Teaching children about blindness

I’ll be showing off my children’s book in Orlando this week.

Tomorrow afternoon Whitney and I head to Orlando to give a presentation about ways to teach children about blindness for the Florida Association for the Education of Young Children. Part of my presentation includes ways to use my book
Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound in the classroom, and as long as I’m gathering resources to share at this conference on Friday, what the heck, why not share them with you, too?

An entire lesson plan devoted to Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound is right there for the taking on a web site called Learning to Give. The site suggests “Reading Experiences to Inspire Acts of Kindness,” and features lists and lists of activities for kids who read our book. Example:

During Reading

ASK: How does Hanni keep Beth safe during the day? What senses does Hanni need to use to help Beth?

SHOW: Look at the pictures of Hanni guiding Beth.

CONNECT: How is the way that Hanni takes care of Beth similar to how your parents or friends take care of you, or how you help others? For example, have you ever helped a younger child or elderly person cross a street or perform a task? Imagine what kind of help you would need if you could not see or hear or if you could not move easily.

The site also mentions Braille:

“In addition to having special dogs to help them get places, those with a visual impairment also have a special alphabet that helps them read.”

And here’s another idea for you: Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound is one of the books on the Martha Speaks Read-Aloud Book Club list. Martha Speaks is an animated show on PBS, and each book selected for the Martha Speaks Book Club is coordinated with a Martha Speaks episode. For Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound, PBS suggest kids watch an episode where Martha wants to pursue her dream of becoming a real firehouse dog, but then realizes the job is not as easy as it seems.

You can download this episode from the PBS Kids site here.

The Martha Speaks Read-Aloud Book Club resource guide is three pages long so I can’t go into all the details here. It does suggest inviting a special guest to read-aloud sessions, so if any of you teachers or librarians are thinking ahead about special events for the next school year, please know: Hanni has retired, but my current Seeing Eye dog Whitney and I would love to come.

And finally, you can download four lessons at Teachers Pay Teachers to use with Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound at home or in the classroom. The total cost for these four lessons is five dollars, and right now anyone can download the one aimed at third graders free of charge – you don’t have to be attending the Florida Association for the Education of Young Children conference to take advantage of this deal, and you don’t even have to be a teacher! I think you do have to register to download that lesson, but it only takes a minute, kids seem to really like the fun activities suggested in that lesson, and hey, it’s free!

Okay. Enough. I’d better get packing.