Hello October!

While I cannot believe September is already over, I feel as though we have been back at school forever. I am so inspired watching our students form new friendships, work together, learn new routines and practice new skills.

A few quick reminders about this very short and very busy week!

• Our school BBQ will be held tomorrow, Wednesday October 3rd here at St. John the Apostle 
• We will be visiting the book fair on Wednesday, October 3rd 
• PICTURE DAY is also Wednesday October 3rd. SMILE!!
• Friday is a PD Day. There will be no school 

It was really nice to meet with some of you to discuss your child's IEP. I am looking forward to calling some of you this week and collaborating. Your child's IEP will coming home shortly. The homeschool will send home a draft copy of the IEP shortly. Please take the time to read it carefully. As mentioned, I would be very happy to arrange a time to sit and discuss the IEP with you. Please let me know if you have any questions about the document.

Here are some of the things we are working on here, and some strategies you can use at home to support their learning.

Phonological Awareness- Here are some activities you can do with your child at home to help with our syllable work at school.

•  Take turns and clap the number of syllables in words. You say a word and your child claps the word. For example: computer- child claps com/pu/ter, 3 claps; pig- child claps /pig/, 1 clap. Choose words with varying number of syllables
• While driving or walking, pick out words that you see, have child clap the syllables. For example: church, Walmart, Metro, Chapters, park.
• After reading a book, pick a word or a picture per page to clap.
• Throw a ball, beanbag, or favourite stuffed toy back and forth, as you each say one syllable at a time.   For example, for the word “macaroni”, you would toss the ball back and forth a total of 4 times 
• Use a stick to tap out all the syllables of each family member’s name.  For example: “Mom/my”; “Bill”; “Grand/pa”

This coming month, we will be focusing on the theme of “Giving Thanks” and “Halloween”.  We will work on our new vocabulary and practice using these words in our writing. 

Here is a list of the new vocabulary we will focus on:

thank, giving, God, Jesus, pray, wonderful, share, friends, lovely, autumn, leaf, tree, eat, yummy, friends, family, school, Halloween, scary, costume, Trick-or-Treating, carve, pumpkin, decorating, bones, goblin, cat, bat, ghost, wizard, witch

Talk to your children about these words! Incorporate them into your discussions and have fun!

Basic Concepts- Basic concepts such as colors, numbers, location words, and descriptive words are the building blocks that children need to follow directions, to engage in classroom routines, and to provide descriptions. Understanding these concepts is fundamental for children so they can perform everyday tasks such as listening, speaking, reading and writing.  Here are two ways you can help your child learn basic concepts:

* Read to your child! A lot of common stories teach basic concepts. If the concepts are not stated directly within the story, the pictures lend themselves to teaching concepts. For example, use a picture in a story and say, “Where is the dog? It’s on the sofa.” Then, allow your child to tell you what is off the sofa. You can also go around the room and find things that are on something and things that are off something.

* Playing games is great too.  For example, “I Spy.” You could say, “I spy something that is small/big.”  Encourage your child to use concepts when it’s his/her turn.

In our writing, we have started with sentences. The students are working toward making sure that there is a capital at the beginning of each sentence, lower case letters throughout the sentence, spaces between each word of the sentence and proper punctuation at the end. For our friends who are still learning to write, they are working on speaking full sentences dictating their ideas to me to write for them. We then review their words. These are the first steps to becoming a writer! Some of our older friends are adding details to their sentences too! So much amazing learning happening!

READ, READ,  READ!

So much learning and experience comes from reading. Grab your favourite book and snuggle up and read! Talk about the book, the characters, the facts, the words....all of it! 

And please use the snuggle bag reading program! Here are a few reminders. 

Snuggle Bag Reading:  I will continue sending Snuggle Books with your child to read with you at home.  The books are meant to be at their individual reading level, or just above, giving each student a little challenge.  I appreciate your help in filling out the recording sheet that is in their Snuggle Bags.  This assists me in providing the correct level of book for your child.  The books are meant to be kept until the child feels comfortable with the words in the book.  If they master it in one day, please return it right away.  If the book is more of a challenge please keep the book at home and read it the following evening.  This allows the children to review the words and content and come to a more thorough understanding of the text.  Each time your child returns the book, I will assume he/she is finished with the book and I will send a new one home.  Thank you again for your assistance with this program!!

Be sure to review and sign the agenda and the PLC Ziplock daily.  If you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to write me a note or to call.  I would be happy to talk with you.  Thank-you for your continued support and cooperation. 

I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving weekend. I know I have plenty to be thankful for, including my amazing students!!

Sarah Faloon                                     

Special Education Teacher

PLC St. John the Apostle  

Hello everyone!

This information below will be coming home in a letter today! Check in the mailbag. Please note that I will not be present at the meet the teacher evening at ST. John the Apostle this week. I will instead be hosting IEP meetings to discuss your child's goals for the term.

Please read the letter in the mailbag tonight, fill in your choices and return the bottom portion.

I will confirm your time and date on a first come first serve basis.

Thank you!!!

IEP Interviews

Dear parents,

This year is off to a wonderful start! We have had a very productive few weeks and
I am really excited about the year ahead of us. It is so nice to see how my returning
students have grown over the summer and it is so much fun getting to know my new students!
We are getting to know each other and having a fantastic time!

I am writing to inform you that I will not be present at the Parent Program
Evening here at  St. John the Apostle School on Thursday, September 20th.
Instead, I would like to offer you a time to come in and chat with me about
your child’s goals and expectations for the year.

I am currently in the process of developing your child's IEP (Individual Education Plan)
for the year. Part of this process involves consulting parents in regards to the establishment
of goals for the term and the year. I would like to meet with you within the next few weeks to
present what I have so far and to ask for your input into the plan.  It will be a half hour meeting.
I am offering time slots from after school at 3:45 pm until about 7:00 pm on 2 different nights.
It is my sincere hope that you will be able to schedule yourself into one of these time slots in
order to participate in the development of your child's education plan for this year. I will be
confirming spots on a first come, first serve basis so please return your time request as
soon as possible. I will let you know your time slot as soon as the schedule has been confirmed.
Thank you and I look forward to seeing you soon.

Sarah Faloon

Primary Language Class teacher

St. John the Apostle School.

Welcome Back!

Mrs. Faloon

Primary Language Class

Hello and welcome to a new school year! I hope that everyone had a wonderful and relaxing summer! I know I enjoyed my time with my family!

I was so thrilled to see my returning students and I am very excited

to get to know my new students.

We certainly have had an exciting start to our new school year.  

It has been a very busy few days. We have started some getting-to-

know-you activities, talked about our summer holidays, discussed

school and classroom rules and procedures, and began to establish

routines within the classroom. We even practiced a fire drill so we

know what to do when the first one happens. We are off to a great

start and I know it is going to be a wonderful school year!!

In the next few weeks we will dive right into our learning. I will

be teaching the students about reading and writing strategies and

we will be working on our oral language skills daily. We have

already begun talking about letters and sounds and how they work

together to make words. We have practiced rhyming and syllables

each day.

We read a book called, You're Finally Here! The students drew a

picture and told me all about their summer.

We will begin weekly word wall words shortly. The students will

complete activities within the classroom to practice and learn their

words. The words will be sent home each week for you to practice

with your children. I will write the students words in a book each

week and you can review them with your children. There is no

specific activity that will be required of them, the words are sent

home for reinforcement and to keep you in the loop about what

your children are learning. Feel free to read the words with your

children, write the words with them or simply bring them up in

conversation and talk about their spelling.

We will also begin our Snuggle Up and Read Program soon. I will be sending home their reading folders with a book for your child to read.

For the new families, the concept of the Snuggle Book is that I send home a book for you to snuggle up and read with your child.  While I am sure you have tons of books at home, this is a book that I have chosen to be at your child's reading level. The idea is that you read the book with your child a few times until they can read it to you independently.  This may be right away or it may take a few days.

However long it takes.....no problem! Please keep the book until your child feels comfortable reading it on their own, then you can return it for a new book. In the folder there is a place for you to write whether the book was too easy, too hard or just right.  Please let me know so I can continue to choose appropriate books for each child!

We will begin learning about our Daily Five workstations.

This is valuable learning time that we use to focus on each

child’s individual goals. The stations are set out with each

child’s individual learning needs in mind. It gives them time

to work on skills at their level!

Also in the next few weeks we will be learning some new

games to help with our learning. We love to make learning

feel like playing!

The students are working hard and I am really proud of them.

 It is a lot of work coming to two different schools! I would

like to thank you for your dedication to your child's learning.

Our little class can be best described as a family. We take

care of each other and learn from one another. Our situation

is unique and beautiful. I feel so fortunate to be in a class

where I can focus on each child, assisting each one to meet

their goals. I am looking forward to learning with them

throughout this school year. I know it will be amazing!

Here are just a few little reminders:

Have you checked us out on Twitter yet?

@MrsFaloonPLC

There are tons of pictures and snippets of what we do everyday.

Also, remember that our blog is mrsfaloonplc.blogspot.ca.

