We all know that visuals are a great aide to comprehension. But there is another sensory that we can be targeting to add not only comprehension but also fun and humor to class stories. I’m talking about using SOUND EFFECTS.

YouTube is a great place to find a sound effect. Simply search for the noise/action + sound effect. For example  if you are doing a story where someone is eating search “chewing sound effect”. As you are telling the story, have different tabs open so you can just hit the play button on each video. If you have classroom jobs, you can also assign this job to a student to play the appropriate sound effect during the story.

Here are some ideas of certain sounds that you might use in a story:

You can also search for “transition sound effects” or

I am currently using Esperanza (novel from FluencyMatters) as a class novel, and have put this cheat sheet together of sounnd effects to use for each chapter.  

In related news, the BBC has released 16,000 sound effects that you can download! Make a playlist in iTunes and you are ready to go!

What sound would be your “go to” sound effect in your classroom? Share in the comments section. Also, if you use a novel and put together a google doc with links by chapter, share the link!