Perkins School for the Blind
Grocery Shopping
Grab those reusable bags, it's time to go shopping! Intended to foster independent living skills in learners with visual impairments, the lesson covers several topics related to grocery shopping. They start by planning a meal, reading...
Perkins School for the Blind
Taking Turns
For small children or learners with disabilities, learning to wait patiently and taking turns is very important. In pairs, two children with visual impairments take turns asking for, waiting for, and playing with a musical...
Perkins School for the Blind
Learning to Identify Sounds Made by the Body
Sneeze, snap, tap, and whistle; Did I do that? Explore the parts and sounds of the human body with your learners with visual impairments. First you'll name the parts of the body, make a sound with each part, and then have the class...
Perkins School for the Blind
Initial Consonant Activity
Bingo is a super fun game and can be used to reinforce a vast number of recognition skills. These bingo cards are prepared by constructing nine squares, each delineated with raised Wikki Stix or gluedyarn and containing a...
Perkins School for the Blind
Hat Game
Sometimes the simplest ideas foster a lot of different skills. To boost social skills, group participation, identifying others by name, and dressing skills, learners play the hat game. They take turns wearing a hat while...
Perkins School for the Blind
Rubber Band Stretch
If you don't teach blind or visually impaired students, this lesson plan may seem a bit strange. But, it helps them develop motor skills, orientation and movement skills, and listening skills, while building a better understanding of...
Perkins School for the Blind
Baseball
Baseball is an American pastime, super fun to play, and can be made accessible to learners with visual impairments. Instead of taking to the ball field, your class can learn the rules of the game by playing a small three-dimensional...
Curated OER
Reading Strategies for Decoding Tricky Words
Help primary school pupils learn valuable reading strategies. As they choral read a poster or big book, they predict covered words and learn various reading strategies for figuring out an unknown word. This will help them gain an...
Curated OER
Gandhi Speech Writing
Explore non-violent protest in this social values and world history lesson. After viewing the movie Gandhi, and discussing important events in Gandhi's life, young orators write a speech defending Gandhi's position on the value of...
Curated OER
Extr@ Spanish
Has your Spanish class seen an episode of Extr@? Have small groups write scripts, act out their parts, and record a video project for their classmates. Consider assigning each group a specific topic to ensure project diversity.
Perkins School for the Blind
Learning to Express Myself
Expressing one's wants and needs is vital for learners of any age or ability level. Young children with visual impairments and intellectual disabilities practice asking for preferred items, foods, or activities in a structured manner....
Curated OER
Star Reading
Learners of all ages discover the importance of reading fluently by viewing celebrities reading children books and telling about their personal paths to fluency. They participate in a fluency reading routine that connects them with a...
Perkins School for the Blind
Familiar Sounds
To foster concept development and auditory discrimination skills, learners with visual impairments listen to identify a variety of common sounds. The teacher makes recordings of various sounds, including those found in the home, at the...
Perkins School for the Blind
The Price is Right
Go on a shopping trip to practice estimation, price value, and shopping skills. The class heads off to the market to purchase several items for the activity. While they are there, they discuss the cost of various foods and even...
Perkins School for the Blind
Safety Skills
Learning how to stay safe in a dangerous situation is of utmost importance, especially when you have a visual impairment or special need. The teacher makes up a set of dangerous scenario cards based on the provided set of guiding...
Perkins School for the Blind
Left Versus Right
When you can't see, it is extremely important to be able to reorient yourself. Learners with visual impairments work though an activity to build spacial awareness based on moving left and right. A marker (bracelet, bell, or weight) is...
Perkins School for the Blind
Prepositions
When most children learn about prepositions, they are provided with a visual to show them the concepts of on, in, near, and beside. For learners with visual impairments, concepts need to be constructed in a very concrete way. A stuffed...
Perkins School for the Blind
Encouraging Students Who are Blind or Visually Impaired to Express Their Feelings and Explore Imagination
Being expressive in a creative, empathetic, or imaginative way is not only fun, it builds good pre-writing and communication skills. Learners with visual impairments have a roundtable discussion session where several sentence frames...
Perkins School for the Blind
Daily Journal
Keeping a daily journal is fun. It builds strong writing skills and provides an expressive outlet. For children with visual impairments, it's even more important. It provides a way for them to connect written word with real events,...
Perkins School for the Blind
Learning Names of Articles of Clothing
What to wear today; such a vexing question. Spend some time introducing the names, fabrics, types, colors, and functions of various articles of clothing to your class. Each child will take turns asking each other what they are wearing....
Perkins School for the Blind
Let's Pretend
Playing pretend with real objects or concepts is a wonderful way for learners to make object-to-action connections, as well as practice daily living skills. Learners with visual and intellectual disabilities use a wide variety of real...
Perkins School for the Blind
Kitchen Clean-up
If you make a meal, you must clean up the mess. Foster a sense of independence while having learners practice a skill they can use in the workplace. Teens with visual impairments practice cleaning, organizing, stacking, and sorting a...
Perkins School for the Blind
Coin Identification
You got some money, and you're not afraid to use it. Before you can use that money, you need to know what it's worth. Included is a set of activity instructions that will help your visually impaired learners indentify coins. Pupils...
Perkins School for the Blind
Eating Out
Going out to lunch, reading a menu, making choices, and spending time socializing are all parts of growing up. Teens with visual impairments use several braille menus from local restaurants to practice ordering and appropriatelyeating...