iListen to Reading…..and a Spooktacular Sale!

Daily 5 has been in full swing for a while now in third grade and I am still lovin’ it as much as I did last year.  Last year one of my biggest challenges was Listen to Reading.  Let me tell you why….
See this…..

This was my old listening center.  No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you.  Yes, this is a cassette player.  Now, I know some of you are probably thinking that I shouldn’t be complaining because I am sure there are schools out there with nothing for listening center.  I agree.  I shouldn’t. But come on people…..it’s a cassette player.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to find books on tape these days?  Not to mention, that when 6 kiddos are all gathered around the cassette player with big ol’ headphones on, it is a recipe for disaster.  So….anyways.  Last year, I finally got tired of the cassette player and when I switched from centers to Daily 5 (best move ever), I decided enough was enough. 
I wrote up my project idea…”iListen to Reading.”  And submitted it to DonorsChoose.org.  One of the greatest things to happen for teachers since coffee! (okay….it’s a toss up between that and Pinterest!) It took a few months, but by January my little project was fully funded and they were shipping me 6 ipod shuffles for my classroom!
So…..here is what Listen to Reading now looks like in my room….


Ahhhh….students peacefully listening to reading.  Being comfortable, instead of crammed around a table, elbowing each other and messing with the tape recorder.  It is truly a beautiful thing.  They absolutely love that they get to listen to an ipod at school and they think they are so special because Mrs. Wood got them through a special project just for them!
I have my kiddos bring in earbuds as part of their school supplies and they keep them in a baggie labeled with their name.  Each ipod is labeled with a vinyl number and is kept in a numbered bag with the corresponding book.  I only put one book on them at a time, the rest stay in my itunes library.  It really is easy to manage and I have so many more story/book options now!
Alright….off to FINALLY carve pumpkins with my own kiddos.  In honor of the holiday everything in my little TpT store is on sale through Halloween….no tricks, just treats for you!

Happy Halloween!