Inclusive Schools Week
Celebration Ideas Guide
Interesting, Fun, Learning
Activities that promote Inclusive Practices
During Inclusive Schools Week and
Anytime Throughout the Year
These celebration ideas serve as practical suggestions for
facilitating the inclusion of all students in a general education setting. As
the diversity of learners within our classrooms continues to grow, the need to
structure curricula, lessons, and activities that not only meet the needs of
all students but celebrate the diversity among those learners becomes critical.
Whether students in your school and community are already sharing a
common learning environment or you are just beginning to create an atmosphere
of accessibility and acceptance for all, these resources will help to encourage
and inspire movement toward a more inclusive community. This Celebration Ideas
guide includes activities and resources for educators, families, students, and
community leaders who are committed to embracing diversity and providing access
to learning for all students.
To assist you in planning for the Week, we have categorized the
activities into 3 groups: for classrooms, schools and districts, and
communities. Within the categories there are three levels of implementation:
1. Activities that Promote Awareness: Activities in this section can
help create awareness of the benefits of inclusive education. Awareness is the
first step in promoting positive change. Once people are able to recognize the
promise of inclusive education, they can begin to seek the knowledge and skills
necessary to realize their goals.
2. Activities that Build Knowledge and Skill: Activities in this
section reflect the importance of taking awareness to the next level—Action!
Building the knowledge and skills of students, families, school staff, and
members of the community increases the likelihood that inclusive practices will
become integrated into the framework of the community.
3. Activities that Influence the System: Activities in this section
reflect the importance of taking knowledge and skill to the next level—Change
within the system! By changing the policies, procedures, and culture of our
schools, it is more likely that positive advances in inclusive education will
become an integral part of the community framework.
Classroom Celebration Ideas
The following ideas are geared toward implementation in classrooms.
For even more learning and fun, team up with another classroom in your school
to put some of these ideas into action.
Activities that Promote Awareness
Activities in this section can help create awareness of the benefits
of inclusive education. Awareness is the first step in promoting positive
change. Once people are able to recognize the promise of inclusive education,
they can begin to seek the knowledge and skills necessary to realize their
goals.
· Expand your morning circle activity to
include various modes of communication.
Use sign language, foreign languages, and augmentative communication supports
(including photos, pictures, and assistive technology devices, etc.) to support
those students whose communication systems might not include spoken English,
along with exposing other students to the variety of ways that people can
communicate.
· Have students develop a list of the
variety of ways that people can communicate. Help them expand the list by
discussing different forms of communication, including sign languages, foreign
languages, assistive technology devices, etc.
· Establish a “Five Minutes for Friendship”
ritual each day. Have students pair up with classmates on a rotating basis.
Provide a topic for the pair to discuss for five minutes. Ask a few pairs to
share their conversation with the class.
· Invite students who are not generally
included into your classroom for one of your daily lessons. Try to expand these
opportunities in your room and throughout the school.
· Ask students to create Inclusive Schools
Week cards including reasons why they like being a part of an inclusive school.
· Ask related service personnel (occupational
therapists, physical therapists, speech-language therapists, etc.) to include
typically developing peers in the activities that they do with children who
have disabilities in your classroom. Fun games that target the therapy goals of
some students while including typically developing peers in the activity
promote the inclusion of all students.
· Develop a morning greeting routine so
that all children, including those with disabilities and English Language
Learners, have the opportunity to communicate with each other at the beginning
of the day.
· Assign all classroom tasks/jobs in pairs
so that children who aren’t able to complete a task independently don’t feel
that they always need a “helper.” This encourages children to collaborate with
each other to get a job done.
· Have students work in groups to come up
with a blueprint or plan for an inclusive school. They can focus on areas
including physical access, curriculum ideas, support strategies, etc. A poster
session can be held during the Week for each team to highlight their ideas.
· Ask students to write about a time that
they didn’t feel included in a group. Talk about how it made them feel. Ask
them how their experiences relate to anyone who is perceived as different and
what challenges they might face in a school setting.
· Have students keep a class list of
examples to regularly record their contributions to an inclusive school
environment.
