Listen to Reading and Accountability

Listen to Reading is always a popular choice during reader's workshop, and it is a great way to have students tackle a text that is above their independent reading level and ultimately grow as a reader. My students have just been loving it! However, I want to make sure that my Listen to Reading station is more than just fun but also rigorous. Thus, I have been creating study guide packets to go along with all of my audio book choices so that students have fun AND are building their comprehension skills, expanding their vocabulary, and becoming critical thinkers while they listen to what they are reading.

Since Magic Tree House is a great fit for many of my second graders (and I have the first 10 books on audio cds), I started there with my study guides! At this point, I have created study guides for Mary Pope Osborne's book #1 and #8 in the Magic Tree House series. My plan is to now work to fill in all the stories in between and eventually make study guides for the first 10 books. Maybe more??

Click on the picture below to access the study guide for Magic Tree House #1, Dinosaurs Before Dark.

Here is the study guide for Magic Tree House #8, Midnight on the Moon.

Answer keys are included so that you can monitor your students without having to read each book from cover to cover.  I have also listed the CCSS for 1st-3rd grade that the study guides address.

I have a group of students working with these study guides right now, and I quickly realized I needed to come up with a way for them to keep all their materials organized since it is a chapter book they will be working with for a period of time. I took gallon sized zip-lock baggies and wrote each student's name in permanent marker on the bag. Then, inside the bag, students keep their chapter book with their book mark as well as their study guide packet. This way, each day, their supplies are easy to find and organized. Then, when they are finished, I take the baggies home with me, and they are all there organized and ready for me to grade. It's a system!