Happy Spring everyone!

I hope that everyone had a nice and relaxing March Break! I have loved hearing about all of the fun adventures that the students had on their week off!

We are half way through a very busy week!  We have been doing a lot and learning many new things.

Our week started with a little surprise!!

Before the break, we had created and left a trap to try and catch a leprechaun.
Unfortunately, when we returned on Monday, there was no leprechaun in sight, but he did leave us a little note and hid a treat for us! Sneaky leprechaun!!!! Oh well, maybe next year!

We read the book, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick. It follows the same patterns as the other Old Lady books we have read throughout the year, however, its theme is Easter. Throughout the next few weeks, we will complete different activities related to this book. Ask your child about them!!






This week, we have also been discussing a book called, `Big Deals and Little Deals`. In the book, it explains the difference between a big deal (something that hurts your body, something dangerous, scary situations) and a little deal (someone bothering you, someone hurting your feelings). It teaches different strategies to handle the little deals on our own. The strategies that the book uses mimic those we have learned about while using our WITS! (Walk away, Ignore, Talk about it, Seek help) Look for more info as we practice the strategies in the class. Please let me know if you would like more information about the book or the strategies we are using.

In our writing, we have continued with our Procedural Writing Goal. Check out our Learning Goal and Success Criteria. The success criteria helps the students to remember the steps to take to meet the goal. We have practiced writing many procedural texts, including How to Get Ready for Recess, How to Catch a Leprechaun and How to Make a Bowl of Cereal.

A few weeks ago, we made some yummy fruit salad and then we wrote about how to make it!
The different colours on the big text help us see that we have included all of the important parts of a procedural text.







We also have a Learning Goal in our reading practice.  Right now, we are looking at predicting and inferring as strategies to help us understand what we are reading. Through many oral activities, we have noticed that when we use information that we already have in our brains, and add it with new information, we can come up with some pretty cool inferences!

This chart helps us with our inferring skills! 

Homework calendars continue to come home on a monthly basis. Students also have Word Wall Words every week to practice. Please work with your child to complete the activities and return it to school at the end of the month.  With the hectic lives we lead, it is not always possible to complete daily activities. I completely understand that there are times when more time is required! Help your child make a plan to work around outside commitments (for example: sports, clubs, special family events, etc.)  The activities are usually short and require about 5 minutes to complete. In addition to the homework calendar activities, it is very beneficial to read to and with your child every night.  Please remember that a major role in the development of your child’s language is played by you, the parent. Working on language skills at home and in various settings outside of the classroom, helps your child to reinforce and carry over the skills into everyday activities. 

The Easter weekend will soon be upon us. In class we will be looking at the story and the significance of this important weekend. 

I am really looking forward to celebrating the Spring season! Stay tuned for our Spring and Easter vocabulary words, our Spring writing activities and (hopefully) some Spring weather! 

A reminder that Friday is Hat Day here at SJA. We are raising money for our Lenten Project, OK Clean Water. Bring in some change and wear a hat all day!!! 

Also, we are continuing to collect used children`s books for our used book sale here at the school.  Proceeds will also go to OK Clean Water. If you have any books that you no longer read, please send them in to the school.  On the day of the book sale, students will have the opportunity to buy a book from the sale. The date is still to be determined. Stay tuned! 

As always, communication between home and school is very important. Please do not hesitate to write me a note in the agenda or to call. I would be happy to discuss any concerns or questions. 

Hello!

March is here and it looks like the cold, cold weather has stayed in February! I am certainly looking forward to spending more time outdoors in the beautiful March sunshine! It is hard to believe that it is already March.....where has the year gone?!?! 

Please allow me to begin by saying how sorry I am that we have had to postpone skating, TWICE!  This cold has made it difficult to schedule outdoor activities.  I appreciate your patience and understanding! We are looking at possible dates for rescheduling, so please stay tuned! I know how much the students are looking forward to it! 

