manna momentThe psalmist challenges us to "taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8). Like Sam in Green Eggs and Ham, David is appealing to his audience to try something new- to put their faith and trust in the Lord who provides both healing and refuge. Like David, we want you to do more than just hear that God is the giver of good gifts, we want you to know it for yourselves and to share it with others. Opening Activity- Five Gifts Review Cards This will be our third time to use these cards to review what we have been learning these past twelve weeks. The first time, I had them place them in order like they have in their student guidebook all the while talking and reviewing the different activities we did with them. The second time, I had them flip the cards over and try to place them in order. This time, they were familiar with the job they had to do in sorting the different science concepts into the appropriate gift and even recalling some of the manna moments associated with those gifts.
 storytime I admit, this might not be your first pick for a final week of learning about the five senses, yet there are several discussions related to the senses that you can have with your student using this book. One of the several discussions you can have is how our gift of sight plays a role in whether we want to eat something or not. Is it possible for something to look awful and taste wonderful? Is it possible to not like something you have never tasted? (Isn't this a common battle parents have with their children?). And how many times will a child like a food once they tried it? I like to use this book as an example of trying new foods. Not much to lose and so much to gain. Plus, pulling in the manna moment thinking of those that love to tell people about Jesus, they are like Sam. Always pursuing in the nicest and most polite ways. Once a person has tasted and seen the Lord, they would be saying, "Say, I love Jesus here and there, I love Him while I am in a box or with a fox" etc. Class investigation- The taste of green Do green eggs taste the same or different than yellow eggs? A little background research: Sensory organs on our tongue detect acids, sugars, and other strong tastes. Our brain manages a large and growing library of different familiar tastes. Sometimes our other senses, like our sense of sight can help our brain go to the right folder faster. Sometimes, if something doesn't quite look the way we remember it, our other senses may affect one another. The student's then had to make a hypothesis about whether the green eggs would taste the same as yellow eggs. On their investigation sheet, there is a place where they can circle. There are a few ways you can give this to the students. You can blindfold them so that they can taste both without knowing which group of eggs are green or you can do it without blindfolds and hope for the best. I love how this investigation sheet has a section for collecting data. The students in the class can raise their hand if they thought they tasted the same and we can count and document that in a blank. Then we can calculate the ones who thought they tasted different. Lastly, there is a space to draw their conclusions based on the data we gathered and a follow up question to see if their hypothesis was correct or not. Here are our results: I chose not to blindfold the students so they were fully aware of what they were eating. I made the green eggs by blending eggs with spinach. There were many naysayers in this class that were very resistant to eating the green eggs I had prepared but alas, every student did try them and 8 out of 9 thoroughly enjoyed them. Most of them said that they tasted the same as the regular yellow eggs. One said that the green eggs tasted like it had cabbage. After the students had all had their fill of eggs, I told them about the spinach and they all groaned. It was pretty funny. Kids really do like spinach deep down.
 Another student that preferred to eat the green eggs before the yellow ones.
She was reluctant and expressive yet while everyone was enjoying their eggs, she grabbed some bravery, tried them and gave me a thumbs up!!! Yay!!!  Finally, my most reluctant and most expressive student tried the eggs after I said I would take a picture to show his mom. He said they tasted like the yellow ones with cabbage. I then told him it wasn't cabbage but spinach and he didn't take another bite. Oops! i am thankful for my five gifts While I was cooking up the eggs, I had the students review one last time the five gifts and paste them to their thankful hand as an easy way to remember them. Since we just celebrated Thanksgiving last week, I thought this was a wonderful way to finish our exploration of the Five Gifts God has given us to explore His world.
jelly belly timeAs a small gift to the students for all their learning this semester, I gave them each a small bag of jelly bellies to practice using their senses with as we prepare for another unit on Creation Science. Five Gifts Curriculum Here is the full curriculum for $30 on our TpT website. Download and explore.
