Charting the Cs Conference 2025: To Literacy and Beyond Cooperation Communication Collaboration Reading Beyond Boundaries: Adapted Literacy for All Ages and Learners April 29, 2025 Amy Neils, Teacher of the Visually Impaired Holly Beckmann, Teacher of the Visually Impaired Kristi Portugue, Teacher of the Visually Impaired Learning Objectives: At the end of the session, learners will be able to: •Understand the WHY behind book kits •Understand the concept of book kits •Learn to assemble book kits including supplementary materials •Tailor kits for different age groups and abilities •Explore and interact with digital tools What Are Book Kits? A Story Box is a group of collected objects to help a student experience a book. The video explains the use of a story box with students who are blind or visually impaired. Audio Described and Closed Captioned Subtitles/CC in both English Spanish. Select the desired language in settings. Subtítulos en inglés y español. Seleccione el idioma deseado en la configuración. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRpuAKCG0_w Why Use Book Kits? ●Hands-on ●Adapted for different learning styles and preferences ●A multi-faceted learning tool instead of a just a hard copy book ●Increased engagement ●Creates a deeper understanding of the story Guidelines for Choosing Objects ●Use all 5 senses, including forgotten senses of taste and smell ●Found around the home or in a classroom ●Realistic as possible ●Can be cleaned ●Large enough for tactile discrimination ●Materials that provide a variety of tactile feedback ●Purchased again if they disappear from the box Keep in mind… Silver car ●Use real objects, not miniatures ●Tactual exploration of an object takes longer than using vision ●Explore parts of the object that make a whole (car wheels, doors, etc.) ●Be selective in object choices ●Not all objects must be experienced during each reading ●Include objects that will engage all 5 senses Red toy car Steps for Creating a Book Kit for Younger Students 1.Select a book 2.Choose key items involving all 5 senses 3.Develop questions from the book Jump, Frog, Jump! Book kit including the book Jump, Frog, Jump!, a bowl of water, a container with dirt, a frog, a fly, and a basket. Charlie and Chocolate Factory book kit including a a golden ticket, chocolate bar, stuffed squirrel, glasses, bottle of water and pop rocks, and a recording device. 1.Select a book 2.Choose key items involving all 5 senses 3.Create a chapter summary; print, images, or braille 4.Develop questions Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book kit including the book, a small stuffed squirrel, a pack of gum, a chocolate bar, a gold ticket, a pair of glasses, and a recording device. Practice Using AI Chat GPT ●Choose a book ●Create a prompt - refine/expand the prompt as needed ●Create a list of 5+ objects, utilizing all 5 senses, from the book ●Create a chapter summary at a specific grade level ●Create comprehension questions and answers from each chapter Adapted Chapter Books •Sherlock Center •Chapel Hill Snippets Hatchet by Gary Paulsen Adapted chapter from the Sherlock Center from Hatchet story with images representing the words above them. It reads, "Brian lives with his mother in New York. Brian will visit his father in Canda." Audio Book Kits •YouTube-Planting a Rainbow •Monarch Reader •Bookshare Container including gloves, dirt, fake flowers, and seed catalog Cortical Vision Impairment Adapted Books •CVI Book Nook •YouTube-example •Sherlock Center •Monarch Reader A book on fire drills from CVI Book Nook showing a red fire alarm. Cartoon spider and drain spout from CVI video by Alissa DeSousa. Cortical Vision Impairment Adapted Books, video Play Pete the Cat video Switch Adapted Books Title page of Dinosaur Dance! By Sandra Boynton with a baby dinosaur •Monarch Reader example •Tarheel Gameplay •Bookshare oHelp Kidz Learn •Epic Books oStoryOnline Cover of book with Olympic rings labeled "Olympics". Title page of Dinosaur Dance! By Sandra Boynton with a baby dinosaur •Book Creator •Roy the zebra •Tarheel Reader •Other options oStory Place Cover of book with Olympic rings labeled "Olympics". Lightbox Books •Lightbox Stories from Paths to Literacy •APH Lightbox Story Hour video Five plastic bottles with materials respresenting the different environments from the Going on a Bear Hunt story like water, grass, cotton ball snow, leaves and sticks, and mud. Light box story for the book Jump, Frog, Jump! including the book Jump, Frog, Jump! and teacher created objects. Active Learning Books Objects, hairbrush and brush, attached to pegboard pages mounted on a upright stand from active learning space website. CVI adapted pegboard book with black pegboard pages and yellow objects attached with cording from active learning spaces website. Experience Book Kits •Collection of real objects that are part of an experience •Part of a conversation or interaction with a parent or partner Hands exploring a page in a binder with food packaging from a cooking experience. Creating Tactile Access to Books •Literacy For All •Paths to Literacy Tactile book of a tree represented by a stick with fake leaves. The ground is represented by fake grass, and the roots are represented by rope. Board book with popsicle sticks with page numbers attached to each page for adapted page turning. Adapting Print and Images ●Image Search What's better JPEG or PNG? ●Adapted print https://roman-word-bubbling.appspot.com/ ●Movement and Attention slide animation (video on next slides) ●Removing background ○iPhone stickers (video on next slides) ○Powerpoint(video on next slides) ○Pic Collage app iPhone stickers, video Play video iPhone Stickers Remove Picture with PowerPoint, video Play video of removing Picture with PowerPoint Slide Animation, video Play video about Slide animation A Year of Book Kits Easy Create Story Boxes "August: Mouse Loves School by Lauren Thompson" Book, blocks, crayon, toy car, tambourine, and paint dauber on black backdrop. Now it’s Your Turn to Create! Your Google Slide should contain: ●1 pngimage ●2 Roman bubbled words or numbers ●1 animation ●Bonus points: ●1 image that has the background removed with powerpoint or other program Remember… •To use real objects, not miniatures •That tactual exploration of an object takes longer than using vision •To explore parts of the object that make a whole (car wheels, doors, etc.) •To be selective in object choices •That not all objects must be experienced during each reading •To include objects that will engage all 5 senses Sources and Resources QR code linked to sources and resources from Adapting Literacy slideshow. Charting the Cs logo with black and blue text Thank you! Amy Neils, aneils@mnscsc.org Holly Beckman, hbeckmann@mnscsc.org Kristi Portugue , kportugue@mnscsc.org