Wednesday, March 3, 2010
March is Music in Our Schools Month
Welcome to Music in Our Schools Month! March is nationally recognized as Music in Our Schools Month. We have special activities planned for each week of March. (Parents should have received an email last week outlining all of this month's special events.) This week parents are invited to come to music class and see what we are doing.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
January update
Our song of the month is "El Shaddai". El Shaddai is Hebrew for God. Amy Grant recorded this song and though others have recorded it, her version is probably the best known. The classes are really doing a nice job singing it. We have spent time discussing the Bible stories referred to in the song.
Clarke PDS Music students have observed our music classes 3 times. They will primarily be working with gr. 4, 5 & PreK, though they will observe other classes.
Clarke PDS Music students have observed our music classes 3 times. They will primarily be working with gr. 4, 5 & PreK, though they will observe other classes.
Monday, January 11, 2010
January news
Happy New Year!
2010 is off to a rather slow start with missing two days of school last week. Last week we wrapped up a few loose ends with Christmas music. Older students played Name That Tune with Christmas carols. We divided the classes into teams and each team got an instrument "buzzer". The student who answered correctly became the judge with me for the next round. That way no single student always was the winner. It was fun for all.
This week we are finishing up some assessments so I can finish figuring grades for progress reports. I hope to begin "Mallet Madness" with some of the grade levels this week as well. This will be the 3rd year I've incorporated "Mallet Madness". The students love it! "Mallet Madness" uses all our bar instruments: metallophones, xylophones, glockenspiels and all sorts of drums. These instruments are arranged in wood (xylophones), membrane (drums), and metal (glocks or metallophones) order over and over. It takes a great deal of class room to put out that many instruments. The students usually get to play several different instruments during class.
Another exciting development in music classes this year will begin next week! OLG is excited to welcome Clarke College music ed. students to our campus this semester! Sr. LaDonna Manternach will be teaching elementary music methods in our building on Tues. & Thurs. mornings. Mrs. Koch will be the mentor for the five college students. The music ed. students will begin by observing OLG 4th and 5th grade music classes and perhaps pre-k too. Gradually, those students will take over teaching 4th and 5th grade music classes. Mrs. Koch will always be in the classroom and will assist the college students by providing feedback to the future music teachers.
When Clarke and Mrs. Koch had this partnership before, it was an exciting opportunity for all involved!
2010 is off to a rather slow start with missing two days of school last week. Last week we wrapped up a few loose ends with Christmas music. Older students played Name That Tune with Christmas carols. We divided the classes into teams and each team got an instrument "buzzer". The student who answered correctly became the judge with me for the next round. That way no single student always was the winner. It was fun for all.
This week we are finishing up some assessments so I can finish figuring grades for progress reports. I hope to begin "Mallet Madness" with some of the grade levels this week as well. This will be the 3rd year I've incorporated "Mallet Madness". The students love it! "Mallet Madness" uses all our bar instruments: metallophones, xylophones, glockenspiels and all sorts of drums. These instruments are arranged in wood (xylophones), membrane (drums), and metal (glocks or metallophones) order over and over. It takes a great deal of class room to put out that many instruments. The students usually get to play several different instruments during class.
Another exciting development in music classes this year will begin next week! OLG is excited to welcome Clarke College music ed. students to our campus this semester! Sr. LaDonna Manternach will be teaching elementary music methods in our building on Tues. & Thurs. mornings. Mrs. Koch will be the mentor for the five college students. The music ed. students will begin by observing OLG 4th and 5th grade music classes and perhaps pre-k too. Gradually, those students will take over teaching 4th and 5th grade music classes. Mrs. Koch will always be in the classroom and will assist the college students by providing feedback to the future music teachers.
When Clarke and Mrs. Koch had this partnership before, it was an exciting opportunity for all involved!
Monday, December 21, 2009
December Update
December was an incredibly busy month! Throw a blizzard right in the midst of this hectic season and things become crazy. However, we did survive. The preschool, pre-k and Kindergarten program did get to happen as planned. Losing several classes definitely was a detriment as far as adding instruments goes. Our only time to practice on stage was the day of the actual program! The performances went amazingly well considering everything. Learning a Spanish carol without having any written music for it was a challenge.
"Christmas Magic", performed by gr. 1 & 2, probably benefited by being postponed. The 2nd graders had a harder time remembering their lines than I expected. In the end, the performances flowed very well and I thought the children really came through. I appreciate the comments that about a dozen parents took the time to share with me. I would be lying if I said that programs aren't very stressful for me. They take an enormous amount of time and energy. I'm deeply appreciative to my co-workers for their help during those final days before the performance. I also felt the choir really started the show off in a strong manner. They sang out, watched me and did well on their harmony sections.
Today I had the dubious honor of portraying John the Baptist (J the B) in our final Advent prayer service. I flew into the sacristy to change and then down through the church to reappear in the back of Church with a few seconds to spare before coming down the aisle singing "Prepare Ye". Overall, I think the skit went well. A few of the students called me J the B during the day which made me laugh. (Gee, they knew it was me despite the costume.)
Merry Christmas!!
-Mrs. Koch
"Christmas Magic", performed by gr. 1 & 2, probably benefited by being postponed. The 2nd graders had a harder time remembering their lines than I expected. In the end, the performances flowed very well and I thought the children really came through. I appreciate the comments that about a dozen parents took the time to share with me. I would be lying if I said that programs aren't very stressful for me. They take an enormous amount of time and energy. I'm deeply appreciative to my co-workers for their help during those final days before the performance. I also felt the choir really started the show off in a strong manner. They sang out, watched me and did well on their harmony sections.
Today I had the dubious honor of portraying John the Baptist (J the B) in our final Advent prayer service. I flew into the sacristy to change and then down through the church to reappear in the back of Church with a few seconds to spare before coming down the aisle singing "Prepare Ye". Overall, I think the skit went well. A few of the students called me J the B during the day which made me laugh. (Gee, they knew it was me despite the costume.)
Merry Christmas!!
-Mrs. Koch
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
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
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
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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