· Model ways in which students can approach
and interact with others who may be different from them in some way. Role-play
hypothetical situations in which the students may have the opportunity to
interact with a person in a wheelchair, a person who is blind, someone who
speaks another language, or an individual from another religion or culture.
· Create art projects, such as “I am
special” or “Great things happen in inclusive schools” buttons that the
students can wear during the Week.
· Invite a guest speaker with a disability
to speak about his or her experiences. Be sure to include a question-and-answer
time for students.
· Invite students to write a list of all of
their unique characteristics under a picture of themselves. Display student
work during the Week.
· Have the class plant a celebration garden
including flowers and plants with different characteristics. Ask students to
describe how each is beautiful in a unique way. Students can write essays or
journal entries on the ways the garden reflects the diversity of their
community.
· Ask students to write and perform a play
about accepting differences in others.
· Design a classroom mural to depict the
students’ perception of what an inclusive school and community looks like.
· Assign students to write an essay
describing how to be a good friend. Have each student share their thoughts on
kindness, acceptance, and friendship.
· Read and discuss poetry that focuses on
creating and maintaining unity among different groups of people.
· Develop a class motto or mission
statement that highlights the inclusive nature of the classroom.
· Implement a slogan contest: “I feel
included when . . . ” or “I feel included because . .
. ”
· Involve support staff (e.g., counselors,
nurses, office staff, janitors, and related service staff) in classroom-based
activities to create an awareness of their roles in the school community.
· Variations on a theme: Have students vote
on a theme or issue related to inclusive schools that they would like to
address during the Week. Integrate the theme into the major curriculum areas.
Activities that Build Knowledge and
Skills
Activities in this section reflect the importance of taking awareness
to the next level--
Action! Building the knowledge and skills of students, families,
school staff, and members of the community increases the likelihood that
inclusive practices will become integrated into the framework of the community.
· Encourage students to study how the
fields of science and technology have contributed to the lives of people with
disabilities. Some examples are cochlear implants, assistive technology,
wheelchairs, TTY, etc.
· Assign students to explore websites
dedicated to Universal Design for Learning and technology in order to come up
with ideas to improve access to information for themselves and others. One
example is Teaching Every Student at
http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/.
· Ask students to complete a Learning Style
Assessment. Host a classroom discussion about the various ways that people
learn and why it is important to know how each individual learns the best.
· Make a commitment during the Week to try
some new teaching strategies aimed at improving outcomes for all kids in your
class. Incorporate active learning into your language arts lesson, take the
students for an observation walk during science class, or act out the events in
history that you are studying.
Your hard work will pay off, because the students will embrace
learning while having fun.
· Incorporate the teaching of study skills
into the classroom curriculum. These supports serve to increase the achievement
levels of all students.
· Have the class study the use of “person
first” language when talking about people with differences in language,
culture, and ability. The lesson includes a discussion of what personal
characteristics you want people to emphasize when they refer to you. Each
student can sign a contract committing to using person first language in their
conversations and sharing this information with others in their family and
community.
· Each morning introduce students to a new
word in American Sign Language.
Encourage them to use the word at least five times during the school
day.
· Teach students the proper way to provide
assistance as a sighted guide to a person who is blind or visually impaired.
They can take turns practicing on each other using a blindfold.
· Ask the class to design a chart outlining
the features of a store, restaurant, or other public place that would make it
more accessible to people with disabilities. Collect data on local businesses
that have these accessible features.
At the conclusion of the project, present an award to the business
that has the most accessible features.
· Instruct students to work in groups to
assess the accessibility of the school and community for people with
disabilities. What modifications can be made? Do the public buildings in the
community offer access to people with disabilities?
How many restaurants in the community offer menus in Braille? Is there
a text telephone or TTY in the school (also known as a TDD, which stands for telecommunication
device for the deaf)?
· Ask student groups to study the elements
of universal design, a principle of architectural design that focuses on
accessibility for all people. How do the concepts apply to their school and
community? How can the concepts of universal design assist in fostering an
inclusive environment?
· Have individuals build a model (either
three-dimensional or on graph paper) of a classroom, school, or community that
provides access for all people. List the features that contribute to it being
an inclusive environment.