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manna momentEcclesiastes 4:9-10- "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!" This scripture highlights the benefits of working together. Our gift of taste benefits from working with our gift of smell. Likewise, our bodies work together beautifully so that we can play, learn, and enjoy life. The church is compared to a body, whose different parts and roles are meant to work together towards the goal of bringing the Kingdom of God here. This is mentioned in detail in 1 Corinthians 12:14-17. "For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less apart of the body..." Opening Activity: A slice of a Different appleUsing our gifts, we made observations about different kinds of apples. During this time of year, there are many apples to choose from and any assortment would work. I tried to pull out the tangiest, the sweetest, and the most crisp.
 Storytime- 3 in 1 This book relates the parts of an apple and its growing cycle to the parts of the Holy Trinity. And while this model has limitations it is a tangible illustration of who God is. The parallel reminds me of when Jesus would teach His disciples and others about the principles of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is something we can't fully grasp and yet Jesus taught in parables with everyday occurrences that the people could relate to. So that those with ears to hear and eyes to see would believe that Jesus was the Son of God.  The peel, the flesh ,and the core are all parts of the apple but it is not three apples. Those parts all have different jobs to do and they work together beautifully. Class investigation: A tale of Two senses Does my sense of smell affect my sense of taste? Sensory organs in our nose help us distinguish between different types of smells. Similarly, sensory organs on our tongue detect acids, sugars, and other strong tastes. The foods I used to discover sweet, salty, bitter and sour are milk chocolate, pretzels, unsweetened cocoa powder, and lemon slices. First, I had the students taste each food and then color the emoji face they felt like matched the taste. Then I used some nose plugs (the kind you would use for swimming) and had them again taste the foods to see if they could taste a difference.
 This student wanted to be without hearing and smelling for a time today during class. :) I have tried this activity in the past having the students just hold their nose and it hasn't been effective. I have tried it with clothespins and those hurt the student's noses. So finally, I found these swimming nose plugs with cushions and they were able to tolerate them better. Some students said that they could not tell the difference between the tastes with the nose plug and without (the unsweetened cocoa was still bitter no matter if they were wearing the nose plugs or not).
 meal time scavenger hunt It is Thanksgiving week and I am so thankful for the five gifts that God has given us to explore His world. This is a Meal time Scavenger hunt where the students can practice all the gifts we have been learning about with their Thanksgiving meal. If you are participating in this at another time of year, you can do this with any meal. Have fun and delight in the gifts of the Lord.
Manna Moment:Jesus was a fragrant offering for us both in sacrificial death and in life as he walked in love (Ephesians 5:2). Through Jesus our Savior and the Holy Spirit, we have the power to be a fragrant offering to God and others as we say kind things and serve others for Jesus. Five Gifts Review Cards Now that we know four out of the five gifts God has given us to explore His world, we will test our knowledge. I used these same cards in a previous lesson but this time, the cards will be turned over and as the students reveal what is on the other side, they will have to be like scientists and classify and sort the different gifts, science concepts and manna moments that go with each picture.
STorytime- My Five Senses by Aliki My favorite part about this book is towards the end when it gives examples of how you can be using more than one gift (sense) at a time. This opens the door for us to evaluate as a class different scenarios that we are commonly in and name the senses we are using. I made up some examples also for them to practice pinpointing which sense they were using.  I couldn't resist reading this book along with My Five Senses book for class today. It's too funny all the different adjectives for the less-than-pleasant smells that are abundant in this book. All the students enjoyed it. Scented Cloud Dough investigation Last week I had mentioned adding scents to a scent library that we have in our brains. Today, I presented three different kinds of scented cloud dough for them to play with and determine from their scent library what they smell like the most. First, we made some predictions about what we thought it might smell like from just what it looked like. Certain colors of items remind us of certain smells. Next, I had the students squish and squash their cloud dough to make a prediction about what smell is contained within the dough. They were to circle their answers on their investigation sheet.
