Visual Impairments Links for May

[This is from a digital handout I give to all of my teachers.]
Visual Impairments Specialist: Ms. Kathy




Below are some links to ideas and activities that I have consulted with some of you about. If not—well here they are! Remember that the Classroom Suites activities cannot be open unless you have the program installed on the computer you’re opening them on. Don’t forget to save them before closing if you want to keep them. If you accidentally delete a CRS activity that you’d like to keep you can find them on the Activity Exchange if you have a free account there. Look for my user name: mskathy0724

I’ve put asterisks (*) next to my special activities for students with multiple disabilities.
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20 iPad Aps for Kids with Autism*

It’s a list of what it says. 
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ABCYA.com

“ABCya.com is the leader in free educational kids computer games and activities for elementary students to learn on the web. All children's educational computer activities were created or approved by certified school teachers. All educational games are free and are modeled from primary grade lessons and enhanced to provide an interactive way for children to learn…”
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ABC’s of Digital Tools in the Early Childhood Classroom*

It’s a list of what it says 
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Animoto

Good videos can be created for classes with photos and graphics found on the internet. However one cannot add one’s own audio except for music , for creating descriptive videos for children who cannot see the graphics.
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Braille Notebook cards*

A teacher does not need to know Braille to use these cards. These are used when you are going over the alphabet every day with the entire class and the blind child in your class cannot see or feel the letters you point o on your chart. Have the paraprofessional open these notebook cards for the child to follow along with her sighted peers.
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Catalog of iPad Aps for Teachers and Students*

It’s…you know.
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Children Around the World (Mexico)*


Created By: Cindy Kerr

Skill Level: Grades K-2

Curriculum: Language Arts Life Skills Social Studies

Activity Details: Join us this year as we visit children in countries around the world to see what their schools look like, clothing, music, food and language. We'll see the map, flag and capital cities.

Easy next page button and yes-no self checking questions.
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Edmodo

“Edmodo provides a safe and easy way for your class to connect and collaborate, share content, and access homework, grades and school notices.” (There is also a mobile access version)

Educational Needs for Low Vision*

A few ideas for children with low vision
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E-Reader’s Worksheet1 *

E-Reader Worksheet 2*

Use these as a template to create an online worksheet for your students. Do you know how to create hyperlinks like the ones in this document?
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Five Little Monkeys*


Intellitools activity: Created By: Cindy Kerr

Skill Level: Birth-5

Curriculum: Language Arts Math

Accessibility Features: Switch Low Vision

Activity Details: Easy numbers 0 to 5 with music from the well known song. Find the answer to turn the page.

Scanning set.

Attached overlay.



Music purchased from iTunes is "Five Little Monkeys" by The Countdown Kids.
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Fun Brain*

Learning games in all content areas with a section for teachers and parents.
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Greenville ES Word of the Day

Created By: mskathy0724

Skill Level: Grades 3-5

Curriculum: Language Arts

Accessibility Features: Low Vision

Activity Details: Some of these words may seem above 2nd & 3rd grade level but you may be surprised! My visually impaired students like to try "footlong" words. Sometimes they'd bring them to class. Then we'd get the definiton and they'd braille/write their own sentences for them in their morning journals. Some of the sentences they authored are included in this activity. I'd make a card with the word, part of speech, definition in print embossed with braille and they'd tape it to our door until the door was filled with "footlong" words. For a fun test, I'd let the Intellitools program read to them and they'd braille their answers on paper. Then we'd check answers from their papers to the program.
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Internet4Classrooms

Free Internet resources to use in classroom instruction, developing project ideas, reinforcing specific subject matter areas both in the class and at home and even for online technology tutorials. The portal is used by teachers, parents and students of all ages on six of the seven continents (there are not many classrooms in Antarctica) and is available to anyone with an Internet connection.
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KERPOOF!

Great for encouraging creative writing! The Kerpoof website is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company… Kerpoof is all about having fun, discovering things, and being creative. Here are just a few ways that you can use Kerpoof:

• Make artwork (even if you aren't good at drawing!)

• Make an animated movie (really! it's easy!)

