Yesterday I posted an Instagram story about how I recorded myself reading one of our social studies readers to turn it into an option for my “Listen to Reading” Daily 5 listening center. I wanted to give my students more options during that station time, and I am always trying to integrate social studies and science into our literacy block!
I received so many questions about how I did it, so here’s a detailed post to show you just how EASY it is!
Though I plan to make these for all of my social studies and science readers, but the options are truly endless. You can do this with any books or book sets that you have on hand in your classroom.
I used the Voice Memos app on my iPhone to record the book. It was very easy to trim and alter if needed, and the quality is good! Best of all, it’s an app that’s already on your iPhone so it’s totally free!
I recorded the entire book, then I recorded individual chapters, just to give my students options.
After recording, I used the share button to upload my recordings to Google Drive.
I love Google Drive and use it for just about everything!
In order to get the QR codes for my students to scan for the listening center, I just used the shareable link from the Google Drive file and copied it into GOQR.me.
I use GOQR.ME, but there are plenty of free QR code generators that you can use instead.
That’s it! Just download or copy the QR code and place it on a listening center poster, in the actual book, or wherever you wish.
For now, I’m going to keep the QR codes posted to my wall and change them out as the units change. However, you could glue a corresponding QR code right in the front cover of the book!
What do you think? Which book are you going to record first!?
Find more “Teach With Tech” tips here.
Hey 2nd grade teachers in Georgia! You can grab this QR code poster for free by clicking here. Just don’t make fun of my reading – ha!
I plan to add the rest of the SS readers as we go through the year.
I’m also going to try letting some of my high (and very fluent) readers try recording some books. I’ll let you know how it goes!