 Making Scented Flowers We want to be fragrant offerings to God and to others by the way we love. I had the students glue mini muffin cups to their bouquet and place scented cotton balls in each muffin cup. I hope that this reminds them that they can be a fragrant offering to their moms and dads too. Smells can often remind us of warm memories that we have had with people and this is sweet.
manna moment2 Corinthians 2:15 - " For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing." Offerings in the Bible were described as a pleasing aroma and a fragrant offering to the Lord. God has given us noses to be able to smell and understand how our sweetest offerings can bless Him. Storytime Rose has a tremendously sensitive nose and this difference attracted teasing from her siblings even though she used her gift to help them find their lost things. She saved the day when she found a precious little one who had gotten lost. What gifts the Lord has granted to us, that we might share them others around us. scent in a jar Using empty spice containers, make some scents in a jar. Different scents that you can use are: lemon, peppermint, and lavender essential oils, cinnamon, coffee grounds, and nutmeg. If you choose to use these scents, we have made cards that can help you with this activity. Place labels on the bottoms of the containers to identify the scents correctly.    popcorn investigation How can we use our senses to describe our observations? We made observations about the popcorn kernals before they popped, during their popping and when they finished popping. We talked about what we saw, how they felt, what it sounded like and how they smelled. We compared the taste to see if one popcorn kernal tasted the same as another kernal. God created our body to be able to collect all kinds of information about the world around us. Using our gifts/senses, we can collect this information and begin to understand a little more of our world. With this appreciation, we can give thanks, and be able to understand a little more about our world.
What a blessing to be able to share God's gifts with others!
manna momentThe average person speaks 7000 words in a single day. We can use special tools to share those words over far distances. Eventually, the vibrations created by our words will fade away. God sent His Son from heaven to earth so that we could hear the good news of His salvation! Seek the LORD while He may be found, call on Him while He is near (Isaiah 55:6) opening Activity: Matching Gifts to science concepts Using the Five Gifts Review Cards, we reviewed the different gifts that we have been learning about; Sight, Touch, and Sound. I had the students first place the Gift (Sense) card (ie: Sight, Touch, Hearing) in front of them. The students had to find the different science concepts and manna moments in pictures to match with each gift. For instance, using the gift of sight, we can see color, light and form. Our manna moment was about Jesus being the Light and how because of Him we have all the colors of the rainbow so there is a picture of the rainbow in a raindrop. Depending on time and familiarity, the students could flip all the cards over and each student would have a turn to flip over two to place in order according to how they discovered the cards.
 Storytime Prior to beginning our story time today, I had made some BIG ears for each of the students following this template. I cut the ears out, punched holes in the tops and affixed a chenille stem to adjoin them. We were going to see if our LARGE ears would help us listen to the story better. The book itself is talking about the many functions that ears play in different animals. Animals not only use their ears for hearing in order to find food but for keeping cool in the heat and staying safe from enemies. We looked at the different kinds of ears realizing that they look different because they have different functions.  
 paper or plastic Telephone investigationOur questions for this investigation is whether plastic or paper cups make a better telephone. Giving some background research, I shared that sound travels when objects or air vibrate. Sometimes these vibrations can follow specific paths to move even quiet sounds over far distances. We took two cups of approximate sizes of both plastic and paper. Poking a hole through the bottom of the cup, we threaded a string through and tied a knot. The students worked in partners to hear their partners whisper through the cup. Which cup could you hear the whisper the best?
Drawing Conclusions After the students tried out both paper and plastic cups, we asked some questions and circled the answers. This is a great way for the students to begin drawing conclusions and making connections to what they are learning. This class did an excellent job.
 Five Gifts Science Curriculum Manna MomentDavid reminds us in Psalm 100 that there are many ways we can make sounds. While some sounds can be common or even annoying, we can use our voices and make instruments to offer a joyful sound to the Lord that He will receive as praise! OverviewThis week we are exploring how different objects make sounds we can hear. Opening Activity- Matching Sounds Either use leftover Easter eggs or tape 3 oz. bathroom cups together to make small shakers where students can try and guess how many objects are in the shaker, what kind of material the shaker has in it and how big the items are that are in the shaker. After the student shakes a shaker, they can pick a card that identifies one of the items aforementioned.
