Hi.
The week of Feb. 21 thru the 25th. Monday NO SCHOOL.
Tuesday will be Girls' Choir. They will run through their warm-up drills which include sight singing activities, simple solo/response songs, and partner songs. Then the girls will have sectionals on their choir pieces. They will be finishing up their worksheets on Rhythmic Note Value identification while they are not having a sectional.
Thursday will be Band. The students should be practicing Chanson on their own at home and be playing Chanson from beginning to end. They should begin marking note names, slide positions or valve combinations on their music for Bourree. We will begin working on Bourree the week of Feb. 28th thru March 4th. The Band students will be working on worksheets that reinforce rhythmic value and rhythmic equavalencies.
Friday will be Boys' Choir. They will run through their warm-up drills which includes sight-singing activites, simple solo/response melodies and partner songs. Then the boys will have sectionals on their choir pieces. They will be beginning worksheets on Rhythmic Note Value Identification.
Kindergarten will begin playing simple melodies on the bells. They will sing the song first a couple of times to learn the song and then play them on the bells. First Grade is still focusing on recorders and doing an excellent job at getting the songs to sound like what they've just sung. Second, third and fourth grades are still working at learning piano and the basic theory behind the keyboard, staff notation, key signatures accidentals and how all of those affect their hand positions.
PreSchool through Fourth Grade will be continuing their unit on dance. Thus far the Preschoolers have done the Chicken Dance, Bunny Hop and begun learning the Mexican Hat Dance.

Hello for the Week of February 7 thru the 11th.
Band will be working on measure 41 thru 48 in sectionals of the song Chanson. All students should have: note names, and or fingerings, and or slide positions, and or valve combinations already written in on their music. We will be working as a whole group on fitting together Chanson from the beginning to measure 25.
Boy's Choir will meet this week on Tuesday and on Friday to make-up for the days they missed and will be missing in the next couple of weeks due to early releases. They will spend their time working on warm-up drills, sight singing drills and then sectionals on their spring concert pieces "Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord No More", "Blow the Man Down", "Chopsticks", and "Yellow Submarine".
First Grade will continue to work on more recorder songs. They will be learning two new songs this week first in the generative form with pitch names only and then transferring those songs to the staff and playing them. They will be reinforcing the concepts of which notes are line notes and which notes are space notes.
Second thru Fourth Grade will be at the keyboards this week. Fourth Grade will have their first timed note identification test. They will be tested on the Treble Clef Staff notes only for this test. Second thru Fourth Grade will all be getting worksheets to complete while they are waiting to play test at the piano for the teacher. The worksheets will help them to identify notes on the Treble Cleff Staff.
Kindergarten through Fourth Grade will all begin their unit on Dance in P.E. They will be learning simple dances such as: The Chicken Dance, The Mexican Hat Dance, The Conga, The Bunny Hop, The Alley Cat and The Macarena.

Happy Catholic Schools Week. Monday is Miss-Match Day. Tuesday is Crazy Hat Day. Wednesday is Red and White Day (5-8 grades will be going skiing if weather permits). Thursday is P.J. Day. Friday is Sports Team Day. Before Masses on February 5th and 6th there will be a Bake Sale to benefit our School, and our School Children will be hosting the Sunday February 6th 10:00 am Mass. There will also be a pancake fundraiser before and after the Masses on Sunday February 6th. I encourage you to please attend the February 6th Mass and if your child attends this School they should wear there OLL Shirts to Mass.
The 5-8 Grade Band is currently working on Chanson and Bourree by Frank Erickson. Your student if they are in Band should be working on measures 1 through 33 of the first movement and practicing the Db Concert Pitch Scale.
The First Graders are again working on recorders. They have learned how to play the notes B, A and G successfully. They have a repertoire of six songs using these notes.
The Second through Fourth Grades are again working on the keyboards. The third and fourth grades have been seriously focusing on speed of identifying the notes on the staff. The Fourth Grade will be getting weekly speed tests on note identification. The second grade is working on accurately identifying the notes on the staff, and remembering how the keyboard is lettered.

Happy Catholic Schools Week. The Band will begin working on the piece "Amigos" this week. "Amigos" features the trumpet section throughout the whole piece. Students should focus on Section A to B or measures 5 to 24.

The General Music Class has finished their unit on guitars and is now moving on to learning keyboards.

The Choir is working on three new pieces that have 3-part harmony. They will also be picking out other popular pieces for the concert in May.

We're beginning a new grading period.
The Band students are doing very well. Band Members should be prepared to play from rehearsal mark B to E with as few mistakes as possible.

We had our big review this week, and passed with flying colors. The on-site inspectors were very impressed with the Music Program. Yeah !!! Keep up the great work Parents and Students. Thanks to the OLL Community as a whole for all the great support.

The Jr. High Band is doing excellent on Assembly Processional. We are hoping to be able to play this piece at the Spring Concert along with some other pieces that feature specific sections. The First thru Fourth Grades are not only working on keyboard this week, but also getting ready for the Mass with the Bishop on Jan 20th. We also have an all school liturgy coming up on Feb 7, the close of Catholic Schools week, that they are preparing for. The Kindergarten have begun their introduction to recorders, and are doing well.

Happy 2010 to all our OLL Family.
The students are back and hard at work in Band and Choir. They will be preparing for their end of the year concert that will be sometime in May. Weekly lessons have resumed for the Fifth thru Jr. High Band Members.
The Kindergarten is beginning to learn recorders. They are very excited about playing this beginning instrument.
First thru Fourth Grade are back at the keyboards. We took a break from the keyboards to practice in November and December for the Christmas Concert.
Fourth Graders who are learning to play an instrument for Band next year have resumed their lessons schedules. Thanks to all the parents that are making sure their child spends at least 20 minutes each day practicing.