The Story of Helen Keller

Transcription

1 release dates: March (04) 2004 The Mini Page Publishing Company Inc. By BETTY DEBNAM An Amazing Woman The Story of Helen Keller The Mini Page celebrates Women s History Month with a story about a woman who led an incredible life, Helen Keller. Imagine what life would be like if you could not see or hear. Imagine you did not know any way to communicate with other people. Imagine being shut inside a confusing world with no way to ask for help. Helen Keller lived in such a world. When she was 19 months old, she became very ill. The disease left her blind and deaf. No one knows what illness struck her, although some believe it may have been scarlet fever. And yet, in spite of these problems, she grew up to graduate from college with high honors. She wrote 14 books, had a vaudeville act, met seven presidents, and traveled to 39 countries giving speeches on good causes. Her story was made famous by the Broadway play and movie The Miracle Worker. Helen Keller visits a wounded soldier at a North Carolina hospital in During World War II she traveled throughout the country giving support to blinded and wounded veterans. Helen Keller ( ) is about 7 in this picture. She loved dogs her whole life, and always had at least one. (This is a blackand-white photo colored in by an artist.) Helen as a child Helen Keller grew up in the country near Tuscumbia, Ala. She was a smart, loving child. But she also misbehaved a lot. Her parents felt so bad that she couldn t see or hear that they didn t teach her proper behavior. Helen also acted naughty because she was upset when she couldn t communicate with others. She wandered around the table, grabbing food from other people s plates. One time she locked her mother in a cupboard. She bit and scratched people. Some members of her family thought she would always be impossible to handle at home. Teacher When Helen was about 7, inventor Alexander Graham Bell helped Helen s worried parents find a remarkable teacher, Anne Sullivan. Anne Sullivan knew she had to be strict with her naughty student. For example, she would not let Helen eat until Helen sat properly, with her napkin on her lap. At first Helen rebelled, fighting her teacher for hours. Anne Sullivan took Helen to a little cottage on the family s property so she could teach her without the family s interference. In just two weeks, Anne Sullivan taught her much about how to behave. However, when they returned to the family house, Helen continued to throw tantrums occasionally. The miracle One day, during one such tantrum, Anne Sullivan made Helen come out to the yard. While she pumped water into Helen s hand, she spelled out w-a-t-e-r using a special hand alphabet. And then the miracle happened. Suddenly Helen understood. She understood that what her teacher was spelling stood for actual water. She realized words had meaning. From then on, everything changed. That day alone she learned about 30 words. photos courtesy American Foundation for the Blind

2 11-2 (04); release dates: March 6-12 Manual alphabet Anne Sullivan opened up Helen Keller s world when she taught Helen to communicate through the hand, or manual, alphabet. A blind or deaf person can read words by feeling the hand of the other person. The person spells out words in the palm of the blind or deaf person s hand. It is very close to the sign-language alphabet that deaf people use to communicate by sight. Experts believe the manual alphabet was invented by medieval Spanish monks who had made a vow of silence. In the 1700s the French began using it to teach people with hearing and speech problems. Later, British and American educators changed it some so it could be felt by deaf-blind persons. These photos from the American Foundation for the Blind are of Helen Keller s hands as she forms the letters of the manual alphabet. The Hand Alphabet Mini Spy... Mini Spy s class is learning braille. See if you can find: number 7 feather pencil toothbrush letter D umbrella cat ruler carrot man in moon donkey head elephant head key muffin number 2 letter A bell number 8 football sock letter C Basset Brown The News Hound s Helen Keller TRY N FIND Words and names that remind us of Helen Keller are hidden in the blocks below. Some words are hidden backward or diagonally. See if you can find: DEAF, BLIND, MEDALS, VAUDEVILLE, MIRACLE, TEACHER, ANNE, SULLIVAN, DOGS, SENSES, WATER, SPELL, AMAZING, READ, BRAILLE, NATURE, INSPIRING, TRANSLATING. HELEN KELLER IS INSPIRING! S T E L L I A R B B L L E P S U E D W A M A Z I N G R I V L L A Q E A V S E S N E S E M D L C C K A T S L A D E M U A D I H H M N F E H E R U T A N D V E B L I N D R E L C A R I M A R R V E L L I V E D U A V V N R E N N A G N I R I P S N I G N I T A L S N A R T D O G S

3 Go dot to dot and color (04); release dates: March 6-12 Rookie Cookie s Recipe Crunchy Cinnamon Pecans You ll need: 1/4 cup butter 3 tablespoons light brown sugar 1 tablespoon white sugar 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 2 cups pecans, shelled What to do: 1. Melt butter in a microwave oven on high for 25 seconds. 2. Remove butter from microwave and mix in sugars and cinnamon. 3. Add the pecans and toss until well-coated. 4. Spread pecans on an ungreased cookie sheet. 5. Bake in a preheated 250-degree oven for 30 minutes. 6. Remove from oven and let cool on wax paper. Makes 4 half-cup servings. Note: You will need an adult to help you with this recipe. Meet Amber Tamblyn Amber Tamblyn, 20, is the star of the television show Joan of Arcadia. She was born in Los Angeles and grew up in a family of artists. Her father was an actor, and her mother was a singer and artist. When Amber was 10 years old, an agent saw her starring in the show Pippi Longstocking, and her television and movie career began. She has guest-starred on television shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Amber likes to write poetry and enjoys singing, dancing and theater. She currently lives in Los Angeles. Learn all about each of the presidents Full-page pictures Signatures Biographical information Dates of presidential terms Important achievements Stories about the many roles of the president, the electoral vote process, political terms, and a visit to the White House! To order, send $4.95 plus $2 postage and handling for each copy. Send check or money order (U.S. funds only) payable to: Andrews McMeel Universal, P.O. Box 6814, Leawood, KS Please send copies of The Mini Page Book of Presidents (Item #7807-0) at $6.95 each, including postage and handling. (Bulk discount information available upon request.) Toll free number Name: Address: City: State: Zip: 86 George W. Bush All the following jokes have something in common. Can you guess the common theme or category? Charlene: What number does a pig dial when it needs help? Ned: Swine-one-one! Adele: What type of phone do imposters use? Victor: Phoneys! John: Do you believe in free speech? Mike: Of course. John: Then may I use your telephone?

