Listening Skills
First grade reading lesson plans for developing listening skills.
How to teach 1st grade reading using listening skills.
1) Follows directions
Have students participate in a creative movement exercise. Example: Select a piece of music to play. The teacher will call out movements for the students to follow as she demonstrates (e.g., step slowly to the right, move low to the floor backwards, move your left arm high, etc.). Gradually progress so that students will follow directions for several directions at once (e.g., take slow steps forward while moving the left arm in a large circle, etc.). The class may perform the movements to the same musical selection each day, adding a new movement each day, until the dance or movement sequence is memorized. The students will then perform the piece from memory.
Play the game Simon Says.
Have students participate in a critique or critical analysis of a selection of music. Example: After listening to a selection of music (e.g., a popular aria from an opera, a symphonic piece, Russian folk song, etc.), the teacher will ask selected questions about the music such as; “Are there several instruments or one?” “Do you hear percussion instruments?” “ String instruments?” “ Do you hear a main theme or melody?” “Is the theme repeated?” “How often?” “Can you describe the melody—is it fast? slow?”, etc. The students will compare their observations. They will then listen to another selection of music and compare the two.
Have students follow drawing instructions to create a design (e.g., draw a line across the middle of your paper, draw a line from top right of your paper to bottom left, etc.). This could be done to produce a mystery picture or message that will be discovered if the directions are followed correctly.
Play Follow the Command. One child closes his/her eyes and tells another child or the class what to do to make body shapes (e.g., put your right arm over your head, bend your left knee, lean forward). When the child opens eyes, he/she gets to see if the directions were followed correctly, and if they made the shape he envisioned.
2) Listens attentively with understanding to a story
Read a familiar story and ask the students guiding questions that relate to the story elements (e.g., characters, setting, plot, theme, mood, conflict, and solution). For example, who was the story about?
Read a familiar story. The students will express the mood, plot, or theme of the story through a created work of art such as a drawing/painting, skit, dance, or a simple song.
Read a selection of poetry. Discuss the various elements of the poem, the words, the impressions they had as they listened to the poem, what they liked about the poem or what they disliked about it, etc.
Provide opportunities to listen to a poem from beginning to end. The students will then recite the poem several times, repeating each line slowly. The students will memorize the poem and recite the poem together as a class from memory.
Provide opportunities to listen as the teacher plays a song that tells a story. After hearing the song, the students will write down what the song was about.
Provide opportunities to listen to a song and sing it several times. The students will learn the lyrics and melody of a song. The class will sing it together from memory.
Have students identify the characters in a story and create a rhythmical or musical sound to associate with each character. As the story is read, the students will play the correct accompaniment for each character each time they appear in the story.
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