Hi 3rd and 4th grade friends! I wanted to share a little bit of my heart with you today. Usually, we use the springtime months of the year to work super hard on our recorders in class, and then in June, you get to take your recorder home and share with your family all the notes and songs you've learned. I LOVE teaching recorder to my amazing students - you are so talented! However, we didn't really get that chance this year. While I know you're probably super excited to play your recorder at home, I want you to keep in mind that most of our homes are now serving as a variety of things - our parents are working from home, kids are learning at home, and in the midst of having our routines changed and everything different, we might even be having some stress or crabbiness because of the virus and being in our homes A LOT. This is where it becomes SUPER IMPORTANT for you to respect the home environment. Make sure that when you play, it's at an OK time for your family (like, NOT when a parent is on a work call, right?) Also, make sure that you're playing with that warm, soft air (remember how we pretended to "fog up a window" on our palms?) Use your tongue to separate the notes by mouthing Tu-Tu or Doo-Doo. Left hand is always on the top! ("left hand over right...") And if you need to remember which fingers play which notes you have some options! See the box below. Happy playing!