Lifeline 4: Projects and Topics, Part 5
Pat Thomson continues her seven-part series
Putting a project together ideally begins with an unhurried survey of all the resources, and then a drawing together of the elements which most suit the age and ability of your particular group of children.
For the 5-12 age range, each section covers one major topic and suggests non-fiction books, stories and poems related to the one theme. The addresses of organisations which offer help and material to schools are also included. The result should he a broadly based range of options which remind you of good material, inform you about new books and maybe even suggest new approaches within the chosen theme.
PART 5: THE SENSES
To cover this topic thoroughly, you will need to consider a variety of categories of books: those which are part of a planned science programme, books about the body, about the individual senses and also perhaps those which look at the senses in animals. Nearly all the books here have an experimental approach which seems appropriate for a topic like this one.
INFORMATION BOOKS
Science Early Learners, Fay J Humphreys and John A Henderson, Blackie Educational 1986. (1 216 919(12 9, £4.95 non-net. A whole section on the senses in this teacher’s handbook meant to accompany a set of books for infants and young juniors. The intention is to introduce scientific principles from the start and non-specialist teachers will find it particularly useful.
Ourselves, Stages I and 2, Schools Council Science 5/13, Macdonald 1976, (I 356 04349 5, £4.95 non-net. This part of a well-tested series looks at sight, hearing, smell and touch. Objectives and activities clearly set out.
Think Well 7: Get Clean!, Schools Council Health Education 5/13, Nelson 1977, (I 17 423(182 6, £76.00 non-net. Pack composed of Teacher’s Guide, resource sheets and spirit masters, for the middle years. (Individual title available separately: 0 17 423(183 4, £4.75 non-net.) Sec also All About Me, teacher’s guide to the whole project, (( 17 423067 2, £8.95 non-net.
Learning Through Science 5: All Around, Schools Council, Macdonald 1982, (1 356 ((7553 2, £12.95 non-net. For children 5/13, activity oriented, coloured workcards with sections on smell, touch and sound. Teacher’s guide to help with the organisation and objectives.
Your Senses, Dorothy Baldwin and Claire Lister, Wayland 1983, (I 85(178 304 6, £4.95. Sensibly arranged chapters. well illustrated. Proper vocabulary used throughout, plus a glossary. All the senses, including the relationship with balance.
Good Health 4, Vaughan Johnson and Trefor Williams, Nelson 1980, 0 17 423094 X, £2.95 non-net. For the ATV series, for about 10-12 years. A chapter on the nervous system explains how the body feels things.
My Body. Health Education Authority Project, Heinemann Education 1986 rev. ed., (( 435 04499 0, £56.50 non-net. A very comprehensive unit which includes teacher’s notes (available separately, 0 435 ((450(1 8, 111.50 non-net), classroom cards and games pack. The senses are covered in the ‘Control’ section which studies the body’s monitoring and response mechanisms. 5-12 years.
Young Scientist Book of the Human Body, n.a., Usborne 1983, (1 86020 748 X, £4.95. A general look at the body with graphic but crowded double spreads on the skin, the eye and the ear, plus the ‘human computer’ which explains the brain’s role.
The Human Body, Terry Jennings, Oxford 1986, 0 19 918208 6, £2.25 (school edition): 0 19 9182(19 4, £3.95. Good mixture of photographs and diagrams. See ‘Speaking and hearing’, ‘Eyes and seeing’ and ‘Senses and the sense organs’.
Touch, Smell and Taste
What’s That Feel?, Kate Petty and Lisa Kopper, Franklin Watts 1986, (I 86313 466 I , £3.95. Reception level picture book featuring objects and textures children will be familiar with and can try themselves. See also What’s That Smell?, (1 86313 464 5, and What’s That Taste?, (l 86313 384 3, £3.95 each.
Touching, Henry Pluckrose, Franklin Watts 1986, 0 86313 276 6, £5.25. Good colour photographs of tactile experiences – sticky. rough, smooth. See also Smelling, (( 86313 278 2, £5.25.
Touch, Ed Catherall, Wayland 1982, 0 85340 868 8, £4.95. Brightly illustrated, practical book which will take children through all kinds of tactile experiences. See also Taste and Smell, 0 85340 869 6, £4.95.
Touch, ‘Taste and Smell, Brian R Ward, Franklin Watts 1988, (1 86313 74(1 7. £6.95. New edition of this book which now includes colour photographs.
