03/01/2022
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR MARCH
1. March 2nd is Dr. Seuss's Birthday - The National Education Association uses this day to endorse the importance of reading. Did you know that Dr. Seuss invented the word "nerd"? It was first used in his 1950 book, “If I Ran the Zoo.” What better way to encourage "nerdhood" than to play a trivia game! Use this link to download a trivia game about Deaf Culture history:
https://www.ndsd.nd.gov/sites/www/files/documents/Resources/201409DAWTrivia.pdf
You can also make one of your own using myASLTech images.
2. Also for Dr. Seuss's birthday and Read Across America Day - Take this time to see how some people have translated Dr. Seuss's stories into ASL. Here are a few examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euKWja9gaCU, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8xrD2oUwTI
Notice the ASL techniques some signers have used to convey the stories' rhythm and rhymes. Challenge your students to sign one of his stories. Have them perform for other classes and/or videotape their efforts and post on YouTube for everyone to enjoy.
3. March 3rd is World Hearing Day - This is an observance designated by the World Health Organization that aims to raise awareness on how to prevent hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world. Most deaf/hard of hearing students have had a hearing test, but do they know how to read an audiogram? This is a good time to bring in your school or local audiologist and have them explain how to read this fascinating chart. It's also a good time to talk about how hearing aids and cochlear implants work, how they can optimize residual hearing, and how to care for them.
4. March 6th is Deaf Youth Day - Deaf History Month is celebrated March 13th to April 15th, but this day is devoted to deaf youth.. Download this handout that shares a few facts about America's deaf youth and suggests activities to help us honor and celebrate them.
https://jamescloudbck.s3.amazonaws.com/Deaf+Youth+handout.pdf
5. March 11th is Middle Name Day - Your students probably know each other's (and your) first and last names, but do they know each other's middle names? Project mySignGenerator on a whiteboard and draw a hangman noose to the side. Have Student #1 stand at the front of the room and have the rest of the class guess how to spell his/her middle name. Type the correct letters into mySignGenerator and write the wrong letters on the board, adding to the hanged man as you go. Whether the students win (guess before the hanged man is fully drawn) or lose (he is fully drawn first), complete the name in mySignGenerator and use the fingerspell function to see the full name. (To use the fingerspell function, left-click on the name box and choose FINGERSPELL.) Once they have learned their classmate's middle name, have them invent a name sign for that person using that name as the stimulus.
6. St. Patrick's Day Scavenger Hunt - Print small sign images from myASLDictionary for holiday and March words (use the video below for ideas), and hide them around the classroom, playground, etc. Have one of the images be the sign for "gold." The student or team that finds the gold image wins!
7. St. Patrick's Day Writing Prompt - At some time or other, we have wondered what would happen if we won a lot of money. Ask your students to write an essay about what would happen if they found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Put the text in mySignGenerator for reading support. Have the students discuss how they would translate the sentences into ASL.
8. March 20th is World Storytelling Day - This day celebrates the art of storytelling. Whether the story has words, pictures, signs, or other forms of expressions, all forms of storytelling are appreciated on this day. The day acknowledges the art form of storytelling and encourages diversity among different cultures and races.
ASL storytelling is both a visual art form and a way of celebrating the uniqueness of Deaf Culture and the Deaf perspective. Here is an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-3GxazfIw8
Use this day to discover other examples of ASL storytelling and/or have your students create stories of their own. Videotape them telling their stories. Use myASL Publisher to create pictures to go with their stories. Import the video clips and pictures into PowerPoint slides.
9. ASL "Rock-Paper-Scissors" - Have two students play "Rock-Paper-Scissors" using fingerspelling hand shapes instead of the traditional ones. In other words, the students hit their palm with their fist 3x and then sign a letter of the alphabet. Have a third student close his/her eyes and sign, "thumbs up" or "thumbs down." If "thumbs up," the student with the letter closest to the beginning of the alphabet wins; if "thumbs down," the student with the letter closest to the end of the alphabet wins. After three rounds, the winner plays the next student.
10. March is the Windy Month - Make a Pinwheel -
Step 1: Get construction paper and scissors. You can make customized paper by printing a page full of March signs using the SIGNO template in myASLTemplates. Check out the video below for March sign suggestions. You can also paste two pieces of colored paper back to back.
Step 2: Cut the paper into a square and make four diagonal cuts as shown:
Step 3: Assemble
Using the straight pin, punch a hole in the center and at every other point (about ¼" from the tip.)
Poke the pin through one of the point holes and curl the point toward the center. Don't fold!
Curl each pierced point, in turn, toward the center and poke the pin through the holes.
Push the pin through the center hole of the pinwheel.
Holding the pencil on a flat surface with one hand, push the pin into the side of the eraser.
You have a pinwheel! Have your students take them outside on a windy day to celebrate March.
