I decided to pay a visit to the blog today because I wanted to share with you how simple it is to create your own listening center!
I originally got the idea to do this after Jen from Teaching in the Tongass reposted a picture of Casey's from Fair Winds Teaching Instagram. (Come to find out that it's a super small world: Casey is from Frederick, right here in Maryland!)
It's so easy! Here's all you have to do:
1. Go to www.vocaroo.com. It's a FREE online voice recording service, and you don't need any fancy equipment or a subscription to use it!
2. Choose the book that you'd like to record. I chose some of my favorite winter-themed books, but the possibilities are endless.
3. I wasn't sure at first how I was going to signal my students to turn the page. Then, I remembered the buzzers that my children just had to buy with the Amazon gift cards they received for Christmas last year. Thankfully, they let me borrow them without putting up too much of a fight.
Click on the picture above to grab your own (they're less than $17 for 4). Trust me, you'll find a million uses for them in your classroom!
4. Record yourself reading (the site uses your computer's microphone...easy, right?).
5. When you're happy with your recording, click on "Click here to save."
6. Click on the plus sign. There, you will find an option to create a QR code.
7. Right click on the QR code and save it to your desktop. I saved the QR codes under the same name as the title of the book that I recorded.
8. Just drag the QR code into a PowerPoint file, add the title of the book at the top, and laminate!
9. I added the laminated QR code and book to a freezer Ziploc bag, and voila! I have my very own listening center!
All my students have to do is grab a bag with the book and QR code, their iPad, and their headphones, and they're ready to read!
