Hello! I'm an alternate-route teacher starting my first full-year teaching job as an associate teacher of 2nd grade in Sept. My head teacher has tasked me to come up with some 20-min science-related warmups. Our first subject area in science is the five senses. Attached is the first worksheet I've created. I intend on explaining this verbally, confirming that the students can use a word in more than one box as long as they'd be able to explain it, and having the students work as partners to complete the work. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxtzoXVhqX_1Ull0bV9rNG1jSE0/edit?usp=docslist_api Can I please get some feedback on this worksheet? - Is it age-appropriate for 2nd-grade? - Is the wording sufficient with a verbal explanation? - Any tips for creating worksheets in general? Many thanks!
I like it. Will you go over the word bank first with the whole class? Also, I think you should model the activity first, too.
I think that's a bit much for second grade. The directions would probably confuse them a bit, and at least a couple of the words you used would not be familiar. I'd probably try to do it in reverse. Instead of having them sort words, let them come up with their own for each sense. For example, put a word in each box, and let them brainstorm their own descriptive words.
Perfumed is difficult Spiky can be seen and felt... I'd go for a more hands on activity...a station for each sense? Truthfully 5 senses seems like a K-1 science standard, not second.
Is it possible to do the stations where they come up with descriptive words for each sense. For example for a pineapple at one station and the describe it using as many of their senses as possible. Then they could write about it using as many descriptive words/5 senses as they can. Perhaps I'm thinking on a kindergarten level. In any sense my goal with science is to let it be hands on when first introducing a topic... that will keep them engaged and excited! Good luck with your first mini lesson!
I second the recommendation of a more hands on activity. This worksheet might be good as a followup activity, though some words may have to be explained. Good luck!
Congratulations on constructing your first worksheet. How long did it take you? I might also recommend that you do some research. There are hundreds of websites that offer pre made worksheets. This would save you lots of time as you get more involved in teaching. I agree with others that you may want to work on more engaging hands on activities and keep worksheets to a minimum. Good luck and have fun!
Thanks everyone for your helpful advice! My curriculum is a little different because I work at a progressive school. I am still learning and helping to form our curriculum for this year but from what I understand the 2nd graders learn about the five senses in depth (two 50-minute sessions for each sense). For example, for sight, they learn the parts of the eye and how the components work to make us see, blindness, and how other animals senses may differ from humans through mainly hands-on experiments & projects. I was hoping to use this worksheet in conjunction with the above to connect reading and writing to what they were learning in science. I can definitely see how I could perhaps morph this worksheet into a potential four corners or stations activity if the vocab is too challenging or we need something hands-on so thanks for the ideas! I'm going to ask my head teacher what kind of activity she thinks would fit in best and if I do go with the worksheet form, I'll certainly model and consider having the students come up with some of their own words. Again, thank you for taking the time to comment and for the encouragement.
I think that the vocabulary is a bit demanding for a 2nd grader (some might still be learning to read). I like images for my activity sheets, so you might want to put together a PowerPoint/Smartboard presentation that has the word with an image and do it together as a class- in the sense that you read 1 word and show them in the image, students decide independently where to put that word. Can students put a word in more than 1 box? You can see that something is slimy, but that can also be a touch sense too.
Thank you everyone for the great advice! At this stage, I am keeping all the suggestions in mind re: incorporating movement, images, and leaving more space for the students' writing and am meeting with my head teacher to see what final product the students would benefit from most. I'll try to update this thread in a few weeks with what I ended up doing and whether it was successful. Thanks again!
Oh, and yes, if I do use that worksheet, students will be able to match a descriptive word to more than one sense!
Something else that came to mind- if you can get samples of each thing for students to actually handle that helps to turn it into a more hands on, inquiry-based type of activity. You might end up with a debate among students about if a word fits into this category or that category and students will have to back up what they're saying with evidence- this is helping to teach them some great science skills
