Thank you firefighters

I started today's lesson with my flute. I told my students that I'm going to play something on the flute, and they'll know what I want them to sing. I started playing the scale, so they stood up and followed me by singing the solfege with the movements~ It was really efficient in getting their attention!

After warming up, I played "Days of the Week" on the flute and the kids sang along, holding up the signs that I handed out to them. Then we also did "Oh Mr.Sun" and "You Are My Sunshine." After singing "Hurry Hurry Drive the Firetruck" a couple of times with the flute, I recorded them~ When I showed them the video right after, they were soooo excited and kept asking me to show it again! I think I'll do more recordings with them from now on~

I asked them about their visits to the fire station, and asked them what firefighters do for us. We had a discussion on how they save us and help us put out fire, and how brave they are. So I told them that I want to make a thank you card for them to say thank you to the firefighters. I printed out a template for them to colour, and I wrote "Dear firefighters" on the board so they can write the words in their cards. They were working nicely today, so I complimented them on how I really appreciate that.

A musician and author wrote that his wife said band teachers are crazy, because they have 80 kids in a room, each of them armed with a noisemaker. But it really is a matter of keeping the kids interested, and inspiring them to be motivated to learn. My little music class is nothing compared to a band room, but the same goes for teachers like me. No matter how noisy and crazy they can be, there is a way to turn those screaming and yelling into beautiful music and inspirations. =)

The front of Babak's card:


The inside of Kayla's card:


Tony has been making noises and not really focusing in class, so today when he was working nicely, I captured the moment by writing a little note to him. I went to him and said, "Tony, this is a note for you, do you need help on reading what it says?" He said yes, so I read it to him: "Tony, thank you for working quietly today. From Anita." I saw his face lit up immediately, and that smile shows me how much this means to him. He kept on working nicely for the rest of the class~ ^-^

[ pictures will be posted later~ ]