Purpose of a Listening Center

Listening centers provide a place for groups of students to hear recordings of texts played aloud. These centers help students learn valuable skills and are not difficult to create.

Purpose

Listening centers help students build sight vocabulary. They also help students gain confidence and expose them to many different story genres.

Materials

Stories, poetry and plays can be listened to in these centers. Teachers can make tapes to listen to, or students can make the tapes themselves.

Expectations

Students are expected to discuss texts they listen to in listening centers. They may use what they hear as inspiration to create their own writing or organize what they hear with graphs and charts.

Rules

Students must keep their noise level low in listening centers. They also learn to take turns, solve problems together and clean up after themselves when sessions are complete.

Setup

Listening center creation can be as simple as buying a cheap stereo to play tapes and handing out paper copies of a story. Small hand-held tape players and personal CD players work as well.

References

• Tooter 4 Kids
• Busy Teacher's Cafe

Resources

• Teaching Ideas