Activity
Back to school activity: Autograph scavenger hunt
Ice-breaker game with a braille twist for the first day of school!
Here is a fun ice-breaker activity that encourages students to connect with as many peers as possible at the beginning of the school year – with a braille twist! This is a fun activity to do after explaining what braille is and providing each student a Brailled name tag. Before starting the activity, explain the method or modification you want your students to use.
Create a list of activities or use the list provided. Cut apart each activity, leaving space for a student to sign his/her first name. For the braille student, braille and write each activity on a separate index card, leaving room for the student to sign his/her first name – in braille. Provide a braille code cheat sheet on the student’s desk along with a Perkins Brailler. Also provide your braille student with his/her braille name labels in a small ziplock bag so that he/she can quickly adhere his/her name on the desired peer activity cards.
Divide the class into two groups: One group stays at their desks while the second group walks in an organized circle around the room, stopping at each desk. The “walking” student should carry his/her cards and a pencil. The “sitting” student should have his/her cards on the table and a pencil. At each table, both students should find an appropriate activity card that reflects something he/she has done over the summer vacation to sign. Give a few minute or two so students can talk to each other about the activity, before calling time and the “walking” rotate to the next seat to the right. The last “standing” person on the right – who does not have anywhere to go – moves to the first open seat while the first “sitting” person without a partner stands up moves to the open “standing” position. Continue until every student has interacted with every other student. (Note: The braille student can be the first “sitting” person so that he/she does not have to stand and rotate.)
When a peer is at the braille student’s table, the peer can find a card and try Brailling his/her name (with assistance from the braille student if needed) or the student can call out the letters in his/her name for the braille student to braille.
Before the activity, discuss with your blind student how he/she would like to interact with his/her peers for this activity. Does the braille student want to be apart of the class Perkins Brailler demonstration before the activity? Does the blind student want to have a couple of activity ideas that he would like to sign determined ahead of time and then can ask the peer to find one of those activities? Does the blind student want to ask the peer which activities are still available? The goal is to encourage self-advocacy! Also encourage the peer to initiate the braille signature conversations, such as “Can you braille my name on this card? My name is spelled . . . “
Modifications
- Provide each sighted student a sticky-backed braille name tag that the student can use to “sign” his/her name to the Brailled activity card instead of using a braille writer.
- Provide a digital document of the activities and have the braille student access the document using his/her preferred device paired with a braille display. Peers can type in their name beside the activity and the braille student can read the name on his/her braille display. (If using a digital copy, number the activities might help the students to quickly find the desired activity.)
- If the student is young and is an emerging reader, limit the number of activities and create tactile illustrations of the activities.
- However, the goal is for students to interact, not the TSVI and sighted student!)
The goal is for the students to interact, not the TSVI, paraprofessional or teacher and sighted student to interact! Ideally, only the students are involved in this activity!
Hint 1: Other rotation methods can be used, such as small groups gathering at each table; however, it is challenging for a blind student to find every peer if the entire class is randomly moving during each rotation.
Hint 2: Suggest that each student comes up with a way to organize the cards that have been signed, to keep things moving faster! For the braille student, that could be that the signed cards are placed in a small box or container.
Activity list
Choose activities off this list or create your own list.
- Slept in a tent
- Attended a play
- Swam in the ocean
- Hiked a trail
- Read a map
- Slept at a friend’s
- Went to another state
- Celebrated a birthday
- Visited a museum
- Climbed a tree
- Planted a flower
- Swam in a pool
- Walked a dog
- Read 5 books or more
- Went to an amusement park
- Visited a zoo
- Went to a carnival
- Played on a playground
- Went on a picnic
- Built a sandcastle
- Flew a kite
- Went to a water park
- Played a team sport
- Went fishing
- Caught a frog
- Rode a horse
- Walked in the rain
- Learned a new skill
Autograph scavenger hunt activity list document
Back to school activities resources
- Back to School Activity: Accessible Find My Friend
- Back to School Activity: How I Like to Learn
- Going Nuts about a new School Year
- Inference Activities Part 1: Hands on Activities
- QR Kids: Back to School/Open House Activity
By Diane Brauner
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