Sense of Sight

• Purpose

• Practice 2 : Teaching to enhance development and learning
• (F) Teachers develop, refine, and use a wide repertoire of teaching strategies to enhance children’s learning and development
• (3) Teachers extend the range of children’s interests and the scope of their thought through presenting novel experiences and introducing stimulating ideas, problems, experiences, or hypotheses.

• Copy of Like a Windy Day by: Frank Asch & Devin Asch
• Waxed Paper (1 sheet per student, or 1 large sheet per group if desired)
• Powdered Kool-Aid in Various Colors (tempera paint will serve as a substitute) (1-2 Tbs. per paint color)
• Dish Soap or Laundry Detergent (4 Tbs. for each paint color)
• Water (6 Tbs. for each paint color)
• Various items serving as paintbrushes (i.e. bubble wands, leaves, feathers, brushes, sponges, etc.)
• Scissors to cut out “stained glass” patterns 
• Permanent marker to draw patterns on paper
•  Adhesive to hang “stained glass”

Activities

Anticipatory Set

• Read Like a Windy Day By: Frank Asch & Devin Asch
• Have students note the various things the character sees as the story progresses.  Allow them to make connections that she couldn’t see any of those things if she didn’t have her eyes to view them with.  Scaffold responses to generate this connection if needed. 

• Blind Walk
• Turn off the lights and have students walk around the room with their eyes shut (or if you choose, blindfolded). This will serve in allowing students to form a personal connection as to what life would be like if they were left without their sense of sight.
•  Allow for intervals of discussion as you pause the “blind walk” and ask students (with their eyes still covered) what color something is, or where you have placed a particular item.  Although at a minimalistic level, this will allow them to zone in on the concept that what we see largely encompasses much of our perception in regard to our surrounding environment.

Activities

• “Stained Glass” Leaves
• Have bubble paint pre made in various colors (you may choose to correlate these with fall).
• Mix laundry detergent or dish soap with water and kool-aid mix, or tempera paint.  
• Distribute sheets of waxed paper to students along with various items for students to paint with.  Examples include paintbrushes (varying in size), bubble wands (it is bubble paint, after all), straws, feathers, sponges, cotton balls, leaves, etc.
•  Allow children to explore the various utensils which are serving as paintbrushes, or let them become experts with only one or two if they so choose.  Observe their interactions and communication with one another as they take note of their peers painting techniques.
• Present questions to students in regard to their color and brush choices.  Ask them how they’d engage in the activity if they couldn’t see those items or their paper.  Have them briefly re-visit the “blind walk” activity, only this time as they remain seated.  How can they finish painting without their sight?!
• Towards the end, if connections you were hoping students would have made by this point have yet to be discovered, you may desire to show one or two of them the method (rather than the entire group) so as to note how long the new technique takes to spread (via peer communication).  
• As students finish, place their sun catchers in a secure place to dry.  Cut them out once they are no longer wet and hang them in the window for the sun to shine through.  Discuss the change in color when light passes through it vs. when it’s in front of an opaque surface.

• What part of our bodies allows us to see?  (Name and Bodily Location)
• What types of things did we have to rely on for clues as to where we were in the room during our “blind walk”?  (i.e. sound of voices for the proximity of free space surrounding us – or - sense of touch to feel for desks and shelves in order to ensure a clear walkway, etc.)
• What are some things that we need our eyes to observe/cannot use other senses to absorb?  (i.e. colors, light vs. dark(ness), etc.)  

• 4. Assessing children’s learning and development
•        (H) Assessment legitimately addresses not only what children can do independently but what they can do with assistance from other children or adults. Teachers study children as individuals as well as in relationship to groups by documenting group projects and other collaborative work.