Student and Family Activities

Email your TVI or OM - Adding an Attachment

Send your teacher of the Visually Impaired or your Orientation and Mobility instructor an email. 

Make sure to format your email properly:

1. First write your teachers name followed by a comma. 
   Example:  Mrs. Smith, 
2. Type the body of your message. 
   Answer this Prompt: What schoolwork did you accomplish this week? Did you experience any success or challenges in doing your work?
   Send an Attachment: Attach a picture or document of your work to this email. 
3. Finish by typing your name at the end, so they know who the email is from.

Email your TVI or OM - Checking In

Send your teacher of the Visually Impaired or your Orientation and Mobility instructor an email. 

Make sure to format your email properly. 

1. First write your teachers name followed by a comma. 
   Example:  Mrs. Smith, 
2. Type the body of your message. 
   Answer this Prompt: Share a description or story of what you did over the weekend.  (a book you read, a craft project or science experiment, a game you played, a chore you did around the house, etc.) Did you face any successes or challenges over the weekend?
3. Finish by typing your name at the end, so they know who the email is from.
4.  Send the email and your teacher will reply!

What's Your Story? Part 1

“Your Story” is a personal narrative about yourself. Being able to tell your story is an important skill that will benefit you when you give your student report during your IEP and when start attending job interviews. 

Materials

• Adult partner to ask Conversation Questions
• Paper & Pencil, computer, video to record child's responses.

Assignment

Conversation Starter:

• Tell me a little bit about yourself….. 
• Who is in your family? What are the names of your family members? What types of jobs do they do for work or school?
• Do you have pets?  What kind and what are their names?  Describe them to me.  Do they have any silly or special behaviors?
• Where you live?  Tell me a little about your home and your community. 
• Share a favorite memory or favorite place in the world.

Add On

• Draw a picture
• Takes some pictures with a camera
• Practice your answers a couple of times with an adult and have someone video tape the two of you like an interview. 
• Document your written story. Turn your answers into a short paragraph.  Type them into a text document. And save them in a folder titled My Story.  Include any photos or videos in your folder. 

Interviewer Tips

• Provide Positive Encouragement- Affirm your child’s efforts when they share their successes with you. 
• Help them expand upon their responses.  “Tell me more about that.”
• Summarize or paraphrase what your student is saying back to them as it helps them consider their emotions, values, and actions
• Tell them about life lessons you’ve learned
• Talk about how & when you got involved in your career

What's Your Story? Part 2

You started "Your Story" last week. Let's add more to it!

Materials

• Adult partner to ask Conversation Questions
• Paper & Pencil, computer, video to record child's responses.

Assignment

Conversation Starter:

• What are a few of your positive personality traits?  
• Feelings (happy, enthusiastic, patient, calm, loving, kind, honest, optimistic, faithful)
• Actions (hard working, helpful, good listener, creative, organized, tidy, polite, lively, silly, talkative, generous)

Add On

• Draw a picture of your feelings or of YOU in Action. 
• Have someone take a picture of  YOU expressing your Feelings or of YOU in Action!
• Practice your answers a couple of times with an adult and have someone video tape the two of you like an interview. 
• Document your written story. Turn your answers into a short paragraph.  Type them into a text document. And save them in a folder titled My Story.  Include any photos or videos in your folder. 

Interviewer Tips

• Provide Positive Encouragement- Affirm your child’s efforts when they share their successes with you. 
• Help them expand upon their responses.  “Tell me more about that.”
• Summarize or paraphrase what your student is saying back to them as it helps them consider their emotions, values, and actions
• Tell them about life lessons you’ve learned
• Talk about how & when you got involved in your career

What's Your Story? Part 3

This week will add on another section of “Your Story!”

Materials

• Adult partner to ask Conversation Questions
• Paper & Pencil, computer, video to record child's responses.

Assignment

Conversation Starter:

• Tell me about a great accomplishment.  A time where you challenged yourself.  A time where you surprised yourself or others
• Were others there to share in your success or was it something you accomplished on your own? 
• How did it make you feel?  
• What did you learn about yourself?

