Notes from the Field
FOSS Books Available as Audio Files

By Deborah R. Hale, Director, MASK Center, ESD 113, Olympia, Washington

Imagine being a primary teacher surrounded by emergent readers. You want to provide your students with opportunities to practice reading in the content areas. You have the books supplied with the FOSS kits, but the vocabulary is a little bit challenging for some of your readers. What do you do?

Thanks to the staff of the Math and Science Kit (MASK) Center at Educational Service District 113 in Olympia, Washington, you can have your students listen to audio files of the books as they follow along in the student books. The books are expertly read by Zachary Blanton, a second grader at Hanson Elementary School in Olympia. Zachary’s pleasing
voice is sure to appeal to readers in the primary grades.

The audio files were the brainchild of Deborah R. Hale, director of the MASK Center.
“I had been learning about pod-casting and thought about the FOSS books,” said Hale. “I know that reading along with a fluent reader is a way to increase fluency and comprehension in young readers. I knew that Zachary was perfect for the job, because he is an excellent reader and has such a charming voice.” Cindy Jouper and Lynne Forbush assisted Hale in producing the audio files.

The files are now available on the FOSS website at http://lhsfoss.org/fossweb/teachers/audio/index.html

Zachary is currently a third grader and is excited to share his love of reading and science with other students who are using the FOSS materials.