Grade: K

Lab #: 1, Physical Properties of Matter

(revised 9/06/2014)

Materials (amounts listed are per class):

Material / Source* / Notes
Class Worksheets “Texture Handprint (Sense of Touch)” / Science Lab Binder / Will need to make enough copies for each student in each class. (approx. 25/class)
Class Worksheets “4 Jars Recording Sheet(Sense of Smell)” / Science Lab Binder / Will need to make enough copies for each student in each class. (approx. 25/class)
Class Worksheets “I Spy Something…. (Sense of Sight)” / Science Lab Binder / Will need to make enough copies for each student in each class. (approx. 25/class)
Class Worksheets “Parts of the Ear Coloring Sheet and matching sheet (Sense of Hearing)” / Science Lab Binder / Will need to make enough copies for each student in each class. (approx. 25/class)
Class Worksheets “Recording Sheets (Sense of Taste)” / Science Lab Binder / Will need to make enough copies for each student in each class. (approx. 25/class)
Sight Laminated Poster / Lab Kit / Sense of Sight
Pencils & crayons / Lab Kit / Sense of Sight & Sense of Hearing
25 cotton balls / Lab Kit / Sense of Touch
25 pieces sand paper / Lab Kit / Sense of Touch
25 pieces waxed paper / Lab Kit / Sense of Touch
25 pieces double stick tape / Lab Kit / Sense of Touch
25 elbow noodles / Lab Kit / Sense of Touch
Glue / Lab Kit / Sense of Touch
small containers with holes punched in lids / Lab Kit / Sense of Smell
Orange pieces / Parent Donation / Sense of Smell
Onion pieces / Parent Donation / Sense of Smell
Small bar soaps / Parent Donation / Sense of Smell
Coffee grounds / Parent Donation / Sense of Smell
Plastic Eggs / Lab Kit / Sense of hearing
Coins / Lab Kit / Sense of hearing
Rice / Lab Kit / Sense of hearing
Nails / Lab Kit / Sense of hearing
Marbles / Lab Kit / Sense of hearing
Sand / Lab Kit / Sense of hearing
Clear Jar filled with Salt / Lab Kit / Sense of Taste
Clear Jar filled with Sugar / Lab Kit / Sense of Taste
Small paper plates (labled w/#1 & #2) / Lab Kit / Sense of Taste
Sugar Label / Lab Kit / Sense of Taste
Salt Label / Lab Kit / Sense of Taste
Plastic spoons / Lab Kit / Sense of Taste

*Some of the items marked as Parent Donation may be available from the prior year. Check the lab kit before asking parents to donate the items.

Grade: K

Lab #: 1, Physical Properties of Matter

(revised 9/06/2014)

Set up in lab prior to classes arriving:

  • Set up the 5 senses stations per instructions in the lab write up below.
  • Make copies of worksheets for each station. Roughly 25 per class OR enough for 1 per student.
  • Pass out worksheets, glue, pencils & crayons

Job(s) for volunteers on the day of the lab:

  • Set up lab based on instructions listed below.
  • Teachers are responsible for introducing and leading the lab with parent volunteers assisting with the activities at each station.
  • Clean up lab.

Grade: K

Lab #: 1, Physical Properties of Matter

(revised 9/06/2014)

Learning Standard for Lab:

SKP1 b: Use senses to classify common materials according to their physical properties.

Essential Question: How do objects differ?

Station 1: Sense of Hearing

Part 1: Introduction:Read the following poem to the group

Aren’t Ears Wonderful?

Catching soundwaves in the air.
Sending them along to where
The message gets through to your brain
Faster than the fastest train.
Sorting out what you want to hear
Whether the sound is far or near.
Wonderful music, nature's sounds
Birdsong, laughter and merry-go–rounds.
You wouldn't know when mum says, "Time for bed"
If you hadn't an ear on each side of your head.

Part 2: Diagram of the 3 parts of the Ear.

Explain to the group how our ears are a part of our five senses called hearing. Our ears help us to better understand our world.

.

There are three parts to your ear

  • Outer ear
  • Middle ear
  • Inner ear

Outer ear

These are the bits we can see, and also the ear canal. They act like a funnel to catch sound waves and direct them to the ear drum.(A canal is a pathway for water, but the ear canal is a pathway for sound)

Middle ear

This is a small air-filled space on the inside of the eardrum.

