School's deaf custodian gets moving surprise from students for his birthday

Kindergarten children at Hickerson Elementary School in Tullahoma, Tennessee, surprised a custodian, who is hard of hearing, just in time for the man's 60th birthday.

What did they do?

The children, who learned to sign the song "Happy Birthday," performed for James Anthony — affectionately known as Mr. James to the students — who shrieked with surprise and delight, according to WZTV-TV.

According to the station, the kindergarten teachers and aides helped the children learn the signs necessary to perform the song for Anthony.

The moment was caught on video and uploaded to the school's Facebook page Tuesday.

The caption on the video read, "Our Kindergarten classes learned how to sign Happy Birthday for Mr. James' birthday today. He was so surprised!"

At the time of this writing, the video has been viewed more than 180,000 times and has been shared nearly 2,000 times.

What else?

Hickerson Elementary School principal Jimmy Anderson told WZTV that the children adore Anthony.

“Mr. James teaches the kids sign language every now and then, [and] teaches them good manners and how to treat other people,” Anderson told the station.

He added that Anthony — who has worked at the school for the last 15 years, and who has been employed by the district for 30 years in total — is a superb role model for the children.

Anthony said the kindergarten students' rendition of "Happy Birthday" truly "touched his heart," the station reported.

You can watch the moment in the video player below.