Happy Tuesday everyone!
Looks like this rain is going to take away all of our beautiful snow away. Life in Ottawa!!

Today, the bus and van transportation was cancelled because of unsafe driving conditions.  This is a good time to remind everyone that on these days your children are more than welcome to attend a full day at their homeschool.  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 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.

On Sunday, we entered into the season 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, will not be 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!

There are many charitable efforts happening here at SJA, including an Advent sock tree and a Hat drive.  If you would like to donate any new socks, hats, mittens or scarves, they will be used to help keep little ones throughout the city stay warm during this winter season!

Here are our word wall words for this week:

you, my
make, run, up
what, very, will, was, but
sentence, mother, brother, again, found

Please remember that I send the words home each week and you can practice as much or as little as you can. I want the homework to fit into your schedule, so as long as the books are returned by Friday, I will continue to put the words into the book for each week. Thank you for your help with this!

As I have previously mentioned, we have been studying the book, Harry the Dirty Dog this month. Ask your child about our vocabulary words.  We have created definitions for some of the words to help us better understand their meanings.  We are now practicing using these words in full sentences. As an extension of this learning, we are trying to use the words within new contexts!

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. 

Happy "Snow" Day!!! 

Mrs. Faloon 

Can you believe all of this snow?!?!  Winter is here.....but will it stay? 😃

As the cold and wet weather arrives, please remember that the students need warm clothes for recess time. The students came in today with rosy cheeks and wet mittens. They were so excited about the snow! An extra pair of mittens and socks in their bag may be a good idea!

This week we are honouring Anti-Bullying Week.  At St. John the Apostle, we are focusing on the role of the bystander.  We have started talking about what bullying is, what it looks like and what it feels like. We have begun to identify the differences between real bullying and other behaviours. We also began discussing how important it is to say something if you witness bullying. We watched a video about being an UPSTANDER instead of being a BYSTANDER.  We are encouraging the students who witness bullying to do something about it. There are 4 main ways to be an UPSTANDER:

1. Be a Buddy

2. Interrupt 

3. Speak Out

4. Tell Someone

We are going to decorate our door to show the school how we feel about bullying. Stay tuned for pictures!

Here are some of the amazing things we will be doing this week!

Our word wall words are:

at, to

big, have, do

ride, here, them, eight, over

every, once, sister, happy, often

We played the game Roll, Read, Write! Ask your child how to play!

This week, we have continued our focus on the _et word family. We made a fun little book last week and this week, we are still learning about which words belong to this family. The patterns and rhyming are helping us on our reading journey!

We continue our study of the book, Harry the Dirty Dog. As we read the story, the students and I wrote down all of the words we did not know and now we are going in depth to learn more about them.  We are taking those words, creating our own definitions and learning about them in other contexts.  The goal is to integrate as many of these words as possible into each child's vocabulary. Vocabulary is such an important part of language so we will continue with these words all month. Next month, we will begin a new book and more words! It is going to be a good one!!

As we get more and more into the school year, the students are all taking steps to meet their individual goals! They have been doing more writing in their journals and I am so proud of them! Each time we write in our journals, I have a chosen topic for them.  We discuss possible sentences for them to write, brainstorm ideas and then they are off! With the many different learning levels in the class, their journal entries all look very different. Some students are working towards telling me a sentence orally that I scribe for them, while others are working towards 3 or 4 sentences independently. The students take this task very seriously and they are doing really well. It is so amazing to see the progress of each child!

Next week, we enter into the season of Advent where we are getting ready for the birth of Jesus. It is such an amazing a blessed time of year and there will be many exciting activities ahead. Please continue to visit the blog and our twitter account for updates and reminders. 

A reminder that we go to the Library every Wednesday. Please try and help your child remember to return their book each week so all of the students can enjoy the lovely books from the library. 

Hello!

What a beautiful Monday morning it is today! 

I hope that everyone had a nice and relaxing weekend! I found last week so busy! I think the fact that it started with Halloween made it all the more exciting as well!

Before delving into what we have been working, here are just a few reminders! 

 Indoor Shoes- There are some students who do not have indoor shoes at St. John the Apostle Catholic School. All students must change from outdoor shoes or boots into indoor shoes upon entering the Primary Language classroom. Please be sure that your child can put on his/her shoes independently (i.e. shoes with Velcro; shoes with laces only if your child can tie laces on his/her own, etc.).

Labeling Clothing: Please label your child`s outdoor clothing.  This will help alleviate some of the confusion when the students are getting ready for outdoors.  Thank you for your help in this area. 

Reading at Home: One of the best ways to foster a love of books is to read with your child. Take the time to question your child as the story progresses. Your child will model your reading patterns and fluency. Focus on the main idea, the sequence of events (what happened first, then, next), making connections, and predicting.  Using the snuggle books are a great tool, and the students library books are a great resource as well! 