Skin and Bone, Gwynne Vevers, Bodley Head 1983, 0 37(1 30501 9, o/p. Part of the book deals with the sensory aspects of the skin, amusingly illustrated by Sarah Pooley.
Tasting and Smelling, Nigel Snell, Hamish Hamilton 1983, (1 24I 10941 8, £3.95. Simple, single sentence introductions to basic ideas – that things smell good and bad, that we can taste sweet and sour.
Sticky and Slimy, Vicky Cobb and Dotty Weir, A & C Black 1988, O 7136’_99(1 8, £4.95. Sensitise teachers may not be able to cope with this, but it is well organised so leave them to it. Having experienced the sticky, slimy and revolting, we find out why it happens like that. From about 6, but lively enough to appeal across the primary range.
Hearing
What’s That Noise?, Kate Petty and Lisa Kopper, Franklin Watts 1986, (I 86313 383 5, £3.95. Definitely about noise rather than sound! Jolly picture book about household noises for the youngest.
Hearing, Nigel Snell, Hamisb Hamilton 1983, (( 241 1(1938 8, R£3.95. Captioned picture book. cry simple explanations and some easy experiments to try.
The Ear and Hearing, Brian R Ward, Franklin Watts 1981, 0 85166 93(1 1. £6.25. Technical artwork on the parts of the ear, hearing mechanisms and sound itself. Informative glossary.
Ears and Hearing, Doug Kincaid and Peter Coles, Arnold- Wheaton 1981, 0 08 026409 3, £2.15. Simple picture-caption format, each page suggesting easy but apt activities. Possible extensions to the activities and a list of ‘equipment’ included.
Hearing, Ed Catherall, Wayland 1981, (( 85340 867 X, o/p. Ear structure is covered but mainly about simple experiments with sound. A chance to put someone’s head in a bucket.
Sounds, Terry Jennings, Oxford 1984, 0 19 918160 8, £2.25 (school edition); 0 19 918166 7, £3.95. Not only human hearing but animal, too, plus a section on noise pollution. A memory check after each section and a list of activities, including how to make yourself a pair of enormous paper ears.
Talkabout Sound, Angela Webb, Franklin Watts 1987, 0 86313564 1, £5.25. For young children. Full-page photographs of objects and children generating sound waves.
Experimenting with Sound, Alan Ward, Dryad 1987, (1 85219 662 8, £7.95. The preface emphasises that the sense of hearing affects the way we learn about the world and then offers a varied and inventive set of experiments to encourage children to become more ‘observant’ as listeners.
Sight
Seeing, Nigel Snell, Hamish Hamilton 1983, 0 241 10939 6, £3.95. Simple pictures, a brief text and a few visual puzzles to solve.
Seeing, Henry Pluckrose, Franklin Watts 1985, 0 86313 279 0, £5.25. Essentially a picture book for the youngest, to stimulate discussion. More about what we see than how we see it.
Sight, n.a., Macdonald ‘My First Library’ 1984, (( 356 10199 1, £4.50. Looks at eye sight and vision. Makes quite a good job of explaining the biology simply for juniors.
The Eye and Seeing, Brian K Ward, Franklin Watts 1988, ((86313 739 3, £6.95. Double spreads on each aspect, taking in physical structure, eye problems and decoding visual information. Extended glossary.
Eyes and Looking, Doug Kincaid and Peter Coles, Arnold- Wheaton 1981, O ((8 026411 5, £2.15. Colourful pictures and short captions draw our attention simply to the complexities of seeing. Concepts covered are listed and the activities demand only easily accessible materials.
Simon Goes to the Optician, Jill Coleman, A & C Black 1984, 0 7136 2338 I , £4.50. Well photographed and realistic. Simon makes a visit to he fitted with glasses. The equipment is particularly well demonstrated.
Moving into the Animal World
How Animals Behave, Keith Porter, Cambridge ‘Science World’ 1987, (1 521 33242 7, £5.25. Includes sections on the way animals depend on their senses. See especially ‘How insects see and feel’.
Looking at the Senses, Nina Sully, Batsford 1982, 0 7134 4059 7, o/p. A dense text, covering both animals and humans, each topic (such as ‘The Cat’s Whiskers’) occupying a double spread. Useful for chasing up special features.
