Record a Story
Read a picture book aloud well enough that a younger child would listen to it twice.
1 week📚 Reading✏️ Writing🧭 Life Skills
What you need
- a picture book
- a phone that records audio
Nothing to buy and nothing to print — if you do not have one of these, swap it for whatever you do have.
The steps
Day 1
Read it silently
Read the whole book once without reading aloud. Work out what happens.
Day 2
Mark it up
Mark where to slow down, where a character speaks, and where to pause.
📷 Take a photo
Day 3
First take
Record it. Do not stop for mistakes.
Day 4
Listen back
Listen to your own recording and write down three things to fix.
📋 Make a list
Say this: “Everyone hates their own recording. Listen anyway — that is the whole exercise.”
Day 5
Final take
Record it again with the three fixes. Write what improved.
✍️ Write a few sentences
How to score it
You score this, not us. Pick the description that actually matches what they did.
Accuracy
- 1. Many misread words
- 2. Some misread
- 3. Read accurately
- 4. Read accurately at a natural pace
Expression
- 1. Flat
- 2. Some expression
- 3. Characters sound different
- 4. Expression matches the meaning throughout
Self-review
- 1. Did not listen back
- 2. Listened
- 3. Named three fixes
- 4. Named three fixes and you can hear them in take two
With more than one child
The recording becomes the younger sibling's bedtime story.
What goes in the portfolio
A recording of the story, and a paragraph on what changed between the first take and the last.