Perkins School for the Blind
Making Choices
Here is an excellent and well-developed lesson intended to promote choice-making skills for learners with visual impairment and intellectual disabilities. It fosters choice-making skills through a soft version of discrete trial training,...
Perkins School for the Blind
Find the Objects/Beginning Sound Indentification
If you are just starting out as a teacher for children with visual impairments and want a fun way to teach braille and phonemic awareness, look no further. You'll fill 21 boxes with objects that start with specific letter sounds. You'll...
Perkins School for the Blind
Integrated Skills - Laundry
I hate doing laundry, even if it is an independent living skill that requires me to count money, follow a sequence, and sort clothing by color. Learners with multiple disabilities discuss what laundry is, why they need to do it, and how...
Curated OER
Graffitti
Here is a fun way to encourage a cooperative classroom, drawing skills, and creative expression. Each child draws a design or shape on his paper, then he rotates to the next child's paper where he adds to the previous design. When the...
Curated OER
Global Environmental Issues: Air and Water Pollution
Thinking about designing a project for your social studies or environmental science classes? Use an overview of a project that prompts class groups to research an environmental issue.
Curated OER
A 'Stone of Hope'
Kids uncover the who, what, when, where, and why regarding the dedication of the Martin Luther King National Memorial. They read the provided New York Times article and then answer each of the 10 comprehension questions.
Teach Engineering
Energy Perspectives
The data says ... the resource is great to use. Using Microsoft Excel, pupils analyze data from the US Department of Energy in the fifth lesson of a 25-part Energy Systems and Solutions unit. Each group looks at a different data set and...
Curated OER
"Sounds Like Team Spirit"
Some sports teams consider their fans the "12th man" on the field. What does that mean? Are fans that important to their teams? Does fan support really help teams win? How can you let your team know you are rooting for them? Apparently,...
Curated OER
The Start of a New Era for Roman Catholics
Read all about it! Check out this article from the New York Times. Kids read about changes made to the wording used in Catholic Mass. They consider these changes by responding to each of the 10 related questions that ask, who, what,...
Curated OER
Mondrian - Primary/Secondary Color Study
Utilizing computer software, learners demonstrate the color spectrum. They investigate the life of the artist Piet Mondrian and define his style of artwork. Then they use Photoshop to recreate some of his designs while discovering the...
Perkins School for the Blind
Counting in Tactile Journals
This is one of those great ideas I totally love. Youngsters with visual impairments practice counting and left-to -right sequencing by counting out a set number of edible objects from the left and putting them in a bag on the right. They...
Perkins School for the Blind
Volume, Mass, and Density Boxes
Mass and density are difficult topics for kids to understand, and even more difficult when you have visual impairments or blindness. Learners will make boxes and fill them with cotton, sand, or crushed paper. They will feel the density...
Stanford University
Contextualization
Part of a series of posters designed to be used with a unit fostering the skills needed to read like a historian, this template models the questions researchers need to ask to contextualize a primary source document.
Curated OER
Dreamcatchers
After reading a Native American legend about dreamcatchers, why not make some. This resource provides several good links that explain the legend of the dreamcatcher and step-by-step instructions for making them with the class. Tip: If...
Curated OER
Disasters (Natural & Man-made)
Students chose a natural or man-made disaster, such as a tornado or an oil spill, to research using the assigned web sites. They choose a presentation type from a list which includes poetry, radio broadcasts, and safety brochures, to...
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...
Teach Engineering
Amusement Park Ride: The Ups and Downs in Design
Groups design the ultimate roller coaster by considering potential and kinetic energy. They test their designs using marbles and then go on to rate each group's design based on aesthetics, loop diameter, and cost.
Perkins School for the Blind
Conversation Skills
It is so important for learners with multiple disabilities to learn how to communicate for both social and functional reasons. Each child will choose a topic from the list and generate five questions related to that topic. They'll split...
Curated OER
Making a desk organizer for students who are blind or visually impaired
Organization is of the utmost importance when teaching orientation and mobility to learners with visual impairments. To help keep everything in order and provide independence, use these instructions for making a desk organizer. The...
Perkins School for the Blind
Conservation of Mass
How do you teach a student with visual impairments about the conservation of mass? You use tactile models that represent the theoretical concept. Baking soda and vinegar are used to add gas to a deflated balloon. Learners will feel the...
Perkins School for the Blind
Mixtures and Solutions
Mixtures and solutions are different; one can be separated fairly easily and the other cannot. This hands-on experiment was written specifically for learners with visual impairments or blindness. They will use lemonade and trail mix to...
Perkins School for the Blind
Language Experience Stories
Here is a great way to bring core content to your special education classroom. Included is a set of instructional ideas intended to help learners increase their verbal and written expression through storytelling. Tape recorders, story...
Stanford University
Sourcing
What questions do historians ask when sourcing a document? Here's a poster that models these questions.
Curated OER
Ball Bounce Experiment
Students investigate different balls' abilities to bounce. They conduct a Ball Bounce Height Comparison and Ball Bounce Time Comparison, complete a worksheet, graph the results of their experiment, and answer investigating questions.