My Five Senses Level: Kindergarten Time Frame: Approximately 1 Quarter  Description: This unit focuses on how human beings use the sense organs to detect and compare the properties of materials and objects in their environment. Children should recognize that the sensory abilities of humans help us function in our everyday lives.

Overview Activity List Learning Objectives Standards Resources

Activity List Introduction to Detective Theme Sense of Sight Seeing Things Better Sense of Touch Sense of Touch: Hot & Cold Sense of Hearing Sense of Smell Sense of Taste Using Our Detective Senses

Learning Objectives

Students will know and experience:

• Humans use their “senses” to find out about the world around them.

• Our eyes are the location of the sense of sight, which we use to learn about such things as colors, sizes, and shapes of objects.

• Hand lenses and similar tools can be used to make things look bigger so that we can see them better (in more detail).

• Our skin is the location of the sense of touch, which we can use to learn about such things as the roughness/smoothness, hardness/softness, and shapes of objects.

• We use the sense of touch to tell if things are hot or cold (to assess temperature).

• The ears are the location of the sense of hearing, which we can use to learn about what thingssound like.

• Sounds can be loud or soft, high or low in pitch.

• The nose is the location of the sense of smell, which we use to learn about the odors of substances.

• Odors can be strong or weak, pleasant or unpleasant.

• The tongue is the location of the sense of taste which we use to learn about the flavors of things.

• There are four primary kinds of tastes: salty, sweet, sour, and bitter.*

* Scientists now believe that there is a 5th primary taste called umani, and there may be others as well. However, the 4 above are the most well-established and most easily distinguished.

Students will practice:

• Describing observed events.

• Collecting data for investigations.

• Recording data.

• Arranging data into logical patterns and describing patterns.

• Comparing observations of individual and group results.

Standards

Illinois State Standards: Early Elementary - As a result of their schooling, students will be able to:

12B. Know and apply concepts that describe how living things interact with each other and with their environment.

• Describe characteristics of living things in relationship to their environment.

12C. Know and apply concepts that describe properties of matter and energy and the interactions between them.

• Compare large-scale physical properties of matter.

11A. Know and apply the concepts, principles, and processes of scientific inquiry.

• Describe an observed event.

• Develop questions on scientific topics.

• Collect and record data for investigations.

• Arrange data into logical patterns and describe the patterns.

• Compare observations of individual and group results.

National Science Education Standards: Fundamental Concepts and Principles - As a result of activities in grades K-4, all students should develop an understanding of fundamental concepts and principles:

• Each plant or animal has different structures (i.e., sense organs) that serve different functions.

• The behavior of organisms is influenced by internal and external cues. Humans and other organisms have senses that help them detect internal and external cues.

• Objects have many observable properties (properties that can be detected by using sight or other senses).

Benchmarks for Science Literacy

• People use their senses to find out about their surroundings and themselves. Different senses give different information.

• Magnifiers help people see things that they could not see without them.

Resources

Champaign Community Unit School District #4 * Mellon Administrative Center
703 South New Street * Champaign, IL 61820 * 217.351.3800