Pair Work exercise useful for practising speaking and listening skills and giving/following instructions. Put students in pairs and give each half of the worksheet. Student B tells student B where to go on the grid and what to write or draw. Make students can not see each other´s sheet. This ws allows the whole class to practise simultaneously. At the end of the exercise, Ss should compare their answers to the teacher´s answer sheet. Enjoy. - ESL worksheets
Welcome back to Part 4! We're over halfway through the management series and I really hope you all are learning some new tips to take back with you to your classrooms! I apologize for missing my deadline for this post. I was not feeling well after lunch yesterday and so I went to bed early. The focus of this post is on getting kids to listen to you while you are talking so that they can follow directions when they begin working. This is one of the most frustrating things to experience as a teacher. I hate it when students ask me what to do when I literally JUST explained it. I know you all feel me on this...I have several things that I am going to share that I have done in my classroom that have been helpful. One of the best things to do at the beginning of the school year is to give students one of the trick quizzes. This is an excellent way to assess which of your students struggle with following directions! I like these from Halle Across the Hall. She offers two versions {one for lower and one for upper elementary.} You can grab these for FREE from her TPT store HERE. One fun way that I love to teach students to listen to directions is through directed drawing. What kid doesn't love art!? Even if they aren't great at drawing, that's the beauty of this! All of them come out looking great...IF they follow directions that is. I usually give some speech about how everyone can be great artists and have masterpieces that look like {holds up completed drawing} and they all GASP. Buuuuut I tell them, you HAVE to listen and pay attention closely the whole time so you can make sure you don't miss a step while I am showing you exactly what to do. They all nod furiously and most of them are tuned in closely the WHOLE time. I love these from Amy Lemons on TPT! Aren't these adorable!?! You can grab each one separately by clicking the images above. One of my all time favorite ways to build active listening is through auditory listening activities. I have used these for years and students LOVE them! They don't even know they are honing their listening skills. You give students these coloring pages and tell them that they will have to listen VERY carefully to the directions you will give. They will only hear them one time. You will say things like put a circle around the apple. Color all of the stars blue. Put an x on all of the clouds. I love this resource from Fluttering Through First Grade because she offers two levels of the directions {a beginner and intermediate}. I always start the year with the beginner directions and we build up to the harder which is more two step. We also track the number of mistakes they make on a graph so students can see their listening skills improving. You can grab SET 1 of her resource HERE! She does have 3 different sets and then a bundle of all 3. I promise you won't be disappointed! Another thing I have found to be really helpful AND SIMPLE for students is to repeat the directions 2 times and then have the students repeat the directions to a partner. You can also have the students shout the directions out loud if it's something small. For example, If I said, after you are done working on your reading journal assignment, please read silently. What are you going to do when you are done with your assignment students? They would shout out read silently. I shared about the secret code strategy in Part 1, but it also works really well for helping students listen to your every word. You can read about Secret Code HERE. The Five Finger game is another easy little trick that I learned about last year. For this game, you explain to students that they will have the opportunity to earn some chat time if they can listen quietly while you are teaching your mini lesson or giving directions. You hold up 5 fingers while you are talking. For every time a student talks, is not listening or paying attention, you put a finger down. If students lose no fingers, they earn 2 minutes of chat time. If they lose 1-2 fingers, they earn 1 minute. If they lose 3-4 fingers, they earn no chat time and have a class discussion. If they lose all 5 fingers, the students/class get a consequence. This is up to the teacher. This game is great because students start holding each other accountable for their behavior. The last strategy I want to share is helpful for students who can never remember what you just said to do...You know which friend I'm talkin' about. You have 1 or 2 every year who ALWAYS ask you what to do RIGHT after you just explained it because they weren't listening...Insert eye roll. Well, this is something that I plan on doing this year! You just post some visual numbers with steps for students. You don't have to get that creative with it. You can even just type the directions up on the board if you have a smartboard. Here is a great example although I'm not sure exactly where the picture is from. Lucky to Be in First, maybe?? Anyway, I hope you were able to take away something from the post today! Let me know your favorite strategies for teaching kids to listen and follow directions! Part 1 {Talking} Part 2 {Blurting} Part 3 {Tattling} Part 5 {Transitions} Part 6 {Classroom Organization}
Do you explicitly teach listening skills to your students? Did you know that 70-80% of our waking hours are spent in some form of communication? Of that, listening makes up about 45% of our daily communication! When I learned these statistics, I knew that I needed to be as intentional about teaching/practicing listening skills as […]
