Can you hear me now?

If you use Daily 5 in your classroom, I'm sure you've loved seeing children successfully complete, "Read to Self."  However, even with everyday practice, students sometimes can't "hear" themselves read.  I've tried tape recording students and have them play it back to listen for fluency and expression, but it still wasn't helping as much as I'd hoped, not to mention how time consuming it was!  I needed to go to plan B...

I've heard of Whisper Phones a few years ago, and had a few on hand for my lower level readers, but I never thought about having a class set of these puppies.  No way these pieces of plastic could help increase a child's fluency!  Boy, was I WRONG!

I was quite shocked at how much three pieces of plastic could help increase a child's reading ability!  Whisper phones are not "new" to the elementary world but perhaps you've never had experience with them or realized how vital they could be to your classroom.  I recently found a set of 6 on EBay for a whopping $24.95.  I don't know about you but I'm pretty sure everyone has more than 6 children in their classroom {if not, I totally envy you}...  

via Ebay set of 6 for $25

I've heard of teachers making these fantastic devices and I knew these could be easily made with a few supplies from Lowes, so off B and I went.  The cost of this project was less than $20 for 25 phones and took less than an hour to make!

10 ft. PVC pipe 1/2"--this was a great size and cheaper than the 3/4"


I also bought 1/2" elbow pieces in a bag of 10 {which would make 5 phones--forgot to snap a photo but they are a little cheaper if you can find them already in the bag}.  Be sure to match the elbow size to the size of your PVC pipe.

Mark PVC pipe 4 3/4" for a total of 25 {and some extra} cylinders

Cut on marked lines using a chop saw--look out for flying plastic pieces!
  **I put safety goggles on following this picture...honest!

Place the cut PVC pieces and elbows in the dishwasher with the heat turned off {I didn't want these little babies to melt} to get rid of all the dust, germs, and dirt from the chop saw

Let Dry :)

Assemble an elbow to each end of the PVC pipe

Grab some cute duck or pattern tape of your choice to add just a little more PIZAZZ to your phones :)

TA-DAAAAAA!!!! B helped me wrap the phones and yes, he tested every.single.one...it was quite entertaining.

Each student has one of these babies in their book box ready for Read to Self time!

Of course, any good teacher has extras on hand!

I also allow my kiddos to use these during our weekly reading and math tests.  They are inconspicuous enough that they won't be embarrassed if they need to use it!  What more could you ask for?!

These will make such a difference with the way our little ones read!  I highly suggest incorporating these into your classroom.  Who knew three pieces of plastic could make such a difference?! Not to mention they are super fun to use! :)