Last Wednesday we kicked off our newest Science Unit, Senses! To get the kids thinking, students were challenged to use their senses to make observations together!
Senses with Scuba Charlotte
On Friday, we added to our Senses knowledge as we went on an underwater senses journey with "Scuba Charlotte"!
Hearing
We used our sense of hearing and had to identify sounds from several sea animals, including dolphins and whales. The next challenge was to wear blackout goggles and follow a specific sound (e.g. bells, castanets) as we crab-walked around the room, following our sound! Then we took a minute and reflected on what could hurt/help our senses:
Sight
Our eyes played tricks on us! On one side of a stick we glued a fish, and on the other a tank. When we spun the stick back a forth, it looked like the fish was in the tank! We also really enjoyed a What is it? game and a few other optical illusions.
Taste and Smell
We learned that our sense of taste and smell work together, and we use our noses help us taste! We ate a cracker with our noses plugged, and then tried again without our noses unplugged. What a difference!
We also challenged our sense of smell with little scented vials. Black licorice was a toughie!
Animals taste and smell a little differently than we do. Did you know that a catfish has taste buds all over its body? Or that a shark has an excellent sense of smell and can smell blood from miles away?
Mystery Tastes
We tried a few different mystery tastes, but were encouraged to smell the samples first. We tried salt water, lemon juice, and sugar water. Scuba Charlotte thankfully didn't ask us to taste spinach or coffee, which are both bitter tastes! (Mrs. Beliveau would have gladly had any coffee samples)
Touch
We were able to touch many textures from the ocean, including real coral that was once alive! We identified bumpy, sharp, squishy, smooth and rough textures.
We had so much fun wearing black out shades and exploring sand and water pails, identifying different items!
Sea Lions and Their Senses
No trip with Scuba Charlotte is complete without meeting a few sea lions!
We learned that when a baby is born, the mama and baby sea lions bark back and forth for about 20 minutes to learn to identify each other's bark! If a mama is ever confused about who her baby is, she uses her sense of smell to identify it.
Sea lions have an excellent sense of smell, which they use to find their baby, locate a mate, or identify a dangerous human. But sea lions do not have a very developed sense of taste!
Sea lions rely on their whiskers as their sense of touch! Their whiskers tell them how the water is moving and can signal to them if food swims by.
We learned loads about our senses with Scuba Charlotte today! Hopefully you were able to review your child's booklet and learn something new yourself! Thank you to the parent volunteers who were so patient, energetic and willing to participate!
Senses presentation was made through Teacher's Pet
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