Listening Center: Idea #20

In my classroom we had Center Time every day. During Center Time the students were in small groups and rotated to different areas in the classroom. They stayed at their center for about ten minutes doing an activity. Every center focused on a different learning style (visual, verbal, auditory, etc.). This gave the students an opportunity to learn their letter sounds in their own learning style.

One of my favorite centers was the Listening Center. At this particular center the students each had a set of headphones hooked up to a cd/tape player. They would listen to the cd/tape and do the activity that went along with it. The kids were totally engaged and on task. It was great practice and review.

The one we used in our classroom was from Lakeshore. While the students listened, they each had a dry erase marker to do the letter sound activity page. Usually the cd/tape would have them circling certain pictures and listening for certain sounds. When they got to the end, the student got to practice writing that letter sound. One of the reasons the kids loved this center was because they got to use the dry erase markers!

I found my students learned words that began with particular letter sounds at this center. Even if they already knew the letter sound, it was a great reinforcer. It is important to try different pathways of teaching to see which way is most helpful to your individual student.