KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

PROFESSIONAL SEMESTER PROGRAM

Teacher Candidate: Morgan & Tatiana Date:

Cooperating Teacher: Coop. Initials

Group Size: Allotted Time 50 minutes Grade Level 3rd Grade

Subject or Topic: Touch Section

STANDARD: (PA Common Core):

3.1.3.A9. - Use simple equipment (tools and other technologies) to gather data and
understand that this allows scientists to collect more information than relying only on
their senses to gather information.

3.1.3.A9. - Use data/evidence to construct explanations and understand that scientists

develop explanations based on their evidence and compare them with their current
scientific knowledge

I. Performance Objectives (Learning Outcomes)

A. The third grade students will be able to predict and discover objects based
only on the sense of touch and record their findings by writing down their
thoughts in their science notebooks.

II. Instructional Materials

A. Brain Pop “Touch” Video- https://www.brainpop.com/health/bodysystems/touch/
B. Brown paper bags (5)
C. Luffa
D. Crayon
E. Yarn
F. Chalk
G. Rock
H. Chart Model for predictions
I. Book: You Can’t Taste a Pickle With Your Ear by Harriet Ziefert, Chapter 2 “Touch”
J. RAN Chart

III. Subject Matter/ Content (prerequisite skills, key vocabulary, big idea, New
Content)
A. Prerequisite Skills
 a. Touch with their hands
b. There are textures to objects and things.
c. Good scientists use the five senses to observe and classify things in the
world.
B. Key Vocabulary
a. Rough- course or uneven surface
b. Soft-lacking hardness, pleasing to the senses, comfort
c. Stiff-securely or solidly fixed in place, hard
d. Sticky-
e. Silky- pleasing to the touch,
f. Mushy-having the consistency of mush
g. Bumpy-having or covered with bumps
h. Sharp- dangerous, cutting or piercing
i. Prickly- pointed, covered with prickles
j. Hot- too high of temperature to touch, to much heat
k. Warm- moderate degree of heat
l. Cold- bitter, freezing
m. Wet- our experience of water, what happens when we come into
contact with water
n. Dry-free from moisture or excess moisture
o. Nerve Endings-sensory neuron, bringing information from the body
toward the brain, can detect pain.
p. Receptors- specialized cell or group of nerve endings that respond to
sensory stimulus.
C. Big Idea- Feely Bags
D. New Content
a. Touch (new definition to them) -to bring a bodily part into contact
with, especially so as to perceive through a tactile sense: handle or
feel gently usually with the intent to understand or appreciate.
b. Nerve Endings and Receptors- nerves in the skin tell us how hot, cold,
soft, or painful something is.
c. Can cause an emotional reaction
d. Scientists-ask questions about their bodies (hands and feet) [Ex:
Does it feel the same with my toes as it does my hands?]

IV. Implementation

A. Introduction –
1. Gather the students to sit around you on the reading carpet area, and begin
by reading Chapter 2, “Touch” of You Can’t Taste a Pickle With Your Ear by
 Harriet Ziefert. At the end of the chapter, there is a small activity. Do this
with the children “Touch something with your fingers, now touch that same
thing with your toes. Does it feel the same or different? What’s the
difference?”
2. Review with students that they touch with their hands and other body
parts. Model touching the carpet by wiggle toes barefoot, model touching
objects around the room high and low. Ask students to tell a partner what
they feel around them where they are sitting in the classroom and describe
what it feels like. Give the students 2 minutes to discuss. Remind the
students that good scientists use their senses to observe things in the
world.
3. Hand out the RAN chart and have the students complete the first row of the
chart, “What I Think I Know”
4. Set a purpose for showing the “Touch” Video from BrainPop. Show the
video to the class, discussing connections to today’s topic of touch. Ask
student’s to discuss with a partner, “How do you think we know when
something feels soft, hard, of hot?” Discuss answers as a whole group.
5. Tell students that today they will be able to do what good scientists do and
use observations to analyze and explain how their sense of touch helps
them to discover and predict what objects could be without their sense of
sight.

B. Development –
1. Begin the activity by having the 5 brown paper bags set up each with one
object inside. (Luffa, Crayon, Yarn, Chalk, Rock) labeled 1-5.
2. Explain the Rules: that no one is to look inside the back and that nothing
will hurt you. You are to place your hand in the bag and touch the object
inside.
3. Talk about how our hands have nerve endings and how our skin has
receptors that send signals to the brain to make an inference of what it is
we are touching when we cannot see the object.
4. Ask them to make a prediction in their journal of what each labeled bag’s
(1-5) object could be without looking only using their sense of touch.
5. After every student had a turn to place their hand in each bag and write
down a prediction in their journals, have them get into group of 3-4 and
share their discoveries and predictions, see if anyone has the same
prediction. (During this time, sneakily grab the bags and take each object
out of the bags and place them on a tray not labeled to which bag they
came from)
6. Grab the student’s attention and have them join you as a whole class and
show each of the objects on the tray. Ask the students, which bag number
they think each object came from, and share with someone next to them.
7. Finally, supply the right answer to them. See if their predictions and
discoveries were correct or not from what they wrote in their journal
 responses. Ask them why they knew what they knew?

C. Closure –
1. Review what has been learned about touch and what good scientists do
with their observations and discoveries.
a. Follow up with “Confirmed, Misconceptions, and New information”
from the RAN Chart.
b. Have the students also share one question they have about their
sense of touch.
2. Assignment- Have students write down five different descriptive words
they felt with today’s objects in the bags and name two other objects and
their texture in their journals.

D. Accommodations / Differentiation -
1. Instead of writing down their thoughts and predictions about what they
felt, they can draw pictures instead.

E. Assessment/Evaluation plan
1. Formative- Students science notebook journals will be completed
to demonstrate understanding of the different descriptive words for touch and
texture. This will be recorded on a checklist with a check or x.

V. Reflective Response

A. Report of Students’ Performance in Terms of States Objectives (Reflection

on students performance written after lesson is taught, includes remediation
for students who failed to meet acceptable level of achievement)

B. Personal Reflection(Question written before lesson is taught.)(Reflective

answers to questions recorded after lesson is taught.)

VI. Resources (APA Format)

 BrainPop Video- https://www.brainpop.com/health/bodysystems/touch/
 Ziefernt, H. (2002). You Can’t Taste a Pickle With Your Ear. Maplewood, NJ. Blue
Apple Books
RAN Chart