Summer Homework for Beginning Braille Students

By Liz Eagan

As the school year ends, children will be enjoying their days without the school routine. We know that often times students lose some of what they learned over the summer. I am hoping to help students maintain skills by assigning homework over the summer.

For my student learning braille, we are just finishing lesson 3 of unit 1 of the 1st grade Building on Patterns curriculum. Of the contractions she’s now been exposed to, I’ve created braille practice books for her to read…13 in all. Attached is a document with the 5 page “stories” for the contractions with the title page containing the contraction alone. Since my student has some usable vision, each page has an image…either from the internet or one I have taken of her. The images are specific to my student’s interests. I also underlined in the printed text of the story the contractions used so as the parent assists their child, they can refer to the underlined words to assist them if necessary. I created flashcards for the contractions as well

Then there’s the braille production piece. I’ve created 12 assignments based on what braille symbols she has been held accountable for producing thus far. The lessons are short…4 or so lines. It is not designed to be a full lesson, just a review of sentences we’ve already brailled to retain skills. NOTHING NEW IS INTRODUCED. Creative writing lessons are thrown in to help facilitate this process since doing this activity in braille is still relatively new to her.

Click here to see the braille “stories” using contractions.

Click here to see the braille production homework.