Exploring our 5 Senses

To set the theme of an investigation lab and to help transform my classroom, I used several of the Divine Discoveries Science Lab Backdrops and one and a half rolls of Metallic Silver Plastic Tablecloth. I hung these quickly and easily from our drop ceiling with binder clips (most clipped on the back side of the backdrops to hide them from view). I just tucked a bit of the backdrop onto the ceiling track and then clipped it on. I also used a few more binder clips and clothespins to hold each of the sections together. All in all, in under 30 minutes I was able to completely transform the look of my classroom into our investigation lab. To add to the look of the room, I added some Investigation in Progress Plastic Streamers in various places around my classroom and also to the doorway to get my students excited as soon as they saw the door! I also created a banner with my word processing program, a fun font, and some yarn. I taped the yarn to the back of each letter (about half of an inch down from the top), and then used clear tape to attach it to the backdrop. I knew I wanted to have five different stations for my students to rotate through, one for each sense, but keep in mind that all of these activities could EASILY be done as a whole group or over 5 different days. I enlisted the help of as many other adults as I could, and was lucky to find five that were able to assist us. (I was going to ask our book buddy classroom of fourth graders to help if no adults were available to help out!) I also created a 5 Senses Journal for each student so they could record their learnings as they moved from station to station. I then divided my students into five groups, donned my mad scientist wig and lab coat, and we were off to learn more about our senses! First up was the station about the sense of smell. We used the ever popular Mr. Sketch Scented Markers that my students always want to smell. On this day, they had complete permission to do so! After quickly smelling each marker, they colored in the circle next to the picture that matched that scent in their 5 Senses Journal. I also had several See-Through Bug Jars that I added a few cotton balls to, along with several drops of essential oils. My students were able to smell the oils through the holes in the See-Through Bug Jars and tell each other what scent it was. To help my adult volunteers, I labeled each jar (on the bottom) with the name of the scent, so they could use clues to help my students figure out what the scent was. Next, the children moved on to the station about touch! I used scissors to cut holes in the top of Small Square Storage Boxes, after tracing a circle shape on top to act as a guide. Inside each Small Square Storage Box, I placed one kind of material that I had cut into 2 inch by 1 inch rectangles. The materials in each of the boxes were purchased at my local dollar store and were all inexpensive and will last for several years. I used sand paper, cotton balls, bubble wrap, kitchen sponges, fabric, and cut up plastic baggies. Each student reached into one of the boxes and pulled out a piece of the material that was inside. As a group they talked about how it felt and then glued it into their 5 Senses Journal above a word that described it. My students then moved to the station about sight. To help them use their sense of sight, I taped small letters I had printed out onto the bottoms of the See-Through Bug Jars. The built in magnifiers on top of each See-Through Bug Jar were perfect for magnifying the letters so my students could see them and record it in their 5 Senses Journal! I loved watching their expressions as they recognized what each letter was and recorded it. I chose 12 letters that my students had the most trouble identifying to give them some more practice in remembering and recognizing them. I also included a mix of upper and lowercase letters in the jars. I think the favorite station of the day was the tasting station. Anytime food is involved, it automatically becomes the crowd favorite! I purchased some fruit snacks (but you could use any other foods) and let each student have an individual baggie of them. I used fruit snacks because with all the allergies we have in my classroom, fruit snacks were the one common food we all could eat and enjoy. Each student tasted one fruit snack at a time and then circled or colored in what fruit they thought they tasted in their 5 Senses Journal. I've not ever watched a Kindergarten student examine a fruit snack so closely before! They were looking at the fruit snacks to find out if the shape and color gave them any clues about the taste. The final station was about hearing. I enlisted the help of two technology savvy friends to teach my students how to use a QR code reader. They scanned a QR code that I had provided and then listened to and watched a short story about the 5 senses. After that, they colored in pictures to show which senses they used as they watched and listened. A second activity in this station also helped my students use their sense of hearing. I recorded my voice on Recordable Answer Buzzers, giving my students actions to complete. After they completed each action, they colored in the body part (either hands or legs) they used to do that action. They had to listen closely to my voice on the Recordable Answer Buzzers because I gave a specific number of times I wanted them to do things. Some of the actions I recorded were, "Do five jumping jacks", "Give three friends a high five", "Clap seven times", and "Hop up and down ten times". I already have some other uses in mind for the Recordable Answer Buzzers in the future! No investigation is complete without some tools to help discover clues, so each of my students received a goody bag to take home to help them use their senses there! Included in each of the Red Goody Bags was a set of two Top Secret Invisible Ink Markers, a Top Secret Decoder Screen, a Top Secret Pencil, and a Top Secret Notebook. By the end of the day, my students were writing secret messages to each other with their Top Secret Invisible Ink Markers and making notes in their Top Secret Notebooks! We had so much fun investigating more about our 5 senses! My students were able to connect each one of their 5 senses with an activity that helped them remember a way they can use that sense. They begged me to leave the backdrops up because they all loved the fact that they were in a real investigation lab! What other kinds of activities do you do with your students to help them learn about their senses?