Singing

It is so cute when my big, tough, 5th and 6th graders randomly sing.  Today in bells, we had our first practice of the songs we'll play for the Christmas program.  One was "Away in a Manger", and I noticed one of the 6th grade boys singing it to himself as he got his music ready.  Aww! 


Another surprising burst of song happened in social studies of all places.  I had played them the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd" a while ago in class when we talked about the Underground Railroad so we could search for the hidden meanings in the song, and a surprising number of students sang the chorus after hearing it a few times that day.  Today we were briefly reviewing for the test, and when they came to the question about the "Drinking Gourd", another 6th grade boy started singing the song!  And a few others joined in!  So adorable.


This other kid (one who gets easily annoyed by his classmates) has a pair of headphones he can listen to classical music with so he doesn't hear the distractions as much.  Yesterday I heard someone whistling... it was him! Subconsciously whistling along to the music.  He eventually looked up and caught my stare; I gave him the "shh" signal and he looked a little chagrined.  Normally, this kid doesn't show excitement about anything, but when it comes to his classical music songs... that's a whole other ball of wax.  He'll start singing the melody and wave his arms around like he's directing!  His classmates look at him like, "What is he doing?" But they find it amusing too (in a good way).