How Do You Create Listening Center Activities?
You are not truly maximizing the power of the listening center in your classroom unless you are making your own listening center activities for your students. Listening center tapes that come with books are usually very boring, do not tell the kids what page they should be on, are made from an unfamiliar voice and are usually only a few minutes long. Making your own tapes will make your listening center every bit as effective as any other station you run. Here are some ways to create your own listening center activities. Start with some music on the tape so that the kids can adjust the volume and get situated. Play about 10 seconds of “Who Let the Dogs Out?” and the kids will come running to the station! Tell the kids exactly what they should have in front of them including the book, a description of the book and pencils or crayons if they are going to need them. Start with a picture walk of the cover of the book. Point out everything on the page and demonstrate that the cover usually
