Start of School Year in Music

I have been teaching classroom music (general music) for 3 weeks now, and I feel as though this might be the best year yet. One big difference is that while I have larger groups of upper graders, they come in with their teacher, and I feel as though they pay better attention. It's also partly because we have an especially great group of upper graders.

Yesterday was the first day of string classes, and I had one class of beginners and one of 2nd/3rd year students. Both classes went well, and I had 19 show up for the second class, including 6 cellists! We had no music since most kids didn't bring their books, so we played scales and talked briefly about rhythms and key signatures. Today I have just one beginning class (17 signed up), and I know all the kids in it, and they will be wonderful.