Monday October 27th 2014

Happy Monday everyone!!!

I hope you all had a nice weekend.  I am really looking forward to this week.  The days leading up to Halloween are always so exciting, and we have some fun activities going on here at St. John the Apostle.  

A reminder that on Friday the students are invited to wear black and orange.  We will also be participating in a Pumpkin Raffle!  Each class will be decorating a pumpkin, and then there will be a pumpkin display in the Learning Commons on Friday.  Tickets for the raffle will be 25 cents each or 5 for $1.00.  For students bringing $5 or more, their names will be put into a draw for SJA Spirit Wear! All money raised is going to the United Way. 

Also, this week, homework calendars and Scholastic orders are due back on Wednesday.  A big thank you if you have already returned these things.  

Just a reminder that our class visits the Learning Commons on Wednesdays.  Please help your child remember to return his/her book on or before Wednesday so that he/she can take out a new book.  

Last week we started some photography with Kate Settle.  Kate shared her expertise with the students and they had a blast taking pictures of different things from different perspectives.  

This week, we will be reading a book called There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bat! The book follows the same patterns as the story, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly (I am sure you have all heard of it!!).  The story allows the students to focus on rhyme and repetition which are both excellent strategies to use on our journey to becoming better readers!

Last week, we read a story called Birthday Party Pandamonium!  After reading the story, we discussed who the characters were, where setting was (where the story took place) and what happened.  We identified what happened at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the story.  These story elements will help the students learn more about how narrative stories are structured as well as developing their comprehension of the text. 

Our word family this week is _in.  We will read a poem about spiders and how they spin a web.  Talk about words in the _in word family with your child.  Stay tuned for pictures of our work! 

Here are our word wall words for the week!  


In the mail bag today, you will see a fundraiser package.  Please take a few minutes to read through and see if this is something you would like to participate in.  I know it can be difficult to juggle the activities of two schools, so please do not feel pressured to participate in this fundraiser.  It is there as an option for you!

There will also be a letter regarding parent teacher interviews.  Your child's progress report and IEP will be going home some time this week from their home school.  I would love to meet with you to discuss your child's progress and next steps in language and.  Our interviews here at SJA are being held on Wednesday November 5th from 4:00 pm-7:00 pm.  If you would like to schedule an interview with me on that date, please call the office and Mrs. Guilfoyle will help you set up a time that works for you.  If you are unavailable on that day and would like to schedule an interview on a different day, please write me a note in the mail bag with some dates and times that work for you wand we will schedule a meeting.  

I hope everyone has a nice week.  Please do not hesitate to call or write a note if there is anything you need!! 

Hello everyone!

I hope that you all had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend shared with family! What a beautiful weekend it was!  I have said it many times, but I feel so blessed to live in a city that gives us the most amazing and glorious autumns.  

This week will be short and sweet!  While there are only 4 days at school, we still have plenty of work to do! 
We had our pictures taken as a class yesterday.  I cannot wait to see all of the beautiful smiling faces!  There will be a class picture for each student.  I will send them home when they are ready.  

Here are our word wall words for this week.  You will notice that there are MANY more words that the ones your child brought home.  As it is with much of our learning, students are working at varying levels. Each student has their own words that they are responsible for practicing.  

Word families are an excellent way to learn rhyming words and spelling patterns.  This week, we have discussed words in the _ip word family (for example: dip, hip, flip, ship, ship, sip). We read a story about an alien named Zip who lives on Planet Blip! Please review the words with your child!   

We are staring to talk about stories and their elements.  Earlier in the year we explored what the characters (who the story is about) and the setting (where the story happens) of a story were.  This week, we will begin looking at what happens during the story and identifying what takes place at the beginning, the middle and the end of a narrative story.  

Take a look at our writing goal.  We are working toward writing perfect sentences, and this chart shows how we will get there!! For students who have mastered these steps, they are working toward creating more descriptive sentences by adding details and explanations.  

A few reminders:
*This Friday, October 17th is PJ and Crazy Hair Day.  We are raising money for United Way, so bring in your loonies and wear your cozies!! *The following Friday, October 24th, will be wear your SJA colours day.  Wear your SJA gear or sport some navy blue and/or grey and show school spirit! 
*On October 31st, students will be invited to wear orange and black to celebrate Halloween.  Each class will have the chance to decorate a pumpkin.  After being on display, students can enter into a raffle for a chance to win their favourite pumpkin!  Raffle tickets will be 25 cents each or 5 for $1.00.  Students who bring in $5.00 or more for the pumpkin raffle will be entered into a draw for one of several school t-shirts.  
*SJA is working together to SCARE HUNGER!  We have been collecting canned goods and we will continue to do so until Halloween.  We will be donating all goods collected to Morrison Gardens. Please give if you can!

Thanks for reading!!  I hope everyone has a nice week!

WELCOME!!

Hello!!!

Welcome to our class blog!  I am very excited to tell you all about the amazing things we do here in the Primary Language Class at St John the Apostle!
I am hoping to use this blog as a way to keep you more informed of what we do here in our class. There are useful links and important dates listed here as well.
Check back often to see what's happening!