 While this picture is not the best of this student, he did an excellent job listening to his sound cup and then pulling out the cards that he felt matched the sounds he was hearing when he shook his cup. He was really close!! These weren't easy sound cups either.  This student did a wonderful job shaking the sound cup intentionally and then looked at the options that could be in the cup to decide on what she was hearing. The students could pick if there were one, two, or three items in the cups. If the items were plastic, metal or wood and then if they were small, medium or large.  This student laid out her cards like a mat and placed her sound cup on the place that she felt fit the best, almost like a chart. So this item, she thought was plastic, 2 items and medium sized. storytime Sounds All Around by Wendy Pfeffer and Holly Keller has a bunch of fun words to describe different kinds of sounds. It also introduces ideas about vibrations and echolocation. This book also teaches how we measure the sounds in decibals just like we measure height in inches or weight in pounds. My favorite part is having the students feel their vocal cords when they were singing or talking to emphasize the vibrations that happen in order for sound to be achieved. bouncing Ruler investigation In this investigation, we are going to explore how vibrations and the length of a wave changes sound. Sound is a form of energy. Sound can change pitch and volume. The only materials that you need for this investigation are a plastic ruler and a heavy book. Question: How does the length of the bouncing ruler affect the sound it produces? Background Research: Sound travels when objects or air vibrate. Depending on the strength and speed of the vibrating object, our ears will collect sound that can be loud, quiet, high, and low. Procedure: 1. Place a ruler where part of the ruler hangs off the edge of a table or counter. 2. Place a heavy book on top of the part of the ruler still resting on the table. 3. Adjust the ruler to have 15cm hanging off the edge of the table. 4. Tap the end of the ruler that is hangin off the table. 5. Repeat the trials for 10cm, and 5 cm hanging off the edge of the table. 6. Use the data table on the Bouncing Ruler Investigation sheet to compare the sounds you heard. Conclusions: The longer the bouncing ruler, the pitch decreases. The longer the bouncing ruler, the volume increases.
 Making MusicDo you know which one of Adam and Eve's descendants was famous for making musical instruments? Read about Jubal in Genesis 4:21 Let us make some glorious noise to the Lord by making and using some homemade instruments. Grab some recyclables like cardboard, bottle caps, a soup can, plastic cups, rubberbands. Using these instruments we can observe how vibrations can be amplified or changed to make different sounds. What I endeavored to have the students make in class were little plastic cup guitars. I passed out the plastic cups and gave each student three rubberbands. The students were to place the rubberband around the plastic cup. This turned out to be a challenge for kindergartener and first grade students. All of them needed help placing the rubberbands around the cup. Other options for instruments that are fun is a soup can drum. Grab a balloon and a soup can, cut off the neck of the balloon and stretch it over the can. Voila, here is the drum. They can tap and hear the vibrations with just their fingers or they can use pencils. The last option I thought was fun was to make some castanets. All you need is some cardboard and some bottle caps for the castanets. I hot glued the bottlecaps to the cardboard to make these castanets. Have fun and be inventive.
manna MomentWhether its Hannah's whispered prayers for a child (1 Samuel 1:9-14) or Joshua's blasting trumpets at Jericho (Joshua 6: 2-16), God can hear and respond with power. overviewThe third gift we are going to use to explore God's creation is our sense of hearing. This week we'll explore loud and quiet sounds using our sense of hearing. opening activity: Soft sounds, Loud soundsUsing the pencils in class, I had the students 'drum' softly and then crescendo into fortissimo. We learned some musical dynamics as we drummed on the table.
storytime The Listening Walk by Paul Showers and Aliki is a story about a young girl and her father taking their dog for a walk. As she walks, she notices different kinds of loud and soft sounds. Here is a listening guide for this book. As we read through the book the students can follow along, check the boxes that they hear from the story and trace a key word to remember.  As I read to the students, I brought in a hard soled shoe to make noises on a piece of wood while I was reading. I brought in some sandpaper to scratch to mimic the sound of Major's toenails on the sidewalk. If I had a bicycle bell, I would have brought that sound in as well. This was a great interactive book.  At the close of the book, it asked us to close our eyes and just 'listen'. So these kids were closing their mouths and just having their ears open to listen to the different sounds of the room. If all of them were quiet at the same time, you could only hear the air conditioning blowing.