Welcome to our series on social emotional learning in the elementary classroom! We are going to be chatting about some effective strategies and procedures you can easily and quickly apply to your classroom for improvement in student self-awareness, self-control, and social skills. During the month of January, we will cover four different SEL topics. January has always been my favorite month to teach, because I was always able to do a reset with the students I already had a relationship with. We could then really hone in and improve SEL skills to in turn take a deep dive into instruction. The less you are having to stop and redirect student behavior, the more time you have to teach. We know that is more important now than ever. This month, we will cover four topics that I felt were most needed right now that could cover the most behaviors: listening, making good choices, kindness, and resilience. Let's talk LISTENING and FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS. Why is listening important? Active listening is a vital skill in the classroom, as well as in life. You listen to directions, announcements, instruction, conversation, and more. As a student, I was not always the best listener. I tried really hard to listen, but I lacked the strategies to comprehend what was being said. I was more of a visual learner, so auditory was difficult for me. I think we sometimes forget that our students need to be explicitly taught the strategies and skills we expect them to apply. I have found that students need explicit SEL instruction all throughout the year. The problem is that we don't have the time to do that. I tried to think of ways you could easily and quickly incorporate it into your day, because it's so important to keep your classroom running smoothly and to decrease undesirable behaviors. The best time I feel to teach these, if you can, is first thing in the morning, during morning meeting. I have come up with some quick mini lessons, along with quick and fun activities, to teach each SEL topic. This week, we are going to look at some strategies to increase active listening in your classroom. Listening Strategies and Tips Call and Response The first thing you need to have in place is a call and response. I would only do one or two at a time. One that I always do is: Teacher: 1, 2, 3 Eyes on Me Students: 1, 2 Eyes on You When I teach this, I practice it a ton. It is important that students STOP AND LOOK AT YOU. Do not let them continue what they are doing. They will not be actively listening if they are still doing something else or talking while you are talking. Be firm about that expectation and wait until everyone is focused on you. We want to establish a muscle memory of them stopping, looking at you, and listening until you are finished. It's so important to have high expectations here. There are many different call and responses out there to choose from. Just be consistent with one or two for a while before changing to a different chant. Voice Volume and Tone If you know me, you know that I am not loud at all! Ha! I am pretty quiet so I use that to my advantage in the classroom. The lower I talk, the more they have to really listen. I also make sure that I keep a calm tone when I speak. This is also very important to have a calming environment because they tend to mirror what they are seeing. Something that I have found that has helped a ton with listening is buying a microphone headset and speaker. I just got one off of Amazon. It saves my voice and my energy, and I can use a calm tone that students are more likely to listen to. Keep Directions Short and Direct Stick to one-step instructions. Be direct and clear with your instructions, as well. If you can also add a visual, that will greatly help students. As students get better with one-step instructions, begin to slowly introduce more steps. Echoing One of my favorite and most effective ways to give instructions is through echoing. I will say the instruction in a sing song voice. The students know to echo me when I use that voice. Not only does it help them better comprehend the instructions, they also are busy being engaged which cuts down on opportunities to get off task or misbehave. Read Aloud Books The best way to begin a discussion with students about an SEL topic is through a read aloud. We want them to understand why listening is important. It helps us to be a better friend, we learn more, we are more caring, we understand what to do next, etc. I really love the book, The Worst Day of My Life Ever! by Julia Cook. The character in the story is having a very bad day because he chose not to listen to others. Students get to follow along on how those choices affected his day. His mom gives him tips on how to be a better listener and how to follow instructions that students can also apply. (I have made a resource that contains all of the mini lessons for teaching students to be better listeners, along with quick activities for a week focused on this topic.) Two other good ones are Lacy Walker, Nonstop Talker and My Mouth is a Volcano. Songs and Videos I love to incorporate music to help students better remember a strategy. You will get a song I wrote in the unit call "I Am Listening", but I have also linked some classroom approved videos you can show before or during your mini lesson about listening. Be a Whole Body Listener I Am a Good Listener (begin at 1:00) Why is Listening Important? Listening Game The Dance Freeze Song The Listening Game: Cosmic Kids Listening Mini Lessons Incorporate mini lessons into your morning meeting devoted to listening. I like to focus on one topic or skill per week. These lessons are quick and to the point. I also like to create an anchor chart with my students so that they have a visual reminder to refer to. Students also make a mini anchor chart