A Strong and Creative Start to Our 2026 Tutoring Year - 01/17/2026 Library Service

Authored by: Cielle Chan

Today marked our first tutoring lesson of the 2026 year, and it was an exciting start. When we arrived at the library, several students were already waiting for us, eager to begin, so we jumped right in. I opened the lesson by having everyone introduce themselves, sharing their name, grade, and favorite color, to break the ice and get everyone comfortable before starting.

Once everyone felt settled, we eased into gentle stretches to prepare our bodies for singing, followed by vocal warm-ups such as “Zing-a-ma-ma.” From there, I introduced the solfège system and guided the students through a major scale. As we practiced the scale together, I noticed that many of the kids struggled to match the pitch I gave them. To help with this, I encouraged them to listen first to the note before singing it back, and their accuracy improved noticeably.

After warming up, we experimented with harmony by splitting the group into two parts. Annie sang one note while I led the other group a third above. Although it took a few attempts and was still a bit messy, it was a good introduction to harmony, and I plan to revisit it in our next session.

We then moved on to reading music. I handed out sheet music, and we worked through it line by line. After reading it a few times, I sang each verse and had the students echo me. Gradually, we put all the parts together and sang the song slowly as a group. As their confidence grew, I added hand gestures to make the activity more engaging, inviting students to come up and participate. We then increased the tempo to make it more challenging, with Annie clapping the beat to help keep everyone on beat. To finish, I introduced a simple two-part structure by having the students repeat one line while I sang the chorus. This added an exciting layer to the song and kept everyone focused and involved.

I’m especially grateful that Annie was there. Not only to support the singing lesson, but also to help bridge into the art portion of the session.

After the singing lessons, we moved straight into art. Unfortunately, our lead artist had called in sick, so we had to improvise. For this week’s activity, I decided to work with crayons, watercolors, and paper plates.

The kids used white crayons to draw on the plates and then painted over their drawings with watercolors, revealing their designs as the paint spread across the surface. The process was simple but exciting, and the kids had a lot of fun experimenting with the materials and watching their drawings appear.

Even with the last-minute changes, the transition from music to art felt smooth, and the kids stayed engaged throughout. It was a strong start to the year, and I’m looking forward to continuing both the singing and art lessons in the next session.

Tutors: Cielle Chan, Annie He