The beginning of the year is a time best spent on teaching expectations and procedures to set the tone for the rest of the year. One of the expectations we work on is listening skills. Two books that I use to help are Listen Buddy by Helen Lester and Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen by Howard Binkow. Here are some activities you can pair with these two stories.
About the Books
Listen Buddy
by Helen Lester
A hilarious romp about a bunny who just can’t seem to listen. He is constantly confusing instructions. For example, when his parents ask for a slice of bread, he saws off a piece of his bed. But everything changes when he takes a wrong turn and meets up with Scruffy Varmint.
Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen
by Howard Binkow
Howard gets into a lot of trouble for not listening. When he becomes a better listener, his life improves dramatically.
If you don’t already have a copy of these books in your school or classroom library, you can find them on Amazon.
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Your students might also enjoy this animated read aloud of Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen from the We Do Listen Foundation.
Listening Book Activities
This book companion has a large focus on comprehension and vocabulary. This resource has 6 comprehension questions for each book to help guide the discussion as you read. Students can also respond to these questions in writing.
After reading each book, students can put the stories back together with these sequencing activities.
Once students have practiced sequencing the stories, they are ready to retell or summarize. There are several different graphic organizers to choose from. Students can also focus on story elements using this spinner activity.
There are a few vocabulary activities you can pair with Listen Buddy. For vocabulary, I selected 10 words or phrases for this story. Each vocabulary card has a matching definition. Students can play a memory matching game or use the cards in a pocket chart center. To continue working with these words, students can complete the fill-in-the-blanks page or vocabulary match-up activity.
I have also included two listening activities to pair with Howard. B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen. This includes tips for being a better listener and a cause and effect type page.
Listening Ears Bunny Craft
To extend the lesson, students can put together a bunny craft. Students can choose whether they want their bunny to be brown like Buddy, white like Howard, or another color altogether.
There are a few different ways to use this bunny craft. On the ears, students can write what it means to be a good listener, why it is important to be a good listener, etc. Students can either leave the ears standing tall, or fold an ear down to add a little personality to their bunny craft. Students can also complete a piece of writing on a piece of paper and attach the bunny as a page topper. Or, students can simply leave the bunny craft as is.
You can grab all of these activities and more in this Book Companion. It has been recently updated to include digital options for some of the student pages, too.
I hope you have found some activities and resources you can take back into your own classroom! If you enjoy this resource, be sure to check out these book activities.
Happy Reading!
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