Audiobooks, called Playaways, are available to students in 4th and 5th grade, and soon 3rd grade also. The students learn about the devices then take an oath to care for them and will ask us to reach out to home if they want extra support. Here is what we send home:

Dear At-Home Adults and Classroom Teachers:

Your learner has checked out a Playaway device at school. This is a self-contained audiobook. It costs about 3x a regular book price ($40-70 each.)

If they requested it, we provided headphones. We encourage their ability to use it at, and outside of, school.

Details:

1 audiobook or collection is pre-loaded onto each device.
No internet or Wi-Fi is needed to enjoy it
Headphone jack can work on car 3mm ports.
One AAA battery is supplied per checkout. We can replace them if it dies during a checkout period.
Grades 3-5 may check out audiobooks when the class seems ready. Loan term is same as regular book, 2 weeks.
Students can have 1 audiobook at a time, unless it is an accommodation or learning tool for differentiation
Students take a verbal “oath of responsibility” promising to
- Wear the lanyard when using and moving
- Remember where they are putting it down.
- Share with an adult when they have one checked out.
- Demonstrating knowledge of the higher expense of a Playaway.
- That they get 1 pair of ear buds a year
- That if one is lost or broken, the devices may not leave school for that reader.

But…Ms. Wiz, Does it Really Count as Reading?

Ms. Wiz strongly advocates that audiobooks are the same as reading, and that students should be able to choose which books they use and when, and not be required to possess a text copy as well, unless they want it.

Why? Because 1) very few readers are capable of actually reading along in real-time synched with an audio read-aloud, due to speed and fluency issues, and 2) audiobooks are helpful towards literacy in their own right.

Audiobooks alone carry the following benefits that help develop and grow literacy as well as lifelong interest in books and reading overall.

Vocabulary acquisition
Familiar word pronunciation
Fluency and expressiveness
Ability to access greater text complexity and richer stories that they may not be ready for yet in text-based literature
Multimodal learning for neurodivergent minds (some students actually comprehend BETTER when they can move their bodies while listening. I had one student who liked to read a graphic novel while listening to a different audiobook.)
Grows confidence as it increases time spent reading for fun
Improved auditory comprehension skills

For more, check out the U.S. Department of Education’s 2020 report on Audiobooks and Literacy, a National Literacy Trust publication. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED607775.pdf

Orchard School