Add On

• Draw a picture of your great accomplishment.
• Share a photo or video of your great accomplishment.
• Practice your answers a couple of times with an adult and have someone video tape the two of you like an interview. 
• Document your written story. Turn your answers into a short paragraph.  Type them into a text document. And save them in a folder titled My Story.  Include any photos or videos in your folder. 

Interviewer Tips

• Provide Positive Encouragement- Affirm your child’s efforts when they share their successes with you. 
• Help them expand upon their responses.  “Tell me more about that.”
• Summarize or paraphrase what your student is saying back to them as it helps them consider their emotions, values, and actions
• Tell them about life lessons you’ve learned
• Talk about how & when you got involved in your career

What's Your Story? Part 4

This week will add on another section of “Your Story!”

Materials

• Adult partner to ask Conversation Questions
• Paper & Pencil, computer, video to record child's responses.

Assignment

Conversation Starter:

• What do you like to do outside of school? (Hobbies, gaming, reading, organized activities, music, sports, volunteer work, etc.)
• Do you participate in these activities alone or with other people?
• How do these activities make you feel?  
• What have these activities taught you about yourself?

Add On

• Draw a picture of your favorite activities.
• Share a photo or video of you participating in some of your favorite activities.
• Practice your answers a couple of times with an adult and have someone video tape the two of you like an interview. 
• Document your written story. Turn your answers into a short paragraph.  Type them into a text document. And save them in a folder titled My Story.  Include any photos or videos in your folder. 

Interviewer Tips

• Provide Positive Encouragement- Affirm your child’s efforts when they share their successes with you. 
• Help them expand upon their responses.  “Tell me more about that.”
• Summarize or paraphrase what your student is saying back to them as it helps them consider their emotions, values, and actions
• Tell them about life lessons you’ve learned

What's Your Story? Part 5

This week will add on another section of “Your Story!”

Materials

• Adult partner to ask Conversation Questions
• Paper & Pencil, computer, video to record child's responses.

Assignment

Conversation Starter:

• What do you dream of being when you grow up and how are you pursuing those dreams?

Add On

• Draw a picture of your dream job.
• Use the internet to learn more about your dream job. Type “What does a ______ do in the community?” into your search engine.
• Practice your answers a couple of times with an adult and have someone video tape the two of you like an interview. 
• Document your written story. Turn your answers into a short paragraph.  Type them into a text document. And save them in a folder titled My Story.  Include any photos or videos in your folder. 

Interviewer Tips

• Provide Positive Encouragement- Affirm your child’s efforts when they share their successes with you. 
• Help them expand upon their responses.  “Tell me more about that.”
• Summarize or paraphrase what your student is saying back to them as it helps them consider their emotions, values, and actions
• Tell them about life lessons you’ve learned
• Talk about how & when you got involved in your career

What's Your Story? Part 6

This week you will work with your TVI to add the final section of “Your Story” and turn it into a culminating project to be used as your Student Report for your next IEP.

Conversation Starter

• Tell me a little bit about your visual impairment.  
• Describe your vision
• What tools or adaptations do you need at home or at school to do your work and to participate in activities. 
• What would you like others to know about you?

Culminating Project

Work with your Teacher for the Visually Impaired to put all of the pieces of your story together.  

Final Format Ideas:

• Videotaped interview where your TVI interviews you and video tapes it. 
• Written (print or braille) document.  
• PowerPoint Presentation
• Book 
• Use your final story as your Student Report for your IEP
• Share “Your Story” with your IEP team at the beginning of your IEP. 
• Talk about how & when you got involved in your career

Orientation & Mobility

• Dancing to music - Don't Worry, Be Happy, Car Wash, Jump N' Move, Holding out for a Hero, We got the Beat, Walking on Sunshine, The best of Both Worlds, Happy (Pharrell Williams)
• Make no-slip socks with 3-D paint (dimensional fabric paint to mark the bottoms of our socks)
• Scavenger Hunt - find pictures of things to find in the home
• Yarn Maze - string yarn around house of certain colors for each child. Have to follow it until you get to prize
• Leaf Jumping, Water balloon Race
• Indoor Volleyball
• Race with six legs - 3 people hold on to waist and walk around
• Toddler - friendly musical Chairs (everyone gets a chair)
• Fabric Dancing with scarves, felt, blankets, silk, sheets
• Crocodile Alley obstacle Course-Quicksand (blanket), Poison Ivy (towels rolled up), Bat Cave (chairs together with blanket over it), Spider nest (make dashes with the tape that kids to hop over), Piranha pond (rug), Hungry jungle creatures (stuffed animals)
• Hula Hoop Games for positional concepts
• Pretend to make train with chairs, laundry basket for a boat
• Make obstacle course with objects and/or people - use cane to navigate through course
• Family exploration walk - parks, local sites, playgrounds (make a map of the travel and items collected or taken a picture of)
• Leaf trail - create a trail with leaves
• Charades
• Simon Says
• Tidy up treasure hunt-grab items from different rooms of the house. Child must put item back in its place-socks, toothbrush, spoon, etc.
• Balloon volleyball