Learning the anatomy of the ear Sounds travel from its source to our ears through vibrations. God made our ears to be able to sense these vibrations as sound. Having students turn to page 33 in their guidebook, there is a mat with the different parts of the ear. They are to place the colored pieces of the ear on the mat and identify the different parts of the ear. Using this, we can trace the path of sound as it goes through our ears. Romans 10:17-"So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ."
Blind fold mazeIn 1 Samuel 3, Eli, the priest, teaches Samuel how to recognize and respond to hearing God's voice. Putting our ears to work, I set up an obstacle course with chairs in the classroom. After a crash course in their Left and Rights, I had students line up. One student was blindfolded while I guided the students through the maze. The other students had to be quiet so that the blindfolded student could hear me clearly. THEN, some of the kids would call out directions but they weren't my directions and I had to remind the student blindfolded to only follow my voice. This reminds me of our God. He tells us the path we should take but the world is often yelling at us to take different paths. We need to make sure we are focused on our God's voice and no one else's. Another fun game to play is Simon Says to help them practice their listening skills.
 manna momentWould you rather have rough road to drive or walk on or a smooth road? God says in Isaiah 45:2 that He will go before you and make the rough places smooth. Thank You Jesus! hidden objectsUsing a bin of water beads and hidden toys, the students were able to explore using their gift of touch. They used their hands and skin to determine the form of an object. I placed sets of different kinds of animals and different sizes of people. Both the people and animals were different colors.
After we finished finding all the hidden toys in the water beads, I had the students use their gift of sight to sort the different toys into colors and then into animals versus humans.
Storytime We read Soft and Smooth, Rough and Bumpy from Dana Meachen Rau to expand our vocabulary on different kinds of textures that we can feel. We also learned more about the largest organ of our bodies, the skin. I always enjoy having the students participate during the storytime. They are thinking about the information and either learning something new or adding it to their prior knowledge.
 Which Texture is Which Investigation Using old tissue boxes, I placed several different textured items inside. At the beginning, I introduced these items to them just in case they had never seen, or touched them before. The items that I used were:
The question was: Can I use my sense of touch to identify an object by its texture? The students then would reach their hand inside the box and pull out an item while being blindfolded. I placed the students in groups of 3 or 4 and would ask them about the texture of their object and what they thought it was. If they could identify it, I would circle the checkmark in their book. If they couldn't, then they circled the 'X'.
rough or smooth Peek-a-boo Finally, I used some different items to place on their Peek-a-Boo sheet to cover with a post it note and then rub with a paperless crayon. They were to determine by the rubbing if the article was smooth or rough. The items that I used were:
Manna momentNever underestimate the power of a simple touch, hug, holding of a hand, or a snuggle. Like the woman who reached out for the fringes of Jesus' clothes, even the smallest touch from Jesus can melt hearts and heal brokenness. Luke 8:40-56 OverviewIn this lesson, we are going to explore shapes and textures using our second gift from God, the sense of touch. God gave us skin to help us observe His world through our sense of touch. Opening Activity- Sandpaper Shape sort Placing the students into groups, I gave them a bag of cardstock and sandpaper shapes. I first had the students sort them with their gift of sight. They had to sort them into shape and texture. Next, I had one partner be blindfolded as they attempted to sort by shape and texture with a blindfold on. God give us many different ways to explore His creation. I know that when scientists investigate things that are too small for them to see, they must rely on other ways of gathering data.
