Sunday 25 October 2015

Fun with our Five Senses

So, what exactly does popping popcorn have to do with learning?


Easy! We popped popcorn and used our senses to describe it! We've just begun our 5 Senses Unit in Science, and boy has it started off with a bang! (or rather, a POP!)


We got right to to work on our bulletin board, cutting out pictures from magazines to post by the different senses. Pretty spectacular work!


Last Friday we welcomed in Scuba Charlotte for a hands-on morning designed to make us "senses experts"! The best part? The program was underwater themed!



Hearing
Using our sense of hearing, we listened carefully to identify sounds from several different sea animals, such as dolphins and whales. Our next challenge was so fun! Wearing blackout glasses, so we could not see, students relied on their sense of hearing to know which direction to travel. Listening for a specific sound (bells, castanets), students were challenged to crab-walk in the direction of their sound. 


Sight
Our eyes can play tricks on us! We colored a fish and a tank, and glued the images onto opposite sides of a stick. When the stick was spun quickly back and forth, it appeared as though the fish was in the tank! We enjoyed a "What is it?" ocean animal game as well as other optical illusions. 



Taste and Smell
We discovered that our sense of taste and smell work together closely! We tasted a cracker with our noses plugged, then tried again with our noses unplugged. What a difference!

We sniffed several scented vials and enjoyed guessing the smells. 



Scuba Charlotte taught us that animals sometimes taste and smell differently than us. A catfish has taste buds all over its body, and a shark can smell so well it can smell blood from miles away. Neat!

We also sampled some mystery tastes ... sugar water, salt water, and lemon juice! Can your child describe each of those tastes? (sweet, salty, and sour)


Touch
We explored many textures from the ocean, and were lucky enough to even touch real coral that was once alive! We identified bumpy, sharp, squishy, smooth and rough textures. 

We got a little sandy and a little wet during one of our favourite activities! Wearing blackout glasses, we used our sense of touch to find items in a pail of sand and a bucket of water. 



Sea Lion Senses
Scuba Charlotte introduced us to her favourite ocean animal, sea lions! They uses their senses in amazing ways!

When a baby sea lion is born, it barks back and forth with it's mama for 20 minutes to learn one another's barks. A mama sea lion can also use it's sense of smell to find it's baby. 

Playing a game -
Can the mama sea lion find it's baby
by listening for the right bark?

Sea Lions rely on their whiskers for their sense of touch. Their whiskers move in the water and can tell them of food is swimming by. 



We learned LOADS about the senses God blessed us with and will continue this learning throughout the week in the classroom. Hopefully you were able to review your child's booklet from the program and hear the many highlights from the morning!






1 comment:

  1. That is so cool, I didn't know that about Sea Lions!!

    Future's lookin' so bright, gotta wear shades! Way to go Grade 1!

    ReplyDelete