5 Senses Unit Week 1
Story Time: Scroll down for the Books of the Week
Choose one book each day to focus on
Scroll down for the Books of the Week. Pause during the book reading to discuss what you see and ask your child to identify items either by labeling or pointing. Keep a list of what they were able to identify and share it with us!
After reading the books/watching the videos, mask up and go on a nature walk (even if it's just around the block). While walking ASK QUESTIONS and talk about what you see (ie colors, animals, clouds, wind blowing in the trees). Gather colorful leaves, and blades of grass, talk about the colors and sizes of your discoveries. Allow your child to explore what you've discovered and we'll be using some of these materials throughout the week.
Invite your child to look out of a window (store, bus, subway, bedroom, etc.) and discuss what they see at various times throughout the day. What do they see in the morning? In the evening? Right before bed? What is different each time they look? What is the same? Why?
Literacy Activity:
Choose an activity to work on over a couple of days or choose one activity per day
Vocabulary words to target this week: colors, eyes, sight, see, shapes
EXAGGERATE the target letters below and pair those sounds with the vocabulary words
(Focus Letters: C, E, S)
*Feel free to add your own words, the key is consistency. KEEP LANGUAGE GOING ALL DAY*
CLICK HERE FOR LETTER PRINTABLES
There are puzzles, tracing, painting, play-dough mats to choose from. The goal is to have your child engage with letters of the alphabet but also to be able to identify the letters in the vocabulary words. Experiment with what your child shows the most interest in. Target fine motor skills, following directions and communication. Allow your child to use glue, safety scissors, paint, markers, stickers, etc. For play-dough and paint recipes, click on this link below or check our "Resources" page.
NO PRINTER? NO PROBLEM! DRAW LETTERS FOR YOUR CHILD TO TRACE WITH THEIR FINGERS, MARKER, ETC
STEAM:
Science/ Technology/ Engineering/ Art/ Math/ Science
Choose an activity to work on over a couple of days or choose one activity per day
Examples of questions to ask:
What happens when ___? How do you think that works? How could you change that?
What does that remind you of? What would happen if ___? Tell me more.
*Remember to narrate play and ask questions; label objects, animals, parts of things (ie leaf on stem), colors, sizes, be creative!
*This is where you can use the items gathered during your nature/ neighborhood walk (ie branches, leaves, grass, dirt, flowers)
Vehicle Painting: Engage with your child to roll the wheels of small toy vehicles or marbles in paint then on to paper. Explore and compare the tracks created by the wheels and marbles. BE CREATIVE and HAVE FUN! Practice: dipping using pincer grasp (thumb and index finger), turn taking, following directions and labeling, and pointing.
"It Looked Like Spilt Milk": Check out "It Looked Like Spilt Milk" by Charles G. Shaw. After the book, create your own "spilt milk" art pieces. Talk about how sometimes things may look one way to a person and another way to someone else. Be Creative and HAVE FUN! Please send us some pictures or hold on to your art pieces for your child's portfolio.
Sorting: Remember the nature walk you went on? Use the items you gathered (ie. leaves, acorns, pinecones, etc.) or ask your child to collect materials from around your home. Assist your child to investigate these materials as well as sort them by color, size, etc.
Magnifying Glasses: IF you have a magnifying glass, invite your child to use their sense of sight and investigate various materials (e.g., found materials from outside). *Remember to narrate and label items throughout the activity*
Mirrors: Invite your child to use mirrors to look at their faces to examine their features and explore the connections between their features and their five senses. Have your child label body parts and fill in a face or create their own self portrait.
Books of the Week
Once finished with the book, go through it again and PAUSE video to get a better look at pictures; assist your child to identify pictures (focus on animal labels, body parts, animal sounds, verbs, colors, quantity.
Use this as an opportunity to talk about how we use our sense of vision, how things may look different throughout the day (depending on time of day), how light and shadows may alter the way things look; discuss colors, shapes, quantity, patterns. Pause the books at any time to answer questions, ASK questions, and point out important information. At the end of the book, talk about it some more. Ask WH questions (ie WHAT did we just read?/ WHAT did you see?)
Interested in more books? Check this out: My Five Senses Library
Windows by Julia Denos
Mix it Up! by Herve Tullet
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle
Videos of the Week/ Music and Movement
When exploring these videos, use this as an opportunity to talk with your child about parts of their bodies and the function of body parts (ie. see with eyes), EMOTIONS and following directions and imitations.
It's important to engage with your child, narrate videos and PAUSE video if you need to. Have your child perform emotions and movements with their bodies. Write down any reactions or words and share with us!
The goal here is to HAVE FUN! Making mistake and having a do-over is OKAY, it's all part of the learning process!