Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Magic Music Box

Oh thank goodness for my friend Kristin (A Teeny Tiny Teacher) and her music box idea! 

Today was the 2nd day of school for me, but it was the first full day. My class seems really nice. I mean super nice, like the kind you might consider looping with if you didn't love first grade as much as I do. But...the chit chatting was out of control yesterday. Not mean to each other, not rude, just non-stop talking. Maybe they talk a lot when they are nervous and excited? Maybe they don't know me well enough yet to know that I am the queen of non-stop talking!  I seriously could barely get a word in (so not like me).

Then I remembered a post from a few weeks ago that my friend Kristin did about her music box!  Brilliant!  You can read her post here at A Teeny Tiny Teacher.  

This morning, I broke out the music box in my room.  I told my students that it was a magic music box.  I wound it all the way at the beginning of the day.  I explained to my students that I noticed they must have been really excited yesterday, because there was a lot of chit chatting.  We talked about how important it was to be a good listener and that we will have more time to learn and do fun things if we are good listeners.  I told them that if I had to remind the class to listen and they didn't, I would open the music box and some of our magic music would get wasted away.  They were super excited when I told them that goal was to be able to listen to as much of the magic music as possible together at the end of the day.  Folks, I was shocked!  I only had to open the box two times during the entire day and only for about 3 seconds each time.  It's magic!  

I wish I could have captured the looks on their faces when we opened the box at the end of the day to listen to "The Rose" (the song my music box plays) over and over again.  They were so happy and so proud!  I told them I was super, super proud of them.  They asked me to stop talking so they could hear the magic music.  Seriously, it was the cutest darn thing ever.  The looks on their faces were precious. Kristin - I love ya!  You are a genius my friend!   

This is my magic music box.  
I am going to put a tiny picture of our class in the frame on the front.  



I'm hoping for more magic as we continue our discussion about being good listeners tomorrow!  

Or maybe I'll get a fog day like my mom's school had today. WHAT?!?!  A fog day.  We had fog so thick this morning that I could barely see the road.  Apparently, Michigan doesn't believe in fog days.  My mom is a teacher in Ohio and I guess they believe in dangerous fog there.   Mom - hope you enjoyed your day off.  You deserve a break!  Love you!  And...love that you read my blog. :)

 

4 comments:

  1. Okay, I'm totally with you- my mom got a fog day yesterday and that is RIDICULOUS! But her school is way out in the county, and I guess they were worried about unsafe transportation in the fog. Still... not something we had on THIS side of Indiana!

    Glad the music box worked for you!

    Jenny

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  2. LOVE the music box idea. This was our 17th day of school and my little chatterboxes just don't seem to understand they do need to be quiet, esp. when I'm teaching! I'll be curious to see if it works as well the next day or if you're going to have to change tunes. :)

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  3. Aw man, if I would have had a magical music box this week, maybe I would still have a voice left! I get laryngitis EVERY year in September... no fun! I've heard about the music box idea before, but I've never tried it. Perhaps I should! We had a 2 hour delay for fog this week... it was great to be able to sleep in, but delays always make the day seem ten times longer! Hope you're having a great year so far!

    Kate
    EduKate and Inspire

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  4. This is such a GREAT idea!! Thanks for sharing :) I may have to try this out on Monday...I have a talkative bunch, too. Happy weekend!
    -Kaitlyn
    Wicked Fun in First Grade

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