Curated OER
Programs
Students discuss programs designed for people with disabilities. In this language arts and social studies instructional activity, students discuss programs started by the Kennedy family and create posters in order to share their findings.
Museum of Disability
Taking Down Syndrome to School
Teach your class about the ways they can befriend and understand people who are different from them with a reading comprehension instructional activity. As youngsters read Taking Down Syndrome to School by Jenna Glatzer, they answer a...
Curated OER
Daily Lesson Plan for the Struggling Writer and Speller
Special educators know that it isn't all about the lesson plan, but rather the strategies and practices you choose to use. Here are a set of research-based practices and tips you can use to inform your choices when teaching learners who...
Curated OER
Youth Helping to Elevate Awareness
Eighth graders read a book whose main character has a physical disability, and complete various related activities. They listen to a guest speaker, simulate experiences at school as a disabled individual through the use of wheelchairs,...
Curated OER
Pointillism Landscapes
Students examine Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works of art, use watercolors to create effects of light, color, and shadow, consider what ideas are important and what ideas they want to visually communicate, and paint their own...
Curated OER
Rules
Students read about an autistic boy and learn about how he communicates. In this picture book summary lesson, students draw illustrations of events in the story that convey the theme.
Curated OER
Mozart and Music
Fifth graders experience performing arts by participating in a music performance. For this music history lesson, 5th graders practice playing notes on an instrument in class and discuss the challenges associated with making music....
Curated OER
Blogging to Create a Community of Writers #1: Setting Up the Blog
Writer's workshop is an idea that's been around for years. Students write, read, and comment on each others writing in an authentic and thoughtful way. Here is a 21st century twist, 6th graders will use the class blog to create a...
Curated OER
The Princess's Point of View
Everyone wants to be part of a royal family. Let your pupils experience the privilege of royalty by rewriting the story The Frog Prince from the point of view of the princess. While the story line remains the same, perspective is bound...
Perkins School for the Blind
Circle Time
Oftentimes children or teens with one or more disability are reluctant to participate in whole-group activities. Foster good participation, verbal expression, and social skills through daily circle time activities. Each day you and your...
California Academy of Science
Fish Forms
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, you can add art to any lesson! While little learners are discovering why fish have specific body parts such as, scales, fins, and gills, they start making three-dimensional fish forms. Children...
Curated OER
Everyone Is Special
Learners discuss tolerance. In this philanthropy lesson, students read the book A Very Special Critter by Gina Mayer and discuss the character's disability. Learners role play how to be tolerant of a new student with a disability.
Curated OER
Failure-Proof Writing: Assignments for the Student Who Can't/Won't Write
Students with learning disabilities are introduced to the techniques of proper writing. After completing a warm up, they practice writing about what they saw to determine where they are at in the process. In groups, they complete a set...
Curated OER
Protecting Man's Best Friend
Young scholars read about how dogs help people. In this language arts instructional activity, students select a topic and create a presentation about dogs. Young scholars choose the type of presentation to create.
Curated OER
Understanding to Read and Describe It
Second graders, with hearing disability, practice vocabulary building strategies. In this vocabulary strategy lesson, a student practices sight words using word cards. The student verbalizes a sentence with the new words while the...
Curated OER
Services for the Disabled At Wild Safari
Students discover and enter the website for Six Flags Amusement park. Individually, they identify and discuss the types of services available to the handicapped. After reading the website, they answer comprehension questions and write...
Curated OER
Able Am I
Students read the article "Disabled Skier Designs His Way to Be a Daredevil." They discuss using the questions on the lesson plan. Students create large sized baseball cards featuring competitive, disabled athletes.
Curated OER
Eugenics Lesson Plan: Button or Bumper Sticker
Young scholars investigate how fear can cause problems with policies associated with people with disabilities. In this people with disabilities lesson, students study the associated vocabulary, fill in a chart which contains policies...
Museum of Disability
A Picture Book of Helen Keller
Teach your class about Helen Keller and her accomplishments with a reading comprehension lesson based on A Picture Book of Helen Keller by David A. Adler. As individuals read, they answer discussion questions about Helen Keller and the...
TED-Ed
Different Ways of Knowing
“Words have colors, emotions, numbers, shapes, and personalities.” Daniel Tammet welcomes viewers to his world with a 10-minutes video that illustrates how he, as an autistic savant, perceives the world. Class members are then asked to...
Curated OER
Relationships, Day 4: Friendships & Dating
It is so important to help special needs individuals know the difference between dating and friendship. They define friendship, differentiate between friends and strangers, role-play, practice greetings, then talk about dating. This...
Curated OER
Favorite Sports and Athletes: an Introduction to Sports Media
Even young children watch sports and like team logos and products. It's never too early to think critically about what's onscreen. This exercise develops awareness that media communicate values (i.e. who participates in sports and who...
Museum of Disability
Can You Hear a Rainbow?
Teach your class about compassion and empathy with Jamee Riggio Heelan's Can You Hear a Rainbow? As kids read about Chris, a boy who is deaf, they discuss the things he likes to do, as well as the ways he communicates with the world.
Museum of Disability
The Right Dog for the Job
Here, dog lovers can enjoy an educational lesson about the ways puppies are trained to become service and guide dogs. Based on The Right Dog for the Job by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, the lesson provides discussion questions for learners...