to add to their SEL notebooks. Listening and Following Directions Activities Practice the Strategy For each lesson, I review the anchor chart and sing the listening song to open the lesson and review what we have learned. I then read a portion of the read aloud, The Worst Day of My Life Ever! I do this similar to an interactive read aloud, including text dependent questions that also start discussions about listening. After the story, I teach a new strategy that we then practice. I will take you through each day of this unit. We already covered day one and the anchor chart, so let's move on to day two. On day two, we learn a new listening strategy and then students listen to the story Go Away Big Green Monster. I do not show them the illustrations; they have to draw the monster by listening to the description. This is a fun way to practice active listening! They love to share their monsters with one another. On day three, we learn another listening strategy and play Listen, Draw, Check. You can use this game in all content areas for review. The game is very similar to Battleship. They have to be really great listeners and follow the directions to match my game board, which we check at the end. On day four, I introduce the students to an SEL animal character. Each character is a different animal and has a poem. For this activity, students have to follow the oral coloring instructions and color their Listening Lion. They also get a copy of the poem to trace. Finally on day five, we read the whole story and then discuss what lesson the author was trying to teach the reader. I then assign a writing activity (differentiated sheets included) in which they have to apply what they have learned about listening and following directions. This is a great way to wrap up the unit and assess their understanding. Listening and following instructions are skills that apply to so many parts of the school day, so they are vital to a smoothly run classroom. When you are having to stop and address behaviors, it is draining. Let's set our students up for success by giving them the tools they need to thrive in the classroom. I would love to hear and share with others if you have any great listening strategies! Thank you so much for stopping by this week! Be sure to come back next week for our next SEL skill, MAKING GOOD CHOICES. The following two weeks will be all about KINDNESS and RESILIENCE. You can grab the Listening and Following Directions Activities below or by clicking on any of the photos!
These following directions drawing activity ideas will teach kids to listen carefully to instructions and interpret them.
Color by Listening is an activity where students listen to oral directions and must color the picture to match. Would make a great first week activity to practice active listening skills and following directions! If you like this product, you will LOVE the bundle! Grab it here: Color by Listening Bundle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would love to hear from you, please leave me a rating & comment! Let's Connect! Follow Me on: ★Pinterest ★Facebook Click the "Follow Me" button by my picture to be the first to know about my newest products and freebies.
Listening and following verbal or oral directions is an important skill that many students lack. You may relate to Charlie Brown's teacher after going over step-by-step directions. Students often hear the sound the teacher's voice is making, but fail to tune into the meaning of the words. When students aren't actively listening, they miss important information that can impact their academic AND behavior in the classroom. One way you can help your students practice active listening so they will follow directions is with a fun activity called Listen and Draw. Listen and Draw is a great activity to do with your class at the beginning of the year when you are teaching class procedures. Include these with your plans after breaks as a warmup plus a good reminder about practicing listening and following directions. Grab a free copy of FREE Listen & Draw - Following Directions Activity. Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.
An Active Listening and Following Directions Game. A fun auditory processing twist on Simon Says that helps with following directions and impulse control.
Color by Listening is an activity where students listen to oral directions and must color the picture to match. Would make a great first week activity to practice active listening skills and following directions or a refresher for students throughout the year! If you like this product, you will LOVE the bundle ★ Color by Listening Bundle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would love to hear from you, please leave me a rating & comment! Let's Connect! Follow Me on: ★Pinterest ★Facebook Click the "Follow Me" button by my picture to be the first to know about my newest products and freebies.
I recently got an email from a parent who was wondering how she could work on her son’s listening skills. As I was responding to her email I realized that many parents would benefit from this information- so I decided to make this into a post. There are many FUN ways that you can work […]
Following single- and multiple-step directions is an integral part of success in the classroom for children. Those with language disorders...
Many young learners struggle with linguistic cues and following both written and oral directions can be difficult. They are required to learn vocabulary as well as strengthen cognitive processing areas such as auditory processing, visual processing, sequencing and more. Come download some free sample activities on my blog that you can use to help your students ... Read More about Fun Following Directions Activities Freebie
Teach students listening and following directions skills in grades K-6 using these listening and following directions activities!
