Last Updated on August 20, 2025
Listenwise elementary podcasts work in variety of classroom settings. Lessons can be taught synchronously, by playing an audio story for the class and projecting the interactive transcript on a screen, or asynchronously. Questions and listening organizers can be printed, or students can submit their work online. Quizzes can be assigned by the teacher or selected by students.
The flexibility built into Listenwise means you have lots of choices. Here are just a few suggestions for incorporating Listenwise elementary podcasts into your classroom.
What is in an Elementary Podcast Lesson?
Elementary lessons
Our standards-aligned elementary lessons are 3-5 minute long podcasts on engaging topics in ELA, social studies, and science. Like secondary lessons, each elementary lesson includes instructional activities before, during, and after listening, along with listening organizers, comprehension and discussion questions, and related external materials.
Each elementary lesson also includes an additional brief synopsis written specifically for elementary students and an auto-scored multiple-choice quiz assessing four key listening comprehension skills: recognizing literal meaning, understanding vocabulary in context, making inferences, and identifying the main idea. Lessons address popular topics such as hibernation and the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Weird News
Our Weird News stories are 30-second podcasts that are funny, unexpected, and engaging for kids. Each story synopsis features highlighted vocabulary words that are incorporated into comprehension and discussion questions.
For example, stories such as Space Cookies and Beekeeper Police Unit offer intrigue, humor, and great opportunities to learn academic vocabulary in context. These short audio stories are especially well suited for quick vocabulary-building activities with a fun spin.
Current events
Our current events feature news stories grabbed from the headlines that are interesting and instructive for students. Elementary-level current events include listening comprehension and discussion questions as well as an auto-scored multiple-choice quiz. These stories work well for a brief weekly current events lesson, a learning station activity, or listening comprehension skills practice and assessment. Timely stories about a famous African elephant and a teen who discovered a planet, for example, are selected for high engagement value.
Elementary Collections
Listenwise is always growing our list of elementary collections! Our collections make it easy to discover content with collections clearly organized by theme and topic, saving you valuable planning time. Plus, we’ve added stories published since the original launch and refreshed older gems that deserve the spotlight.
Elementary Podcast Sources
To learn more about where we source our elementary podcasts, see Elementary Podcast Lesson Sources on Listenwise.
Ways to Use Elementary Podcasts
The flexibility built into Listenwise means you have lots of choices. Here are just a few suggestions for incorporating Listenwise elementary podcasts into your classroom.
- Starting Class (instructional time – 10 mins): When students first gather together, whether in school or online, play a Weird News story such as Rare Green Puppy Born (vocabulary: labor, rare, womb, discoloration), The World’s Most Expensive Fries (vocabulary: expensive, creme de la creme, vat), or Man Travels to His 100th Birthday Party by Parachute (vocabulary: parachuting, tandem, serenaded). The short, off-beat stories will grab and hold their attention. Review the vocabulary words and replay the story. Then ask students to respond orally or in writing to the listening comprehension and discussion questions.
- Friday Feature (instructional time – 30 mins): Set aside a regular weekly session when students can listen to and discuss a podcast together. You might select a high interest current events story such as Endangered Parasites, Teenager Cycles Across India to Take Her Father Home, or Connecting Through Art at the Border (ELA & ELD). Project the interactive transcript on a screen (in school) on on your computer (remotely) for students to follow along. After listening, check for understanding by asking students to submit written responses to the comprehension questions and/or take the auto-corrected quiz. Ask students to consider the discussion questions in pairs, small groups, or as a class.
- Occasional Enrichment (instructional time – 30-45 mins): Browse the Listenwise podcasts for elementary students and find standards-aligned lessons that match your curriculum. The History of Chocolate (ancient civilizations, ELA & ELD), Forests Are Big Ecosystems (ecology, ELA & ELD), or Arctic Foxes Use Good Camouflage (vocabulary, ELA & ELD) are some high-interest options. Use the teacher’s guide to structure before, during, and after listening activities, and ask students to take the auto-corrected quiz. Beside improving listening skills, pairing Listenwise lessons with your curriculum can help reinforce key concepts, build vocabulary, and allow students to draw connections between the curriculum and the broader world.
- Independent Choice: Allowing students to select stories that interest them can boost engagement, especially in remote and hybrid learning. Offer students a list of 10 or so stories from which they can choose. Or, let students select any story from the elementary collection that includes a quiz. After students listen and complete the quiz, you can view their results on your dashboard and monitor their progress over time on four key listening skills. Some high interest stories they might like: How Michael Jordan Became the Best at Basketball, Eating Bugs is Good for the Planet, and The Science of Snot.
