Monday, March 31, 2014

Science Preview: 5 Senses

Last week, one of my older students told me "In April, we have 5 Senses in Science."  I love that my kids remember  the order of our Science Units and look forward to them from month to month and year to year!  The favorite thing for my students this coming month is our Jelly Bean Taste Testing Experiment!  Check out the unit on TPT here.


This month's unit focuses on the following 9 vocabulary words centering around 5 Senses (smell, hearing, sight, touch, taste, senses, spicy, sour, sweet).

This packet includes:
-Materials to create a vocabulary velcro-matching activity
-Flashcards
-3 Levels of Assessments
-18 different worksheets
-2 Games (5-Senses bingo and Memory).  Multiple versions based on level of difficulty.
-1 Jelly Bean Taste Test Experiment Worksheet
-1 Adapted book (with matching pieces and comprehension worksheet)
-10 Journal pages (includes 2 levels of difficulty)
-Parent note home about the unit
-1 Cover sheet for kids to color and use as a cover for all their completed work.

This unit has materials for learners at different levels.   Also, it includes a variety of worksheets which allow my students to work on their science IEP goals as well as a variety of other goals (language arts, math, speech, and OT).  I use this unit over the course of an entire month.  The kids repeat some of the work, but the repetition seems to help them learn the concepts as well as work on becoming more independent.

OK…now onto the good stuff…some photos of this month's unit!  Here is the vocab sheet that we use as a velcro matching activity.


Here is the highest level of assessment.  There are also assessments for receptive and expressive vocabulary words (pictures and words). 

The Bingo game, Memory game, and adapted book, are perfect for the days you feel like taking a break from worksheets or when your kids finish their work early!


These journal pages come in 2 different levels.  One for tracing and one to work on writing about topics independently.


Of course, the highlight of the month for my students is the Jelly Bean Taste Testing Experiment.  I use Starburst Jelly beans (my personal favorite) to do the first portion of this experiment. The kids close their eyes, eat a jelly bean, and have to try and guess the flavor.  For the second part of this experiment, we use regular Jelly Beans, Hot Tamales, and some sort of Sour Jelly Beans.  The kids sample one and then have to decide if that candy is sweet, sour, or spicy.
For more info on my other science units and more details on what is included, check out these posts!
A post describing my topics for the year as well as how I organize my materials.
- A preview of my Dinosaur Unit
A preview of my Landforms Unit.
A preview of my Insect Unit.
A preview of my Plants Unit.
A preview of my Body Parts Unit.
A preview of my  Solar System Unit.
A preview of my Food Groups Unit

2 comments:

  1. I have been using ULS for my science/social studies but it's boring for everyone involved, it's expensive, and there's so much printing and lamination in the process of getting it ready. So next year, I thought I would supplement with units instead, or even replace ULS. I am still deciding. My question was do students find it boring if you repeat your units? Do you make them different from year to year? How about your parents, do they mind if you repeat units? These are questions I wonder about as I begin planning for next year. Thanks for your help!

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    1. I usually split my worksheets into packets of 2 different levels, which makes it a little different if the students can master the skills in the beginner level and move up to the advanced level. I usually find a couple new worksheets or pinterest activities to add as well. However, I think that even if it was exactly the same from year to year, my kids would still love it. They always get something different out of the unit and they genuinely look forward to the new topic each month. Most of my students even remember the months their favorite topics are coming up!

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