• Earn Koins which you can trade for fun things in the Kerpoof Store

• Make a printed card, t-shirt, or mug

• Tell a story

• Make a drawing

• Vote on the movies, stories, and drawings that other people have made
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Lily: The Blind Great Dane


Intellitools Classroom Suites Activity: Created By: Byron O Wilkes

Skill Level: Grades 3-5

Curriculum: Language Arts

Accessibility Features: Switch AAC

Activity Details: This activity set is made up of two activities. The first is a reading activity for students which relates the story of Lily, a blind Great Dane and her friend Maddison. Note: students can also listen to the story if they can't read yet. The second activity is a comprehension activity which provides a set of seven questions in a 3-2-1 format to evaluate the student's comprehension or understanding of the story. Note: the activity captures all of the student's responses and a report can be generated through the IntelliTools Classroom Suite Reporting System if the activity is assigned to the student. Please note that the template used for the reading activity is from the Learning Magic, Inc. "Writing Bin-Early Skills" CD and the template used in the comprehension activity is from the Learning Magic, Inc. "3-2-1 For IntelliTools Classroom Suite" CD. Please do not use these templates to create other activities unless you own a copy of the aforementioned CDs. For further information on those products please visit our website at www.learningmagicinc.com.
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LDOE Coursewhere

Create an account here and apply for workshops sponsored by the LDOE this summer.
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Matt’s Wallet*


Intellitools CRS Activity: Created By: mskathy0724

Skill Level: Grades 3-5

Curriculum: Math Life Skills

Accessibility Features: Low Vision

Activity Details: My high school student Matthew wants to count money because someday he wants to be rich. He helped with this activity. It helps to teach how many of each coin will equal a dollar and how many of each bill denomination are in $100. Matt picked out the items to purchase at the end of the activity. Since the items chosen stay on the activity, a teacher can check for correct answers by going back into the program to see the number of coins and bills the student clicked to add to the pictures.

May In My Classroom

An Intellitools activity brought to you by the same therapist who created “April in My Classroom.”

Microsoft Narrator*

If you have a relatively new computer, one of the accessibility features is a screen reader called Microsoft narrator. The link will take you to the web site that will show you how to locate and use it.

MOODLE

“Moodle is a Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a Free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites.“
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Ms. Kathy’s Kids Blog

Just my blog where I post ideas, photos of ideas, articles and the occasional rant/vent. 
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My Big Campus

“My Big Campus extends the classroom to a safe, engaging online environment.”
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One True Media*

Free but it’s worth it to purchase a premium account. Create videos with music and sound. Voice videos can be added (I’ve used clip from my Flip Cam) so that visually impaired children can appreciate the videos as well. You can email links to parents or order a DVD of your finished product for about $10.
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Raz Kids!

An online leveled books library for grades K-6. Students improve their reading skills by:

• Listening for modeled fluency

• Reading for practice

• Recording their reading

• Checking comprehension with quizzes

Students log in to get books and quizzes assigned by their teachers.
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Research Paper Sites (High School/Middle School)

It’s that time of year! This list of sites can help. I’ve had them for a while so let me know if some of the links are no longer valid
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Scoop It!

Instructional Resources for Technology on all levels. You can search for lesson plans and curricula using the drop-down menus, or visit the Educator pages for any of the products
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Study Guide Template

This one was made for a VI resource class but you can use it as a template for HS/MS Study guides and drop them in your students’ computer folders
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Technology for the Visually Impaired

A blog about the latest stuff and updates on stuff we already use. Yum!
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Typical Technology Solutions for the Disabled

You know.

Olfactory Kits

 

I have friends who save medicine containers for me so that I can make these for some of my multidisabled students. Then we collect scented samples to keep in them. You can use kitchen seasonings, cough drops, candy, orange peels,  potpourri and as in this case, body sprays from a dollar store.

I like the medicine containers better than 35mm film canisters because, well, first they're easier to find since people are using digital cameras and cell phones. Second: after rinsing the medicine residue from  these containers, the childproof caps make these safer incase there is a child who has the dexterity to grab one and try to open it for him/herself. 

I also like to soak cottonballs with the liquid scents so that incase a child can grab one, none of the liquid will pour out. Depending on the liquid, you may need to change out the cotton balls every 2 weeks or so in case you've used a liquid that will support mold growth.

I'm Thinking

I'm thinking i'm working just as hartd over the holidays as I would at work. Must have something to do with the S/T C and my two memory cards being tin the same dimension.

I'm up at 5AM getting my coffee. I had to take Daughter to campus because she was off for the holiday break last week rather than this one like the public schools. Then I went to get a baby laptop from Office Depot.

I've been trying to catch up on the junk and the mess in my house. Got some plants re potted and some started, scrubbed the bathroom, washed clothes and put some in the giveaway bin. I believe my clothes and my daughter's are mating.

