Twinkle, My Little Star

My little buddy brought in his guitar today, and was VERY excited to play for his first grade classmates. He plucked out "Twinkle, Twinkle" to the hushed awe of his peers. I couldn't believe they sat so quietly - they even joined in singing the last refrain. Sweet peas, they were so supportive. He was one proud little boy (and I was one proud teacher)! Then, the kids asked him to play a different song - they wanted to hear the "ABC Song". His face momentarily fell, as he admitted to the class that he didn't know that song.

It was one of those magical, teachable moments no one can plan for: I told my little pal he DID know how to play that song, and that "Twinkle" and "ABC" have the same sounds, just different words. Well, that's all he needed to hear, and the kids sat back in amazement as this time, he played the "ABC" song. Such joy!
We tuned our guitars (I pulled mine out, too) as a class, and the kids assisted us in raising or lowering the pitch. I was bursting with music teacher pride as I heard comments like:

"Ooh, something's wrong! We need to fix that one!"
"Now, how did that note get so low?"
"Hey! That one is right where it belongs!"

So many moments, so many conversations.

I love the wonderment of primary children!