Colorado Center for the Blind

Announcing Homework Club!

by
Dan Burke

September 30, 2021

After School Program

Editor’s Note: This announcement went out via email this week, but constitutes months of dreaming, planning and recruitment and coordination. Suddenly, our familiarity with virtual platforms creates an opportunity to reach out to blind kids in new and innovative ways!

Dear Parents/Guardians:

Thank you for being strong and supportive partners in your blind/low vision child’s educational journey! We know that homework, some new concepts and various skills can be overwhelming to tackle. Perhaps at times, your child might just need to check in to refresh their knowledge about a particular topic. Our new program, Homework Club, is here to assist!… Read the rest “Announcing Homework Club!”
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CCB’s 2020 Virtual Summer Sessions for Youth – Join Us!

by
Dan Burke

June 6, 2020

(Editor’s Note: We don’t blame you for wondering what is up with our summer programs for youth. The coronavirus and the subsequent shutdown orders put us into a scramble, affecting not only our youth programs, but seniors and the Independence Training Program, too. Here’s an announcement from our Youth Services Director Martin Becerra-Miranda that should clear things up.)

by Martin Becerra-MirandaEach spring, as plans for our Summer Youth programming come together, Executive Director Julie Deden eventually exclaims, “This is going to be the best summer program ever!” Her positivity, encouragement, and support have not wavered one bit through the COVID-19 pandemic.… Read the rest “CCB’s 2020 Virtual Summer Sessions for Youth – Join Us!”
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Meanwhile, down in the gym, a dozen blind students were dissecting dog sharks! @ArapahoeCC

by
Dan Burke

March 15, 2019

These Denver high school students, Deya and Alma were two of the dozen middle school to college prep students who experienced all the sensory data of a spiny dog shark when they opened one up today at the Center.

Well, except for taste.

Thanks again to Arapahoe Community College’s Biology Professor Terry Harrison for leading these blind students through a meaningful lesson about anatomy – a lesson with the side benefit of learning that vision isn’t the only sense with which to do real science!

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We’re open today, and sharks are on for tomorrow! The #BombCyclone has blown on by!

by
Dan Burke

March 14, 2019

It was a relatively calm morning after yesterday’s Bomb Cyclone, with 8 to 12 inches of snow and extreme winds blowing the flakes sideways and into drifts. Admittedly we had to skate our way into the Center before eight this morning, climbing over ice boulders thrown onto the sidewalk along Prince Street by snowplows, but we are here. We are grateful not to be among the nearly 80,000 customers in the Metro area without power this morning.

And we are on for tomorrow’s shark dissection with Arapahoe Community College’s Terry Harrison. We’re plowing and digging and de-icing our way out in plenty of time for that!… Read the rest “We’re open today, and sharks are on for tomorrow! The #BombCyclone has blown on by!”
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Announcing Our 2019 Summer Youth Programs

by
Dan Burke

January 27, 2019

For 2019, we’ll offer our long-standing summer youth programs, including Confidence Camp/BELL and our 8-week residential program for high school and college-aged youth. But we’ll also offer shorter-term and more focused “modules”, describe below. For more information on our 2019 Summer Youth Programs, contact Martin Becerra-Miranda at 303-778-1130, ext. 2223, or mbecerra@cocenter.org.

Confidence Camp/BELL Academy

Dates: June 10 through June 21
Ages: 5 to 10
Location: Colorado Center for the Blind

Program Description

This two-week day program will be filled with learning, challenge and fun. Your child will meet competent blind role models who will work with the kids on cooking, cleaning, Braille, independent travel and technology.… Read the rest “Announcing Our 2019 Summer Youth Programs”
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#FAST Friday to Explore the Stars with @AstronomyatACC

by
Dan Burke

April 12, 2018

Whirling overhead at all times are stars, planets – whole galaxies. Humans have always wondered at them and about them. Blindness is no impediment to curiosity, including in the area of astronomy, nor is their any reason blind people can’t learn much in this field, often thought to be too visual. Some have even become astronomers themselves.

So, with the help of Arapahoe Community College Astronomy Coordinator and Instructor Jennifer Jones this month’s FAST (Fun Activities and Skills Training) Friday program for blind youth will teach about the stars with tactile graphics of constellations, 3D printings of telescopes and, finally, a trip outside to see what is in Friday night’s sky.… Read the rest “#FAST Friday to Explore the Stars with @AstronomyatACC”
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Reminder: FAST Friday Fast Approaching!

by
Dan Burke

March 3, 2018

March 9 will be Movie Night And our next FAST Friday at the Colorado Center for the Blind – our monthly activity for blind youth and their families. We’ll kick the evening off with pizza, then watch the documentary film, “Do You Dream in Color?” It follows four California high school students who are blind as they strive to follow their dreams. 1 hr 14 min with audio description. Popcorn provided. Discussion will follow.

Watch the trailer for “Do You Dream in Color?”

April 13 will be Contact theAstronomy
Constellations! we’ll have Arapahoe Community College Astronomy Instructor Jennifer Jones and her students work with us to understand the night sky, stars, constellations and everything!… Read the rest “Reminder: FAST Friday Fast Approaching!”
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Access & #TactileLiteracy: A Day in Our College Prep Class

by
Dan Burke

December 28, 2017

Access to concepts and information presented in graphical form has long been a challenge for blind college students. In the past couple of decades the surge in digitally-displayed content has, well, gone supernova. Thus, blind college students need to develop basic tactile literacy with two- and thre-dimensional representations that their sighted peers may have learned much more informally through media such as picture books, television, film, or YouTube. Blind people learn how things look best by touch. Descriptions are a stop-gap, but only that. Thus, one aspect of our College Prep class’s goal of preparing our students to be savvy and nimble in gaining access to their studies involves taking a look at the kinds of things colleges may throw in front of them and expect them to be able to interpret.… Read the rest “Access & #TactileLiteracy: A Day in Our College Prep Class”
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Watch CCB Indoor Skydiving @iFLYDenver featured last night on @CBSDenver!

by
Dan Burke

November 14, 2017

I-Fly Denver invited us over on Monday to take flight and learn about the science around wind tunnels and things like force and resistance. There was math involved, just saying.

then we got to experience push and pull full-body, so to speak. Here’s a story from CBS Denver Channel 4 last night:

Skydiving Business Helps Students At Center For The Blind

Thanks to everyone at I-Fly Denver – we had a great time!
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Summer Was Fun, and Especially Our Saturday Science Day!

by
Dan Burke

September 25, 2017

Here are a few pics from our Science Saturday way back in July! Studens rotated between three stations – basic chemistry, a station dedicated to weather, and a robotics class using Lego Mindstorms.

With the first serious fall weather this week – misty rain, leaves turning and starting to litter the lawns and sidewalks – it’s kind of fun to think about how hot it was that day out front with the bucket and the hose!

The point of course is to show our students that blind people can do science and – Wow! – it’s even fun!

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