On lots of cold days, I wake up, having set out a cute outfit for school, decide I am too darn cold, tired and miserable to actually put it on (I am NOT a morning person) and slink into something comfy and loose (like today where I am wearing a bit baggy Breton-striped top, unironed, and trousers) or running too late to contend with multiple layers and garments and zips that require a grumpy, also-late husband to assist with.
But sometimes, you can hide those comfy baggy clothes under something cute!
I didn't need any accessories except for the bee and daisy collar clips which my lovely penpal Katie bought me for Christmas a few years ago.
I got the absolute sweetest message from one of the parents the other day about how excited her son was to practice his recorder and how she's grateful for my hard work. Considering we'd only had 3 lessons on the recorder thus far, I thought this was really nice but surprising. Then, when releasing the year 3 children to their parents, another parent came up to me and said, "Thank you so much for all you are doing. A is really loving your lessons and you are giving him the confidence he lacks." Again, it's only 3 lessons so far and I've been uploading revision and practice activities to the Class Dojo area so the parents can access what their children are learning but the engagement on my Blog has gone up 10-fold (page views on those posts are around 80) so it's nice they are using it after my frustration that they weren't during lockdown. I know some of you were affronted on my behalf so I thought I'd tell you.
Today had some good moments. A little year 1 boy who was being a menace and refusing to sing the past 2 weeks in music, sang really loudly all lesson today and participated really well. That class is still challenging but I had the support of 2 really good TAs and it really helped us contain them! I'm glad I only have them for one lesson a week though!
One of my year 2 classes is really good now- even some of the children who have found music hard- have been concentrating SUPER hard for the entire hour and fifteen minutes of their lesson and learning and understanding what we did. There's a little boy who I call Dragon Boy (his name is basically a combination of the patron saint of England and his famous adversary which I find hilarious!) and he's always really struggled in music. Not for the last few weeks- TOTALLY focused! I feel euphoric every time I teach that class recently. It helps that the Alpha females in that class (yep, the class is ruled by two girls) absolutely adore music but the enthusiasm seems to carry through all of them.
Anyway, I hope all is well with you! Love to you and those you love!
xx