Tying On Belts / Awarding Belts
Submitted by Barb Philipak, St. Peters, Missouri
Idea posted 2002-04-23
I start recorders with fourth grade and continue through fifth. I would like to start them in third, but our curriculum doesn't start them till fourth grade. (Maybe next year when we rewrite our curriculum...??)
As far as the yarn goes, I use embroidery thread but yarn would work the same way. You could cut some in advance... OR I will listen to most of the piece that they are playing for me, and then I quickly cut a piece of thread for them at the end of the piece. Also, after I have tied on all belts for the white and maybe the yellow, I then let the kids tie their own on. Once in awhile, you will get a kid who has problems, and then I help him/her tie it on. But, this works well for me and doesn't take too much time. I also have some students who have trouble tying on their belts ask a friend to tie it on for them.
As for the kids who have problems... I have tried several things... (No, it does NOT have to be perfect.) First of all, if they are truly practicing and trying, I will go ahead and give them the belt if they have made personal progress on that song. However, if I can tell that they haven't really practiced, I will make them retest a few times until they improve.