We will also be using the SEESAW app again as a way for you to see what is happening in the class. You will be able to sign up and get notifications when your child adds work to their folder. There will be more information sent home about that shortly. Stay tuned!

Transportation: If your child is absent from our Primary Language Class, it is very important that you call the transportation office to cancel the STS drivers (arrival and departure).

The phone number is 613-723- 9677.

Does your child have indoor shoes at St. John the Apostle Catholic

School?   We are requesting that each student brings an extra pair

of shoes that could be left in our classroom. The shoes should be

shoes he/she can put on easily on their own (i.e. without laces if

you child is unable to tie his/her shoes yet).  This will help keep

the class floors neat and tidy. Please be sure to write your child’s

name in the shoes clearly. Please let me know if you have any

concerns about this.

Please label your child’s belongings. It is very helpful to have your

child’s name in their coats, sweaters, lunch bags, backpacks,

shoes and boots!

IEP’s

Your child’s Individual Education Plan is developed in collaboration between the homeschool team, you the parents, and me. The homeschool will send home a draft copy of the IEP in October.  Please take the time to read it carefully. Please remember your input is very important. Please note that a different teacher from St. John the Apostle will be reporting on the Social Studies curriculum for our students.

I hope everyone had a nice week. The first week back is always busy

and hectic and wonderful! Please remember that I am happy to help if

you have any questions or concerns.

Sarah Faloon

Can you believe the end of the school year is only a few days away? We have enjoyed a wonderful year of learning and created many memories, and now it’s time to celebrate our hard work! The children are very excited with the end of the year coming and the new challenges they will be facing in September. Some children will be moving back to their homeschool or moving to another system class while others will be returning to the Primary Language Class. For the children moving out of the program, I wish you more success and happiness, and, I look forward to helping those students returning to St. John the Apostle Catholic School meet new language goals.

We are all ready to enjoy the class party today! I am really looking forward to enjoying the day with the students!

The students will continue to bring home their school work. Please take some time to go through what they have done. 👍

The students will also be bringing home their plants today. Some of them are pretty impressive, but as nature would have it, some did not grow. If your child's plant did not grow, I will be sending home a little package for them to try again!

A big thank-you to all of you for your support and assistance this school year. As parents, you playan important part in helping children meet success. It has been my sincere pleasure working alongside with you to teach your children this year. I have mentioned this in previous posts, but this is the most amazing job in the world. Your children are an incredible joy and they teach me something new everyday. I feel blessed to be in this unique teaching position and I look forward to seeing what the children can accomplish in the future!

Over the summer vacation, I strongly encourage you to help your child continue learning. Read to your child every day and practise writing by using the word wall words that we have been working on all year. Doing one or two activities each day over the summer vacation will help to keep your child’s skills sharp.

A reminder that the St. John the Apostle School BBQ is tomorrow afternoon. Please feel free to join us for some fun starting at 4:00 pm here at the school!!

I hope you enjoy time with each other this summer. Have a happy and safe summer holiday.

God bless you and your family in this summer season!

Sarah Faloon

Wow!  What a beautiful morning! 
I am thrilled to see the sun, to feel the warmth of its glow and to finally get outside without getting wet! It really feels as though we have turned a corner in the weather, and SPRING is here!!

I hope that everyone had a nice weekend enjoying the sun. Now.....time to work! 

As always, we have been quite busy here in the PLC.

In our writing, we are learning about describing. The students have been using their 5 senses to describe many different objects. Some of the students are working towards the goal of writing a descriptive text that includes a topic sentence, 3 details to describe the item, descriptive adjectives, and a concluding sentence. It is a lot of fun looking for ways to describe different things!

During our daily meetings and sharing circles, we incorporate many different Language Development skills. Identifying sounds, deleting sounds, blending sounds and rhyming words are part of our daily discussions. Feel free to try and incorporate these into your conversations at home!! 

We will continue to practice this writing form in large and small groups, and soon enough, the students will begin composing a descriptive text all on their own.

In our reading, we have been working hard and practicing our reading strategies every day! Since the students are at varying places in their reading journeys, students are working on different ways to solve unknown words. Here are the reading strategies that we have been learning about all year. Ask your child which one they use when they are reading and come to a word they do not know! 

  

Good readers use many different strategies to solve words. They also use different strategies to gain a better understanding of what they have read. We have been practicing predicting and inferring as comprehension strategies. Our goal and some success criteria for inferring as a tool to help us remember what we have to do! 

Another thing good readers do is ask questions! We have been working on our goal of using the 5 W's as a way to further understand stories we have read or listened to! 

