ALIKE AND DIFFERENT
Teacher of lesson: Megan Matthys
Lesson Topic/Subject: Intro to Unit/Senses
Grade Level: Kindergarten
Estimated Time: 35 minutes

INTRODUCTION ACTIVITY FOR THE UNIT

OBJECTIVES:

MATERIALS:

PROCEDURES:

Introduction /Anticipatory Set

  1. Tell the students you have a game for them to play. Show them the paper bag with the orange hidden in it, which is sliced in half and covered in seran wrap.
  2. Explain that you want them to tell you what is in the bag, but they cannot look in it. You want them to work together as a class to determine another way, other than looking at it, to guess what is in the bag in less than four guesses. Also tell the students that when they do discover the right answer you will have a treat for all of them.

Sequence of Instruction

  1. Tell the students, before they start making guesses, you want to first hear if anyone has any ideas about strategies they can use. Tell the students to raise their hands if they can come up with a plan.
  2. The students will hopefully bring up suggestions such as ask you if you can shake the bag to give them a clue, or ask if they can put their hand in the bag and feel what is inside. They also might ask to smell inside the bag. As the students make these suggestions do what they ask; allow for them to listen to the object being shaken; allow them to all feel the object with their hands and smell inside the bag.
  3. If the students do not make any of these suggestions on their own, lead them in that direction by asking them what other parts of their body, besides their eyes, could they use to determine what is hidden in the bag.
  4. Remind the students that they only have four guesses, so they should try to get as many clues before they start guessing.
  5. When you shake the bag for the students, ask them to describe to you what it sounds like. What kinds of sounds do they hear? Tell students that you are looking for students who are being good listeners and who are sitting nicely to come up and feel and smell inside the bag. After everyone has felt it with their hand, ask them to tell you what it felt like. What shape do they think it is? Is it soft or hard? Is it smooth or rough? After everyone has smelled inside the bag, also ask them what kind of smell they think it is.
  6. After allowing the students to discover all of these clues, tell them they are ready to start guessing. Ask a student to come to the board and keep tally marks to record the number of guesses that are made. When a student guesses the right answer, pull the orange out of the bag and unwrap it for everyone to see.

Closure

  1. Ask the students to think back about how they discovered what was in the bag. What parts of their body did they use to help them make a good guess? The students should tell you things like, they used their ears to listen to the bag shake, they used their hands to feel it, and they used their nose to smell it. Write the studentsÕ answers on the board as they give them to you. Then ask the students if they know what all of those things they used are called. Explain that all of those things are called senses.
  2. Ask the students if they know of any other sense that they didnÕt get to use to help them guess. They might tell you sight and taste. If not you can lead them to those answers.
  3. Remind the students that you told them you would give them a treat if they could guess correctly, so now explain that you have a piece of a sliced orange for everyone to eat so they can use their sense of taste too.
  4. As the students are eating their oranges, remind them that their senses helped them to discover that it was an orange hidden in the bag, and then ask them to think if they can remember ever using their senses to help them figure something else out when they couldnÕt see?
  5. Ask the students to imagine for a minute about what it might be like if they were unable to use one of their senses. Ask them if they know what people are called if they canÕt see or canÕt hear. Have them tell you if they think these people could have identified the orange. Which of their senses would they have to use?
  6. Motivate the students to want to find out what it might be like to be blind or deaf. Also start to get the students thinking about what it might be like to not be able to have the use of their arms or legs.

EVIDENCE OF STUDENTS ACHIEVING OBJECTIVES:

  1. Students will demonstrate problem solving skills by offering different strategies to discover what is in the bag.
  2. Students will show that they know about using their senses to discover things by suggesting to hear the bag shake, to feel inside the bag, and to smell inside the bag.
  3. Students will demonstrate their ability to use descriptive words to describe their senses by saying things such as, the object feels smooth, it feels round, it smells fruity, etc.
  4. Students will demonstrate understanding of the importance of our senses by sharing with each other what other things our senses can tell us such as, smelling cookies baking, or smelling a fire, hearing an alarm, or feeling something hot.
  5. Students will show that they understand that not all people are capable of using their five senses by discussing blind and deaf people. They will also identify what senses these people could use to help them guess that an orange was in the bag.

ADAPTATIONS/RETEACHING IDEAS:

  1. Students might be distracted by eating the orange slices, so maybe they should be passed out after the discussion.
  2. When introducing center activities for the week which are all about using certain senses, refer back to this lesson and review what they learned.

REFLECTIONS:

  1. Did I grab the students interests?
  2. Did this lesson lead in well to a discussion on blindness and deafness?
  3. How much were the students able to do without prompting?
  4. What would I change in the future?

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