4 New Lessons!

Sharon Pennock
Wed, 18 Jun 2025 20:37:03 +0000

We’re excited to share these 4 new lessons with you:

Disability Data Art - 7th - 10th grade - STEM and Art

In this lesson, students will learn about data art, an art form that takes scientific or mathematical data and translates it into a visual art form such as a painting, drawing or sculpture. Using disability related statistical data from provided sources, they will create their own piece of data art. The students will also write short reflections on the artwork that they create. This lesson can function both as a standalone art exercise, or may be a useful closing exercise for a unit in math or science that focuses on statistics.

I Deaf-initely Can, Rhett the Heeler - 1st - 4th grade, English Language Arts (ELA)

In this lesson, the teacher will read I Deaf-initley Can, Rhett the Heeler, a book about a Deaf girl who adopts a Deaf dog and teaches the dog sign language. The book shows the story from Rhett’s perspective of being chosen into Karlie’s family and learning about the world through sign language.

For discussion, students will think about other methods of communication. The takeaway message for students is that people (and dogs!) can communicate in many different ways—and all of them are valid.

Infinite Motifs - the Art of Yayoi Kusama - 2nd - 6th grade - Art, Geography

In this lesson, students will learn about the paintings of Yayoi Kusama, an artist from Japan who is world-renowned for her immersive rooms and graphic paintings. Kusama lives in a supportive facility for people who live with psychiatric conditions, and has done so since the 1970s; the exact nature of her mental health support needs has not been disclosed to the public, but she has described experiencing hallucinations, anxiety, and pain in interviews. As part of this lesson, students will learn about different housing types for people of all abilities. Students will also be able to create either a painting or an infinity room (assignment can vary depending on your classroom materials).

More Than A Wheelchair: Accessibility Symbols - 4th - 8th grade - Social Studies/History/Civics, Art, Geography

Students will consider the icon of the person in a wheelchair, the “International Symbol of Access.” They will learn about its history and the recent Accessibility Icon project that updated it. They will also consider other disability symbols, both in the US and internationally (such as symbols that indicate Deafness, Hidden Disabilities, and Autism, and how they are used/not used in other countries).

Art extensions include photography assignments to document iconography in their school and in everyday life and new symbol-making where students make new symbols that could replace the wheelchair, and be more inclusive.

Geography extension is a study of symbols and use/news about them in other countries. Students will be assigned a country to study either individually or in groups, and explore disability iconography in that place. This activity would work well as a library-based extension as well.