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Activity and strategy

Contraction Go Fish!

This adapted Go Fish game is a fun way to practice braille contractions and develop braille literacy skills.

Homemade card games can be a fun way to practice a variety of braille literacy goals. I made this game to focus on the contractions: sh, ar, st, wh and ch. 

Materials

  • Cards:  I used the back of cards from an old card game we don’t use any more at home. Other options to use for cards would be: note cards, deck of cards, card stock cut into pieces and wooden square pieces.  
  • Braille:  You can add braille right onto the cards or use labels. 
  • “Cheat Sheet”:  I included a sheet that listed the contractions that we were focusing on during the game.
List of contractions:  sh, ar, st, wh, and ch
List of braille contractions: sh, ar, st, wh, and ch

Procedure

  1. Decide on your objective, such as specific contractions, single-cell contractions, abc’s etc. The students can help you create the game if there is time for some additional writing practice!  
  2. My objective was for the student to read and locate the following contractions: sh, ar, st, wh and ch. I generated a list of words that included those contractions and then brailled them onto the cards.  I also added print to the cards so that family members, who may not know braille, can play as well.
Words in print and braille with contractions:  ship, fish, short, flash, splash, bash, rash, shoe, far, farm, mark, bark, ark, Mary, best
Words in print and braille with contractions: ship, fish, short, flash, splash, bash, rash, shoe, far, farm, mark, bark, ark, Mary, best
More words in print and braille with contractions: pest, guest, test, what, why, who, whale, white, choose, chain, chair, cheese
More words in print and braille with contractions: pest, guest, test, what, why, who, whale, white, choose, chain, chair, cheese
  1. We used the cards to play Go Fish!  Each player would ask a question such as this:  “Do you have a word with a ‘sh’ contraction?” or “Do you have a word with the contraction ‘ar’?”
  2. I sent the cards home with my student so she could play at home with her family.  She loved having a game that was accessible to the entire family!
Go Fish game in a bag
Go Fish game in a bag

See this link for instructions on how to play “Go Fish” if you are not familiar with the game:  http://www.dltk-kids.com/games/go-fish.htm

Collage of Contraction Go Fish! A card game for beginning braille readers
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