I hope that everyone has received their Lent Calendar.  Lent is the 40 days and nights leading up to Easter where we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Saviour.  Lent is a time to show that we understand the sacrifices that have been made for us. Using the calendar is a great way to show the children that "giving something up" is the only way to be closer to God.  We can try to do nice and kind things, everyday, to bring us closer! Please let me know if you need another copy. 

v       In our writing, we have been practicing our procedural writing.  We started by looking at the steps necessary to get ready for recess, and we also looked at the steps necessary to make yummy pancakes! You can help your child with this skill by talking about the steps you take to complete tasks at home such as brushing your teeth or making a sandwich.  You can reinforce what we are learning at school by using transitional words such as first, then, next and finally as you describe your procedure! 

    Throughout the year, the students have been learning about different strategies that will assist in their reading comprehension.  Throughout the next few months, we will focus on Inferring.  This strategy is often referred to as "reading between the lines". This strategy involves forming a best guess using evidence such as context clues and picture clues. 

    We continue to look at the elements of narrative stories. Understanding how stories flow will help give the students a more thorough comprehension of the stories that they read. When reading narrative stories with your children, ask questions about the characters and the setting. Also, talk about the sequence of what happens in the story. What happened at the beginning, middle and end of the story? 

   Here are our Word Wall Words for this week. Thank you for helping your children practice these words every week.  

    two, yellow

    from, this, talk, 

    drink, would, into, more, how

    that's, another, buy, by, know

    We have been learning nursery rhymes and poems at school since September.  Nursery rhymes and poems are an excellent pre-reading and developing-reading resource. Their repetitive refrains, beats, patterns of repetition, rhymes, and predictable language is exactly what young readers need.  Here is one we learned just last week!
 

If you have not already received them, Term 2 IPE's will be going home shortly. I am happy to meet with you to discuss the Term 1 report card, next term’s IEP goals as well as any plans for next year.  Please do not hesitate to contact me and we can set up a meeting or a phone call.  

The students have been working really hard and I am really proud of each of them.  I continuously see progress in each child and it is a great feeling!

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I look forward to the Spring season and all of the learning that we will do in the next few months!!

Hello everyone!
I hope a good week was had by all.  We are having a nice Spirit Week here at SJA.  Remember that tomorrow is Hawaiian Day...wear something tropical!!

I am very sorry to report that we are going to have to cancel skating for tomorrow again, both the morning and afternoon. We have a scheduling conflict in the afternoon and the weather looks like it will be just too cold in the morning.  We are going to try for next Friday, March 6th.  I will send home the permission forms (again!!) early next week!  I know that the students are looking forward to it!

Also, look for information about our OK Clean Water Project!

Students will be receiving their Term 2 IEPs within a few weeks. Here you will see the new expectations that your child will be working toward for this coming term. If you have any questions or if you would like to chat about it, please feel free to give me a call.  I am happy to go over the IEP with you!!

Stay warm and stay tuned for more information about our class happenings next week! 

Due to the weather forecast for the morning, we will be cancelling our MORNING skating trip tomorrow.  Watch for more information about rescheduling the activity!

Please stay tuned for information about our afternoon trip!! 

Happy Thursday everyone!  One day closer to the long weekend!  Hopefully the weather will warm up and you can get outside to enjoy the time with family!

This week, your child's report card and IEP will be coming home.  I am so proud of their hard work and successes!! While there is no official interview day here at St. John the Apostle, I am more than happy to meet with you if you would like to discuss your child's progress and/or next steps.  Please write a note or call the school and we can find a time to chat.

This week we focused on friendship, love and kindness to lead us up to Valentines Day. There were no word wall words, only Valentines words!  The students have been reading, writing and talking about Valentines all week! They are pretty excited! So.....we are going to have a Pyjama and Pancake Party tomorrow!  Students can wear their jammies, or they can wear red and white.....or BOTH! The students are also welcome to bring in cards for their classmates tomorrow. There are 10 students in each group. I am sure it will be a wonderful and lovely day!

