As we entered into spring, I wanted to create a book that I could use with my students to help them build concepts around this beautiful season. This book can be as simple or fancy as you want it. I used a book binding machine and comb binder for it, but you could use binder rings, a binder, or even a stapler to bind your book. Making this book WITH your students would also be a lot of fun!
Materials
- Silk flower leis
- Colorful craft feathers
- Textured fairy grass (for fairy gardens) cut into strips
- Plastic toy bugs, approximately 1.5” in size. I attached these with velcro so they could be removed and examined.
- Sunflower seeds.
- 8.5”x11” white cardstock sheets cut in half
- ½” comb binder to make it easier to turn pages
Book Text – Written by Emily Leeper
Title: It’s Spring!
Page 1: It’s Spring! It’s Spring! Listen to the little birds sing.
Page 2: The green grass grows and tickles my toes.
Page 3: The rain showers bring lots of flowers, in all the colors of the rainbow!
Page 4: It’s time to plant our garden. We’ll need seeds but not the weeds!
Page 5: Bugs and slugs play in the mud. Just like me! It’s Spring! It’s Spring!
Process
- Print the book on white cardstock, and cut the pages in half. Use the It’s Spring Book Template. You can adjust the font size and spacing as needed for your students.
- Add braille to each page if you like. You can emboss all the words or just add one or two words to each page, depending on your students’ needs.
- Bind the book using whatever method you have available.
- Add the tactile objects to each page as shown in the pictures.
- Read with your students!
Page ideas with tactile textures and treasures
Adaptations and Extensions
- Practice book skills as appropriate for the students. This could include, identifying front and back, turning pages, locating the braille on the page, exploring the tactile illustrations, etc.
- Write an experience story about an event that the student will participate in this spring.
- Count the items on each page.
- Take a nature walk to discover some of these items in nature.
- Plant a garden or grass.