Welcome to our series on social emotional learning in the elementary classroom! We are going to be chatting about some effective strategies and procedures you can easily and quickly apply to your classroom for improvement in student self-awareness, self-control, and social skills. During the month of January, we will cover four different SEL topics. January has always been my favorite month to teach, because I was always able to do a reset with the students I already had a relationship with. We could then really hone in and improve SEL skills to in turn take a deep dive into instruction. The less you are having to stop and redirect student behavior, the more time you have to teach. We know that is more important now than ever. This month, we will cover four topics that I felt were most needed right now that could cover the most behaviors: listening, making good choices, kindness, and resilience. Let's talk LISTENING and FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS. Why is listening important? Active listening is a vital skill in the classroom, as well as in life. You listen to directions, announcements, instruction, conversation, and more. As a student, I was not always the best listener. I tried really hard to listen, but I lacked the strategies to comprehend what was being said. I was more of a visual learner, so auditory was difficult for me. I think we sometimes forget that our students need to be explicitly taught the strategies and skills we expect them to apply. I have found that students need explicit SEL instruction all throughout the year. The problem is that we don't have the time to do that. I tried to think of ways you could easily and quickly incorporate it into your day, because it's so important to keep your classroom running smoothly and to decrease undesirable behaviors. The best time I feel to teach these, if you can, is first thing in the morning, during morning meeting. I have come up with some quick mini lessons, along with quick and fun activities, to teach each SEL topic. This week, we are going to look at some strategies to increase active listening in your classroom. Listening Strategies and Tips Call and Response The first thing you need to have in place is a call and response. I would only do one or two at a time. One that I always do is: Teacher: 1, 2, 3 Eyes on Me Students: 1, 2 Eyes on You When I teach this, I practice it a ton. It is important that students STOP AND LOOK AT YOU. Do not let them continue what they are doing. They will not be actively listening if they are still doing something else or talking while you are talking. Be firm about that expectation and wait until everyone is focused on you. We want to establish a muscle memory of them stopping, looking at you, and listening until you are finished. It's so important to have high expectations here. There are many different call and responses out there to choose from. Just be consistent with one or two for a while before changing to a different chant. Voice Volume and Tone If you know me, you know that I am not loud at all! Ha! I am pretty quiet so I use that to my advantage in the classroom. The lower I talk, the more they have to really listen. I also make sure that I keep a calm tone when I speak. This is also very important to have a calming environment because they tend to mirror what they are seeing. Something that I have found that has helped a ton with listening is buying a microphone headset and speaker. I just got one off of Amazon. It saves my voice and my energy, and I can use a calm tone that students are more likely to listen to. Keep Directions Short and Direct Stick to one-step instructions. Be direct and clear with your instructions, as well. If you can also add a visual, that will greatly help students. As students get better with one-step instructions, begin to slowly introduce more steps. Echoing One of my favorite and most effective ways to give instructions is through echoing. I will say the instruction in a sing song voice. The students know to echo me when I use that voice. Not only does it help them better comprehend the instructions, they also are busy being engaged which cuts down on opportunities to get off task or misbehave. Read Aloud Books The best way to begin a discussion with students about an SEL topic is through a read aloud. We want them to understand why listening is important. It helps us to be a better friend, we learn more, we are more caring, we understand what to do next, etc. I really love the book, The Worst Day of My Life Ever! by Julia Cook. The character in the story is having a very bad day because he chose not to listen to others. Students get to follow along on how those choices affected his day. His mom gives him tips on how to be a better listener and how to follow instructions that students can also apply. (I have made a resource that contains all of the mini lessons for teaching students to be better listeners, along with quick activities for a week focused on this topic.) Two other good ones are Lacy Walker, Nonstop Talker and My Mouth is a Volcano. Songs and Videos I love to incorporate music to help students better remember a strategy. You will get a song I wrote in the unit call "I Am Listening", but I have also linked some classroom approved videos you can show before or during your mini lesson about listening. Be a Whole Body Listener I Am a Good Listener (begin at 1:00) Why is Listening Important? Listening Game The Dance Freeze Song The Listening Game: Cosmic Kids Listening Mini Lessons Incorporate mini lessons into your morning meeting devoted to listening. I like to focus on one topic or skill per week. These lessons are quick and to the point. I also like to create an anchor chart with my students so that they have a visual reminder to refer to. Students also make a mini anchor chart to add to their SEL notebooks. Listening and Following Directions Activities Practice the Strategy For each lesson, I review the anchor chart and sing the listening song to open the lesson and review what we have learned. I then read a portion of the read aloud, The Worst Day of My Life Ever! I do this similar to an interactive read aloud, including text dependent questions that also start discussions about listening. After the story, I teach a new strategy that we then practice. I will take you through each day of this unit. We already covered day one and the anchor chart, so let's move on to day two. On day two, we learn a new listening strategy and then students listen to the story Go Away Big Green Monster. I do not show them the illustrations; they have to draw the monster by listening to the description. This is a fun way to practice active listening! They love to share their monsters with one another. On day three, we learn another listening strategy and play Listen, Draw, Check. You can use this game in all content areas for review. The game is very similar to Battleship. They have to be really great listeners and follow the directions to match my game board, which we check at the end. On day four, I introduce the students to an SEL animal character. Each character is a different animal and has a poem. For this activity, students have to follow the oral coloring instructions and color their Listening Lion. They also get a copy of the poem to trace. Finally on day five, we read the whole story and then discuss what lesson the author was trying to teach the reader. I then assign a writing activity (differentiated sheets included) in which they have to apply what they have learned about listening and following directions. This is a great way to wrap up the unit and assess their understanding. Listening and following instructions are skills that apply to so many parts of the school day, so they are vital to a smoothly run classroom. When you are having to stop and address behaviors, it is draining. Let's set our students up for success by giving them the tools they need to thrive in the classroom. I would love to hear and share with others if you have any great listening strategies! Thank you so much for stopping by this week! Be sure to come back next week for our next SEL skill, MAKING GOOD CHOICES. The following two weeks will be all about KINDNESS and RESILIENCE. You can grab the Listening and Following Directions Activities below or by clicking on any of the photos!