Interviews: Interviews will be held here at St. John the Apostle the evening of Thursday November 17th. If you have not already scheduled an interview and would like to, please call the school or write a note in the communication book and we can find a time!  If you cannot make the 17th and would like another date, please let me know and I will do what I can to find another date to meet with you! 

Please remember that there is a P.D. Day on Friday, November 18^th.  

OK! Here is what we have been working on and where we are going in our learning! 

As usual, we have been working hard here in the Primary Language Class. We wrapped up our activities surrounding the story, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat. The students did a really good job with their centers. They were able to follow directions and cooperate with their peers to complete all of the activities. Check their mail bags this week for some of those activities! 

This month, we have started the book, Harry the Dirty Dog. This will be our focus to practice many different skills. On our first reading of the book, the students and I came up with a list of words that they did not know. We will use this list to learn new vocabulary words and we will focus on these words for the month. This is different than the Word Wall Words as we are focusing on the meaning and usage of these words rather than the recognition and writing.  

With this book, we will also talk about the story elements of characters and setting, who is in the story and where does it take place.  

Here are our word wall words for this week! 

in, is

an, you, my

after, his, her, him, who

clock, friend, those, writing, gym 

Thank you to everyone who has been practicing these words,  It is really making a difference in how the students can recognize and use these words! 

We have really been working hard on learning our letter sounds. We have been following the Jolly Phonics Program. Each letter sound has a song and an action to help the students remember. I really find that having an action associated with a sound gives the students a more tactile and concrete way of remembering.  We are going to continue with this practice throughout the year.  Here is a YouTube link to a song that has all of the sounds! Feel free to listen and share with your child at home! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCjJYB07aSU

We will be looking at a poem to reflect Remembrance Day. The students will be doing a little group work to try and solve a poem puzzle! This gives the students an opportunity to work on group work and collaboration! 

That sums up our week! 

Please remember to check our our Twitter account @MrsFaloonPLC to see more of our exciting learning! 

Have a great week!

Hello on this chilly day!
I heard mention of flurries today....can you believe it?  I guess I should be used to it by now, but the cold weather always seems to creep up on me!

This is going to be an exciting week here at SJA. The students are so very excited about Halloween. I love it!  I love that they are putting their enthusiasm into great words that have turned into fantastic sentences and really fun conversations.  I am happy to hear about their costumes and how they are celebrating this fun day!
To get ready for Halloween, our activities and lessons are planned around this theme! As previously mentioned, we read a story called, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat.  This week, we will be rotating through some fun stations based on the book including a sequencing station where they have to retell the story in order, a writing station where they can describe their costume, a BINGO game station, a comprehension station where they are going to ask and answer questions about the book, a vocabulary station where they will learn and practice vocabulary words about Halloween and a fun game where they will practice following directions. I think the students are going to have fun and learn a lot with these activities.  Ask your child which station they were at and maybe they will tell you a bit about it!

Students will be invited to wear orange and black here on Halloween. We have some fun things planned for the day while they are here to celebrate! Check out our class Twitter for some pictures of the exciting times!



Here are the word wall words for the week! 






We started writing in our Journals last week.  We used what we already knew about writing to make a list of things that we should always do when writing.  These steps are the criteria for us to be successful!
Here is what we came up with!

As the students become more comfortable with their writing and their skills improve, we will be adding different criteria to the list. The students did an excellent job!
As I review the students written work, I will be commenting on what they have done using a strategy called, "Tickled Pink and Green for Growth".  You make have heard of this already, all this means is that I will write in PINK something that they did really well, something I am proud of them for doing! Then, I will add in GREEN their next steps.  Since these goals are so different for each student, this is a great communication tools!
This is an example of what it may look like!









Last week, we also wrote a letter to the principal, Mr. McGarrity, asking for some sports equipment for our class.  We brainstormed what to write, edited it all together and then wrote a good copy.  We are hoping for some new items to play with at recess! Check it out!

I will let you know how it goes!!! 

A few reminders!

* If your child does not have indoor shoes to leave here, they need to bring them to and from their home school. As the weather gets colder and wetter, everyone needs a clean, dry and warm pair of shoes to wear here.  Please let me know if we can be of any help in getting your child a pair of shoes to leave here st SJA.  We would be happy to help! 

* We are in the last week of #WEscarehunger! Please send in any canned goods to help those in need! 

* Students have many opportunities to eat snacks in our class, however, there is a lot going on in your child's day!! Please let me know if you have any concerns about how much your child is able to eat during the day.  

