A few years ago, clean up time was starting to bug me. It was getting harder to get the kids to finish cleaning their stuff to come sit down. I thought about using some clean up song on a kids’ music cd, but decided that would be too irritating to listen to a few times every day.
So I chose my favorite song by Count Basie, “On the Road to Mandalay.” It has been one of my favorite songs since that year in my twenties when I decided to have fun New Year’s resolutions, and vowed to learn more about jazz. It makes me feel happy, and it even compels me to dance a little bit, every time it’s on. I’m smiling, the kids are smiling, and we always try to “beat the music” so that we are all sitting quietly in the meeting area by the time the ending notes play. Clean up time is almost a joy these days.
You can listen to it here, if you’re curious.
I used to use this one with my (2nd grade) children in the UK. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgqC4sdf-Es Yes, it is annoying, but it worked pretty well.