Parent Letter

5 Senses, 5 Senses
We have them. We have them.
Seeing, hearing, touching
Tasting and smelling
There are 5. There are 5.

The five senses. What a fantastic, fantastic opportunity to introduce students to the world around them. Here are some of the activities we participated in on this astounding subject.

1. We went on a nature walk. We listened to the sound of windchimes, birds, leaves blowing and even my cat Puck greeting us in the front yard.
2. We also closed eyes and listened to the sound of a bell as it came closer and then drifted farther away.
3. We used our sense of smell, touch and taste in the kitchen.

• A glass of water and a glass of white vinegar looks very much the same. But one of them would not be the best choice if we were thirsty. Sniffing gave that away.
• Salt and sugar feel very much the same, neither has a sound or a smell, but it it very clear which is which using our sense of taste.
• We sampled different snacks while covering our ears. Did you know you can hear INSIDE your head and not just other people chewing?
  

4. We discovered that our sense of smell enhances taste by chewing a piece of bubble gum with our noses pinched. After 20 seconds we released our noses to enjoy a burst of flavor in our mouths.
5. Our sense of touch was used with a huge stack of Usborne touch and feel books. With eyes closed, the textures were enhanced.
6. We also created 5 Senses books with pictures of things each student liked to See, Smell, Touch, Taste and Hear. The students worked very hard on these drawings and sniffed those scratch and sniff stickers several times to determine absolute certainty if it should be placed in the like or dislike columns.

It was such a fun unit to cover these last couple weeks. We will be using our 5 senses during our Halloween Party in a couple weeks!