* I will continue to send home the Word Wall Words every Monday. How/When/How Much you practice those words is up to you! I will take the WWW book out of the mail bags once I see that they have practiced, or on Friday.  Please let me know if I take it out and you would still like to practice. The words are usually posted on this blog and on our Twitter account, so feel free to check there as well! 

* The students are doing really well with their Snuggle Book Reading! Again, I will switch the books once I see that you have signed the page telling me how they have done.  You are welcome to keep each book for as long as it takes to read it with your child. 

* Please remember that our Library Day is Wednesday.  Please return all books on or by Wednesday of each week. Thanks! 

Hello and happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.  It was rainy and a bit gloomy yesterday, but the sun is shining brightly today!!

This is such a busy time of year!

You will be receiving your child's IEP this week.  This is your child's plan for his/her educational goals for this term.  I have set goals for your child in the areas of Language Development, English Language, Social Studies and Self-Advocacy.  These goals have been developed based on your child's Speech and Language Assessments, their current level of achievement in the academic areas and my observations and assessments in the classroom so far.
This is a very important document.  Please take the time to review, sign and return the signed portion to the home school.  If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to give me a call.  I would be happy to go over it with you. As the parent, you are an integral part of this process!

We have begun our United Way Campaign here at St. John the Apostle.  There will be a few fun activity coming up to raise money for this amazing organization.  The first event will be this Thursday, October 20th.  Students are invited to bring $2.00 and come to school dressed as a SUPERHERO! I cannot wait to see all the amazing outfits!! 
Next week we will have a pumpkin raffle.  Each class will decorate a pumpkin, and there will be tickets sold and one lucky winner will be drawn for each pumpkin! 
Early in November, there will be a PJ Day! Those are my favourite! 
A newsletter was sent home today explaining all of the events.  

As we get closer to Halloween, there will be more information sent home about what will be allowed on that day.  The students seem VERY excited about Halloween this year! As a class, we will brainstorm some ideas of how we can celebrate at school.  I am looking forward to hearing their ideas.  

Here are some of the exciting things going on this week!

Today, we learned our new word wall words for the week.  Here are the words!

come, look

it, in, is

look, car, eat, to, girl

myself, almost, about, also, because

This week, we practiced our words a little bit differently.  We played a game called, "Roll, Read and Write" where the students had to roll a number cube, read the corresponding word, and practice writing it. Everyone loved the game and there was some great learning happening.  I was particularly impressed with the amazing team work and cooperation that I saw.  The students were helpful, patient and polite with everyone on their team.  I give them all two thumbs up! 

Today, we also decided that we would like a ball for our class to play with at recess. After some discussion, we decided that a good way to find out about a ball would be to write the principal, Mr. McGarrity a letter asking him if he could get us a class ball.  Today, we wrote a first draft and did some editing. It has turned out to be a great activity and allowed for some fantastic learning opportunities in a real situation!  We will complete the final draft and send it to the office later this week. I will let you know how it goes!

Starting tomorrow, we will look at words that belong to the _op word family. Ask your child if they can remember any _op words! 


Today, we read a book called, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat! Some of you may have heard about the old lady who swallowed a bunch of school supplies from earlier this year. These are from a series of stories written by Lucille Colondro. They are a spin off of the original story, There Was an Old LAdy Who Swallowed a Fly. These books are excellent teaching tools!  They are full of rhymes, repetition, vocabulary, thematic concepts and a ton of laughs! I have many of these books in my library and you will be hearing about them throughout the year. We will be reading the Halloween version of this story for a few weeks. I have many fun activities and games based on this book coming up so stay tuned! 

Some parents have been asking about other activities they can do at home to assist their children. Please keep up the reading! There are so many valuable and crucial elements of language wrapped up in one small book.  Ask your child about the story.  Talk about the characters, about who they are and how they feel. Talk about the plot by asking what happened in the story. Reading with your children often will also give you some insight into their progress. I know as a teacher and as a parent, I love NOTHING more than seeing a child learn something new!


Phonological Awareness is a crucial part of language development.  Breaking down words into chunks helps the students understand how the different sounds work together to make each word. Here are some activities to assist students practice syllables:

-          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”.

We have a lot to focus on and I am incredibly proud of how hard the students are working. Their progress is real and it really does make me smile!


Have a great week! 
S. Faloon 

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! 

The students had their picture taken here at SJA a few weeks ago. The proofs are ready! Each student has an individual picture here. I will be sending them home very tomorrow. I am sure they had one taken at their homeschool as well, or perhaps picture day has not happened yet. Please do not feel obligated to purchase from both. each group (both morning and afternoon) had a group picture taken and I will send it home as soon as it arrives.  

Here are our word wall words for this week.  You will notice that there are MANY more words than 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.  

