Sharing Kindergarten

Chapter 5- Listening to Reading

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1.  How will you instill the importance (or urgency as the sisters call
it) of ‘listening to reading’ in your students and especially those
students who have had little ‘lap time’ or reading done for them in
their own homes?

I have found that my students enjoy listening to reading so much because they don’t always have the lap time or reading time at home. They yearn for it and love to hear others read to them. I think students love listening to reading more when they relieze that they and their peers are actually NOT good at reading out loud. (They think it is so easy until they actually do it themselves.)

 2.  What devices or strategies are you going to use to conduct listen
to reading?’ Will you use a community recording device with one cd and
several earphones, individual cd players, tape recorders, ipod-type
devices or computers?

This was my biggest concern this year when implementing listening to reading. I did not and do not currently have a listening station. My school is almost against buying them for us because they don’t last. I borrowed one and used portable CD players to “feel” my way through this. I tried many different ideas with listening stations this past year. My conclusion- I need a listening station for 4 that has headset (no ear buds for these kids) and 2 portable CD players. Why?

1. We already have a ton of books on tape and CD.
2. I want my children to be listening to a basic story at the station, a higher level book on a portable, and a lower level on the other portable. Plus, my students may need to have more exposed to fluency than one simple station a week can handle. 
3. This allows for differentiation.
I have also discovered an awesome app for iPads only call
This app is from Scholastic and is free. Each book costs between $4-$6. The best part is it helps with tracking text and turning pages. You can also use your Scholastic Points to buy books for free. (This is what I did.)

They have “bookshelves” that you can sort book titles into. You can have shelves for reading groups, specific students, or themes. I know there are a lot of e readers out there, but this one makes me very happy so far. I can’t wait until the reading selection gets bigger.

An awesome find and idea for listening stations is this little guy… you can use this to create a bigger listening station using this app with this.

This Belkin Rockstar thingy can change one listening station on a iPad or CD player into a listening station for 5!!! And it is cheap and not too small to get lost.
My school is also pushing us to use ebooks on a computer. I have no problem with the idea of this. (I will actually do this a lot with Tumble Books and such in my mini lessons.) BUT… I think for listening to reading, Kindergarten students need to be flipping the pages of books and following along themselves verse letting technology do this for them.  (I also do not let the iPads or iPods take the place of regular books either. A healthy mix is needed.)
I have heard some teachers planning on using mp3 players for listening stations. I love the idea, but I do not want to sync up that often to get the results required. I may change my mind on this, but I am going to let you guys test those waters for me. 
If you are planning on doing this and recording your own voice reading books, try audacity. It is free and editable. I used it in college and loved it.
3.  What expectations will you have for your students during ‘listen to
reading’ and how will you keep them on task and independent instead of
needing your assistance when they can’t manage ‘devices?’

My expectations for this time are constant and the same for the other stations. I feel I have less time to model this whole group because I do not have enough listening stations for my whole class to do at one time.

To keep my students independent, I give my assistant to them the first week of “Listening to Reading” so work out personal kinks with all the devices. It takes time and effort to get them all smooth sailing here. Additionally, tapes are not always rewind or batteries are not always charged. Things happen. I find myself heading to this station first to “get them going” on a Monday. I also purposefully put those students who struggle with technology there first.

I let my students with CD players find a spot to read. My listening station is in a set place and my iPads have to stay on a table.

4.  Do you have enough ‘listening to reading’ type materials? If not,
what ideas do you have for securing these materials?  Where will you
store them? How will your students retrieve these items? Where will they
be used (will there be a designated spot in your class for listen or
reading or will it be their choice)?

I am lucky enough to have a ton of books on tape and CD. I usually order them through Scholastic because I can make sure I have enough books for my class. 

I store the materials in a color coded basket with the CD player or listening station. ( I use the colored baskets from Really Good Stuff.)

I have a set place for the big listening station- if I am given a working one- and the iPads because they are so expensive. I do not have a set place for the portable CD players.

5.  The sisters do not really talk about this in their book, but how do
you feel about listening response sheets?  Will listening to reading be
just for ‘listening’ or will there be follow-up work required of your
students?  If there is reading response sheets, what will they look
like?

I am not opposed to this, but I don’t think it is always needed either. Some students would focus more on the sheet than the actual book. I think I would have to judge my class and that their needs are. I don’t want them to do just busy work.

6. I would be remiss to not add this so . . . how can this station be
differentiated to meet the various learning profiles, interests and/or
readiness of your students?

I stated this above… I want to use a main listening station with a themed book on grade level. I want to two portable CD/tape players for above or below reading. I will also use the bookshelf feature on the Storia app fro iPads to differentiate.

I can’t wait to see what listening stations work for you guys and what ebooks/reader site you use!

 

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Comments

  1. KinderRoom103 says

    Hi Mary,

    Resources and devices are somewhat of an issue at my school too. Thanks for the ideas of trying to get around this. I definitely like the Audacity Website… It would be great to have the students listening to me read the book during this station! Thanks for the ideas!

    -Karmen

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  2. Michele says

    Great ideas! My students love "listen to reading"! I don't have very many cd players right now so they use the two that I have, the computer (for Tumblebooks and other websites) and I even use whisper phones (sometimes called phonics phones made from pvc pipe so the child hears themself talking). I am going to check out Storia, it sounds great! Thanks for sharing!!
    What I Learned in Kindergarten

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