These activities use materials from APH (American Printing House for the Blind) to extend literacy lessons for students who are blind or visually impaired.
Students will:
- Use the diagram to setup Tactile Town for The Big Island Restaurant and Bakery.
- Demonstrate reading skills while reading out loud the appropriate reading-level story card.
- Summarize or retell the story out loud with the use of the lite box and associated story demonstration materials.
- Show wayfinding skills by plotting route to a local bakery using Tactile Town.
- Demonstrate wayfinding skills through the use of the APH compass of the APH Talking PC Map product, depending upon age and skill level.
- Show facility with braille or print reading by reading out loud a menu in primary reading medium.
- Demonstrate simple skills with a talking calculator (APH talking calculator) by making either a pretend or real purchase and calculating the cost and tax on the calculator.
- On site in either the pretend or real bakery, he will demonstrate skill in the determination of room temperature as he uses the APH thermometer.
- Demonstrate knowledge of time through a talking watch, iPod or cell phone.
- Prepare to read street signs as using the ENVISION II green street signs with monocular, if appropriate. The student will orally identify the labels on the signs. If the student is blind, street signs will be identified through use of the APH Talking PC Maps or an application for tablet. The student will identify the streets and crossings orally.
- Demonstrate facility in appropriate level reading and writing using blank APH Recipe Cards to make a simple no-cook recipe. Student will use primary reading and writing media to complete the assignment.
- Make an actual purchase and practice for signing a credit card receipt through use of the signature guide. The teacher will determine when the signature is legible.
- Demonstrate facility with skills of socialization, turn-taking and reading through the use of the Game kit and/or Tactile Town. The teacher will design an appropriate game or games to test the skills worked on this week. Dolch word cards and other products may be employed as well. The teacher will evaluate the skills and develop a short report.
Materials
- Tactile Town
- APH Compass
- APH Talking Calculator
- APH Thermometer
- Envision II
- Signature Guide
- Game Kit
- Dolch Word Cards
- Lite Box
- All-in-One Board
- Flexible Rulers
- Number Lines
Activities: Days 1-6
- Read the story with the student.
- Follow the skills in the paragraphs using the Talking Calculator.
- The student will summarize the story by using the lite box with the lite box characters and settings for the story, “The Big Island and Bakery”.
- Read the menu for The Big Island Restaurant with the student.
- The student will read the second story, titled “The Bakery”.
- Ask the child to re-read the large print or braille menu from the bakery.
- Create one of the items from the menu using APH’s Recipe Cards.
- Ask the student to move the characters through Tactile Town to the restaurant and bakery. Set- up two houses, the pond, a grassy area and a restaurant. Use the compass rose and ask the child to direct the character lite box pieces to the restaurant from the pond.
- The child will verbalize directions on how to get from the restaurant to the pond using the compass rose.
- Ask the student to read the menu from The Big Island Restaurant.
- Select the small game board from the Game Kit. Roll the dice. If the student rolls a one, he moves up one space on the game board and reads the first item on the menu. If he rolls a two, he will precede ahead two spaces and read the second item on the menu. Repeat until all items on the menu have been read.
- The child will be asked to think of a name for their own restaurant and to think of a menu. The teacher will write down the student’s responses using The All-In-One-Board.
- Back to Tactile Town’s Big Island Restaurant and Bakery.
- Ask your student to measure the distance between the pond and The Big Island Restaurant and Bakery using the Flexible Rulers from APH.
- Brie and Joel will be asked to add and subtract costs at the restaurant. APH Number Lines will be great to use for addition and subtraction.
- Review the story while the child searches for Dolch Words from APH relating to The Big Island Restaurant and Bakery passage.
- The instructor may use one of the game boards from APH and place Dolch Words around the board. The student rolls the dice, lands on a word and must read the Dolch Word. If the child is successful she reads the “Good Luck” cards made from index cards located in the Game Kit. The “Good Luck” cards will help the player or players advance across the board. If the student cannot read the word, she may ask for assistance once, and if not successful, she draws from the “Better Luck Next Time” cards. The cards will ask the student to read familiar words the student already knows.
- Students will figure out percentages using different amount of money while using their Talking Calculator, iPod or other technology.
- Ask the teen to discuss dating tips and social strategies that will help her to fit in with her peer group.