Stay warm tomorrow!  Enjoy the long weekend.  Looking forward to hearing about all of the adventures had!

Happy Monday Everyone! Can you believe it is February already? January just flew by! I feel like we just returned from our holidays!

I hope everyone managed to stay warm and safe through the snow today! 

With all of the snow, please understand that there may be delays with the student vans. To add to this, please remember to contact OSTA if your child will be away.  

We had a busy day today!  We learned our Word Wall Words for the week, we worked hard at our Daily Five Work Stations and we discussed Groundhog Day. 
We read a book and a poem about Groundhog Day.  We also looked at some information online. Apparently, we have 6 more weeks of Winter.....silly groundhog! 

Ou words for the week are:

came, down

three, pretty, not

make, give, had, one, at

doesn't, until, getting, first, you

Recently, we have been talking about predictions Predicting is a good strategy to further students understanding. When student know how to make predictions and use this skill prior to reading, they not only have a reason to read, but this knowledge will improve their comprehension.  By activating prior knowledge they can get at the deeper meanings and learn to read between the lines. 

We have also started looking at procedural writing.  We have read some books that tell us "How To". We will be looking at writing our own procedural texts in the coming months.  

The students have been exploring different kinds of words in our vocabulary.  We have discussed synonyms, antonyms and multiple leaning words. We have been adding to our fancy words and tricky words as well.  Ask your child about these!

This week, we will learn some Winter Vocabulary Words.  I will be challenging the students to use these words in complete sentences in their writing, and in more complex sentences in their speech.  

As Valentines Day is on a Saturday this year, we will be celebrating on Friday February 13th. We will be having a pyjama and pancake party to honour the special day of friendship!  Your child can wear their cozies, bring in a stuffy and share a pancake treat with their friends. Of course, we will likely do some writing about how to make pancakes too! If your child would like to bring in Valentines to share with their classmates, please make sure that everything is peanut free. I will send home a list of the students first names!  

In the next few weeks, your child will be bringing home their report card as well as their IEP.  Please let me know if you would like to meet to discuss your child's progress at any time. I am always happy to meet or organize a phone interview.  

Thank you again for all of your support and dedication to your child's education!  Please feel free to contact me anytime if you have any questions or concerns. Have a great week!!!

Hello everyone! 

January is flying by and we have so many important things going on in our class.  The students are hard at work and I am so proud of each and every one of them. Their perseverance and enthusiasm for learning are incredible to witness every day!

With all we have going on, I want to take a moment to thank you as well.  Your dedication to your children's learning is very much appreciated. I know that it may be not be easy to have your child at two different schools, but together we can give your children the best days possible! I am so thankful to be able to spend my days with your children. 

Ok, so here are some of the things going on in our class!!

Word Wall Words

Here are the Word Wall Words for this week.  We will continue practicing spelling patterns using the triangle form for homework.  The students have been working on using these words in a sentence.  Ask your child to tell you a sentence with one of their words!!

The students have been learning about how to use our success criteria to help our writing.  

When given a writing task, we have been using a writer's checklist to help them remember how to improve their writing. 

WORDS have been a big topic in our class lately!  We have been talking about synonyms, antonyms and multiple meaning words. Here are three words we have been looking at this week. Each of these words has more than one meaning.  There are so many multiple meaning words!!! Ask your children if they can help you think of some more!  

We listened to a story called "You Are Special". It is written by Max Lucado.  He writes a series of stories outlining the simple and true fact that we are all unique and wonderful. We exist in God's love and our differences and special talents are what make us amazing.  I love these stories because they deliver such a true and important message.  The students will be listening to more stories in this series and we will be talking about how they make us feel, how we can relate to the characters and how the important message relates to our lives. 


The Story Retell Journal will be coming home tonight. Please take some time to listen to your children tell you the story of Sneezy the Snowman! Please return the journal once the retell is complete!!  Enjoy!


I hope everyone has a nice weekend!!