We have used this chart to remind us of what each of the questions is about. We also talk about lesson was learned in the story. This has been a good way to practice retelling stories! Please feel free to ask your children about the 5 W's in a story when you are reading at home! 

Some other areas that we will begin working on shortly are: 

• comparing and contrasting objects. How are two things similar? How are they different? 
• synonyms, antonyms and multiple meaning words
• Media Literacy: identifying different massages within media 

A few reminders:

*Friday April 27th is a P.D. Day. Enjoy the long weekend!

* If your child is going to be absent, please remember to let transportation know. If you do not have your child's driver's phone number, just call STS at 613-723-9677 and they will let the drivers know. Thank you for support with this! 

*While the sun is out today, Spring days can still be wet! Please consider sending in extra clothing with your child just in case! We do have some extra clothes, but it always better to be safe than sorry.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about our hard work these past few weeks! We will continue to work on these skills.  A reminder that I will continue to post student videos, pictures and work through SeeSaw for you to see. Let me know if you need help accessing the app. 

Happy March everyone!!!

With just one week left before the March Break, we are all very excited here at

St. John the Apostle! There are many fun and interesting days and activities
comingour way! 

The second term is underway and the students have been hard at work.  We are
working on new vocabulary words from different stories, listening comprehension
skills, writing, different parts of speech, phonological awareness, decoding strategies,
and punctuation.

We will begin our study of narratives very soon. We will be looking at the different
parts of a story with specific focus on the 5 W’s (who, what where, when and why).
You can reinforce this skill at home by reading with your children and asking them any
one of these questions while reading. (Who is in this story? Why do you think they
decided to do that? What is happening now? What do you think will happen next?)

The students have continued to work really hard on their writing. We have been
working on sentence structure and how to write proper sentences. Sentences
need to start with a capital letter, have all lower case letters in the middle,
there needs to be finger spaces between the words and there should be punctuation
at the end.
We have been using our Writer's Eye to check and make sure our sentences are correct!

We have started reading our written work out loud to see if we can hear the errors. It is a
strategy that is really helpful for some kids. As we write, we want to get our ideas out on
paper as quickly as we can so we don’t forget anything! This strategy provides a good
opportunity to check to make sure it is in a logical order, has the proper punctuation and
includes everything they had hoped!  I am really proud of how each student has

made gains in their writing! 

This term, we will expand our writing and we will be starting to look at descriptive writing. 
Our goal for this style of writing is for the reader to be able to make a picture in their mind
of the text. The students will learn to use their five senses and descriptive adjectives to write
about people, places, things and events. This will be a fun and long writing unit!

You may have noticed your child talking about a program we have been exploring called
Google Read and Write. We have been learning about this amazing tool that will help us
with our reading and writing tasks. The Grade 3 students have been working on using the
"read" function on the program which will highlight and read a text out loud!
This is a fantastic way to eliminate frustration when text becomes too difficult.
The idea is that the students are familiar and comfortable with this program in
rade 3 so that they can be better self-advocates in their learning in the junior grades.

The students in Grade 1 and 2 have been exposed to the program in whole group activities.
The focus for these students is more on logging into the computer and locating the programs.
They will continue to use these programs in the coming years so that they feel
comfortable and confident in using them throughout their learning. 

This week, as a class, we will be creating a book entitled “Our Lenten Promises”. 
Each student will write down something they would like to work toward during this sacred
time. Ask your child what their Lenten Promise is. 

Throughout the year, the students have been learning about different strategies that
will assist in their reading decoding and comprehension. Last term, we practiced
making predictions and visualization. This term, we will focus on inferring.
The basic idea of inferring is to figure outthe things that the author does not
outright say in a text. 

Next week is the last week before March Break…..can you believe it???

We will continue our focus on Lent and how our actions and words can bring us closer to

Jesus during this solemn season. We will also talk a bit about St. Patrick’s Day. We may even
discuss how we can catch a leprechaun!  Remember to check Twitter to see what fun
activities we are doing!

A few reminders:

Please dress students appropriately for the weather for the day. It can be a challenging time

of year as the weather fluctuates so much! The students should be dressed warmly and ready to be outside. With all of the ice melting and puddles around, sending in an extra pair of clothes, socks and mittens is a great idea!

Please inform STS if your child will not be requiring transportation. If your child is sick, staying at their home school or bring picked up early, please call STS so that they can inform the drivers. The phone number is 613-723-9677. Thank you for your cooperation. 

Our Lenten Projects continue. We continue to collect cans for the Knights of Columbus
and coins for the OK Clean Water Project. Please feel free to send in contributions any time.