[nfbmi-talk] Read Across America day

[Larry Posont]

Federationists:!

As you will recall, the National Federation of the Blind has
participated in the literacy celebrations on Read Across America day
for the last few years. This year, to expand our efforts to promote
Braille and to instill a love of reading in our kids, our NFB Jernigan
Institute team is encouraging affiliates to host a Read Across America
activity. For affiliates who have hosted (or will host) an NFB BELL
programs, Read Across America would be an excellent time to have an
NFB BELL reunion. Affiliates who have not hosted NFB BELL programs
might find this a wonderful time to get to know the blind children and
their families in the region.

               There are oodles of fun activities that affiliates can
organize, such as hosting a birthday party for Dr. Seuss. At the
party, affiliates can have a Braille book giveaway, providing kids
with Braille copies of Dr. Seuss books, or other books that might be
more age-appropriate for older students. (But even older students may
still get a kick out of Dr. Seuss!)

Other activities that you might want to try are:

·         Read Aloud: Have a proficient Braille reader read Start off
by reading The Boy on Fairfield Street: How Ted Geisel Grew Up to
Become Dr. Seuss to the students. (It would be especially nice to have
an older, proficient student read to the younger students.) This book
is available through Bookshare.

·         A 27 Hat Salute: Give each student a cut-out of a Cat in the
Hat hat for students to decorate and Braille with examples of how
reading has helped them and how Dr. Seuss books have affected their
lives.

·         Read and discuss The King's Stilts by Dr. Seuss, also
available through Bookshare. Point out that in this story the Patrol
Cats have an important job to do. Discuss other animals that have
important jobs, such as horses that pull carts, dogs that herd sheep,
pigs used to find truffles, and of course guide dogs. Encourage
students to write and share a story about an animal with a job-the
more ridiculous, the better!

·         And of course, no birthday celebration is complete without
cake, ice cream and a rousing rendition of the Happy Birthday song!
Remember that this should feel like a party and a celebration of all
the things reading does for us and why Braille is so important for
blind people.

·         For more ideas and activities, please check out the NEA Read
Across America day website:
http://www.seussville.com/Educators/educatorReadAcrossAmerica.php. You
can also find videos and Seuss-related materials in brf files on our
site at: https://nfb.org/read-across-america.

March is chalked full of opportunities for us to bring kids together
to learn and get to know the NFB! March 14th is National Pi Day! Since
pi is 3.14159265359, teachers and math fanatics celebrate pi on 3/14.
We encourage affiliates to incorporate this celebration into their
plans as well.

Pi, you might recall, is used in finding the area of a circle.
National Pi Day would be a great day to have students practice
measuring circular objects, using the Nemeth code to record the
circumference and area of the circles. To make this especially fun, it
would be a great day to focus on circle-shaped foods, such as pizza,
pies, cookies, fruit slices, cold cuts, etc. Anything circular works.
Have students work on finding the diameter of the object to be
measured. They will need to measure across the widest part of the
circle, and then they can divide that number in half to get the
radius.

For a group of younger kids that might not be up to such calculations,
simply differentiating between circles, ovals, squares, and rectangles
would be fantastic. You might also capitalize on Pi day to introduce
younger students to the Nemeth code. Younger students should also try
to measure the shapes as much as they can. The more exposure students
have in using their hands to identify shapes and textures, the better!

Another fun activity for students of any age would be to "play" pi.
You can assign a musical note or instrument to each digit from 0 to 9.
Then students can work together to figure out how to play the sounds
corresponding to the first 10, 20, 30 or more digits of pi. Hearing
the sounds really makes it clear that there is no pattern to be found
in pi. Once you decide how your affiliate is going to celebrate Read
Across America and National Pi Day with the blind students in your
state, share your plans with us so that we can promote the work you
are doing on the website and through social media. As always, for any
activity that you hold, please remember to take lots of pictures or
video. If you have questions or need additional ideas about how to
celebrate Braille literacy and numeracy with youth, please contact Liz
Spann by e-mail at espann at nfb.org or 410-659-9314, extension 2418.

Thank You,

Liz Spann

Education Program Specialist

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND