IOWA 4-9 SCIENCE PROJECT

TEACHER GUIDE for: Texture Walk Gloria Baker
Edited by, Reta Lemon
ECOLOGY.460 Grades 4-6

CONCEPT OBJECTIVES:
This activity will help students to develop their sensory skills by interacting with and comparing a multitude of textures in their natural environment, including rough, smooth, hard, soft, sticky, warm, cool, wet and dry.

SKILLS OBJECTIVE:
Students will develop their observing, predicting, touching, and recording skills.

BACKGROUND HINTS:
This is the second of six cycles giving students sensory experiences in their natural environment. Listen to Nature I, Texture Walk II, The Nose Knows III, I Spy IV, Down Under V, and Trust Walk VI.

Before taking students on a texture walk spend at least one class period preparing them to touch with intelligence. Touching for texture involves thinking while feeling, softly handling an object without crushing or destroying it.

Bring into the classroom a wide variety of materials which are examples of the textures you want them to become aware of outside. Many of these textures can be found in textiles, wallpaper books or foods.

Caution students to touch unknown objects with care so that they do not injure themselves.

If a number of environments will be visited during the exploration activity plan to use several class periods, perhaps one for each environment so that students do not feel rushed and hurry to make their investigations.

MATERIALS:
Each group of two students
1 pencil
1 clipboard of hard writing surface
1 sheet of white construction paper.

EXPLORATION:
Direct the students to fold the construction paper in half, in half again, in half again. They will now have 8 squares on one side to do their recording and 3 squares on the back if time permits for further recording.

Remind the students to touch with intelligence!

Label each square with a texture. (HARD - then find as many objects in their natural environment as they can that fit the texture stated.)

Set the boundaries for the investigation whether the exploration will be done entirely in one place or if it is a walking investigation in a variety of environments such as an open meadow, woodland, farm field or creek bank.

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT:
In a large group discussion, on the board or overhead create a list of the textures they encountered in their exploration. Have each student write the texture on a sheet of paper with their personal definition of this texture. Compare definitions and record one that most of the students agree with. Make a second list of brief definitions. Collectively from the exploration activity recording sheets create a third list of objects that are examples of these textures.

Discuss the possibility of an object being more than one texture at the same time:
1. Wet and dry (top and bottom of a stick in the woodland).
2. Rough and smooth (top and bottom of a leaf).
3. Soft and wet (mullen weed leaf with dew).

Discuss the possibility of an object having three or more textures at the same time.
1. Hard, wet and smooth (stone in a stream)
2. Hard, rough and smooth (turtle shell)

APPLICATION:
Challenge each group of two students to create a "Touchy Stuff" 3-D mural with as many different textures as they can collect.

An alternative application could be for each group of two students to construct "Touchy, Feely" boxes for kindergarten or first grade classes. (These can be made from shoe boxes with a hole cut in the top. Collect two each of a variety of objects, pine cones, mullen weed leaves, acorns, etc. One object of each kind is placed inside the box, the other one on the table beside the box. The child then puts his-her hand inside the box, feels and object without looking, then matches it with the like object on the table.)

Another application could be to challenge each student to create a 3-D "critter" that has a variety of textures using a toilet tissue inside roll or styrofoam cup as a base.

EVALUATION:
Teacher observations of students during the exploration activity, and the final product of the application activity are valid ways of evaluating each student.