Make sure that none of the students have any food allergies before beginning this activity. Gather foods that have salty, bitter, sweet, and bland flavors. Blindfold a student and let him taste each flavor and ask him which flavor he tastes and where at on his tongue he most strongly tastes that flavor. Ask him which flavor was his favorite and document each student's answer. After the activity, tell the students to draw a bar graph for each flavor and record how many students favored each one by shading in the bar with the appropriate answer.
Explain to the students how evaporation occurs in the weather cycles. Fill two clear plastic cups halfway with water and use a marker to mark the levels on the outside of the cup. Tightly seal the top of one of the cups with plastic wrap. Place both of the cups in a warm window sill. Each day for a week, have the students examine the water levels in each cup and write down their findings.
Seat the children in a group circle. Write a phrase on a slip of paper and let one of the students see what you wrote, then place the paper aside so that no one else can see the phrase. Have that student whisper into the student's ear sitting next to her what was written on the paper. Continue letting the children whisper the phrase around the circle until the last student has heard it. Ask the last student what the phrase was. Present the slip of paper to them and compare the spoken phrase against the written one.
Explain to the students about the different sections in a newspaper. Place the students in groups of three or four using their desks. Give each group a newspaper including the sales inserts and a list of questions specific to the information listed in the newspapers that were handed out. Have them answer questions like what the price is for a sales item, the names of places where events have or will occur, what the final score was of a sports event, or information in a job entry.