My Five Senses is a wonderful book for children to learn and/or refine their process skills. Born in New Jersey, Aliki is a wonderful author who incorporates a creative approach to story telling along with excellent pictures in order to attract many different age groups.
It is very important that children learn different processing skills, whereas the idea of the five senses is a very important concept to learn at a young age. In this book, Aliki allows us to bring together the concept of "sight" using a visual picture of eyes. After illustrating and explaining each of the senses, the book reviews the fact that there are five senses and explains that at any given time you can use more than one sense. For example, Aliki states "Sometimes I use all my senses at once. Sometimes I use only one. I often play a game with myself. I guess how many senses I am using at that time. When I look at the moon and the stars, I use one sense. I am seeing."
Next, Aliki continues to use examples to show children how many senses they are using while doing certain activities that they can relate to. For example, the book reads "When I laugh and play with my puppy, I use four senses. I see, hear, smell, and touch." By the end of the book the readers have reviewed the five senses once more and are reminded that throughout the day they use all five of their senses giving them confidence in their knowledge and a fun way to refresh it.
Curriculum Connections
This book could be used in grades K-2. It introduces students to the five senses and relates each sense to a body part. Then the book goes on to relate each sense to an actual activity. In Virginia this relates to the K.2 SOL, which states that each child should learn the five senses and sensory description. For example, that sight comes from the eyes. You could use this book as an introduction to the lesson on senses and follow this reading with an activity allowing the students to get up and move, using each one of their five senses.
Additional Resources
- Time For Kids offers wonderful tips and worksheets for teaching the five senses. This PDF will allow teachers to think about different ways to teach the five senses. This website also states interesting facts on each of the five senses that can be a fun way to learn and be excited about the five senses.
- A to Z Teacher Stuff has tons of different lesson plans for teaching the five senses. These lesson plans include worksheets and activities to help teach and review the five senses with your class.
- About.com offers lesson plans that direct a teacher's attention to children that are having trouble comprehending the lesson being taught. They provide many different ways of teaching the five senses and also offer worksheets and fun activities for the class to do along with integrated lessons for all types of learners.
Book:My Five Senses
Author/Illustrator: Aliki
Publisher: Harper Trophy
Publication Date: 1989
Pages: 32 pages
Grades: K-2
ISBN: 006445083X