Teaching students to follow single-step and multi-step directions can feel like a daunting task! But teaching listening skills is so important in the elementary classroom. Did you know that 70-80% of our waking hours are spent in some form of communication? Of that, listening makes up about 45% of our daily communication!

When I learned these statistics, I knew that I needed to be as intentional about practicing listening skills as I was about teaching reading, writing and math. I was never provided any kind of listening skills curriculum, so I created a fun and interactive way for my students to practice listening skills with Listen & Color.

Listen & Color

Listen & Color will help build students’ listening comprehension skills by following single-step and multi-step directions. This activity is laid out to be done once a week and students love to see their growth each week.

The best part of Listen & Color is that students ASK FOR MORE as they really enjoy this interactive activity.

Here’s how Listen and Color works…

1. Each student gets a blank Listen and Color page and has a set of crayons or colored pencils.
2. The teacher reads aloud a direction from either the Single-Step or Multi-Step direction column.
3. Students listen and then color in their page according to the direction given. This continues until all ten directions have been given.
4. After students finish, the teacher displays the Color Answer Key and students can self-check their listening success. Or, if teachers want to use this as an assessment, they can collect it, grade it out of 10 and record the students’ listening score for the week on a data tracking sheet (this data can be very helpful at parent conference time, too!).

Listen & Color Fall Freebie…

Listen and Color really challenges students to listen the first time! When I introduce Listen and Color in September, I read each direction twice. However, by October/November, I only read the direction ONCE! This really motivates students to have those “first-time listening ears” ready.

This activity can be differentiated within your own classroom, too. If you use Listen and Color in a small group, you can mix and match single and multi-step directions, depending on your students’ needs.

I would love for you to try out Listen and Color in your own classroom! I have put together a Fall Freebie that you can try with your students this week. HERE IS THE FALL FREEBIE!

Listen & Color ALL YEAR LONG…

If you are ready to jump in and be intentional about weekly listening skills practice, you can grab the the entire LISTEN & COLOR BUNDLE HERE.

Cheers to more listening ears!