This is a great activity to do after your Second Step, Listen Attentively lesson.Students just need a paper and crayons. All shapes and images are easy to draw.Read the directions slowly, as students listen attentively and follow your steps.An example drawing is at the bottom of the page.For more li...
One of the most fun ways to help kids practice following directions and listening is by playing games. We love to move and learn here so I found 6 following directions games that get kids up and moving!
Teaching your students to follow directions and build their listening skills takes work! I couldn’t believe this when I read it, but did you know that LISTENING makes up 45% of our daily communication?!?!?!?! That blew my mind! As teachers, we spend so much time teaching reading and writing, which are very important, but how […]
Color by Listening is an activity where students listen to oral directions and must follow directions to match. These no prep worksheets are also great for positional word practice and color recognition.Would make a great first week activity to practice active listening skills and following directions! If you like this product, you will LOVE the bundle Color by Listening Bundle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would love to hear from you, please leave me a rating & comment! Let's Connect! Follow Me on: ★Pinterest ★Facebook Click the "Follow Me" button by my picture to be the first to know about my newest products and freebies.
Need ideas for teaching listening skills in the classroom? Try these whole body listening activities and books, class games, and daily practice ideas and a FREEBIE!
Fun and engaging ESL activities, games and worksheets in printable PDF format with full teacher's notes and answers for English teachers to use in class.
Color by Listening is an activity where students listen to oral directions and must follow directions to match. These no prep worksheets are also great for positional word practice and color recognition. Would make a great first week activity to practice active listening skills and following directions! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would love to hear from you, please leave me a rating & comment! Let's Connect! Follow Me on: ★Pinterest ★Facebook Click the "Follow Me" button by my picture to be the first to know about my newest products and freebies.
Are you searching for engaging and educational activities to foster friendship skills in elementary students? Look no further! Our collection of printable friendship worksheets are designed to help young learners understand the values and qualities of being a good friend. With a focus on building empathy, communication, and conflict resolution skills, these worksheets offer an ideal supplement to any elementary school curriculum.
Listening to instructions Color pencils are required for the activity. Read the sentence once and complete the instructions. This activity develops: - Auditory processing skills - Working memory - Following instructions - Color identification
Listening and Following Directions: State Flowers and Birds Edition +Reading Comprehension Activities An activity that challenges students to listen and pay attention to detail. Save over 20% when your purchase the Listening and Following Directions Growing Bundle Pack! This activity is designed to challenge students to follow oral and/or written directions and complete tasks in the correct locations on an identification chart. During the activity the directions can be read to the students by the teacher or the students can read the directions to themselves. This allows the activity to function as either a listening or reading comprehension activity. This item consists of 2 separate stories and 2 identification charts to be used by students. During this activity students listen to or read a story. As the story is read students draw different pictures on the identification chart described in the reading. An easy to use answer key is included with the lesson. This lesson has a total of 20 pages: Listening and Following Directions Growing Bundle + Reading Comprehension Listening & Following Directions Back To School Edition +Reading Comprehension Listening and Following Directions Halloween Edition + Reading Comprehension Listening & Following Directions Christmas Edition +Reading Comprehension Listening & Following Directions Valentine's Day Edition +Reading Comprehension
Provide a different approach in improving auditory attention and auditory processing! Students are required to listen attentively and to follow directions in working on illustrations that are divided into various categories. Two skills are coordinated. The students must remember the category information, such as; “all the things that are alive.” Each auditory direction will coordinate a specific direction with a specific characteristic of a category. Examples: “Put a green line under all foods that grow on trees.” “Put a purple circle around everything that can melt.” Two levels of difficulty are given.
