It’s important to me that I teach my students the art of giving thanks to those that help them. So often we forget to say “thank you” and I want my students to be appreciative to others for their help. I model the behavior for them whenever possible, and we also do activities like this one. This year we did nurse appreciation gifts. In addition to practicing their braille literacy skills by writing notes, this was also a great opportunity for them to work on other areas of the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC), such as social interaction and Orientation and Mobility skills.
Two of my students used ace bandages to wrap around an arm or a leg of a teddy bear. They then filled a syringe (I found these in the Halloween aisle last fall at Walmart) and filled them with M&M mini candies.
One more student did the same, but her bear did not have the ace bandage.
They brailled letters to the nurse and then delivered them.
The text of the letters is as follows:
Dear Nurse Rios,
Happy Nurse’s Day! Today you should lie down, sleep, and watch TV. We think you work too hard and deserve a break.
Love,
The Vision Department
I don’t know who benefited from this activity the most, the students who did the activity or the nurses on the receiving end. Giving thanks is so easy to do and it doesn’t have to be a big production like this. It can be a simple card or a verbalization of thanks.