Just to Keep Things in Proportion
How to Really Fool Yourself, Vicki Cobb, Lippincott 1981, (1 397 31907 X, £6.95. A book to remind us that our senses are not infallible. A series of intriguing activities which show how we are subject to illusion.
FICTION AND POETRY
Picture Books
Gobble, Growl, Grunt, Peter Spier, Heinemann, 0 434 96412 3, £6.5(1. An entire world of animals and the sounds they make.
Don’t Touch!, Suzy Kline and Dora Leder, Picture Puffins, 0 14 (150.861 9, E1.95 pbk. There’s all sorts of reasons for not touching things, so out comes the clay for a real, hands-on experience.
Misty’s Mischief, Rod Campbell, Viking Kestrel, O 670 80149 6, £5.95. Simple sentences describe the cat’s activities and the final picture provides a fur Misty to stroke.
The Touch and Feel ABC Book, Margaret Chamberlain, Methuen, 0 416 54790 7, £4.95. Vigorously illustrated alphabet book with a tactile effect on the letters.
Noisy, Shirley Hughes, Walker, 0 7445 0302 7, £2.95; 0 7445 0923 8, £1.50 pbk. Small children being noisy in familiar ways. Brief captions.
Nicky’s Noisy Night, Harriet Ziefert, Picture Puffins, 0 14 050.583 0, £2.95 pbk. Noises behind the curtains. the door, the window. Lift the flap to find the source.
Mortimer, Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko, Oxford, O 19 279844 8, £3.95. ‘Thump, thump, thump’, all the family comes upstairs to tell Mortimer to he quiet hut ‘clang, clang, rattle-bing-bang’, he isn’t.
The Very Busy Spider, Eric Carle, Hamish Hamilton, 0 241 11430 6, £1(1.95. Large, farmyard pictures, plus a raised spider’s web which can be followed by the fingers as well as the eye.
The Hairy Book, Babette Cole, Cape, 0 224 ((2193 1, £4.95; Magnet, 0 416 95760 9, £1.95 pbk. A book of sensations, both good and ghastly! A similar experience is offered by the same author’s The Slimy Book, Cape, 0 224 02843 X, £4.95; Picture Lions, 0 00 662840 (l, £1.95 pbk.
Scruff, Gerald Rose, Bodley Head, 0 370 30619 8, £5.50; Magnet, 0 416 53170 9, £l .95 pbk. There’s an awful smell. Scruff the dog can smell it wherever he goes – and never quite sees why.
Can You Hear Me, Grandad?, Pat Thomson, Gollancz, 0 575 03886 I , £2.95; (( 575 504336 9. £1.99 pbk. Grandad teases by pretending to mishear, which is how you get the flying carrots and Mum on a tiger.
Short Stories
A House Inside Out, Penelope Lively, Deutsch, O 233 98167 5, £5.95. ‘Willie, the Hamburger and the Busride’. Willie the dog has an adventure and the reader gets a ‘dog’s nose view’ of his afternoon.
Now Then, Charlie Robinson, Sylvia Woods, Faber, (1 571 14932 4, £5.95. ‘Charlie Robinson, Detective’. Charlie’s success as a detective is based on the effect of the way sound travels.
Family Gathering, Pat Thomson, Dent, 0 460 06268 9, £8.50. ‘My Birthday’ by Laurie Lee who describes the day, experiencing it with all his five senses.
Red Letter Days, Gillian Avery, Cape, o/p. ‘On Seeing the World for the First Time’. Richard Church describes the first time he puts on glasses.
Novels
Too Loud, Laura, Kate Dawson, Hamish Hamilton, (1 241 11516 7, £2.75. When noisy Laura at last manages to he quiet, she begins to hear things in a most useful way.
The Day the Smells Went Wrong, Catherine Sefton, Hamish Hamilton, (1 241 12237 6, £3.95. Everything smells of something else, and then the children discover why. Very short novel.
Buttons, Linda Yeatman, Piccadilly/Hippo, o/p. The story of a ‘Hearing Dog for the Deaf’.
Focus Pocus, Beatrice Gormley, Macdonald, 0 356 13186 6, £6.95; 0 356 13187 4, £2.5(1 pbk. Andrea gets her glasses from a new, and very strange, optician. It seems that they have a peculiar power.
