GUEST BLOGGER MÉLINA MANGAL
Flowers Bloom is the fifth book in the nature-based Outside Our Window series of board books. Written for our youngest readers, the stories center around 4-year-old Kamali and her 3-year-old cousin Josiah as they explore the different elements of nature from their window and then out into their city neighborhood. Many kids live in urban areas, where nature’s presence may not at first be obvious, Focusing on urban spaces, Flowers Bloom highlights the ways young readers can engage with nature in a positive way, no matter where one lives. As readers will see, flowers bloom in a range of locations, from window boxes, to fields, and even sidewalk blocks. Appreciating their gifts of beauty and fragrance help connect us to nature.
Smell
Observing flowers provides students a great way to get close to nature. Students can engage with flowers, both wild and cultivated, in so many locations. Whether we see them in window boxes, sprouting in gardens or fields, or smell them when the wind blows, flowers can be easily observed and appreciated.
With flowers, students can learn about and refine their sense of smell. Our olfactory senses are extremely important, yet often overlooked instructionally. Like animals around us, our sense of smell helps us stay safe, alerting us to dangers posed by smoke, for example. Smelling helps us taste foods more completely, and helps us avoid foods that are spoiled and can make us sick.
For this activity, students will smell flowers, then create flower fragrance cards. They will also create cards for other plants and natural items they encounter, to aid comparisons and to help develop and sharpen both olfactory and language description skills.
Preparation
Before reading the story, ask students to listen for words that describe flowers. Point out some of the words they will hear in the book, such as “fragrance” “unique” and “beauty.”
- What are flowers like? Explain what it means to describe something.
- Brainstorm a list of words that could describe flowers.
Read the book Flowers Bloom. Make sure to also read “A Note to Caregivers,” “Connecting to Flowers” “Exploring Scents” and the “Appreciating Joyful Moments” sections at the end of the book to familiarize yourself with the questions and activities.
Materials
- A clipboard and paper for writing outside
- Stiff paper, card stock, or plain Index cards
- A choice of crayons, markers, or colored pencils
- Alternatively, individual whiteboards and dry erase markers could be used
Read Flowers Bloom
Read the book to students, asking them to pay particular attention to how flowers are described.
After the read-aloud, ask students to help brainstorm a list of words that could be used when talking about the olfactory senses. Introduce words like: fragrance, smell, sweet, strong, pungent, earthy, fresh, sour, rotten, stinky, spicy, bitter, rotten, delicious.
Next, take the “Scent Stroll” together, using the questions from the “Exploring Scents” section of the book. As you encounter a flower, model safe smelling, making sure that students do not actually touch their face to the flower. Stop and describe how the flower smells. Compare it to an item students may be familiar with. For example, “This daffodil smells sweet, kind of like honey.” Write these descriptions down on your clipboard. Do this for other natural items such as dirt, grass clippings, or fallen leaves, so that students can compare scents.
When done with your stroll, use the words you wrote down on the clipboard to create scent cards.
Directions: Make Scent Cards
Have students draw one flower or natural item on each card. Next, have students recall the adjectives or words they used to describe scents. Refer to the words noted on your clipboard. Encourage students to recall the metaphors they used as well. Depending on age and ability level, students can write the words, or draw them, or do both. Focus on recalling the actual scent. Allow students to really take their time, focusing on the variety and feeling of the scents they experienced.
When done, have students share their cards, discussing what they smelled, and what words they wrote or drew. Discuss which descriptive words are similar and which are different. Talk about which flowers and items they’d like to smell more of, and which smell they’d like to avoid!
Scent cards are like an olfactory snap shot. This activity can be repeated in different locations, or done as frequently as once a week in the same spot to determine how the landscape can change, or how flowers and other items can smell differently depending on season or time of day. For example, many flowers like roses are more fragrant later in the day after being exposed to the sun.
Creating scent cards helps students recall significant scents, which can immediately conjure up specific scenes and memories. Scent cards remind us of the importance of using our noses to stay safe and heed warnings as well. Scent cards also help students expand their descriptive vocabulary and allows students to take time out to literally smell the roses, be in the moment, and to appreciate other smells of nature.
Additional Resources
Common Core ELA Standards Alignment:
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.1.F Use frequently occurring adjectives.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.5. With guidance and support from adults, demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Alignment:
- K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
Featured image credit: “Smelling-Flowers”-by-Editor-B-is-licensed-under-CC-BY-2.0.
Mélina Mangal writes picture books, biographies, and short stories that focus on connections with nature and culture. She is the author of The Vast Wonder of the World: Biologist Ernest Everett Just, winner of the Carter G. Woodson Award, Jayden’s Impossible Garden, named One of the Best Children’s Books of the Year by Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature, and the sequel, Jayden’s Secret Ingredient. Her picture book biography in verse, Revolutions Are Made of Love: The Story of James Boggs and Grace Lee Boggs was co-written with Sun Yung Shin and is a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award. She is the author of the nature-based board book series Outside Our Window. Website: melinamangal.com Facebook: @MelinaMangal Instagram: @melinamangal Bookshop.org link: bookshop.org
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