Thursday December 12th 2019
Happy Tuesday everyone!
What a beautiful sunny day here in Ottawa!
The snow certainly fell last night. While I love looking at the snow fall, we do know
that at times, it makes for a tough drive to and from school. This is a good time to remind
everyone that on snow days when school transportation is cancelled, your children are
more than welcome to attend a full day at their homeschool as they will not be able to
come to and from the language class. The schools are prepared for days like this!
As we speak of transportation, please remember to call STS and report if your child will
be absent for the day. It is important for the drivers to be aware if they are not going to
pick up a student. I know that some of you have already been in contact with the drivers
to let them know personally, so thank you! If you do not have the phone number of the
person who drives your child, please call STS at 6132-723-9677 and they will let the
driver know. Thank you for your cooperation with this manner.
Also, please remember to dress your child appropriately for the weather. The temperature
is changing daily, sometimes drastically different from the day before. Hats, mittens and
boots are important everyday. Children can always take off something if they are too hot.
Extra outdoor clothes and socks in the backpack are a very good idea as well! Thank you
for your assistance in this!
On Sunday, we entered into the second week of Advent. We have now begun to prepare
our hearts for the coming of our Lord at Christmas!
In our class, we will be looking at gifts we can give Jesus for each week during Advent.
These gifts are not the kind we can purchase at Tory R' Us! I will be encouraging the students
to think about how we can help each other, be kind and love our neighbour in an effort to
give back during this season. We have spoken about how one kindness, one simple act or
word can make a BIG difference. This is the spirit of Christmas!
Ask your child about our Countdown to Christmas Kindness Calendar! We have had a
lot of fun and smiles spreading the joy of the season and I cannot wait to see what we are
going to do in the days ahead.
Our learning in the past few weeks has mostly involved around our special Advent season.
We have looked closely at the advent wreath and what each week represents. The students
have listened to a few different versions of the Christmas Story and the continuous
conversation surrounding the magic of this blessed day has been delightful.
Our Christmas vocabulary words will also be a big focus. We will include common words
used throughout Advent and in discussion for the preparation of Jesus as well as words that
help us describe the magic of the North Pole and Santa! We will be using these words to
describe our hopes for Christmas and how we can show kindness to others. We also used
the words to write a letter to Santa! I am super excited to see what he says when he writes
back!
We will not be learning any new words for 2019. Please continue to review and practice the
words they have been learning all year.
If you are looking for some homework, this is a great time of year to get cozy and read.
Talk about the stories that you are reading. You can always write some sentences about
the story and draw pictures about the different story elements! Just talking and asking questions
about the book is a great way to reinforce what we are doing at school. In class, we use something
called a story builder to look at the different elements of each story. It goes a little something
like this:
**What happens at the beginning of the story? What is it about?
**Who are the characters in the story?
**What is the setting of the story?
**What is the problem in the story?
**What happens in the story? Tell me what happens first, second, third and finally?
**How is the problem solved?
**How does the story end?
These questions can really help deepen the understanding of narrative stories.
Throughout the year, we have been very
focused on becoming better readers! Each
student is at a different place in his/her
reading journey and we are celebrating
each step, both big and small on this journey!
The students are using many different reading
strategies to decode when they come to a word
that they do not know.
Here are the strategies that we have been
learning about. As I just mentioned, as students progress in their reading, they will be
working on different strategies to help them out! Ask them which strategy they are using now.
Maybe they can show you how they use it while reading their Snuggle Book. 😊
I know I say this often, but I am so proud of each and every one of my students. It can be
very overwhelming going to two different schools, having multiple teachers and leaving
friends from one school or another. These kids are strong and resilient! I am thankful to be able to
spend my days learning with them!
As we move through December I know it will be very busy. Please do not hesitate to give me a
call or write a note in the communication book if you have ANY questions or concerns.
Mrs. Faloon