Following directions can be a challenging task for preschoolers, and it can be frustrating for parents and teachers to constantly repeat themselves. But don’t worry, these 10 simple and fun activities help your little ones master the skill of listening and following directions. So get ready to have some fun while teaching your preschoolers an ... Read more
Listening and following verbal or oral directions is an important skill that many students lack. You may relate to Charlie Brown's teacher after going over step-by-step directions. Students often hear the sound the teacher's voice is making, but fail to tune into the meaning of the words. When students aren't actively listening, they miss important information that can impact their academic AND behavior in the classroom. One way you can help your students practice active listening so they will follow directions is with a fun activity called Listen and Draw. Listen and Draw is a great activity to do with your class at the beginning of the year when you are teaching class procedures. Include these with your plans after breaks as a warmup plus a good reminder about practicing listening and following directions. Grab a free copy of FREE Listen & Draw - Following Directions Activity. Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.
Color by Listening is an activity where students listen to oral directions and must color the picture to match. Would make a great activity to practice active listening skills and following directions during this special holiday. If you like this product, you will LOVE the bundle ★ Color by Listening Bundle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would love to hear from you, please leave me a rating & comment! Let's Connect! Follow Me on: ★Pinterest ★Facebook Click the "Follow Me" button by my picture to be the first to know about my newest products and freebies.
Fun Listening Games and Activities for Kids (WHOLE BODY LISTENING worksheets included) / 27 Listening skills activities for children
Following single- and multiple-step directions is an integral part of success in the classroom for children. Those with language disorders often have increased difficulty in following simple and c…
Back to School is right around the corner for us and I am SUPER excited to kick of this school year with some fun, hands-on and engaging resources for The
Developing listening skills is an important task. You'll love these listening games that practice listening through play.
Welcome to our series on social emotional learning in the elementary classroom! We are going to be chatting about some effective strategies and procedures you can easily and quickly apply to your classroom for improvement in student self-awareness, self-control, and social skills. During the month of January, we will cover four different SEL topics. January has always been my favorite month to teach, because I was always able to do a reset with the students I already had a relationship with. We could then really hone in and improve SEL skills to in turn take a deep dive into instruction. The less you are having to stop and redirect student behavior, the more time you have to teach. We know that is more important now than ever. This month, we will cover four topics that I felt were most needed right now that could cover the most behaviors: listening, making good choices, kindness, and resilience. Let's talk LISTENING and FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS. Why is listening important? Active listening is a vital skill in the classroom, as well as in life. You listen to directions, announcements, instruction, conversation, and more. As a student, I was not always the best listener. I tried really hard to listen, but I lacked the strategies to comprehend what was being said. I was more of a visual learner, so auditory was difficult for me. I think we sometimes forget that our students need to be explicitly taught the strategies and skills we expect them to apply. I have found that students need explicit SEL instruction all throughout the year. The problem is that we don't have the time to do that. I tried to think of ways you could easily and quickly incorporate it into your day, because it's so important to keep your classroom running smoothly and to decrease undesirable behaviors. The best time I feel to teach these, if you can, is first thing in the morning, during morning meeting. I have come up with some quick mini lessons, along with quick and fun activities, to teach each SEL topic. This week, we are going to look at some strategies to increase active listening in your classroom. Listening Strategies and Tips Call and Response The first thing you need to have in place is a call and response. I would only do one or two at a time. One that I always do is: Teacher: 1, 2, 3 Eyes on Me Students: 1, 2 Eyes on You When I teach this, I practice it a ton. It is important that students STOP AND LOOK AT YOU. Do not let them continue what they are doing. They will not be actively listening if they are still doing something else or talking while you are talking. Be firm about that expectation and wait until everyone is focused on you. We want to establish a muscle memory of them stopping, looking at you, and listening until you are finished. It's so important to have high expectations here. There are many different call and responses out there to choose from. Just be consistent with one or two for a while before changing to a different chant. Voice Volume and Tone If you know me, you know that I am not loud at all! Ha! I am pretty quiet so I use that to my advantage in the classroom. The lower I talk, the more they have to really listen. I also make sure that I keep a calm tone when I speak. This is also very important to have a calming environment because they tend to mirror what they are seeing. Something that I have found that has helped a ton with listening is buying a microphone headset and speaker. I just got one off of Amazon. It saves my voice and my energy, and I can use a calm tone that students are more likely to listen to. Keep Directions Short and Direct Stick to one-step instructions. Be direct and clear with your instructions, as well. If you can also add a visual, that will greatly help students. As students get better with one-step instructions, begin to slowly introduce more steps. Echoing One of my favorite and most effective ways to give