Classy in Kinder now Fancy in First: Listening Center

So when I received MP3 players from a grant that I had written, I thought my listening center problems would all be solved- no more scratched CD's and books separated from their CD or students arguing over what song or book to listen to and having to share a book. Well, I was just a bit in fairy tale land.

Now, don't let me mislead you......having MP3 players is BY FAR the better choice for my listening center. I can load as many songs or books that I want on them and can easily change them out weekly or bi-weekly or whatever. I LOVE this aspect!!!! But when I got these players I thought it would be just wonderful if every student had their own pair of ear buds to use for the players when it was their turn. I collected over 20 ear buds and was ready to rock this new system for our listening center!!! Music and books were loaded on 6 different players, ear buds for each student and things were all in place. The first few students did great and then a few more and then I started getting THIS at the beginning of each center rotation............

"Mrs. Aguilar, I need help." "Mrs. Aguilar I can't get this undone." It went on and on each rotation. AAAHHH!!!! One tangled mess after another. Now this may not be an issue if I had some way to hang them for each student but they just keep them in a pencil box in their cubby. And even if this problem was solved, the size of the standard cheap ear bud is really not intended for a 5 or 6 year old. I will say that I do have some headphones that are perfect and I LOVE THEM!! I received them in the same grant and are designed for youth and have been great!!! They are the made by KaZoo and are cute animal character designs. I have the frog ones.

When comparing my old headphones and these new ones, it's no wonder why their ears always hurt with the old ones! The old ones were made for adults and their little ears don't even hit the soft padding part of the earphones; however, they do with the KaZoo earphones!