafeteria workers, and the custodians.  

We also meet the special teachers in our specialty classes like in the computer lab, music room, science lab, and the playground where we meet the safety specialists and the P.E. teachers.  

I take photographs of all of these people and create a little bulletin board in my classroom.  It helps the parents to get to know everyone who works with their child too.

The 2nd Bulletin Board:

This is the one that includes the photograph of the child dressed up like what they want to be when they grow up and their writing.   

Writing Part:

My students told me what they wanted to be when they grow up and one thing they will do if they had that job.  I wrote it for them on lined paper and all they had to do was copy it onto the writing template and color the frame.  

I gave them their photographs and they glued them onto the top section of the page.  This makes the cutes bulletin board and a great addition to their memory books too.  

Yes, that's a REAL FISH in the bowl!

Here Is A Tip:

This year, I Googled a background setting for many of my students so they looked like they were actually on stage, in a dentist office or a hair salon.  I just displayed the Googled image onto my SMART board and took the photograph of the child in front of the screen.

A rock star

   

A hair dresser

An eye doctor

Here Are A Few More...

A software engineer

A veterinarian

A pilot

Resources:

I already had a lot of "dress up" outfits in my home center, but you can create outfits with just a few props.  A man's white shirt can double as a lab coat for a doctor, dentist, veterinarian, or a scientist.  A dark blue shirt can be a police officer.  Props like stuffed animals and a doctor kit enhance the veterinarian's outfit and a tricycle can be the perfect prop for a motorcycle racer if he/she can bring a helmet to school.  I gave a pilot a police shirt, a globe, and a plastic airplane.  The globe covered the police badge.  Get creative and seek the help of your parents.  

Here is where you can find the writing templates too.  You can find it by clicking on the image below.  

Click the image.

This is an opinion piece and you get 2 templates.  Use the simple one for Pre-K or T.K. and they can just copy the name of their future job or you can write it in for them.  The 2nd template gives them a place to write about why they want that job or what they will do when they have that job.  

So, when is your Open House?  Ours is in 12 more days.  Leave a comment about an Open House idea you do with your class.

And... check out our Facebook where over 2000 teachers are following us!  We are almost seeing 20-20 "likes", so I am giving away our 5 Senses Pack to the 2020th "like".  It could be YOU!  

Click the image.

If you made it all the way down here...

Happy Mother's Day to you!!!

I'll see you all tomorrow.

Palma :)