After dropping BabyDaughter off on campus I bought the baby laptop. Hers has a dead screen and we need some other way to access the Internet when we're not home. Then I finally checked my email and found one saying Brother Hermann passed. Went to the visitation at the funeral home. That meant not getting my old car looked at--and OH! I need to call Freddie about the shingles that were blown off the roof in the storm last week! I'd better do that now!

Cheap Finds to Use with Children with V.I.

LASER TOP: This toy was at Walgreen's drug store in the sale bin It requires batteries. I thought of it as visual stimulation for low vision multi-disabled kids as it can be spun for them on their wheel chair trays. It lights up, spins and makes a sound. It has a hazardous choke warning so for children who can grab and handle it themselves I'd be certain they have an MA of 5 years and over, as it says on the package, so they will not be tempted to put any parts of it in their little mouths.



VIBRATING BALL: I've had this one for a few years, also with multi disabled children in mind. I had a child with cortical visual impairment and deafness. Pull the string and this one vibrates. Use much supervision as the string may detach. For the kids I used it with, I would pull the string for them. Some were able to let me know they wanted the action repeated by either grabbing my hand or in the case of a nonverbal child with modified signs, she would sign "again." It doesn't make a sound, though. This one is hand sized. There is a larger version of this one that runs by batteries and makes a sound as it vibrates.



TEACHING COINS: I saw these in another teacher's class and thought, Wow! I have needed something like that for my low vision kids when I was teaching money!

She was going to let me borrow hers to make copies. But in my travels I saw these at Dollar Tree in the school supplies section. I have found coin worksheets on line AND placed real coins under the CCTV for students with low vision. When you don't have access to a CCTV or can't carry several in your back pocket, these are a cool alternative. They are printed on front and back. The adult size scissors didn't show up too clearly, but I placed them in the picture to give a size reference.

I've had these laminated and I will have them brailled for low vision students who read braille

More Educational Finds

I found these little workbooks in a Walgreen's drugstore. I have since seen them in other places. I know they've been around for a while because I used to stop and pick up a few and enlarge the pages for whatever a student of mine was working on in their classrooms or to help a teacher get a concept across to a child. Mind you, I only like worksheets for practice or enhancement. I truly despise the use of them for busy work.

These, however, are different because for about $6 a CD-ROM is included. I have opened these and found them to be cool for elementary kids with low vision. Some of the characters in the books are seen again in the computer program. The use of a computer is often motivation for our kids.

There is one activity in which children are asked to find hidden object which may be confusing for a child with low vision. With some of the menu items a child with low vision may need assistance. The Dot-to-Dot one has little movies in the menu. They're really cute. My daughter says she remembers seeing some of them on old (1980's) children's TV shows. Some of the little movies had no dialogue for the totally blind child to follow.

I did not try them with any speech/screen reader programs as I was most certain most of the stuff was not accessible for the totally blind child.

Don't expect a lot of fancy bells and whistles. For only $6 it's not a bad deal.

Kairos Discipleship Retreat Weekend #16

Big Money!

I found these giant plastic coins at a dollar store--Dollar Tree, to be exact. As soon as I saw them I scooped them up because I thought of them as a good tool for kids with low vision and regular cognitive abilities for learning coins. I have put coins under the CCTV before, but suppose you're traveling from school to school and you don't have one in your back pocket? besides that these are accessible by touch and just plain fun. I may take close up photos of these--front and back-- to use in an Intellitools activity. The program comes with some photos of coins but they can be enlarged only so much without losing clarity.

Words of the Day Part 6

The first term was a schoolwide WOD early in the school year. The second came from a current event.

Haste: Hurry; fast. "In her haste, she dropped her lunch tray.

Impromptu: (adjective) Done at the last minute without preparing. "Sarah Palin had an impromptu press conference at the airport."

Truculent: (adjective) Ready to fight or fuss. Terrance's sentence: "Christopher was my friend but now he is truculent."

Intellitools Activities

I like Intellitools Classroom Suites. I have some braille lessons there like this one which uses apples for the braille dots.

If you go to the Intellitools web site and sign in to the activities exchange (http://aex.intellitools.com/), look for my screen name "MsKathy0724." Then you can look at all of the activities I created.

Reaching for the Sky!

Yesterday in Tremaine's class, his teacher and I hung a long piece of yarn across the room. From it we hung colorful objects for which he may feel compelled to reach. They are high in contrast and some of them twirl under the airconditioning. Was he interested? I believe so! Especially in the candy his teacher hung just out of his reach!
He's a child with multiple disabilities who looks down and to the right to use his residual vision. Now he has a reason to look up and reach for the sky!