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. :)