A Fun Lesson in Following Directions

"Do you hear what I hear?"

The purpose of this lesson was to teach children the importance of listening and following directions. I started the lesson with a listening activity that required the students to use their ears only, without seeing the final product. The results of each student's work sample gave them instant feedback about their listening skills.



Each student was given an index card and three stickers. Next, I instructed the students on what to do with each sticker. The following instructions were given:

1. Take the green sticker and put it in the top left corner.
2. Take the orange sticker and put it in the bottom right corner.
3. Take the pink sticker and put it in the center of the card.
4. Get your pencil out and put a smiley face in the pink sticker. The smiley face should have two eyes and a mouth.

This is what the final product should have looked like if the students used their good listening ears.

To incorporate technology in to the lesson plan, the class and I "Face Timed" the other counselor at our school with my iPad. I had given Mrs. Waggoner (our other school counselor) an index card and three stickers before my lesson with the students began so that she would be prepared for our Face Time call. One of the students in the class was selected to give her the same instructions I had given to the class previously. The student that was selected was successful in communicating the directions to Mrs. Waggoner because the final product that Mrs. Waggoner showed to the class over Face Time was exactly the same picture we were trying to get her to create. It was a lot of fun, and Mrs. Waggoner was able to say "Hello" to all the students in the class while sitting at her desk in her office. Technology is an awesome thing!

 



Next, I read a cute and somewhat humorous story about a little bunny who didn't listen very well, which could have resulted in a tragic ending had he not escaped the big grizzly bear. The name of the story I chose to implement with this lesson is, "Listen Buddy", by Helen  Lester.

 

 

After reading, "Listen Buddy", and discussing the book with the students, we played a listening game that I bought from The Sublime Speech Webpage.

I divided the class in to two groups. Each group took turns pulling a card out of the jar. The card had multiple directions for the students to follow. For example one of the cards said, "Say my name. Hop on one foot. Clap your hands." If the student completed the instructions in order and did not receive any help from his/her teammates, the team received a point. Who ever had the most points at the end of the game won. The kids had great time and enjoyed this listening activity!