instructions is through echoing. I will say the instruction in a sing song voice. The students know to echo me when I use that voice. Not only does it help them better comprehend the instructions, they also are busy being engaged which cuts down on opportunities to get off task or misbehave. Read Aloud Books The best way to begin a discussion with students about an SEL topic is through a read aloud. We want them to understand why listening is important. It helps us to be a better friend, we learn more, we are more caring, we understand what to do next, etc. I really love the book, The Worst Day of My Life Ever! by Julia Cook. The character in the story is having a very bad day because he chose not to listen to others. Students get to follow along on how those choices affected his day. His mom gives him tips on how to be a better listener and how to follow instructions that students can also apply. (I have made a resource that contains all of the mini lessons for teaching students to be better listeners, along with quick activities for a week focused on this topic.) Two other good ones are Lacy Walker, Nonstop Talker and My Mouth is a Volcano. Songs and Videos I love to incorporate music to help students better remember a strategy. You will get a song I wrote in the unit call "I Am Listening", but I have also linked some classroom approved videos you can show before or during your mini lesson about listening. Be a Whole Body Listener I Am a Good Listener (begin at 1:00) Why is Listening Important? Listening Game The Dance Freeze Song The Listening Game: Cosmic Kids Listening Mini Lessons Incorporate mini lessons into your morning meeting devoted to listening. I like to focus on one topic or skill per week. These lessons are quick and to the point. I also like to create an anchor chart with my students so that they have a visual reminder to refer to. Students also make a mini anchor chart to add to their SEL notebooks. Listening and Following Directions Activities Practice the Strategy For each lesson, I review the anchor chart and sing the listening song to open the lesson and review what we have learned. I then read a portion of the read aloud, The Worst Day of My Life Ever! I do this similar to an interactive read aloud, including text dependent questions that also start discussions about listening. After the story, I teach a new strategy that we then practice. I will take you through each day of this unit. We already covered day one and the anchor chart, so let's move on to day two. On day two, we learn a new listening strategy and then students listen to the story Go Away Big Green Monster. I do not show them the illustrations; they have to draw the monster by listening to the description. This is a fun way to practice active listening! They love to share their monsters with one another. On day three, we learn another listening strategy and play Listen, Draw, Check. You can use this game in all content areas for review. The game is very similar to Battleship. They have to be really great listeners and follow the directions to match my game board, which we check at the end. On day four, I introduce the students to an SEL animal character. Each character is a different animal and has a poem. For this activity, students have to follow the oral coloring instructions and color their Listening Lion. They also get a copy of the poem to trace. Finally on day five, we read the whole story and then discuss what lesson the author was trying to teach the reader. I then assign a writing activity (differentiated sheets included) in which they have to apply what they have learned about listening and following directions. This is a great way to wrap up the unit and assess their understanding. Listening and following instructions are skills that apply to so many parts of the school day, so they are vital to a smoothly run classroom. When you are having to stop and address behaviors, it is draining. Let's set our students up for success by giving them the tools they need to thrive in the classroom. I would love to hear and share with others if you have any great listening strategies! Thank you so much for stopping by this week! Be sure to come back next week for our next SEL skill, MAKING GOOD CHOICES. The following two weeks will be all about KINDNESS and RESILIENCE. You can grab the Listening and Following Directions Activities below or by clicking on any of the photos!
Mastering language cues, tricky wording and following oral and written directions can be difficult for many learners. It requires vocabulary development, visual processing, auditory processing, sequencing and more. Come to my blog where you can download 3 free sample activities that exercise these needed skills. Cheers, Dr. Erica Warren You Might Also Like:Strengthen Listening Skills with Fun Activities ... Read More about Listening and Following Directions Activities Freebie
Listening and Following Directions – Back to School Edition An activity that challenges students to listen and pay attention to detail. Save over 20% when your purchase the Listening and Following Directions Growing Bundle Pack! This activity is designed to challenge students to follow oral and/or written directions and complete tasks in the correct locations on a map. During the activity the directions can be read to the students by the teacher or the students can read the directions to themselves. This allows the activity to function as either a listening or reading comprehension activity. This item consists of 2 separate stories and 2 maps to be used by students. An easy to use answer key is included with the lesson. This lesson has a total of 13 pages. Even though this listening and following directions activity has a back to school theme, it can easily be used throughout the school year. Interested in more following directions and reading comprehension activities? Check out: Listening and Following Directions Growing Bundle + Reading Comprehension Listening & Following Directions Christmas Edition +Reading Comprehension Listening and Following Directions Halloween Edition + Reading Comprehension Listening & Following Directions Valentine's Day Edition +Reading Comprehension Listening & Following Directions State Birds & Flowers +Reading Comprehension
Try out our Do 3 Things listening game.This quick play idea is great for working on listening skills and practicing following multi-step directions.