The Chimneys of Green Knowe, Lucy Boston. Faber, (1 571 07030 2, o/p: Puffins, (( 14 03.084(1 7, £2.25 pbk. The old house, in which past and present merge, puts Tolley in touch with Susan, a blind girl from another century. Sounds, smells and touch are emphasised in this excellent novel.
Mundo and the Weather Child, Joyce Dunbar, Heinemann, (1 434 93590 5, £6.95: Piper, 0 33(1 2981)6 2, £1.95 pbk. Edmund is locked into his silent world until the magical weather child helps him to break through into the normal world once more. A mowing account of a deaf child’s isolation in a powerfully imaginative novel.
Emma’s Story, Sheila Hocken, Gollancz, 0 575 028911 4, o/p. A real-life account of a guide dog and its blind mistress.
The Witch’s Daughter, Nina Bawden, Gollancz. O575 (10177 1, £8.95: Puffins, (( 14 03.0407 X, £1,9 5 pbk. An adventure story in which blind Janey rescues her sighted companions by ‘seeing’ with her fingers. Both exciting and moving.
Poetry
Only one location is given for each poem although they may appear in other collections. The first three anthologies are entirely devoted to the one topic.
Noisy Poems, Jill Bennett, Oxford, 0 1 19 276063 7, £4.95
Preludes: Five Senses, Rhodri Jones, Heinemann, (1 435 14506 1, £2.50
Sense and Nonsense: Looking, Susanne and Shona McKellar, Macdonald, 0 356 11438 4, £2.95. There are three other anthologies in the series, Listening (0 356 11440 6), Touching (() 356 11439 2) and Tasting (0 356 11437 6), £2.95 each.
Island of the Children, Angela Huth, Orchard, 185213 (162 8, £8.95. ‘Mary and Sarah’ by Richard Edwards.
Someone is Flying Balloons, Jill Heylen and Celia Jellett, Cambridge, 0 521 32127 1, £9.95. ‘Automatic Wash Cycle’ by Peter McFarlane.
A Fifth Poetry Book. John Foster, Oxford, 0 19 916054 6, £4.95; O 19 916053 8, £2.95 pbk. ‘Creating Light’ by Edward Lowbery, -The Game at the Hallowe’en Party in Hangman’s Wood’ by Wes Magee.
Singing in the Sun, Jill Bennett, Viking Kestrel, O 670 8171014, £5.95. ‘Sound of Water’ by Mary O’Neill and ‘Grandpa Dropped his Glasses’ by Leroy F Jackson.
‘King Foo-Foo’ in Figgie Hobbin, poems by Charles Causley, Macmillan, 0 333 12078 7, o/p; Puffins, 0 14 03 1162 9, £2.50 pbk
‘Glenis’ in Please, Mrs Butler, Poems by Allan Ahlberg, Viking Kestrel, 0 670 1 80617 X, £5.95; Puffins, (( 14 03.1494 6, £ 1.75 pbk
USEFUL ADDRESSES
The following organisations offer information or materials to schools at no cost or for a nominal sum. For full details, send an s.a.e.
British Deaf Association
38 Victoria Place
Carlisle
Cumbria
CAI 1HU
(Packs, manual alphabet card)
Disabled Living Foundation
380/384 Harrow Road
London
W9 2HU
(Information pack)
Health Education Council
78 New Oxford Street
London
WC1A 1AH
(Publications list)
Health Education Office via your local Health
Education Service,
see telephone directory (Booklets, leaflets, posters)
Kodak
Customer Relations
Department
P O Box 66 Kodak House
Hemel Hempstead
HP1 1JU
(Chart, booklet)
National Society for Clean Air
136 North Street
Brighton
BN1 1RG
(Noise Project Pack, £2)
Noise Abatement Society
P 0 Box 8
Bromley
Kent
BR2 HUH
(Information)
Optical Information Council
Walter House
418-422 Strand
London
WC2R OPB
(Information)
Royal National Institute for the Blind
224 Great Portland Street
London
W1N OAA
(Information, publications)
Other themes to be covered in the series include Festivals and Celebrations. Previous themes: House and Home (July 88); Water (September 88); Clothing (November 88); and Food (January 89).
Pat Thomson is Professional Studies Librarian at Nene College of Higher Education, past chair of the Federation of Children’s Book Groups, and author of the ‘Share-a-Story’ series from Gollancz.