This week, we will begin to talk about stories and their elements. We will explore what the characters (who the story is about) and the setting (where the story happens) of a story were. These are some great things to discuss while you are reading with your kids at home! 

On our writing, we are working toward writing perfect sentences. Some of the things we will be practicing are starting the sentence with a capital, using finger spaces between words, using punctuation at the end of the sentence and ensuring that the sentence is a whole thought.  !! For students who have mastered these steps, they are working toward creating more descriptive sentences by adding details and explanations.  

A note about Snuggle Books!!

I try and send home books that will challenge the students and help them feel successful. The books are also chosen to help them work on specific strategies that we are learning about in class. The picture here shows some of the strategies that the students are working on. Depending on your child's reading level, they are using different strategies to solve unfamiliar words. Ask your child which strategy they are working on! If the books are too difficult for your child to read in one evening, please keep the book for longer!  The books only need to returned when your child has practiced and read the book independently. 

Quick Notes:

#WEscarehunger 

SJA is working together to SCARE HUNGER!  We have begun collecting canned goods and we will continue to do so until Halloween.  We will be donated all goods collected to Morrison Gardens. Please give if you can! 

The United Way Campaign is underway. In the next few weeks we will be having fun days and special events here at school to raise money for this amazing cause.  Please stay tuned for more details about the exciting events! 

Your child's IEP will coming home shortly. Your child’s IEP is developed in collaboration between the homeschool team, you the parents, and me. The homeschool will send home a draft copy of the IEP shortly. Please take the time to read it carefully. I would be very happy to arrange a time to sit and discuss the IEP with you. I can also set up a time to talk to you by telephone if that is preferable. Please remember your input is very important. Please note that Rosalind Mcguire, teacher at St. John the Apostle Catholic, will be reporting on the Social Studies curriculum for our students. 

 

Wishing everyone a great week! As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns! 

S. Faloon :) 

Oh Happy Monday!!

I hope that everyone had a lovely weekend! What a beautiful day we had yesterday! The showers on Saturday certainly did bring the sun out on Sunday!

We are now in third week of school and we are in full swing! We have had an exciting start to our new school year.  We have done many getting-to-know-you activities, learned rules and procedures, and established routines within the classroom. We are off to a great start and I know it is going to be a wonderful school year.

Today I will have sent home some Word Wall Words with your child. On the cover of the Word Wall Book there are some instructions.  Basically, the book is there for you to practice the words with your child.  There are no specific activities or timelines! All I ask is that the book be returned by Friday so I can put the new words in for the following week. We work on the words in class throughout the week. Practice at home is a great way to reinforce the learning that is happening at school! However, I understand how busy life gets and that sometimes homework takes a back seat to everything else in your day.  I also understand that there are so many more valuable things that you can be doing with the little time you have with your children at the end of the day. So, please do what you can, even if it is just talking about the words. Thank you so much for your help!
Here are of our words for this week:  

Group 1: I, can

Group 2: I, can, see

Group 3: said, find, and, come, big 

I have also sent home a Snuggle Book.  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.....noproblem! 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! 

This week, we will be learning about words in the _en word family.  Talk to your child about what words belong in this word family (i.e., pen, Ben, ten).  
We have also begun learning about the vowels and the sounds they make.  Vowel identification is an important part of learning to read!  Ask your child about the different sounds that the vowels make.....they may even have a song to sing you! 

Here are 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! 

  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.

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.  I would be very happy to arrange a time to sit and discuss the IEP with you.  I can also set up a time to talk to you by telephone if that is preferable.  Please remember your input is very important.   Please note that Rosalind McGuire, a teacher at St. John the Apostle, will be reporting on the Social Studies curriculum for our students.  

The students are working hard and I am really proud of them.  It is a lot of work coming to two different schools!  
Have a great week! Please remember that I am happy to help if you have any questions or concerns. 

Sarah Faloon 

Hello and WELCOME to the Primary Language Class Blog!

Here I will be able to communicate with you the very exciting happenings of our class.  I will be able to let you know about what we are learning, special events and we will also be able to celebrate the successes made in the class! 

I am so happy to be back teaching this class this year and your children are already teaching me so much. I am very much looking forward to this year with these students.  We have had many conversations already about our goals for this year and I really want the students to know that this is a safe place for them.  We are all different and we are all unique learners.  We celebrate the little victories and we honour that this will look differently for each of us.  We have discussed the motto "I CAN"! 

We may need some help and some time, but we will reach for our goals! We all have strengths to contribute! 

I hope everyone is having a smooth transition into the school year. Stay tuned for more posts about our class! 

Don't forget to check out our class twitter account for exciting updates about our learning!  @MrsFaloonPLC

 Mrs. Faloon