The Five Senses - Lesson 2: Sight

BIG IDEAS: The sense of sight helps us recognize each other and learn about color, motion and distance.

On this page
- Encountering the Idea
- Exploring the Idea
- Getting the Idea
- Organizing the Idea
- Closure and Assessment
- List of Activities for this Lesson

Whole Group Activities

• Book: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by B. Martin, Jr.
  
• Various leaves; a small plant or flower; a diagram of the eye; pieces of carpet, floor tile and sandpaper; binoculars; a microscope with prepared slide; hand lenses; a telescope; action pictures cut in half; photos of people wearing glasses; a seashell; an insect; several wind-up toy cars; a stapler; toy telephones; attribute blocks
  
• Word tags: iris, pupil, eyebrow, eyelid, eyelashes
  

Students, here we have a collection of leaves. Call your friend in and describe this leaf to your friend over the telephone. One or two students demonstrate and then students continue at the Science Center. You can't touch the leaves, only describe what you see.

1. At the Science Center, using the sense of sight only, a student describes the properties of a leaf. At the center, the students take turns comparing the properties of various leaves. In describing a leaf, students use numbers such as one,two,three as appropriate to describe the leaf. This leaf is dark green. Look, you can see its veins. This one has five points on it. This one has only three. This one has some fuzz on it. This leaf has jagged edges, but this one has smooth edges. After they have finished their work at the center they will report to the class.

2. The students go on a "sighted" (eyes open) walk and a "non-sighted" (blindfolded) walk. The students choose partners and take turns being blindfolded. The students compare the two walks, stressing the important role the eyes play in our everyday lives. When taking the walk, the students take care to observe the colors in the environment. They also note if they saw things moving, and if they saw things that were far and close. On returning they contribute to a list of objects observed and objects' colors. Teacher writes the responses on a chart.

3. Students do Activity - Blind Man's Bluff.

4. Students begin Activity - Colorful Eyes.

5. Students do Activity - Eye Care.

On another day the students go outdoors to use binoculars and a telescope, alternating between the close-up and distant lenses. On returning to class, the students use hand lenses to observe their hands and fingers. They describe to each other what they see with the binoculars, telescope and magnifying lens that they can't see without them.

In small groups, the children contribute to a list of occasions (or draw illustrations) when binoculars, telescopes and magnifying lenses are used. They share the lists with the class.

At the Mathematics Center:

1. Students make a list of colors observed on a seashell (or on an insect, a small plant or a flower.) They count the number of colors. They compare the sizes and shapes of the shells, and other objects.
   
2. Students sort objects by color.
   
3. Students sort attribute blocks or jar lids by size. Order them from smallest to largest.
   
4. Students begin Activity - Colorful Eyes.
   

1. use colors made by mixing different tempera paints in their drawings. They say which color they want to make and then proceed to experiment with the colors until they get the one they want.
   
2. make a class mural of a rainbow first by cutting out magazine pictures of one color, then a different color, etc. Glue pictures on a large sheet of butcher paper to form a class rainbow.
   
3. draw a picture of how an object such as an airplane looks when it's far away and another picture of the same object when it is near.
   

Show the students the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Ask the students to predict what the story is about; read the book. Discuss the story with the students.

1. Students, discuss how difficult it was for you to identify a person by just feeling and guessing. How do we recognize each other by sight? What things do we look for? Students discuss how they rely on hearing and feeling to move around when they can't see. How is this feeling the same as when you walk around in the dark? Is it easy to catch the beanbag with your eyes covered? Which way is easier - with your eyes open or closed? Why? What part of your body do you use to see?
   
2. While showing a diagram of the eye, the teacher tells the students about the various parts of the eye and their functions. For example: Our senses are the way we find out about the world we live in. We learn with our senses. We see with our eyes, and sight tells us about things that are outside of our bodies. Our eyes give us pictures, or images, of the way things look. You can see to read, to tell where you're going, to play games or to find your friends. Your eyes show you light, color, shape, and size. Your eyes can help you decide how far something is.
   

