Recently, a teacher was discussing what brand of recorders to choose for her elementary class. Some of the suggestions were far from the quality that I insist on for my students. I know some settings have very limited resources but if you are able to come up with just a bit more , you may get a whole lot more quality, both in intonation and tone.
I try to impress on the children that the recorder is an amazing instrument, one that comes in lots of different sizes (I show them my set of 6 sizes), an instrument that people have enjoyed playing for hundreds of years, playing music of famous composers from long ago but composers today still write for recorders. I tell them the recorder can be an instrument they enjoy their entire life so take good care of this historical instrument. Its awesome because I can easily take it with me in the car, it plays thousands of songs, etc....! After my big build up, I tell them the great news that THEY get to play this fantastic instrument. Now, do I give them the bright glow in the dark model with sparkles that has a bad tone and is not in tune with my high quality Orff instruments? No, I want them to have one that looks "real," like a copy of the best wood one made, maybe even designed after one from a museum, one that has the best intonation and tone quality. Buy the best one you possibly can and the sound will be so much better. The ones I use for teacher training and Music Rhapsody are Aulos but I have been happy with the Yamaha - they have improved so much over the years.