Are your students not listening or struggling to follow your directions? Do you need to teach them how important it is to follow directions and listen? Use these engaging May-themed, no-prep, follow-the-directions worksheets to promote fine motor, listening comprehension, and reading skills. Students must listen to or read the directions to complete the coloring pages correctly. Great for occupational or speech therapy activities, early finishers, or a fun activity with a purpose in the classroom. An excellent listening activity where students must listen to the directions to complete the picture. You can combine two directions and give them as multi-step if your students can handle the challenge. Great for classroom brain breaks when you add a gross motor movement after each direction, direction following, occupational or speech therapy sessions. Scenes include a variety of images including, Mother's Day, Transportation, and Memorial Day. Check out the full preview to see all that is included. What is Included in the Following Directions Packet? This digital download includes: Two styles of coloring pages one has directions on a separate page that can be read to the group by an adult or peer, the other has the directions on the page for students to read and complete. There are five styles of each design. Directions are one step, but you can easily add a step to the listening directions. Want to Extend or Change the Activity? Make it a gross motor brain break by adding an exercise after each direction. 'Circle the snowman then do 10 squats. or 'Draw 2 clouds in the sky then do 10 jumps. Consider changing my directions for more of a challenge. 'Color the tree blue. or 'Draw a hat on the bird. When Is a Good Time to Use the Directions Packets? These NO PREP worksheets can be printed for the classroom or be added to remote distance learning packets. Use these packets during: small group instruction whole classroom activity an Occupational Therapy session to work on listening skills and visual motor skills What Skills Are Students Working on With this Packet? Students are practicing the following skills: receptive language following step-by-step directions fine motor skills visual motor skills reading OT Tip: Break crayons in half and use short pencils to promote a fingertip grasp when students are coloring, drawing, or writing.
Do you explicitly teach listening skills to your students? Did you know that 70-80% of our waking hours are spent in some form of communication? Of that, listening makes up about 45% of our daily communication! When I learned these statistics, I knew that I needed to be as intentional about teaching/practicing listening skills as […]
Listening and Following Directions An Activity That Challenges Students To Pay Attention To Details This activity is designed to challenge students to listen closely to directions and complete tasks in the correct locations on a grid. Interested in more following directions and reading comprehension activities? Check out: Listening and Following Directions Growing Bundle + Reading Comprehension Listening & Following Directions Back To School Edition +Reading Comprehension Listening & Following Directions Valentine's Day Edition +Reading Comprehension Listening & Following Directions State Birds & Flowers +Reading Comprehension This activity is designed to challenge students to follow oral and/or written directions and complete tasks in the correct locations of a grid. During the activity the directions can be read to the students by the teacher or the students can read the directions to themselves. This allows the activity to function as either a listening or reading comprehension activity.
Tips for Primary Teachers.
Listen and Draw lessons with a winter theme. Listening activities that are ready to go! Students practice focusing, listening to important details and following oral directions. Easy to use, easy way to assess your students' listening comprehension skills and position words. Add this to your teacher toolbox when you are repeating directions or saying "pay attention" too many times. Read the feedback from my different Listen & Draw files. Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade teachers use these listening activities. Music teachers, ESL/ELL teachers, SLP, and parents use these lessons, too. Listening skills are so important! This packet includes 12 Listen & Draw activities with a winter theme. For each activity there is: -Teacher direction page -Blackline student page -Colorful page showing what the art portion of the listening activity could look like. Art work/answers may vary. Listen & Draw topics include: #1 - Boy shoveling snow #2 - Girl making snow angels #3 - Children having snowball fight #4 - Eskimo/Inuit boy with polar bear, walrus, igloo, and caribou #5 - Children skiining and dog on sled #6 - Children selling hot cocoa #7 - Children at Otter Lake ice skating #8 - Children having a snowman making contest #9 - Eskimo/Inuit boy by water with whale, iceberg, penguins, seal, caribou #10 - Polar bears having fun #11 - Bear in cave, deer, squirrel, fox, and raccoon #12 Skating lessons Click for more Listen & Draw lessons. Have you tried TUNE INTO DETAILS - Listening Center that is a listening and following directions lesson? Click below to check out: TUNE INTO DETAILS - Listening Center - FREE TUNE INTO DETAILS - Listening Center Looking for more Christmas or Winter activities? CLICK! Christmas and Winter activities
Back to School is right around the corner for us and I am SUPER excited to kick of this school year with some fun, hands-on and engaging resources for The
Want to help your kindergarteners and first graders to follow directions? This resource is a developmentally appropriate set of listening activities to help them: learn why following directions is important, learn how to follow directions, and practice following directions at school. It’s research-based social-emotional learning created specifically with primary students in mind. Use these activities […]
