KINDERGARTEN: SENSE OF SMELL

We became scientists!

Our kindergarten class was able to become scientists and enter our class science lab. We were able to go over science regulations, safety, and regulations. They took the procedures very seriously and loved getting to wear goggles!

Real-World Application

I wanted to make lots of connections to smell in the real world. I had photos on the window of the smells in their original state, and hoped that this might help them make connections to what they were smelling. This also helped them when they were able to touch the smells that were in the bottles and feel them (and use another sense!) 

Some smells were better than others!

I was impressed at how adventurous the kids were smelling new things. The smells in the bottles were essential oils, so that the smells lasted a long time and that the kids wouldn't get a hint from an object inside! We had citrus, vanilla, coffee, cloves, and mint. Most of them really liked vanilla (like ice cream!) and mint (like toothpaste!) but cloves were not a hit! (as pictured.) 

Matching was an extra challenge.

Once the students had a chance to smell and discuss what they think they were smelling using picture cues and prior knowledge, they had to try and match the same smell in black and white bottles, and work as a team! This was a challenge as they needed to find vocabulary that all the students could recognize in order to create their matches. Most students were successful, which was awesome!

More connections.

As we worked on our sense of smell, we also learned about how other animals like moths and snakes smell. We also learned about how strong smells can be for some animals like dogs! I had this area to show students my expectations and examples for their science exit slips, where they can look at vocabulary for that smell, draw what they see, and use self-assessment for their matching portion.