Unit Plan
American Institute of Architects

Architecture: It's Elementary!—First Grade

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Build an interest and appreciation for architecture in your young learners with this fun 10-lesson art unit. Engaging children in using their five senses, the class first observes the environment around them, paying...
Lesson Plan
1
1
Rainforest Alliance

Growing a Rainforest in Our Classroom

For Teachers Pre-K - K
Give your classroom decor a boost with a rainforest themed mural highlighting what class members learned through their five senses—taste, touch, see, smell, and hear. Scholars create a rainforest filled with trees and animals using their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Picky Eaters

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars study taste receptors and explain how genes can influence them.  In this flavor lesson students view videos on picky eating and complete an activity.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Make Sense of Nature

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students participate in this program that heightens their awareness and curiosity of nature as well as their sense of adventure and exploring new surroundings. They identify and choose an object from nature after exploring it with other...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Contaminated Drinking Water

For Teachers K - 2nd
Learners predict, experiment, and draw conclusions about the safety of drinking water. In this ecology lesson, students participate in an experiment to determine if they can taste or see contamination in drinking water. Data is collected...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Descriptive Writing

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students discuss the importance of using adjectives in writing. They separate into five groups, each group is given a bag with an object inside to describe using just one sense. They write a description of a Hershey's Kiss using adjectives.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sense-sational

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students investigate the five senses. They participate in the lesson for one week with each day devoted to one sense being sight, taste, sound, smell, and touch. They also cover the concept of being part of a global community where one...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Come To Your Senses

For Teachers 3rd - 4th Standards
Write narratives that include ideas, observations, or memories of an event or experience, and be sure to use concrete sensory details! Groups utilize a few of the famous I Spy books in order to create narratives that utilize sensory...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Color Poems

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students describe colors. In this descriptive writing lesson, students brainstorm color descriptions using all of the senses except sight. Students write poems including similes, sensory images, and interesting word choice. Examples are...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Magic School Bus Goes Upstream

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students learn along with Ms. Frizzle's class. In this Magic School Bus lesson plan, students travel upstream to discover how, like salmon, a homey smell can lead them, too.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Summer Activities: Our Amazing Bodies

For Teachers Pre-K - K
Learners use the body as a sensory laboratory to explore their five senses, heartbeat, bones, and even size. In this early childhood science lesson, students build science and critical thinking skills as they take part in up to 6...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Taste

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students collect data to be used in selecting the class favorite taste. They predict which among the common flavors such as salty, sweet, sour, or bitter is preferred.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using the senses

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Young scholars use their senses to compare a frog and a hamster. In this animals comparison lesson plan, students get into groups and observe, smell, feel, and listen to what their animals are like, and classify them into categories.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tasters' Choice

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students taste foods, some of which are familiar foods and some of which are uncommon foods. They compare and contrast the tastes and graph their likes and dislikes.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Eyes, Nose, and Taste Write It

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders generate a list of adjectives about a Reese's Cup using their sense of sight, touch, and taste. Then they write a descriptive paragraph about the Reese's Cup.
Lesson Plan
American Statistical Association

You and Michael

For Teachers 8th Standards
Investigate the relationship between height and arm span. Young statisticians measure the heights and arm spans of each class member and create a scatter plot using the data. They draw a line of best fit and use its slope to explain the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using Your Senses

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Young scholars use their senses to make observations. In this senses lesson plan, students investigate unknown substances by using their senses for observations. Young scholars identify the number of the substances used, the color, the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ears Here!

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students participate in an interactive video to review the five senses. They perform hands-on activities to test their sense of hearing and play a hearing game from the Internet.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Out of the Dust--Appeals to Senses

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students list examples of appeals to the senses in the poem Out of the Dust.  In this Out of the Dust lesson, students discuss ways that the author brings the story alive through appeals to the senses.  Students discuss...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Paintings of food

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students study and discuss the paintings of different foods. In this food lesson plan, students read about paintings that are of treats, banquets, feasts, arrangements, and more, and then make cookies.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Imagery

For Teachers Pre-K - 6th
Students write using imagery. In this descriptive writing lesson plan students write a descriptive paragraph about their favorite season. They use a chart to compile words related to their senses and emotions.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I'm Special

For Teachers K
Students explore their five senses and what makes them special and unique. They listen to books about their senses and participate in a taste and smell experiment. Students also create a senses journal, and create an "I'm Special" book...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Five Senses-Introduction

For Teachers K
Students explore the parts of the body that are used to develop the five senses. They conduct a nature walk. Students identify the things they see, hear, smell, and touch. They create a graphic organizer to organize their answers.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sense You Asked!

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders, in groups, brainstorm words that relate to the 5 senses after going on a field trip. The groups collect their words and create a piece of writing about the trip.