Seasonal Sensations

For our 3rd session, I brought in containers of things for Twain 3rd graders to smell:

(1) fresh lemon zest with lemon juice;
(2) almond extract;
(3) dried and fresh orange peel;
(4) vanilla extract sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg; and
(5) springs of fresh rosemary.
Students were asked to describe what they smelled without trying to identify the actual thing. For instance, instead of saying “I smell lemon,” students could say “I smell summer lemonade;” “I smell happiness,” or “I smell the beach.” It was a fun way to wake up our sense of smell, even if it did cut into the time I’d earmarked for continued work on the previous week’s poems, as well as begin to write similes. However, in Mrs. Lamas’s class a few students bravely volunteered to come to the board to work with me one-on-one to write poems using similes.