First Grade Listening Skills Lessons

Listening to stories improves a child's concentration.

First grade teachers must help their students learn how to listen, because many young children do not acquire these skills naturally. Listening is important for both study now and interpersonal relationships in later life. Using specific activities, such as games and stories, will help first graders learn to focus on the words and instructions.

Stories

First graders can build their listening skills through the regular use of audio books. Teachers can either buy age-appropriate audio tapes or download ebooks onto MP3 players. Gradually extend the amount of time the child listens to a story. The students can follow the story with books or simply listen and then answer comprehension questions when they have finished. Set up a listening center or station in the classroom and build in time for this activity.

Games

Games can improve listening skills, because children need to hear and understand instructions to complete the task. For example, divide the children into pairs. Student A sits at a desk with paper and a pencil. Student B stands behind the chair with his back to A, so he cannot see what is happening. The teacher holds up a picture, and all the Bs in the room provide instructions while the As use this information to replicate the drawing. The pairs then swap roles.

Storytelling Chain

Invite a storyteller or children's writer to tell several short stories to your students. Each child then chooses one to retell. Divide the children into pairs, where each tells the other his story. Then have the children share their stories with a kindergarten class; each first grader tells his story to one kindergarten student. Or use a chain activity to demonstrate that we do not always clearly hear what is being said to us. With the class in a circle, have one person whisper a sentence into the ear of the student on her right, then continue passing along the whispered sentence. The last child says aloud what he thought he heard.

Attentive Listening

Read a children's story but include some nonsense words, such as "shrublik." Ask the first graders to raise their hands every time they hear a word that does not make sense. Tape 20 everyday sounds, such as a train or someone laughing. Play the tape and ask the children to remember as many as they can, in the right order if possible.

References

• Walden University: How to Teach Listening Skills to Elementary Students
• Edutopia: Listening to Literature -- Struggling Readers Respond to Recorded Books