Allow your students to visit the PBS Kids "You've Got Braille" website. They can write a message and enter it into the Braille translator to see what the words would look like in that language. Furthermore, provide students with a guide of how to form letters in Braille. Have them write notes and/or letters to one another, in which they must decode what their classmate has said.
Present a few different examples of biographical sketches. Explain how each includes important facts of the person's life, including birth date, accomplishments, and date of death, if applicable. Allow students to conduct research on the Internet and in books to compile their own biographical Hellen Keller sketches. Ask students to present the information they learned to the rest of the class with the help of visual aids.
Assign students to groups and have them assemble presentations on what it means to be blind and/or deaf. Ask them questions such as, "How could being blind and/or deaf affect your life?" "How are people with these disabilities the same as you are and how are they different?" Require students to conduct surveys and interviews of people with these disabilities to use in their presentations. Arrange for them to interview people with these disabilities at a local doctor's office or clinic.
Bring students to the computer lab in your school. Allow them to work in pairs or groups if there are not enough computers in the lab for each student. Assign them a list of questions regarding Helen Keller's life, but also about the effects of being blind and deaf. Ask them to write out certain words in either Braille or sign language. Award a small prize to the first person to find all of the correct answers.