 Really feeling for the edges. StoryTime: 'A little Girl and a Poor Frail Lady' The story that we read today is from the Jesus Storybook Bible. The scripture reference is from Luke 8. There was a little girl who was dying and her dad, Jairus, runs to get Jesus so that He can heal her. On his way there, the hem of his clothes is touched and a frail old lady was healed from her infirmity. A touch with faith heals. Jesus arrives at the little girl's house. It seems to most that she has died, however, Jesus touches her hand and tells her to get up. She is revived and lives. A touch with faith heals. Group Investigation: One Touch or Two
 Documenting their hypothesis: I asked the students to circle on their investigation sheet if they thought they could or could not tell the difference between one tap of the paperclip and two taps of the paperclip.
First Aid kit of faith  Sometimes we need a little help. I had the students put together a First Aid Kit of Faith. Each item has an encouraging note along with a scripture that coincides with it. While they are putting one together to take home, I pray that they would be able to share Christ with others.
 Super excited to share with others!!!
what happens when you mix different colors of play dough?  We are continuing to celebrate our gift of sight as we learn about all the different colors we can make as we mix primary colors. During our opening activity, we played with play dough and discovered what happens when we are intentional about the colors that we mix together. First, I made some homemade play dough at home with my kids to bring into class. Here is the recipe I followed: Ingredients: 1 cup flour 1 Tbs cream of tartar 1/2 cup of salt 2 Tbs. of oil 1 cup of water food coloring 1. Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. 2. Mix continually over the medium heat until the play dough begins to pull away from the saucepan. 3. Place on some wax paper to cool a little before kneading it. Place it in the refrigerator to store for months of fun. NOTE: I repeated this three times for each of the primary colors, red, blue and yellow. During class, I had them turn to their PlayDoh Color Mixing Mat in their Five Gifts book . We took yellow and red first and mixed them together to see what color they would make. To document their results, I had them color in their play doh mat. When we were all done mixing the different colors, I had them mix all the play doh together. I asked them whether they thought the colors together would be darker or lighter. They all thought the colors together would be darker.
 I love how this student left behind a sample of each of her different colors of play dough that we made and then put her mixed up play dough in the middle. So organized and a great way to visualize what made the big color in the middle! The answer to our question of if the colors of play dough would be darker or lighter were answered. The colors were darker when combined together. storytime This book is very fun to present to children. It will invite them in to participate in some 'pretend' mixing of colors on the pages. It teaches them which colors of paint make which colors.  I loved all the participation in this book reading. The author had us tap dots of color, tilt the book to the right, and smoosh colors together. All the students enjoyed. mixing primary colors of light For our second investigation, we wanted to see if mixing colors of light would be the same as mixing colors of play dough. What you will need are three flashlights each covered with a different color cellophane; green, blue and red and the Mixing Primary Colors of Light sheet. Taking your respective flashlights, you would shine them on the Primary Colors of Light sheet.  Remember when I asked the students what they thought would happen when we mixed all the colors of play dough together? I asked them what they thought when we mixed these colors of light together. They thought that the light would also get darker. However, as you can see from the picture, when you mix red, green and blue light together, the light gets closer to white and lighter in the middle where the colors are mixing. Amazing!! See how this parallels with a characteristic of our Creator God. 1 John 1:5 - "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all" Jesus is the Light of the world and there is absolutely no darkness in His light. This is even clearly seen in our physical world. stained glass tissue art Remember from last week's lesson, we learned that we cannot see color without light and that Jesus is the Light. Without Jesus, we can't see color. Today, we get to make a stained glass Redeemer Jesus tissue art where we can place pieces of red, blue and yellow tissue paper to make other colors in our stained glass art. You will want to cut out the inside of the Jesus template and then cover the template with contact paper. Place your tissue paper on the sticky part and then place on your window to remind you of the Light of men and that Jesus makes everything beautiful.
 Five Gifts Science CurriculumIf you do not want to commit to buying a whole curriculum, here is a Lesson 3 bundle with all the components here as well as some painting components as well.  We will have so many more adventures. Here is the link to the whole curriculum  |
LEAD LEARNERWelcome! My name is Nicole Fleming and I have been leading science learning in the Bryan/College Station homeschool community for over 10 years. Archives
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