Unit 2: My Five Senses
Essential Question: How do we use our senses to explore, investigate and understand the world around us?
Focus Questions:
How do we use our sense of taste?
How do we use our sense of smell?
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 or trip to the SUPERMARKET (even if it's just around the block). While walking ASK QUESTIONS and talk about what you see and things you can eat and NOT eat. Allow your child to explore fruits and vegetables, maybe pick up some tasty treats for you to make together! Talk about different tastes (ie sweet, salty, sour, bitter) and textures fo foods (ie crunchy, creamy, sticky). Allow your child to explore what you've discovered and we'll be using some of these materials throughout the week.
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: mouth, nose, smell, sweet, salty, sour, taste, tongue
EXAGGERATE the target letters below and pair those sounds with the vocabulary words
(Focus Letters: M, S, T)
*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, tastes, quantity.
*This is where you can use the items gathered during your supermarket trip or nature walk.
Taste Test: Invite your child (and other family members) to smell or taste a new food or something they would not usually eat. Provide prompts to encourage discussion, how does it look? What do you see? How does the food feel before you try it? How does it feel in your mouth? How does it taste? How does it smell? Would you try it again? Why or why not? BE CREATIVE and HAVE FUN! Note: NYC DOE Guidance on Allergies
Guess the Scent: Provide small closed containers with various scented items OR scent swatches that your child cannot see. Allow your child to smell the contents and guess what's inside. Examples: lemon/ lime, coffee beans, apples, chocolate. Bonus: If your child guesses correctly, they may eat it!
Scented Play-dough: Provide or make play-dough. Add a scent (coffee, spice, essential oils, or another scent that your child may enjoy, consider adding a visual element (glitter), or a texture (sand). Talk about the play-dough and encourage your child to describe the smell/feel/look of the play-dough. Play-dough Recipe
Mr. Potato Head: Invite your child to add eyes, ears, nose, mouth, etc. to the body. As they are assembling Mr. Potato Head, talk with them about how his senses can help keep us safe. *Remember to narrate and label items throughout the activity*
Cooking Activity: Have your child assist you with cooking a simple meal or following directions and gathering ingredients from a recipe or boxed/ bagged food (ie mac n' cheese, cookies, cake, popcorn). Use this as an opportunity to discuss healthy eating, following directions and imitations. Talk about the flavors of food (ie salty, sweet, sour).
Scented Sensory Bath: During bath time, add some essential oils, scented soaps or bath bombs to the water. Talk about the scents, and allow your child to explore the textures from the soaps or oils. Discuss body parts and function of body parts (ie see with eyes, smell with nose, clap with hands).
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 labels, body parts, sounds, shapes, tastes, verbs, colors, quantity.
Use this as an opportunity to talk about how we use our senses of taste and smell. Discuss colors, shapes, quantity, and 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
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 smell with nose), 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!