There are 3 tiny bones inside the ear. They are called the hammer, anvil and stirrup (because that is what they look like).When the sound waves move the eardrum, these bones move and pass on the vibration to the very much smaller oval shaped window of the cochlea (the bit that looks like a shell). The hammer is touching the ear drum so it shakes when the sound comes through, and the movement goes right through the anvil to the stirrup, which is touching the window of the cochlea.

Inner ear

The cochlea has fluid in it, which moves due to the vibrations and bends hairs on the outside of cells lining the cochlea. There are about 17,000 hair cells in each ear, so they really are tiny. They are not like the hair on your head. Some of these hair cells (the 'inner hair cells') create an electrical impulse (signal), which is sent along the auditory nerve to the brain. Most of them (the 'outer' ones), however, are like tiny muscle cells, which react to the vibrations in the fluid by trembling and shaking; in this way they work like high quality amplifiers and make the vibrations much stronger and clearer for the smaller number of inner hair cells.

Part 3: Putting our ears to the test!

Students will use plastic eggs filled with the following:

coins

marblessand

ricenails

Each student will shake the eggs and listen to the contents inside. The student will then use their “sense” of hearing to find another egg that sounds the same. When the student has found the pair of eggs that sound the same they will record the number of their eggs using the recording sheet.

After students have recorded their answers check for accuracy.

1 orange egg – rice

2 yellow eggs – coins

3 pink eggs – sand

4 purple eggs – nails

5 green eggs - marbles

Station 2: Sense of Taste

1)Assistant will pose the problem:

Oh No! The labels fell off the salt and sugar jars? Can you help get them back on the right jars?

2)Assistant will pose question:

What do we already know that could help us? – discuss with students what they already know about sugar and salt.

They look the same. Sugar is sweet. Etc…..

3)Assistant will have the following chart available at the lab as a talking guide. Students will not have time to fill it in but you will have time to talk about it.

Sense of Taste Recording Sheet:

Sense / Jar 1 / Jar 2 / What did we learn?

Sight

Smell

Hearing

Touch

Taste

4)Students will each have a small paper plate with 1 and 2 marked. The assistant will place a tiny spot of sugar on one side and a tiny spot of salt on the other side. Students will lick their finger and place it in the salt – describe. Students will lick their finger and place it in the sugar – describe it.

Where do the labels belong?

Station 3: Sense of Touch

1)Give each student a copy of the texture hand print, a glue stick and one of each of the following items:

  1. Cotton ball – soft
  2. Waxed paper – smooth
  3. Sand paper – rough
  4. Macaroni noodle – hard
  5. Double sided tape – sticky

2)Ask students to match the items to the appropriate fingertip.

3)Allow students to glue items once they have them properly matched.

Station 4: Sense of Smell

1)Prior to children arriving, place the following items in the small containers with holes poked in the lids.

  1. Onion pieces – peel onion to release fresh scents
  2. Orange pieces– peel and break orange in to pieces to release fresh scents
  3. Ground coffee – may need to crush grounds to release fresh scents
  4. Bar soap – shave some pieces off bar to release scent

2)Give a copy of the recording sheet with 4 jars to each child. Have a handful of crayons (yellow, orange, brown, white & black) available on the table.

3)One at a time, allow students to smell the item through the holes poked at the top of the lid without looking inside. Show the students how to fan the air above the container toward their noses in order to smell the contents.

4)Have students draw their predictions on their recording sheets as to the contents of each jar.

5)Identify the actual contents of each container and discuss the results compared to student predictions. Probing questions might include

  1. Did everyone smell the same thing in each container?
  2. Which scent did the most students identify correctly? Which did the fewest students identify correctly? Why do you think that is the case?
  3. When you smelled the contents of the containers, did any memories or places come to mind?

Station 5: Sense of Sight

1)Show sight poster and discuss how our sense of sight works. Talking points might include:

  1. The eye is made up of 5 major parts
  2. Cornea – the clear covering on the front of the eye
  3. Iris – the color part of your eye
  4. Pupil – the black part of your eye where the light comes in. It gets bigger when it is darker to let more light in.
  5. Retina – gathers information
  6. Optic nerve – sends the information to your brain
  7. What happens when someone’s eye sight is impaired? Do their other senses work overtime to help them to identify things? i.e. sense of touch may help people with vision problems to read Braille.

2)Play I Spy. Hand out the 2 I Spy recording sheets to each student. Ask students to draw items they see around the room that are red, yellow, blue, green, square, triangle, diamond and circle.