By Idalou
One activity that I like to do before we begin our school day is perform a read aloud. My students enjoy listening to the stories I read to them . Since I teach first grade ,I do small group instruction especially during reading. I divide my students into centers like the writing, math, reading and the listening centers. When I first tried the listening center I thought that my students might not enjoy listening to books on tape, but I was so wrong. As I introduced them to this form of literacy they became very excited to go to the listening center. I could hear them reading along, laughing, smiling, and then talking about the story once they finished listening to it. One story that comes to mind that my students really enjoyed listening over and over again was “The Teeny Tiny Woman’ by Paul Galdone. The way that the person read this book was so exciting to them and they too even changed their voice like the reader in the book did. When they were done listening to a story I will usually ask my students, who can tell me what the book was about because I have never read it before? You will be surprised how many little hands would go up. There are a lot of books on audio that children enjoy listening to. Dr. Seuss has a collection on audio tape; my students really enjoyed the Green Eggs and Ham. Sometimes I have them pick the book they want to hear as reward. After exposing my students with this type of literacy I noticed a big improvement on their reading skills, vocabulary skills, comprehension skills and on their English language development. I would really recommend for those teachers who are teaching to try to implement this form of literacy in their classrooms. It is a very good form of literacy to have our students exposed to.
Reading in the Borderlands 
I have used audiobooks in 5th grade. My students absolutely love it! One in particular they cannot wait to hear is The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. The first three books are read by the actor Tim Curry. He does such an amazing job. The first audiobook was nominated for a Grammy! For the teachers who are reading this, try audiobooks. You will be amazed at the response you get from your students!
I have been wanting to implement audiobooks as one of my centers, but I have my doubts about it. I just do not know if my students would actually follow along or do their own and not visit other students in their center. I am sure this will take time for each student to do it on their own. I will get the audio center running this new year and see how it works with my kindergarten. Thank you for sharing this experience.
I will try this next year. I always thought audio books were for centers in lower grades. It’s never too late to implement something new.
I love this idea and I believe it works. Children hear the words and hear the fluency of those words put into sentences, paragraphs, pages, and chapters. It’s a great way to help struggling ESL readers. In my 6th grade class, I am ALWAYS reading the novels out loud, making sure my students are following along with their own copy of the book. I too have noticed changes in their reading. When I have them read a passage aloud in front of the class, it is VERY noticeable (some of them even pick up on my tone as a reader and emulate it). Thanks for sharing!
Like Anne, I have used audiobooks for my 5th grade students as well. My students really enjoyed it too. We have read Harry Potter and The Secret Garden. The students really enjoyed The Secret Garden because of the reader’s accent. It was something they had not heard before and it got them really interested in the story.
I have also used audiobooks but in 1st and 2nd grade. I didn’t realize older students would like them. Now I realize they do but the books for older kids are longer and they wont finish hearning them in one sitting. I always wonderd if it would keep their attention for several days. I do plan on using them this upcoming year.
I teach first grade so the first time I implemeted the audio books in a center it was pretty hectic. I had to teach my students how to rewind, stop, and press the play buttons. This choas will only be the first couple of weeks the students will eventually be able to insert the tape, rewind, play, and stop it. From then it should run smoothly.