Janell Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I wanted to do a literature unit on Helen Keller with my son and i'm having a hard time coming up with ideas and activities for the reading. I can't seem to find much in a google search and was wondering if anyone had any ideas I could use for the unit. Here are some books i've come up with from our local library that are geared for kids: 1. Who was Helen Keller? by Gare Thompson 2. Helen Keller A light for the Blind by Kathleen Kudlinski 3. Helen Keller Courage In The Dark by Johanna Hurwitz 4. The Black Book of Colors--this is an excellent book all the pages are black and the pictures are texturized so you have to feel them to see them....pretty cool to teach about being blind. I also found a few books on Louis Braille. I would like to find a few books on being deaf/sign langage as well. But as far as activities I'm not coming up with much in the way of games, file folder games, print outs etc.... Anyone have any good ideas for me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpskowski Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I don't know of any particular unit study, but I can think of some fun ideas. If you wanted to add poetry, you could read the poem The Blind Men and the Elephant. You could do copy work with Helen Keller quotes. Depending on money you could buy a familiar children's picture book in braille. Also there are sign language cards with the braille letter available. You could do character lessons on courage. Create an obstacle course that you lead the child through blindfolded without speaking. Read The Listening Walk and take your child on a blindfolded walk (just for blindness). Blindfolded tasting or just eat a whole meal blindfolded. We just read Deborah Hopkinson's book, Annie and Helen. Now that you got my mind thinking, maybe we'll have do some of these. The kids would get a kick out of creating and doing the obstacle courses with each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janell Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 great ideas! thanks so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JessieC Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Moving Beyond the Page has a great lit unit on Helen Keller. http://www.movingbeyondthepage.com/purchase/skuDetail.aspx?skuID=138&purchaseTab=7to9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JessieC Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Moving Beyond the Page has a great lit unit on Helen Keller. http://www.movingbeyondthepage.com/purchase/skuDetail.aspx?skuID=138&purchaseTab=7to9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Moving Beyond the Page has a great lit unit on Helen Keller. http://www.movingbey...urchaseTab=7to9 :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Here are some quotes from Helen Keller from Homeschool Share: http://www.homeschoo...ebook_pages.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janell Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 I don't know of any particular unit study, but I can think of some fun ideas. If you wanted to add poetry, you could read the poem The Blind Men and the Elephant. You could do copy work with Helen Keller quotes. Depending on money you could buy a familiar children's picture book in braille. Also there are sign language cards with the braille letter available. You could do character lessons on courage. Create an obstacle course that you lead the child through blindfolded without speaking. Read The Listening Walk and take your child on a blindfolded walk (just for blindness). Blindfolded tasting or just eat a whole meal blindfolded. We just read Deborah Hopkinson's book, Annie and Helen. Now that you got my mind thinking, maybe we'll have do some of these. The kids would get a kick out of creating and doing the obstacle courses with each other. funny that you mentioned The Blind Men and the Elephant. I was browsing through the children's books at my local thrift store and i spotted that book and bought it for twenty-five cents. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janell Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 Here are some quotes from Helen Keller from Homeschool Share: http://www.homeschoo...ebook_pages.php THank you! i have never heard of homeschool share before. thanks for the link! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patriciahe Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Aside from Moving Beyond the Page, there's a unit study on Hellen Keller within volume 2 of "Beyond Five in a Row". We haven't done any of them yet, but a friend who did do BFIAR with her 3 kids says they all enjoyed the unit very much. I'm looking forward to study Hellen Keller at our homeschool and still have to decide which one to use. I'm leaning towards MBtP, although it'd be nice to have BFIAR too. Perhaps we'll use BFIAR as a supplement for additional fun and creative ideas. My 2¢. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtoamiracle Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Nest Entertainment has an animated video on Helen Keller. When I got mine it came with a download of coloring sheets. My son loves to watch the video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Keeper Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 My boys enjoyed Helen Keller's Teacher by Margaret Davidson. It told more of Annie Sullivan's struggles--she was partially blind and had many obstacles to overcome herself. Thinking it was a "girl" book, my boys were at first reluctant to read it, but my oldest boy cheered out loud and had tears in his eyes by the time he got to the chapter on "W-A-T-E-R" (shh, he thinks I didn't notice...;) ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathleen in LV Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Somebody on here recently posted this video of Helen Keller: http://www.openculture.com/2009/08/helen_keller_captured_on_video.html It might be a nice supplement to your lesson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threeturn Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 I just did a couple of activities on my blog for the book Helen's Big World for Booking Across the USA. The activities would work for any Keller book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 It would be good to learn about Louis Braille. Some libraries may still have braille typewriters or books in braille. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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