Listening and a freebie

Source: sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net via Nailah on Pinterest

Sad yellow light. :(
I understand... I feel like this too... Sometimes! I am trying to fix this...at least at school!

Let me start off by saying:
1. I have amazingly behaved children this year.
2. I have a partial EL class.

Now, when it comes to rules- my kids are excellent listeners. They always do what I ask of them, they are generally kind to each other, and they aren't one of those classes that won't hush. (We have our days, but not as many as I have had in the past!)

As wonderful as they are, they do not listen to instructions during assignments. When we do a craftivity that is suppose to take 20-30 min. it always becomes at least 45 min. and at least 2 kids have completely ignored at least one direction. (As adorable as some of these crafts turn out, the whole point of completing them is listening!)

I will admit that my kids are getting better, but, at this stage in the game, I feel like they should really really be listening to me! I started actually taking a listening grade this semester. Maybe I need some parental back-up on this?

Each week we do at least one listening activity...and it is specifically for listening... nothing else...

The crazy part is the kids are excited about them. They ask me about them and when we are going to do them and what kind of listening it will be. It is a little bit strange. They aren't especially fun activities- me reading directions, them completing them on their paper (like color this, or put a square around that). I suppose the appeal lies in the fact that there isn't much critical thinking happening during this time. The kids that aren't doing too well during this time really just don't listen to me. The good thing about it is at parent/teacher conferences now I have data to back up my claims of not listening.

Anyway, I am looking for more activities I can do with listening to keep them more engaged or encourage following directions (maybe even get them to READ the directions!) I have been looking on TPT but seem to be finding lots of listening center recording sheets....

Thanks for listening :)  You made it to the end of my rant... wanna a freebie? I just posted this freebie on TPT for Groundhog's Day. A little graphing goodie...

Click the picture to download!

Enjoy!

In other news, I am halfway through with my Trig class!!! Yay!!!! I just have to take Calculus and then I will have my Masters! Woo hoo!

Have a great rest of the weekend!!