Louis Braille
KS1 topic hubSignificant people

Explore the life and achievement of Louis Braille

Investigate the life of Louis Braille and the invention that transformed reading and writing for people who are blind. Pupils explore the obstacles he faced, his motivation, the significance of his work and how he is remembered.

In this topic: Invention · Inclusion · Historical significance

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Everything for this history topic in one place

Helpful advice: Use tactile examples of Braille and invite pupils to think about how design can improve access. Link the museum task to evidence of Louis Braille’s significance.
KS1 Medium Term Planner: Louis Braille
KS1 Medium Term Planner: Louis Braille

The current history curriculum at KS1 asks schools to provide a little more coherence in their choice of significant people to study, suggesting that they might be linked by theme….

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Louis Braille – KQ1 – Why do you think Louis Braille is remembered today: Smart task

This session comprises two activities. Activity 1 Pupils try to work out why Braille might be famous from visual clues. Discuss how blind people can read today. They handle Braille…

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Louis braille
Louis Braille – KQ2 – What were the most important moments, and who were the most significant people, in Louis Braille’s life?

This session comprises 3 key activities, so it is important to devote sufficient time to it. Please note that activities 2 and 3 are particularly challenging and were taught to…

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louis braille father
Louis Braille – KQ3 – What motivated Louis? Why did he decide to invent a system of writing for the blind? Smart task

In contrast to the multi-faceted KQ2, these two relatively short activities will not take as long. They focus on Louis’ motivation, principally by means of a diamond-4 prioritising activity. Learning…

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braille watch
Louis Braille – KQ4 – What changes to people’s lives did Louis make?

Step 1 This is a short activity in which pupils are asked to think of any uses of Braille they know of in everyday life, perhaps by showing the start…

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adjectives
Louis Braille – KQ5 – What makes Braille so special? Smart task

This very short task is preliminary to the major task that follows in KQ6 which explores how we should commemorate Louis’ achievement. It is important that they consider the crucial…

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braille museum
Louis Braille – KQ6 – What should go in our Braille museum? Curator’s dilemma

Set the scene When Louis died no national papers covered the story. 100 years later in 1952 his body was moved to the building called the Pantheon in Paris where,…

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Louis Braille
Louis Braille – evaluating the video

This lesson comes at the end of the sequence of lessons which explore Louis Braille’s life and achievements.  Rather than using a video for information and atmosphere, this lesson uses…

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