Reading stories out loud to your students is one of the best ways to improve listening skills. Students can listen to a story and respond orally and pictorially to the story. "A Pocket for Corduroy" by Don Freeman is a good choice to read aloud. Read the story to the students. Ask them questions during the reading to assess listening skills (see Reference 2):
What do you think will happen next?
Why did the little girl look for Corduroy?
Who was Corduroy?
How did the little girl feel?
How would you feel?
Would you do the same thing? Why?
You can adapt this type of listening and comprehension questions to fit many books read aloud to your kindergarten class. The students' ability to reflect on the questions will help you understand the listening skill levels in your classroom.
Instruct the students to draw a scene from the book depicting their favorite part. You will be able to grasp their level of listening by the details they add to, or omit from, their drawings (see Reference 2).
Math provides opportunities for hands-on activities; however, listening skills are still important. When using blocks to make a pattern, students must listen for your instructions when the patterns change. Calendar time is a time that students employ their listening skills in math. As you ask about the day of the month, the students need to respond chorally. The students will count by hundreds, tens and ones to represent the number of days they have been in school, listening for the cues from their teacher or classmates as the year progresses (see Reference 4).
In the kindergarten classroom, music and dance are a routine part of the day. Play music to improve listening skills which require a certain action. The music prompts the students to twirl, march, jump, shake or "put your whole self in." Listening is an important part of the music time (see Reference 4).
Students in the kindergarten social studies class need to know relative locations: near/far, left/right, and behind/in front. To encourage the students' listening skills ask them to move their blocks behind them, in front of them, to the left of them or to the right of them. Play the game as a follow-the-leader game, with you calling out the first directions. You can hand over the lead as students understand the game (see Reference 5).