Flower Listening Comprehension Activity

I am always struggling to motivate my older students to work on their listening comprehension when it comes to longer stories.  Probably, like most SLPs, I hate giving them paper and pencil activities.  I enjoy working on these skills in a different way then in the classroom.  So...TA DA!!  I created one!

First, I would like to say, I was inspired by an idea I found on Pinterest (of course!).  Over at "First Grade W.O.W." blog, I found a story retelling rope.  I printed, laminated, and attached to yarn the printables provided on the website.  I also printed and laminated the poem and attached it to the "rope" with a binder clip for easy hanging.  Check it out here!

My creative juices were flowing, sat down at the computer, and I wrote a little short story to use with this activity.  I called it "The Magical Seeds."  I printed out this story and glued it onto a construction paper.  I laminated this paper. 

I instructed students to listen for the items on the "story retelling rope" to help recall important facts from the story.  I created questions based on the "rope".  I made a flower and cut it up into pieces.  I printed out the questions, cut them out, and glued each one onto a part of the flower (need 8 pieces for my questions).  I laminated the flower pieces and then used Velcro to attach them to the construction paper that was used for the story, just the other side.  This way, I can read one side and then the students can use the flower pieces on the other.

My students got a chance to pick a piece of the flower and answer the question by recalling the story heard.  Once they were able to respond accurately, they were able to place the piece on Velcro to help create a flower.

My students had a great time working on this goal and creating a flower.  They also loved using the "retell rope" and I am SO thankful I found it!  Grab your copy of "The Magical Seeds" here! :)

If you download, please comment!  Would love to hear what you think!