Listen & Draw: Back To School

Back to School  is the seventh in the year round popular Listen & Draw series. This auditory imagery activity targets following directions while growing vocabulary, memory and sequencing skills.

Children listen to detailed descriptions then draw school-related scenes for four different students. The listening directions reflect the current 2020 Covid-19 school options and alternatives.

1. Charlotte is a second-grader at Pleasant Elementary School.

2. Carter is in fourth grade and goes to school two days a week and three days has e-learning.

3. Savannah attends a virtual academy and is in first grade.

4. Hudson is a third grader and is homeschooled. 

The descriptions are read line by line.  Details can be easily simplified or information added to increase the complexity to match the child’s listening and language goals.

Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) tips are included for parents and professionals alike to encourage auditory learning.

Additional Back To School Listening and Spoken Language Resources

Listen & Draw Resources By The Season

Pumpkins - Fall

Snowman - Winter

Holiday Trees - Winter

Valentine - Winter

Let’s Go Fly a Kite - Spring

At The Pool - Summer

Crack The Code - Back To School - Following Directions

Cracking codes is fun. This activity targets listening, following directions, vocabulary, auditory processing, and memory skills. It’s aimed at kids from about first grade and up.

There are 20 Back To School themed listening codes to crack. Each code has two steps.

First - The child listens and solves a school-related vocabulary clue.

Second  - Then, using that answer they follow directions and fill in the blanks.

Example:  If your dog eats this you will be in big trouble with your teacher. 

Homework

Write the first letter of what the dog ate in Boxes 13 & 30

Decoded - There is so much that you can learn when you listen.

Crack The Code is can be

• printed for face-to-face sessions or for playing at home.

• used on a computer, iPad, or teletherapy platforms using PDF reader apps such as the free Adobe Reader DC. In teletherapy, open the PDF, then screen share that window into the teletherapy platform.

Additional Back To School Listening and Spoken Language Resources

Ready to Go! Auditory Skills - Back To School

READY TO GO Auditory Skills are school-themed materials at your fingertips  This Ready to Go resource is useful for distance learning, in a therapy setting, small group, classroom, or at home. Space is included for collecting data. . It can be used alongside a reinforcing game or as terrific warm-up exercises.

Examples of the following skillsets which are targeted:

Set 1: Auditory Discrimination (e.g.) Same/Different Teacher - Creature 

Set 2: Categorization (e.g.) Listen then name 3-6 items that can be found on the playground...

Set 3: Auditory Memory (e.g.) Listen and repeat the words in the same order: School, school supplies, school lunch, school bell, school bus.

Set 4: Auditory Directions (e.g.) Count backward from 10 before naming 2 words that rhyme with school.

Check out Ready To Go - Auditory Skills resources for other seasons and holidays.

Additional Back To School Listening and Spoken Language Resources

Classic Listening and Language Game - " I'm Going _____________."

All summer we have been playing, the classic, “ I'm Going _________. “ virtually. Kids are crazy about this game board 🌁 which is a memory tool. This activity targets auditory memory, processing, sequencing, vocabulary, listening, and conversational skills.

To play pick a place like a picnic, to the beach or grandpa's house. The first person starts the game by saying,” I'm going on a picnic and I'm taking…” That person starts with the letter “A”. The second person repeats the first part of the sentence, repeats what the first person is bringing, and then adds something starting with the letter “B”.  Kids always get a kick out of when their parent or I make a mistake. (Wink, wink!😉

It's in the Grinning From Ear to Ear collection of kid-approved games that require very little prep and no planning. The kids love this game board and always eager to try their best. They get a kick out of it when their parent or I make a mistake.

I’m All Ears! SAY WHAT? Fun With Idioms

The I’m All Ears resource makes teaching idioms a piece of cake. Teaching idioms may seem intimidating at first. It doesn’t have to be complicated or difficult. There is step by step teaching suggestions for starting simple and how to spend time explaining the figurative language of idioms.

I’m All Ears is a well-loved, humorous listening and language bookmaking activity. Children listen to a given idiom then draw a picture of what they literally heard. Say What? An idiom is a saying that has a meaning that is different from its literal words. To a child, the "laugh out loud" drawings in their book are a source of humor, fun but are brain-building opportunities. The DIY books help children understand and use idioms spontaneously. This activity builds vocabulary, expands high-level language skills of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. Understanding and using all types of figurative language plays an essential role in spoken and written language, pragmatics, and communication competence.

Children with typical hearing, learn idioms through incidental exposure without having to be taught. Whereas, children who are deaf and hard of hearing often require explicit and direct instruction especially with higher-level language like idioms. Idioms are challenging for children that process information literally and have a concrete or limited vocabulary.

This resource has easy to follow step by step suggestions for incorporating idioms into therapy or academic lessons. Included are the following -

TWENTY idiom activity sheets are included to begin the I’m All Ears DIY books.

NO PREP - Print a set for each child, open on an iPad drawing app or share the PDF in teletherapy.

Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) Tips

1. Ensure optimal access to sound with the child's hearing devices which is essential for overhearing. Research indicates that ninety percent of learning takes place incidentally.

2. Idioms are abstract. Teach with real experiences for new vocabulary to stick. 

3. Provide lots of exposure to the targeted idiom in multiple contexts.

4. Say the idiom (In one ear and out the other.) then WAIT. Give the child time to process what they heard. 

5. Use the child’s Auditory Feedback Loop by asking what they heard before repeating the idiom.

6. Teach the idioms in complete sentences. This allows for learning how the idiom relates to other grammatical structures as part of an auditory mental map.

7. Read aloud daily. Books introduce unusual vocabulary like idioms that may not come up every day but are important for the child to have in their repertoire.

8. Laugh at the humor!