Visions of the Blind

(Photo description: Various individual small flowers, blades of grass and small leaves are shaped to form the letters to the words: Hello Spring) Mother Nature has certainly confused many of us here in Virginia with 3 significant snow storms within a 3 week timespan in late March! With snow in the past (hopefully), everyone can enjoy warmer weather and getting outdoors even more! With our students, spring time brings lesson units (especially for preschool and the early elementary years) about new life: flowers budding, green grass, budding trees, little bunnies hopping, birds singing, and the weather in spring time- which typically is rain followed by sunshine and blue skies! Here are a few ideas for activities that relate to concept building around spring. DIY Rain Sticks Rain sticks are easy to make, require little to no prep time and younger students enjoy the sensory input they produce. Make Pinterest your friend and find some awesome resources such as Katie’s rain sti...

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, there is more focus on feelings and emotions than any other time of the year. Depending on the student’s age, there are activities, worksheets, and conversations centered around feelings, friendship, emotions, and love for those around us.   Cards and candy are shared. Classmates, BFF’s, siblings, teachers, parents, boyfriends, and girlfriends all exchange small gifts to show their feelings towards one another. This is a great opportunity to teach social skills- a key component of the ECC (Expanded Core Curriculum) to those students with visual impairments/blindness. Many students with visual impairment or blindness may need help understanding emotions, feelings, and facial expressions due to missed visual cues. Students of all ages and abilities really enjoy emojis in this current technology era! Young students use charts with emojis to express how they are feeling. Older middle and high school aged students use emojis on cell ...