Like my kinders, my first graders have been exploring the five senses. Today we headed out to our school garden to experience how nocturnal animals adapt their senses to function at night. Their first task was to sit quietly, (no easy task for 6 and 7 yr olds) close their eyes, and listen. After opening their eyes, we shared sounds, discussed where we thought they were coming from and I pointed out that using our sense of hearing can help us determine the location of things, even when we can't see them. To further demonstrate this point, I had them close their eyes again, but this time their task was to only listen for my footsteps. As they heard them, they were to point in the direction they were coming from. This was really fun! I started out with heavy stomping, which combined with the gravel lined ground, was perfectly noisy. Once they got the hang of it, I did things to switch it up, like leaping to the other side and silently walking over a non-graveled area to keep them guessing. (Of course a few couldn't help themselves from peeking as evidenced by a few keeping their fingers pointed directly at me even when I was silent :) ) When they opened their eyes again, we talked about why following a sound benefits an animal. My favorite response from one- "so they don't die!"
For the second activity I was a little hesitant, but after giving very specific instructions and using an actor from the audience to demonstrate, I felt they were ready. Partnering up, they were to explore the garden. Only hitch? One person would be the leader, the other would close his/her eyes. The leader was responsible for safely guiding his/her partner all around the garden and helping them use their other four senses to "see" the garden. I love the below pictures, although for the life of me, I can't get two turned properly. I think they paint a pretty accurate picture of how well these budding scientists did. In full disclosure, none of these were staged, but there was definitely some hesitation when the initial boy/girl pairings happened. I like to shake things up a bit and take them out of their comfort zones. Plus they're more apt to take their roles seriously when they aren't working with a close friend. I wish I could've bottled up this day!
For the second activity I was a little hesitant, but after giving very specific instructions and using an actor from the audience to demonstrate, I felt they were ready. Partnering up, they were to explore the garden. Only hitch? One person would be the leader, the other would close his/her eyes. The leader was responsible for safely guiding his/her partner all around the garden and helping them use their other four senses to "see" the garden. I love the below pictures, although for the life of me, I can't get two turned properly. I think they paint a pretty accurate picture of how well these budding scientists did. In full disclosure, none of these were staged, but there was definitely some hesitation when the initial boy/girl pairings happened. I like to shake things up a bit and take them out of their comfort zones. Plus they're more apt to take their roles seriously when they aren't working with a close friend. I wish I could've bottled up this day!