During their Daily 5 rotations in the AT&T Classroom, the West Main second graders have been using Storyline Online for Listen-to-Reading. Storyline Online is a free reading website sponsored by the Actors Guild. The website offers numerous children’s stories that are read aloud by famous actors with accompanying text. Today the students were introduced to 2 new sites for Listen-to-Reading, including MagicKeys and Scholastic Listen & Read.
Providing students with opportunities for Listening to Reading can have a tremendous impact on the development of a child’s overall literacy. It is believed that up until around the eighth grade, a child's listening level (the level of text that he/she can understand when it is read aloud) is far above their reading level. When a child listens to a text that is above his/her reading level, they comprehend more difficult and interesting material and also broaden their vocabulary. Additionally, the students become familiar with the phrasing, expression, and flow of sentences in stories or texts as they are read aloud to them.