4 11-4 (04); release dates: March 6-12 More About Helen Keller The excitement of learning Helen learned to speak by feeling how Anne Sullivan s mouth moved when she spoke. She learned to read and write French, German, Greek and Latin in braille.* She even learned to play chess. *Braille is a form of writing where letters are formed by raised dots. Helen Keller loved outdoor activities. Here the 38-year-old Helen is riding a horse in Beverly Hills, Calif. Amazing achievements Helen wrote her autobiography, The Story of My Life, when she was just 23, and it was later translated into 50 languages. To write, Helen wrote on a braille typewriter and then retyped her work on a regular typewriter. Throughout her life she traveled, speaking and raising money for good causes such as the American Foundation for the Blind, women s right to vote, peace and ending poverty. Site to see: The Mini Page thanks Carrie Fernandez, and Helen Selsdon, archivist, American Foundation for the Blind, for help with this issue. Next week, The Mini Page is about sandhill cranes. photos courtesy American Foundation for the Blind Anne Sullivan taught Helen to experience nature by touch and smell. They had many of their classes outdoors. All of her life, Helen loved nature. Amazing abilities Helen was able to do wonderful things sighted people could not do. She could remember people s handshakes years after last meeting them. She could identify hundreds of plants by their smell. Once, at a competition held by a group of rug experts, all the judges were blindfolded. Each judge had about an hour to feel many different rugs. Then they had to identify each one by touch. Only Helen was able to identify all the rugs. On stage When Helen was in her 40s, she and Anne Sullivan went on a vaudeville* tour to talk about her life. People were curious about what it was like to be deaf and blind, and yet still be in control of your life. *Vaudeville shows had many different acts, including comedy, music and dancing. Helen Keller was presented with an Academy Award in 1955 because of how inspiring her life was. It was a duplicate of an award that was given to the movie maker of the documentary, Helen Keller in Her Story. Look through your newspaper for stories about people who are achieving great things. Anne Sullivan Macy Anne Sullivan ( ) had a difficult childhood. Her parents were poor Irish immigrants. Her mother died when she was very young. When she was 5 years old, a disease damaged her sight. Then her father took 10-year-old Anne and her younger brother Jimmy to an orphanage and abandoned them. Her brother died there. Anne stayed until she was about 14. She was sent to a famous school, the Perkins School for the Blind, where she got top grades. When she was 21, she began teaching Helen Keller. Not only did she change Helen s life, but the methods she invented to teach the deaf and blind are still used today. When she was older, she married. She, her husband, John, and Helen lived in the same house for many years. Until Anne Sullivan died, she stayed with Helen, helping her. The writer Mark Twain called Anne Sullivan (right) the miracle worker. In this photo, Helen is about 15 and Anne is about 29. The Mini Page is created and edited by Betty Debnam Associate Editors Tali Denton Lucy Lien Staff Artist Wendy Daley

5 Read the story of Helen Keller in by Betty Debnam Appearing in your newspaper on. from The Mini Page by Betty Debnam 2004 The Mini Page Publishing Company Inc. (Note to Editor: Above is cameraready, one column-by-4 1 /4-inch ad promoting Issue 11.) release dates: March (04) from The Mini Page by Betty Debnam 2004 The MIni Page Publishing Company Inc. Standards Spotlight: The Story of Helen Keller Mini Page activities meet many state and national educational standards. Each week we identify standards that relate to The Mini Page s content and offer activities that will help your students reach them. This week s standards: Students use biographies and stories to understand the individuals who are honored by the nation. (Social Studies: History) Students explore factors that contribute to one s personal identify, such as interests, capabilities and perceptions. (Social Studies: Individual development) Activities: 1. Divide a piece of paper into four sections. At the top of one section write Friends. At the top of the other sections, write the words Travel, Fun and Studies. Write a sentence about Helen Keller in each of the sections. For example, in the Travel section, write something about her travels. In the Studies section, write a sentence about what she studied and learned. 2. Talk to several friends or family members. Ask them to tell you something they like to look at in nature. Ask them to name a sound they like to hear. (Ask them not to name pictures and sounds from television or recordings.) 3. List three qualities you admire in Anne Sullivan. Write a sentence for each one explaining how you think that quality helped her. 4. Look in the newspaper to find people who share some of Helen Keller s interests and abilities. Find someone who (a) travels a lot, (b) is a writer, (c) loves nature, (d) helps others and (e) knows the president. 5. Think about a special teacher you ve had. Write a paragraph describing that teacher and explaining why you think he/she deserves special recognition. (standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi) Supersport: Sanya Richards Height: 5-8 Weight: 120 Hometown: Pembroke Pines, Fla. The S in Sanya Richards name could stand for speed. The University of Texas sophomore looks like a blur on a track. She won the 400- meter gold medal in the U.S. championships in 2003 and anchored a gold-medal-winning 400- meter relay team at the world championships. In 2002, Richards was named Verizon Youth Athlete of the Year. Richards, who was born in Jamaica, also played basketball in high school and had a perfect 4.0 grade-point average. At Texas, the Gold Girl is majoring in engineering and winning races. (Note to Editor: Above is the Standards for Issue 11.) (Note to Editor: Above is copy block for Page 3, Issue 11, to be used in place of ad if desired.)