OCTOBER Lesson Plan
Level 1
Chinese Moon Festival
Purpose/Objectives:
The
purpose of this lesson is to teach students who have severe and/or multiple
handicaps about the traditional Chinese mid-autumn Moon Festival. The
objectives the teacher chooses for individual or group outcomes will vary
depending upon the students in the class. For example, one teacher may
be looking for the level/quality of class attention or engagement with
checking for understanding at the end of the lesson. An individual student’s
objective might be activation of an adaptive switch to operate the Intellikeys.
This lesson addresses state standards and benchmarks in History/Social Science dealing with cultural diversity and cultural literacy.
History/Social Science Standard 4: The student knows that there is cultural diversity.
(SEACO (Special
Education Adminstrator of County Offices) Special Education Curriculum
Guide- pg HSS-x)
Note: This lesson works best with an Intellikeys alternative keyboard
and Intellipics software, but can be done without either one if you have
other programmable voice output devices such as an Ablenet Big Mack ,
Dynavox, Macaw, etc.
(If using Intellikeys keyboard and Intellipics software: Computer, Intellikeys,
downloaded Chinese Moon Festival activity and overlay files from this
web site)
Materials needed:
1. Two printed copies of the Chinese Moon Festival Overlay, one left in
one piece as the teacher’s master copy or as an Intellikeys Overlay,
the other cut into individual pieces (laminating the individual pieces
for durability and re-use recommended).
2. If not using Intellikeys, a voice output device programmed (by you!)
with the phrases found on each picture item in the activity file (download,
open and preview to find the phrases).
3. Any adaptive
equipment your students normally use to indicate choices or view pictures
or symbols, such as eye-transparency (e-trans) boards, microswitches,
or communication devices.
For followup activity:
1. various “round” fruits: grapes, apples, peaches, oranges,
blueberries, melons,etc.
2. large bowl
3. knife or food chopper/processor, adaptive equipment as necessary.
Procedure:
1. Gather the students around the computer (or the voice output device).
If using Intellikeys, the Intellipics activity should be open and active
on the screen with the Intellikeys keyboard connected to the computer
and the printed overlay in place on the Intellikeys. You can also use
this activity on the computer without the adaptive keyboard if
your students can click a mouse.When the activity first starts up, make
sure the overlay is being sent to the keyboard also. Test before beginning.
If it does not work the first time select "Send Overlay" from
the file menu. For best results, to start, use the mouse to move the cursor
to the first picture item in the column (moon and stars), but don’t
click so that when students activate the activity, it will begin with
the first picture in the sequence. If an Intellikeys keyboard is not connected
the activity will not go in sequence automatically, so you or the student
will have to move the mouse to each picture item individually.
2. Tell them that today they will be learning about a celebration they
may not have heard of before, The Chinese Moon Festival. You may want
to use a globe to show the students where China is, but emphasize that
this festival is celebrated by Chinese and other people who live here
in America and in other places all over the world.
3. Distribute the individual cut pieces of the overlay with pictures on
them to the students. If there are more students than picture cards tell
the students not to worry, that they will all get a chance to participate.
4. Holding up the overlay and pointing to the first picture (moon and
stars) ask the students “Who has this one?” Assist if necessary.
5. Ask the other students to listen and watch as the student who has the
card comes to the computer and accesses the Intellikeys or voice output
device to tell the first part of the Moon Festival story.
(Access can be through touching the matching picture on the keyboard,
using an appropriate head or hand switch plugged into a switch port, or
clicking the mouse).
6. Repeat with each student. If not all have had an opportunity, re-distribute
the picture cards until all have participated and the story is completed
a few times.
7. Praise students throughout the activity for attention to task, good
work and effort.
8. When all have participated, tell the students that this year, the Chinese
Moon Festival falls on October 1st. Find it on the calendar.
9. Review the story again, asking the students about each picture and watching for appropriate responses (eye contact, attentive body posture, visual matching or matching by touch the picture symbols.
10. Praise each student for a specific accomplishment during the lesson.
11. Have
the activity up on the computer for leisure time independent use during
the week after the lesson.
12. As an optional followup activity, make a fruit salad with round fruit
(see above). Students can participate using adaptive pouring cups, control
units to operate the food processor, by using picture cards to choose
what fruits to prepare and in what order, etc. Enjoy as a nutritious snack
or as a dessert for lunch!