INTRODUCTION

This blog consist in developing the five different senses. For young children is not easy to explore the whole world by themselves. This blog propose you ideas to have fun with the children teaching them about their senses. Ours activities are addressed to children from eight to ten years old. Under each heading you’ll find activities appropriated for each sense. To teach this topic we need six lessons of one hour. In the first one, we’ll give an introduction of the five senses in general. In the other five lessons we will,  first of all, define each sense and after we will propose some activities to do with the children to practice the four skills: Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing.

Are you ready? Good! So let’s go!

And don’t forget to have fun ;)

OBJECTIVES

“The five senses” is an online teaching unit to propose you how to make the children learn about their senses in the classroom, during outside activities or by online activities.

The concepts and objectives, both general and specific, which we want to achieve are:

• CONCEPTS:

-We experience the world through our sense.

-Our tongues have taste buds and they are what help us taste things.

-We have nerve endins that send messages to our brain that tell us what things feel like when we touch them.

-Our sense help keep us safe, and teach us things.

• OBJECTIVES:

GENERAL OBJECTIVES:

1. Name the five senses
2. Use the five senses to discover properties of objects in the environment
3. Name a body part used for each sense
4. Compare objects using only one sense
5. Classify objects using only one sense
6. Become aware of various physical impairments
7. Describe how the five senses work together
8. Describe ways to show proper care of eyes, ears, skin and nose.

ESPECIFICS OBJECTIVES:

SIGHT: The sense of sight helps us recognize each other and learn about colors, motions and distance.

HEARING: The sense of hearing helps us learn from each other through communication. Sound can produce paterns.

SMELL: The sense of smell helps us to enjoy life and helps us learn about unsafe conditions.

TOUCH: The sense of touch helps us learn about our world by feeling it and learning the size, texture and shape of things.

TASTE: Taste helps us, among other things, to select and enjoy food. There are four familiar tastes.

THE FIVE SENSES

During the first lesson, we’ll present the five senses in general watching the following videos.

After that, it would be interesting to speak with the pupils about the vocabulary and the body part they relate to each sense.

Click here to see the first video!!!  the five senses

And now LET'S SING !!!

Song number 1:




Song number 2:




Song number 3:






ONLINE ACTIVITY: Create your own potato! (working the body parts)

 

GLOBAL WRITING ACTIVITY:

At the end of the six lessons, ask the pupils to write about what they have learned during those activities and what they have felt. If they have been surprised by some activities and which they have preferred.

 

1. Sight

INTRODUCTION FOR TEACHER:

Sight or vision is the ability of the eye(s) to focus and detect images of visible light on photoreceptors in the retina of each eye that generates electrical nerve impulses for varying colors, hues, and brightness. There are two types of photoreceptors: rods and cones. Rods are very sensitive to light, but do not distinguish colors. Cones distinguish colors, but are less sensitive to dim light. There is some disagreement as to whether this constitutes one, two or three senses. Neuroanatomists generally regard it as two senses, given that different receptors are responsible for the perception of color and brightness. Some argue that stereopsis, the perception of depth using both eyes, also constitutes a sense, but it is generally regarded as a cognitive (that is, post-sensory) function of the visual cortex of the brain where patterns and objects in images are recognized and interpreted based on previously learned information. The inability to see is called blindness.

ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN:

• VOCABULARY

colours, form,  drawing, eyes, to see, far, near, pretty, ugly, to observe, to look at, shadow, to read, photography, glasses 

• ACTIVITIES 

Use Your Eyes
Use your eyes, use your eyes,
You can look and see;
If you have on brown shoes;
Come and stand by me!

Colors

In this activity the children will work the listening through the sight. The teacher has to say one color and after that the children will have to find in the classroom one object of the color the teacher says before.  (listening)

Useful vocabulary:

Red, Yellow, Blue, Purple, Pink, Green, Brown, Orange, White, Black.

Intems

Collect several objects and place it on a table in front of you. After having seen all the objects and memorized it, make the children cover their eyes and remove one of the objects. After the children have undercovered their eyes, make them decide as a group with object is missing, they obviously have to say it in English. (speaking)

Useful Vocabulary:

Pencil, Pen, Rubber, File, Bag, Tape, Chalk, Book

Outside activity

Collect several balls and a bucket. Have children throw the balls into the bucket from different standing points. The children will have to use their eyes to decide how hard or soft to throw the ball. (reading and writing)

Marcus daily life:

Solutions of the exercice:

shower; kitchen; school bag; school bus; school; teacher; homework; television; bed.

ACTIVITIES ONLINE:

1. Pay attention and find the pairs!

2. I see...

FINALLY... LISTEN TO THE STORY!

2. Hearing

INTRODUCTION FOR TEACHER:

Hearing or audition is the sense of sound perception. Hearing is all about vibration. Mechanoreceptors turn motion into electrical nerve pulses which are located in the inner ear. Since sound is vibrations propagating through a medium such as air, the detection of these vibrations, that is the sense of the hearing, is a mechanical sense because these vibrations are mechanically conducted from the eardrum through a series of tiny bones to hair-like fibers in the inner ear which detect mechanical motion of the fibers within a range of about 20 to 20,000 hertz, with substantial variation between individuals. Hearing at high frequencies declines with an increase in age. Sound can also be detected as vibrations conducted through the body by tactition. Lower frequencies than that can be heard are detected this way. The inability to hear is called deafness.

ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN:

• VOCABULARY  

loud, noise, low, sound, music, silence, to listen to, to ring, ear, telephone, to hear 

• ACTIVITIES

Use Your Ears
Use your ears, use your ears,
Listen now and hear!
Use your ears, use your ears,
What kind of sound do you hear?

• 
  

  Language: Discuss with the children what part of the body we use to hear with. Talk about the different sounds they hear with in the classroom. (speaking and listening)

  
  

  Outside: Noise hide and seek. Supply each child with a whistle or a bell. Have one child count to ten and the other children hide with their instrument. The seeker must follow the sounds that the hidden children make with their instrument.

  
  

  Object Sounds
  Set out four or five objects that make different sounds in front of you and have your children close their eyes. Tap on one of the objects and see if they can guess which object it was by the sound it made. If you have time, let your children take turns tapping the objects. Make the game harder for older children by just walking around the room and tapping on random objects for them to guess. (speaking)

  
  Rhyming Time
  Prepare the children by reading stories and poems with rhyming words. Provide the children with a box of small toy objects. Ask the children to name each object.
  When the teacher is certain the children can correctly identify each object, the children can be asked to find objects with names that sound alike, for example, cake, rake; boy, toy, etc. (reading and listening)

ONLINE ACTIVITIES:

1. Listen and repeat the sounds of the instruments!


2. How does this sound?

FINALLY... LISTEN TO THE STORY!

3. Smell

INTRODUCTION FOR TEACHER:

Smell or olfaction is the other "chemical" sense. Unlike taste, there are hundreds of olfactory receptors (388 according to one source), each binding to a particular molecular feature. Odor molecules possess a variety of features and thus excite specific receptors more or less strongly. This combination of excitatory signals from different receptors makes up what we perceive as the molecule's smell. In the brain, olfaction is processed by the olfactory system. Olfactory receptor neurons in the nose differ from most other neurons in that they die and regenerate on a regular basis. The inability to smell is called anosmia. Some neurons in the nose are specialized to detect pheromones.

ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN:

• VOCABULARY

smell, nose, pleasant, unpleasant, perfume, colony, food, plants, trees, spice, air freshener

• ACTIVITIES

Language: What do we use to smell with? Talk about the nose and the job it performs. You may also wish to introduce the noses of animals and how they use their noses to find food.

Puffs of Smell
Place cotton balls in several paper cups. Drop a different smelling liquid in each cup -- vanilla, orange, peppermint and lemon extracts (or other substances safe to smell). Let children smell and identify. Activity can be extended by having children identify the lunch menu from the smells coming from the kitchen. (speaking)

Outside: Take a walk outside and smell wild flowers! With a note book, and ask them to find the name of the flowers in English. (writing)

4. Touch

INTRODUCTION FOR TEACHER:

Touch, also called tactition or mechanoreception, is a perception resulting from activation of neural receptors, generally in the skin including hair follicles, but also in the tongue, throat, and mucosa. A variety of pressure receptors respond to variations in pressure (firm, brushing, sustained, etc.). The touch sense of itching caused by insect bites or allergies involves special itch-specific neurons in the skin and spinal cord. The loss or impairment of the ability to feel anything touched is called tactile anesthesia. Paresthesia is a sensation of tingling, pricking, or numbness of the skin that may result from nerve damage and may be permanent or temporary.

ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN:

• VOCABULARY

smooth, even, rough, hot, cold, sensation, to feel, hands, texture, wrinkled, sharp, wet, dry, to touch

• ACTIVITIES

Language: Define the sense of touch for the children. Ask the children what part of the body they use to feel things. Talk about skin and how it is used to feel different things. Also talk about hands and how everyone's hand is different.

Chalk and Wet Paper
Materials: Paper, Wet Sponge, and Chalk
Procedure:
1. Each child should wet paper slightly with wrung out sponge.
2. Draw freely with colored chalk. Show the children how to use side and ends of chalk.
3. Allow paper to dry.

Egg Weigh
Collect some eggs (for example, from pantyhose or plastic Easter eggs) and place inside them items, such as pebbles, spool of thread, paper clips, etc. Have children take turns placing the eggs in order from heavy to light. Extend this activity using more eggs or by having the children pair eggs that seem to weigh the same, and then, asking them what kind items could be inside.

Tactile Temperatures
Prepare a jar of ice water and a jar of warm water. Let children take turns touching the jars to see which is warm and which is cold. Children may close their eyes when touching the jars if they wish. This helps concentrate on using one sense.

Art: Make texture cards. Collect different samples of vinal wallpaper, cotten, sandpaper, sticks, leaves, tounge depressors, etc. Have the children glue the items on different cards. They can use the cards for sorting.(learning vocabulary)