Listening Center Response Cards

Listening to books on CD or tape is always a favorite center for kids regardless of their grade level. I never worry about kids staying on task when they are listening to books but I do wish that they had an outlet to discuss the books that they listen to either with me or with their peers who have also listened to the book. I have tried some generic response sheets in the past that require students to write the story elements and rate the book, but that it just more papers to sort through at the end of the day. I think that student discussions are more meaningful and authentic and I wanted to provide time for my students to do this, with a bit of guidance from me.

I created a set of task cards that I require my students to use to guide a short discussion with whoever listened to the book with them (I have two sets of headphones at my listen to reading center). Just print them out in color, put a backing of construction paper or scrapbook paper for durability and send them through the laminator. Next, cut them out and three hold punch each card in the top left corner. String them all together with a binder ring and place them at your listening center.



I modeled how to use the cards after a few read alouds I did with my students during instruction and them set them loose! It took a while for the kids to understand that they both needed to respond to the questions and say more than a one word answer, but as the year progressed I could hear my students discussions developing into great conversations. Some groups still meticulously go through each card, while others get stuck on one that both students have a lot to say about and only have time to get through a few. Either way, they were a great and simple addition to our listen to reading station.

I do think that this set of task cards are more suited for fiction so I'll need to make a set for activating schema prior to reading, etc. for the nonfiction books that I place at my listen to reading station.