The Five Senses in ECE: Lesson Plans

The Five Senses

Lesson Plan

General Characteristic:

Grade level: KG2 (6 boys and 6 girls)

Behavioral aspects: all children generally behave in a well form, especially when they are involved in and focused on completing a task.

Learning Styles:

The students learn best when they are involved in activities (student centered approach).

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:

· Be able to compare and contrast which sense(s) they use for each object.

· Name which body part corresponds to a sense.

· use their sense of hearing to listen to the popcorn being popped, sense of smell to smell the delicious smell of the popcorn, sense of sight to see the popcorn popping, sense of touch to feel the popcorn, or to feel the warmth, and sense of taste (salty) and see if their guess was right.

· The learner will communicate with a friend his or her observations about each of the five senses activities.

· Create a sense mask

· Create a bar graph with the five senses cut outs and labeling them

Materials:

Popcorn activity:

o Popcorn
o Electric popcorn-making machine
o Paper bags special for popcorn
Sense Mask Activity:
o Circle shaped cardboards
o Pictures of the organs responsible of each sense
o Glue
o Colorings
o Decorative materials( in order for the students to decorate their sense mask the way they wish to)

Prepare the environment:

The lesson will take place in the classroom. The teacher will make sure everyone gets a look at the popcorn, taste, touch and evaluate what he sees, feels, etc. Also at the end the teacher must make sure to everyone participated in the activity.

For the second session, the teacher will prepare the materials needed to create a sense mask with all the things necessary to make the experience real. (The sense mask will not only include a face with all its sense organs but also it will include a bell for the ear, a perfume for the smell, a salt/sugar for the taste, a color/black & white poster for the sight and a soft/tough cloth for the touch)

Prepare the learners:

To prepare the students, the teacher introduces the lesson objectives.

Procedure:

For the first period:

Place an air popcorn popper filled with popcorn on a table covered with a box in the classroom when the students are not present
Have students sit on the carpet and watch, distribute to each child their share of the popcorn.
Introduce the lesson, by explaining the five senses and relating it to the popcorn activity.

For the second period:

Start the lesson by revising what they learned the last period.
Provide them the worksheet that they will fill out.
Give them the paper that includes the different pictures resembling the five senses; explain what the task is for them to complete. (bar graph)
After each child completes the task, introduce the idea of a sense mask, give them the materials needed to make one, guide them throughout the activity to make each child’s own sense mask and give them the freedom of choice to decorate it.

Procedure:

First period:

Ask the students how about what’s happening. What does it sound like? What does it smell like?
Did the students guess correctly? Tell the students that I will be asking more questions when they get the popcorn about how it feels, tastes and sounds like. Pass out popcorn to students.
Ask the students what they see, feel and taste. Ask the students to describe each experience: What does it look like? What does it taste like? What sound does the popcorn make when you eat it?
Ask the students to try to explain what they used to find out what was under the box. Briefly discuss the five senses, and the sensory organs. Talk about descriptive sense words: loud, soft, hard, rough, heavy, light, etc.

Second period:

Distribute the worksheet and have them work individually.
Distribute the five senses pictures that they will color and cut out to make up a bar graph, and guide them while they are working.
Ask the students to help you and participate in the preparation of the sense masks , meantime asking question and making them guess of where to put which sense, etc.
Have them come in front one by one and have a look on each and every sense.
Have them ring the bell, smell the perfume, taste the salt/sugar, see the difference between the color/black & white picture and have a sense of touch for the soft/tough cloth.