making arrangements

One of the joys I have recently discovered with my students is arranging pieces that they are interested in learning, but haven't quite gotten to a level where they can play even an easy arrangement of a particular song. I made an arrangement for one of my students to play Three Blind Mice using chords. We worked on it during a couple of lessons, until she came in last week explaining that it was a little too difficult for her. First of all, I was so proud of her for even verbalizing her struggle. This is very difficult for some students, because they don't want to look stupid or disappoint their teacher. I told her I would work on a new version for her this week. What I'll do is use thirds and fifths instead of chords, which will only slightly change the way it sounds, but will basically be the same arrangement but at a level that she feels more comfortable with for her learning style and ability at this stage. It's a win-win situation.