To Taste or Not to Taste…

This is from the school newsletter. It is talking about Sam's class. Her picture was in the newletter but I could not copy and paste it :-(

Since school began, Year 2 has been investigating the ‘5 Senses’. In Year 2.1, one week has been dedicated
to learning about each of the senses. The most exciting and favorite seems to be the sense of
TASTE. We found out that the senses work together too! For instance…Did you know that if you can’t
smell you can’t taste? Also, the smell of food determines if you will eat it or not. Year 2.1 did several
experiments with 10 different foods. Working with partners, five foods were chosen for tasting. One
partner was blindfolded and had to guess what food they were eating. Only three out of 18 students
could identify all of the foods although they knew which foods were on the list. Several children were
hesitant to eat what they could not see. All were excellent ‘Risk-Takers’. So seeing also plays a part in
what foods we eat. Each part of the tongue is sensitive to one of four different tastes: sweet, sour, bitter,
and salty. We could not taste lemon juice on the tip of the tongue which is the place for sweet food.
The end of the week was the most exciting when parents joined us for an afternoon of sampling foods
from different countries brought in by the Moms.
Children sampled Indian and Brazilian sweets, Pakistani kebobs and roti, peanuts, lemon sorbet, and
more. It was truly a taste fiesta! Children experienced lots of flavors…spicy, sweet, bitter, and salty.
The spicy kebobs were followed by lots of water.
The final flavor sensation of the unit was when Ms. Madge brought in cashew juice. Most students
tasted it and said it delicious. However, unlike the candy no one asked for more. As long as food looks
and smells delicious, it will probably taste good.