Tuesday, December 11th 2018

Happy Tuesday everyone!

What a beautiful snowy day here in Ottawa!

The snow seemed to fall like magic all day long. It was so lovely to see.

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 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 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 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! 

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 have also been a big focus. We have

included 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 have used 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 word wall words for 2018. 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. 😊

There are many charitable efforts happening here at SJA, including an

dvent sock tree and a Hat drive.  If you would like to donate any new

socks, hats, mittens, scarves or non-perishable food items, they will be

used to help keep little ones throughout the city stay warm and fed during

this winter season! 

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 

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend prepping for Halloween!

My kiddos at home are so excited, I am sure your families are

sharing in the excitement!

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! We will be practicing our descriptive writing

skills when we write all about our costumes!

Students will be invited to wear their costumes 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 words that we are learning this season.

We have grouped the words together as Fall words.

Some of the words are about Thanksgiving and some are about

Halloween. We are learning about why these words belong to

each of these groups.

Leaves, leaf, pumpkin, scarecrow, fall, autumn, acorn, branch,

apple tree, turkey, windy, corn, harvest, apple, kites, rainy days

Haunted house, mummy, spider, Frankenstein, skeleton,

Jack-o-Lantern, bat, pumpkin, candy corn, witch, treat bag, ghost,

cauldron, black cat, vampire, spider web

We have really been enjoying writing in our journals. Some students

have really been focused on writing complete sentences using our

Writers Eye! Here are the things we are looking for with our

Writer’s Eyes! Students can use this chart on the wall when they are

writing to double check that they have included these 4 things!  

(Capitals at the beginning, lowercase letters throughout the sentence,

spaces between our words and punctuation at the end).

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 student's 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! 

Your child’s progress reports will be coming home soon.

They will be sent home from your child’s homeschool.

Please read through, sign and return the signed portion back to

their homeschool.

As you are reading the reports, please remember that the grades

and comments are a tiny portion of the amazing successes I see

in your children every single day. My sincere hope is that you and

your children know how proud of them I am. They work incredibly

hard! Report cards can only tell you so much, and I  

SEE SO MUCH MORE growth and gains than I could ever write

in a report card or an IEP. Your children are inspiring and their perseverance,

enthusiasm for learning and positive energy are a constant reminder to

remind me of why we are all here!

I would be happy to meet and chat with anyone regarding the IEP

and the progress report, either in person or over the phone. I will send

home an interview request invitation next week.

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

S. Faloon

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.  Please do not send it back to school

until you would like a new book. 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! 

*There will be a P.J. Day on November 8th. Please bring in a

donation for United Way!

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.