Monday 29 May 2017

Happy Monday everyone!

What a busy month we have had!  It always takes me by surprise how quickly these last few months fly by! As we enter into the last few weeks of school, please remember to keep checking the mail bags and blog for updates. I will try to update as often as possible!

The students have done such an excellent job with their word wall words throughout the year! For the remainder of the year, we are going to focus on review and practice of the words already learned. There will be no more new words being sent home.
Please let me know if you would like a list of all of the words your child has learned for practice at home. I will be sending home their word wall homework books shortly!

Throughout May, we have been talking about plants. We read about plants and planting seeds, we connected our learning to Earth Day by discussing the important role that plants play in our environment, we planted our own seeds in the classroom and we have incorporated our planting into our writing!
Ask your child about their plant and their procedural writing about how to plant a seed!

We continue to read daily. The students are encouraged to use their decoding strategies whenever they read. Before the summer, I will send home a page with all of the strategies that we work on in the classroom. Please use these as you read with your child over the summer. Please remember that not all students are working on every strategy at the same time!

We have also been comparing and contrasting different objects. This past week, we looked at caterpillars and butterflies to see how they were alike and how they were different.  At home, talk to your children about how things are similar and different (How is a tree like a flower? What is unique about each plant?) We have been using a Venn Diagram to organize our information!

In class, the month of June will include a lot of review of the topics we covered throughout the year. The students have worked hard toward their IEP goals and I am very proud of them. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss their progress before the end of the year. I would be happy to chat with you!

Just a few notes and reminders!


  • The Grade 3 students are in the middle of their EQAO testing. I am really proud of how confidently they have worked through these assessments! 
  • There will be a note about the book fair going home today. Please take a look and let me know if you have any questions! 
  • While we have had many beautiful days, the rain still seems to be hanging around. Please dress your children appropriately for the day. 
  • A reminder that if your child is going to be away to contact STS or the driver directly to alert them of their absence. Many of the runs have only one child and they are left waiting for the students if they are not here. 
  • This week, the library books will be returned. If your child does not return their book this week, there will be a reminder sent home. Please try to return all books as soon as possible. If you cannot find it or think your child did not bring it home, please let me know! 

As I mentioned before, the next few weeks will be very busy. We have a lot of work to do and there is a lot going on! Please continue to check here and on our Twitter account for updates!

Have a great week everyone! Stay dry in the rain today and hopefully we will see some sun this week! 


Sarah Faloon 

Monday 15 May 2017

Sight Words!!!!

Happy Monday everyone!


We will have no new word wall words this week. Instead, we will spend some time reviewing the words we have learned so far. At school, we will be playing some games and doing some fun activities to reinforce the learning that we have already done.
Please take some time and review these words with your children. Sight words are a very important part of learning to read.


Please take a look at this information explaining the role that sight words play in how we learn to read.
The following text was taken from a website called http://www.speechbuddy.com


Why are Sight Words Important?

Sight words are very important for your child to master because, believe it or not, “sight words account for up to 75% of the words used in beginning children’s printed material”, according to Study to Identify High-Frequency Words in Printed Materials, by D.J. Kear & M.A. Gladhart. There are different sight words for every grade level. Each set of words builds upon the other, meaning that once your child learns the sight words in Kindergarten, he will be expected to still recognize those words as he learns new words in first grade, and so forth.
Many of the over 200 “sight words” do not follow the basic phonics principles, thus they cannot be “sounded out.” Beginning readers need an effective strategy for decoding unknown words, and being familiar with sight words is an effective method. Other benefits of sight words include:
  • Sight words promote confidence. Because the first 100 sight words represent over 50% of English text, a child who has mastered the list of sight words can already recognize at least half of a sentence. If your child begins to read a book and can already recognize the words, chances are he won’t feel discouraged and put the book down, rather he’ll have more confidence to read it all the way through. And, choose another!
  • Sight words help promote reading comprehension. When your child opens her book for the first time, instead of trying to decipher what ALL of the words mean, she can shift her attention to focus on those words she is not familiar with. She will already know at least half of the words, so focusing on the other half helps strengthen her understanding of the text.
  • Sight words provide clues to the context of the text. If your child is familiar with the sight words, she may be able to decode the meaning of the paragraph or sentence by reading the sight words. And, if a picture accompanies the text, your child may be able to determine what the story is about and come away with a few new words under her belt.
Check out this link to see a video about why sight words are so crucial!




Thank you and have a fantastic week!!


Mrs. Faloon
PLC

St. John the Apostle

Tuesday 2 May 2017

Happy May everyone! 
Can you believe that it is May already? I cannot believe how fast the past month has flown by. It has been a busy few weeks indeed! 

As we begin May, we have begun our celebrations for Catholic Education Week. This is a week we have set aside to celebrate and highlight our Catholic Education. A schedule of events was sent home. Here is a review of the happenings of the week!! 



There will be many reminders going home about the daily events.  Remember to check this blog and Twitter for frequent reminders! 

Just a note about the open house on Wednesday morning. 
Our class will be open and the class will highlight our learning. Please feel free to come in and check everything out! 
I will be arriving at school around 9:00 as my children have student led conferences that morning at their school. If you do come, I hope I will make it in time to see you! My apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. 

The month of May also means that EQAO testing will begin for my Grade 3 friends  The tests will be administered at the home schools with their Grade 3 class. Information about which dates your child will write will be sent home through the home school. I have been working with the resource and classroom teachers to ensure that the students are prepared to write these tests.  When I say that the students are prepared, what I mean is that I want to make sure that the students are ready to do their best. No one is expecting them to do more than they are capable of.  I tell them all the time...... "We never ask you to do something that you cannot do. You CAN do this!" There will be accommodations in place to help the students feel more comfortable, and more successful. This test should not be a source of stress or concern for the students.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding the test. I am happy to chat with you about it!!

In other news, we have been working quite hard in our little corner! 
The students have been reviewing vowel sounds, both long and short. We have also spent some time reviewing and practicing the different spelling patterns for the many different sounds. We will continue reviewing this throughout the remainder of the year. 

In our reading, we are still looking at inferring as a comprehension strategy.  The students are doing an excellent job of using their previous knowledge to come to new conclusions while listening to stories. Right now, we practice this skill during shared and guided reading sessions (large and small group instruction).  As reading skills develop, this strategy will help them come to a deeper understanding of what they are reading independently. 

 We are still working hard toward our writing goal for procedural writing. Last week we tried to blow bubbles with bubble gum! Then we had to write about it. That was not as easy as it looked! 

Thank you for tuning in yet again!  I just want to reiterate again how proud I am of each of my students.  Your children work so hard everyday and are learning new things all the time. They really have come so far since September!! I feel so lucky to be a part of their academic journey and to get to spend my days with them. Thanks for sending them to me everyday!

I hope that you are all enjoying the warm weather! Have a great week!