Last week was an extremely busy week for the music dept.! On Tuesday morning, OLG first graders and kindergartners were each recorded for the DuTrac sponsored radio spots. The first graders sang "Away in a Manger" from our upcoming Christmas program. The kindergartners sang "Merry Christmas/Feliz Navidad". Recording is an exhausting experience. Miss Wightman was recording us, which we really appreciated. We both wanted the best possible recording, but weren't expecting perfection. However, we had a few false starts. I made an obvious mistake once on the piano. Hopefully everyone will be pleased with the end result when they get to hear our youngsters. Our broadcast times are the following: Dec. 4 @ 2:35; Dec. 12 @ 6:35 a.m. and Dec. 19 @ 7:35 p.m.
Also on Tuesday, all first and second graders received parent letters to take home. These letters outlined the costume suggestions for our Christmas program which will be Dec. 14th at 2:00 and 7:00. The second graders received their speaking parts as well. I'd like all speaking parts to be memorized by the end of this week.
I received a wonderful email from Mrs. Hill over Thanksgiving break! She is willing to make all the sashes for the first grade boys who are soldiers. She is also donating all the material! If you have a soldier in your household, be sure to express your appreciation!
The Kindergartners all will be singing in a short Christmas concert on Tuesday, Dec. 15th at 6:30. They will be joining the preschool and pre-K children's program. Both OLG K classes will sing together.
I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!
Teresa Koch
Monday, November 30, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
OLG Music - 11/18/09
Our November song of the month is "Now Thank We All Our God". I've told the students it's "an oldie, but a goodie". The hymn has endured for over 300 years! When I attended a John Angotti (a Catholic composer and performer) concert at Wahlert last month, he spoke of how important it is for our children to know traditional hymns, so that inspired me to use "Now Thank We All Our God" since it is so appropriate for Thanksgiving. It is a little more difficult for the younger children to learn, but we'll get there.
We've had the pleasure of having a Loras student be with us for about a month now. Andrea Rouchka is a music ed. major who will have spent 20 hours with us by Dec. 7th. She's mostly observed our music classes, but has joined in some of our activities and will teach one of the Pre-K classes a song next week. It is always exciting to work with future teachers and show how special and rewarding working with elementary children can be! Andrea told me she has really enjoyed her time in our school.
We've had the pleasure of having a Loras student be with us for about a month now. Andrea Rouchka is a music ed. major who will have spent 20 hours with us by Dec. 7th. She's mostly observed our music classes, but has joined in some of our activities and will teach one of the Pre-K classes a song next week. It is always exciting to work with future teachers and show how special and rewarding working with elementary children can be! Andrea told me she has really enjoyed her time in our school.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
OLG Music - 11/5/09
Since my last blog entry, grade 3 attended the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra performance at Five Flags. It was an excellent concert! The third graders seemed to thoroughly enjoy the experience. Our seats were right up front which is really too close to be able to see all the instrument families, but we got a great view of the string section, the cello soloist and Maestro Intrilligator. We are preparing for the final test to wrap up the symphony unit.
In other grades we are transitioning from Halloween and fall songs to songs that use more instruments now that we have established more of the skills needed to transfer to the instruments. Soon we’ll be learning Thanksgiving songs and beginning preparations for the Christmas program that grades K-2 will be featured in.
Thank you to all the parents who came and spoke with me at conferences. It is a pleasure to have a chance to speak with parents and students about what we’ve been accomplishing in music class and how well their child/ren are progressing.
It has been an emotional week on our campus. Mrs. Viertal’s death was so unexpected. The music room and art room are adjacent to one another, so I often stopped by to speak to Mrs. Viertal on my way to and from my room. Her presence is deeply missed. I hope she knew how her caring ways were treasured by others. She taught all three of my own children and I hope she knew how much we valued her and appreciated her dedication to Catholic education and her nurturing the artist in each of our children.
In other grades we are transitioning from Halloween and fall songs to songs that use more instruments now that we have established more of the skills needed to transfer to the instruments. Soon we’ll be learning Thanksgiving songs and beginning preparations for the Christmas program that grades K-2 will be featured in.
Thank you to all the parents who came and spoke with me at conferences. It is a pleasure to have a chance to speak with parents and students about what we’ve been accomplishing in music class and how well their child/ren are progressing.
It has been an emotional week on our campus. Mrs. Viertal’s death was so unexpected. The music room and art room are adjacent to one another, so I often stopped by to speak to Mrs. Viertal on my way to and from my room. Her presence is deeply missed. I hope she knew how her caring ways were treasured by others. She taught all three of my own children and I hope she knew how much we valued her and appreciated her dedication to Catholic education and her nurturing the artist in each of our children.
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