There are many parts to your eye, and each one of them helps you to see. The light goes in through an opening called the pupil. That's the black dot in the center of your eye. The iris, or colored part around the pupil, can change the size of the opening, letting in more or less light. The lens focuses the light rays on the retina; the cornea protects the lens. When you look at your eyes in the mirror, you're only seeing a part of them. The whole eye is shaped like a round ball, most of it is inside your head and protected by your skull. Your eyelids and eyelashes protect your eyes too. Your eyelids make it possible for you to close your eyes, shutting out the light when you are tired. Closing your eyes makes it easier for you to go to sleep.

Light strikes something and bounces off. This reflected light, the light that bounces off the thing you are looking at, travels into your eyes through the pupil. As the light enters the eye, it passes through the lens. The lens helps to take out the fuzzy look of the thing you are looking at, focusing the image. As the light goes through the lens, it turns upside down! When the upside down image shines on the back of your eye, it strikes the retina. The retina contains the optic nerve that sends the message of what you are looking at to the brain. The rods and cones help us see shapes and colors and are a part of the retina. The optic nerve carries the message to your brain.

Then the brain decides what you are seeing. The brain decides what to do. When you look at the word CAT, your eye sends a message to your brain that you are looking at some writing in your book. Then your brain figures out or remembers the word, and you read CAT. Look at this word tag: EYE. Can your brain, with the help of your eyes, tell you what the word is?

Are tears important? Why? Yes, they keep your eyes wet, but they also help them stay clean. Did Brown Bear shed tears? Every time we blink, we wash the surface of the eye with tears. We can wash out dust and other things that get into our eyes. We should not rub them when they itch, though. What do you think we should do? Well, we can blink several times to make the dust or other object come out. We can also get help in cleaning out our eyes, but that should be done by an adult with clean water and cotton.

Let's try this now. Hold your head straight and look straight in front of you. Now, without moving your head, look over here. (Point to a spot that will require the students to move their eyes only.) How did you get your eyes to move? Yes, the eyes have eye muscles that move your eyes from side to side and up and down and around without moving your head. Let's try that. Can you feel your eye muscles moving your eyes? How does moving your eyes help you read?

Some people cannot see things as well as other people. Young people can usually see better than older people. When they have trouble seeing things that are close but can see things that are far away easily, they are called farsighted. When the opposite happens, and they can't see things that are far away but can see things that are near, they are called nearsighted. Wearing glasses helps correct seeing problems.

1. Students complete Activity - Colorful Eyes.
   
2. Discuss and compare the class graph with that of another class.
   
3. Draw and label the parts of the eye.
   At the Writing Center:

4. Given action pictures that have been cut in half, children imagine what the other half of the picture might look like. The children then select a picture they would like to illustrate and complete the missing half. The children dictate a sentence about the picture. Example: I see a (boy, girl) running.
   
5. Students make a class book based on Brown Bear, Brown Bear. They draw a picture of a classroom object, then write their names and the name of the object under the picture. All the students' pictures are bound together and read using the pattern of Brown Bear.
   Example: "Ricky, Ricky, what do you see?, "I see a flag waving at me."
   
6. Cellophane glasses activity. Students make cutout glasses using different colors of cellophane paper. The students write or illustrate a story about what they saw with their glasses.
   

1. What part of the body do we use to see?
   
2. What are some things you can see?
   
3. How could you tell what an object was if you couldn't see it?
   
4. Name at least three important parts of the eye.
   
5. Why is our eye like a camera?
   
6. Why do we need tears?
   
7. How do you care for your eyes?
   
8. Why is it important to take good care of your eyes?
   
9. What part of the eye gives the color?
   

List of Activities for this Lesson

1. Blind Man's Bluff
2. Colorful Eyes
3. Eye Care