Teaching with Heart: A Pre-Valentine’s Day Lesson - 02/07/2026 Library Service

Authored by: Cielle Chan

As soon as I arrived, I began by introducing myself and asking the students to share their names and grades so everyone could feel comfortable and included before we started.

We began the lesson with gentle stretches to prepare our bodies for singing, followed by vocal warm-ups to get our voices ready. After warming up, we moved into solfège. Since none of the students had attended the previous session, I taught solfège from scratch. We went through it several times together, and I noticed that many of the students struggled to match the pitch I was singing. To address this, I asked them to listen carefully to the pitch first before singing it back. This small adjustment made a big difference, and their pitch accuracy improved noticeably. After solfège, we did vocal exercises like Zing-a-mama and scales to get our voices more warmed up. 

After warm-ups, I introduced the song I had prepared for the day. We started by reading through the lyrics line by line, making sure everyone understood the words before adding pitch. Once the melody was added, we sang through the entire song together. To make the activity more engaging, I introduced hand motions, which the students really enjoyed and responded to with a lot of enthusiasm.

As we continued singing, I noticed that the group had a tendency to speed up. To help them maintain a steady tempo, I had the students form a circle and clap each other’s hands in rhythm. This interactive approach helped them internalize the beat, and after a few rounds, they were able to stay together much more consistently. We wrapped up the music portion of the lesson with a shakeout to release energy and reset before transitioning.

Following the singing lesson, we moved into the art session. Since Valentine’s Day was approaching, Rien and I brought pink and red paper for the students to make origami hearts. We guided them through the folding process step by step and encouraged them to write messages on their hearts so they could give them to loved ones. The activity allowed the students to be creative while also thinking about kindness and appreciation.

With some extra time remaining, Rien and I made a few additional origami hearts and decided to give them to Mrs. C and the library security guard as a small gesture of gratitude. Overall, the session felt intentional and well-paced, and it was rewarding to see how small adjustments in teaching led to noticeable growth in the students’ confidence and engagement.

Tutors: Cielle Chan, Rien Chen