KIDS HOPE AUS. THEMED MENTOR HOUR September 2013 BACKGROUND

The material on Helen Keller provides a great opportunity to talk about disabilities and challenges in our lives, and about the way they can be faced with perseverance and hope.

This unit can be introduced by reading your child a story book about Helen Keller. If you are unable to find a suitable book, the following pages provide the background material for you to tell the story of Helen Keller’s life, in your own words.

Check your local/school library for suitable story books about Helen. The following books may be available:

Sloan, Carolyn, 1984, Helen Keller, Hamish Hamilton Children's Books, London Adler, David, A Picture Book Of Helen Keller, Holiday House, New York, 1990

If you have a laptop/ipad, you may like to show your child this 7 minute presentation of Helen’s life. Please preview it to check its suitability for your child’s level. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6p282-QTNs

Websites on this topic: http://www.dscl.org/kids/HelenKeller.pdf

This site contains 48 pages of a variety of activities about Helen Keller. It includes activities about the senses, Braille, sign language word, maths and many more. Because of copyright restrictions we are unable to reproduce it here, but it can be used freely with your child. http://gardenofpraise.com/ibdkell.htm

The activities here can also be printed for use with your child.

HELEN KELLER INFORMATION

Helen Keller was born in a small town called Tuscumbia, Alabama, on an estate called . Her birthday was June 27, 1880, and her parents were Kate Adams Keller and Colonel Arthur Keller. Theirs was a house full of words; Helen's dad was the editor of the local paper, The North Alabamian. But silence fell on this house in February 1882 when 19-month-old Helen became extremely ill and lost her ability to hear and see.

Learning was tough for Helen. Because of her deafness and blindness, no one could get through to her, and she could not communicate with others. Basic rules and lessons made no sense to her, and she was called a "wild child." Then, in 1886, her mom heard about the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston from Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. Helen reminded Bell of another girl named , who was deaf and blind. Kate wrote to the head of the Perkins School to ask for a teacher for Helen and they sent their star student, . The day she arrived—March 3, 1887—Helen's life changed.

Anne Sullivan was born on April 14, 1866, in Agawam, Massachusetts. Her family had very little money and could not take care of her. When she was 10 years old she was sent to live in a home for poor people. Anne also had very poor vision. At the age of 14, she was sent to the Perkins School for the Blind to receive training to be a teacher for children who were blind.

Anne had to figure out a way to make Helen understand words and their meaning. She began to teach Helen letters, by signing them into her palm. Then just one month later, everything clicked. Anne held Helen's hand under a pump while signing W-A-T-E-R into her palm. Helen's whole face lit up. The word came to life, in one moment. That day, she learned 30 words.

Now Helen was too busy to be wild, and her brainpower shone through. Quickly, she learned words and then sentences. Soon she was able to communicate by signing the manual alphabet. But Helen wasn't satisfied with signing alone. She wanted to learn to write. In addition to learning to write in braille, Helen placed a ruler on the page as a guide and drew very square block letters. In 1888, Helen left home for the first time. She and Anne attended the Perkins School for the Blind as a guest of the director, Michael Anagnos. Helen became an overnight celebrity. However, her friendship with Anagnos suffered when she was accused of plagiarism (which means copying someone else's writing and calling it your own). Helen had written a story entitled "The Frost King" for Anagnos's birthday. It was a lot like a story Helen had heard once, long before, and perhaps she remembered parts of it without realizing it. Some people said Helen's writing was just too good for someone who couldn't see or hear nature with her own eyes and ears.

But Helen had spent most of her childhood outside! Anne had taught Helen many things outside of the classroom. She taught her to touch, smell, and experience nature. She wanted Helen to be curious, ask questions, and to discover the world around her. And, for the rest of her life, Helen loved to smell and touch flowers, to feel the wind on her face...she was curious about everything!

The Using Your Senses Game

Adapt the following activities for your child. Talk about the way that these senses would have been very important for Helen Keller.

1. Collect a variety of substances to smell in small jars or ziplock bags. Try cinnamon, pepper, soap, or crayons.

2. Blindfold your child so he/she can't see what's in the bags.

5. As the child sniffs each bag, have them identify the substance.

7. Next, test their sense of taste. Be sure you use all edible items and check beforehand for food allergies. Try chocolate, jelly, etc.

8. Put items in little containers and use a plastic spoon to test each item.

9. Have them identify what they've tasted, and write their guesses down.

10. Next, test their sense of touch. Put a variety of items such as a calculator, paperclip, or rubber ducky in individual bags. Be creative, but make sure you don't use anything with sharp edges.

11. Ask the child to reach into the bag, feel each item, and try to identify it. Then write their guesses down.

12. Now compare their guesses to what was really in the bags to see who's a super sleuth!

For more fun, tape-record some sounds around the house and see if the kids can HEAR them. (suggestions... running-water running, a clothes dryer, someone typing on the computer, hair dryer.)

SIGHT

How two eyes help you better judge where objects are.

 Five 20c coins  Small paper cup or rinsed-out yogurt cup  A table where you and a partner can sit

1. Put a cup in front of your partner. It should be about 2 feet away from him or her. 2. Ask your partner to close one eye. 3. Hold one of the pennies in the air about 18 inches above the table. Move it around slowly. 4. Tell your partner that you'll drop the penny whenever he or she says, "Drop it!" The idea is for your partner — with one eye closed — to judge when the penny is over the cup so the penny will drop into the cup. 5. Give your partner five tries with one eye closed, then five tries with both eyes open. Which way worked best?

HEARING

How many sounds you can recognize.

 A friend or two  A blindfold  Stuff to make noise (coins to jingle in a jar, a book to close, hands to clap, paper to crumble, paper to rip, bubblegum to crack or pop, a ball to bounce, and supplies for any other sounds you want to make)

1. Blindfold your friend. 2. Make each noise. 3. Ask your friend to guess what the noise is. How many did your friend guess right?

A COLOURING PICTURE On the next page is a picture of a coin produced in Alabama in 2003, with a picture of Helen Keller reading. Helen Keller’s name is on the coin in Braille as well as letters.