Write Your Own Braille Book!

Submitted by Liz Eagan on Feb 13, 2014
Cover of Furry the Dog

Lesson 4 of the Building on Patterns Kindergarten level (available through American Printing House for the Blind, APH) has an activity under the vocabulary and concept building where the child is to examine and describe a stuffed toy dog. Then under the follow up activities, there is a suggestion to write an experience story.

My student did explore the stuffed animal and created a list of words that describe a dog. She also dictated a story for me. I took the activities a bit farther. She had to create a dog image for the cover of her "book". Then she had to braille the list of words she came up with. We created a book using all the items.

Books/story telling are fun activities and great ways to make braille more meaningful. Her book went home to an excited family who could share in their child's success.

Planning the "book" is a great way to help the child organize their thoughts and the material they want to include.

Materials: 

Cover of Building on Patterns

  • Building on Patterns, Kindergarten Level
  • stuffed dog
  • braille paper
  • braille writer
  • comb binding or way to hold the book together
  • tactile materials and glue to create illustration (we used fake fur, ribbon, eyes, and a piece of fabric for the nose)

 

 

 

Procedure: 

Review Lesson 4 of Building on Patterns with your student. Tell the student that you are going to create a book together about a dog. Ask them to help to plan what they would like to include in the book.  Invite the student to do the following (while you provide assistance, as necessary). This can be done over a number of different lessons.

  1. Examine a stuffed dog.
  2. Create a list of words describing the dog.
  3. Write an experience story about a dog that they know.  The student can dictate the story or write it themselves.  For additional practice, they can also copy the dicatated version.
  4. Create a dog image for the cover of the book.
  5. Make a list of vocabulary words.
  6. Put the book together.
  7. Share with classmates and take home to share with family.

Click on the photos below to enlarge.

Furry the dog

Furry the dog text

 

 

 

He took it home to play

brought the ball to the mommy

 

word list

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Variations: 
  • Talk about different types of dogs. 
  • Find out who in the class has a dog and put together a book about different dogs.
  • Invite the student to select their own topic and follow the same steps.

Write your own braille book

Common Core and Braille Standards
Writing: 
W.K.2  Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.
W.K.5  With guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed.
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Comments

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