Sensory Details: Tapping into our 5 senses

In order to experience the world fully, we use our five senses: sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. 

You must use details to “paint a picture” of what is going on in the story. These are called Sensory details. 

Sight and Sound/Hearing

• For sight, you want to include details such as colors, shapes, appearances, size.

  Words like: green, enormous, square, shiny - the shiny, green car

• For sound, you want to include details such as loud or quiet sounds, as well as speech and how you hear someone speak

  Words like: softly, roar, whisper, quietly, sharp, shout - dogs barking loudly

Smell, Taste and Touch

• For smell, you want to include details that describe the quality of the smell 

  Words like: disgusting, musty, delicious, fresh, rotten - delicious bread baking in the oven

• For taste, you want to include details that describe flavor

  Words like: sour, sweet, burnt, spicy, warm, cold, juicy - a bag of salty chips

• For touch, you want to include details of how something feels

  Words like: soft, hard, solid, liquified, sharp, fuzzy, dry - I pet the soft, fuzzy bunny

Let’s practice: 

What does snow look like? What does snow feel like? What does snow taste like? What does snow sound like?

Let's look at this example

We can compare snow to many different things using our five senses!

Let's go back to "Eleven"

• Using "Eleven" we want to notice some of the sensory details the author uses

• We will identify which senses are being used to describe items in the story

“It has to belong to somebody,”Mrs. Price keeps

saying, but nobody can remember. It’s an ugly sweater with

red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out

like you could use it for a jump rope. It’s maybe a thousand

years old and even if it belonged to me I wouldn’t say so.

Let's go back to "Eleven"

• Using "Eleven" we want to notice some of the sensory details the author uses

“Rachel,” Mrs. Price says. She says it like she’s getting

mad. “You put that sweater on right now and no more

nonsense.”

“But it’s not–“

“Now!” Mrs. Price says

This is when I wish I wasn’t eleven because all the years inside of me—ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one—are pushing at the back of my eyes when I put one arm through one sleeve of the sweater that smells like cottage cheese, and then the other arm through the other and stand there with my arms apart like if the sweater hurts me and it does, all itchy and full of germs that aren’t even mine.

Now, let's try to create sensory details on our own!

On the next slide, we will finish the sentence with a sensory detail.

For example, When I held the baby... its skin felt as soft as a blanket. (touch)

You do!

• Using what you have learned about sensory details, go back into your narrative writing piece and read it over. 

• Find places in your story where you can incorporate (put in) 3-5 pieces of sensory details to describe to the reader what is going on. Please put these sensory details in bold.

• What are the main characters seeing? Smelling? Tasting? Hearing? Feeling?