Students with Low Vision

• Make a caterpillar with alternating poster board/foam pieces
• Scrabble or Bananagrams letters use to make name
• Sticker Detective - use sticker and put it in a book or magazine and have to find it.
• Bottle Discovery - find the object in a bottle filled with jelly beans, animal crackers, etc
• Mystery box - guess what object is in the box without looking
• Plastic Bag Paratrooper - Tie army man to bag with pipe cleaner (throw it up in the air and watch it fall)
• Use Flashlight to find hidden around the house (blocks, plastic snakes, etc)
• Throwing objects in bucket at different distances and weight and size (ball, cotton balls, Styrofoam balls)
• Sticky frogs on the wall - use iPad to find frogs on the wall
• Soft stackers - paper cups stack them up and having child kick or run into them to fall
• Hop scotch for Blind and Visually Impaired - make with high contrast painter tape or gym tape
• Jelly Bean Trail to a prize at the end of the trail
• Yarn chase - several different yarns draped around the house to a prize at the end
• Finding treasures - Hide painted rocks in the yard
• Action shadow puppets - make paper horse/bird/dog etc. and turn off the light and put them in front of the flashlight to cast shadow on the wall to track and find
• Winter sun catcher - put water and die in a cake pan and put in freezer. Take outside if freezing and you want it to last
• Paper bag gargoyles - cut eyes, mouth, nose and ears out of a magazine or newspaper and paste them on 
• paper bag (cut the top out for hair)
• Guess what is missing - table top memory game) put five item on table and take one away and have others guess what you took away
• Adapt Guess Who game with family photos

Students who are Blind

• Making Tactile Easter Eggs with dyed floss, string, tea leaves, puffy paint, aluminum foil, rubber bands, bubble package, melted crayon
• Discovery bottle - Soda bottle with various objects around the house (buttons,sequins, baubles, ribbon)
• Play with music with various items from the house-pots and pans, paint sticks, bottle filled with various baubles around the house
• Alphabet blocks - put braille on
• Use "Scrabble" game pieces with with braille to practice alphabet
• Scribbling on tinfoil with pencil.
• Mystery box - guess what object is in the box
• Braille bingo
• Sticky Frogs on the wall (using search  pattern to find frog)
• no sew baby rattle - use old sock and stuff it with cotton batting and put a bell in it, twist the end and wrap it back over itself to form a ball - tie with ribbon
• Crayon rubbings of any textured surface 
• Streamer in entrances to doorways, around bed
• Whipping cream exploration - put whipping cream on tray (put toys in to find)
• dancing balloon - put marble in balloon and blow up - throw it, roll it, spin it and bounce it. 
• Braille Tracking Techniques (Good braille reading techniques)

Students with CVI/NVI

• Photo Collage - family photo (try to find their image among others)
• Swinging comet tails - glow in the dark ball, glow in the dark fabric paint, glow in the dark string - play catch or roll the ball to others 
• Photo scavenger hunt
• Family magnetic appeal - magnets with family photos to attach to fridge
• Memory game with family, toys and food pictures
• Magnetic photo puzzle - cut baby picture in four pieces
• Deck of cards of family pictures, food, toys - go fish, matching games
• My First Field Guide - riding in the car looking for different objects that you have made pictures of from magazines - duck, bird, cat, car, bike, store, park
• Adapt Guess Who game with family photos
• Action shadow puppets - make different animals out of cardstock and put flashlight behind them and project them on the wall
• Trust the Process: A Case Study in Literacy and CVI