Thursday December 12th 2019 

Happy Tuesday everyone!

What a beautiful sunny day here in Ottawa!

The snow certainly fell last night. 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 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. 

Also, please remember to dress your child appropriately for the weather. The temperature

is changing daily, sometimes drastically different from the day before. Hats, mittens and

boots are important everyday. Children can always take off something if they are too hot.

Extra outdoor clothes and socks in the backpack are a very good idea as well! Thank you

for your assistance in this! 

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 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! 

Ask your child about our Countdown to Christmas Kindness Calendar! We have had a

lot of fun and smiles spreading the joy of the season and I cannot wait to see what we are

going to do in the days ahead. 

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 will also be a big focus. We will include 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 will be using 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 words for 2019. 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. 😊

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 

Hello!

We are having our parent-teacher interviews here at St. John the Apostle on

Thursday, November 14, 2019. 

Interviews are a great way for parents and teachers to communicate about your

child’s progress.  If you would like to schedule an interview, please follow this

link and you can book a time online. (I know it is long!) 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScGN0CfGdt1spG2DqqOJMvrJ-

YgBo8QVttZn9hJl5M_L5mI2A/viewform

I have also tweeted the link and it is up on the blog

(http://mrsfaloonplc.blogspot.ca/) so you can access it that way as well. 

If you would prefer a phone interview, please let me know preferred times

and I will do my best to get in touch with you as soon as possible! 

If you cannot make this date and would like to meet in person on another

date, please let me know by writing a note in your child’s communication

book and we can organize another date and time to meet. 

Also, if you are not already signed up with School Messenger, it is a quick

and easy way to get emails and information from St. John the Apostle. 

You can use this link and follow the steps to get signed up and receive all

of our info!

https://www.ocsb.ca/schoolmessenger/?utm_medium=school&utm_

source=site&utm_campaign=schoolmessenger

Thanks for your help!!

Sincerely, 

S. Faloon

Primary Language Class 

St. John the Apostle 

Tuesday October 29th 2019

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! 

Some schools allow students to wear their costumes to school and

some do not. Here at St. John the Apostle, students are encouraged

to wear orange and black and to save their costumes for the

evening. IF YOUR CHILD'S HOMESCHOOL IS PERMITTING

COSTUMES, they can wear their costume here as well. Please do not

feel like you have to send in other clothes for them to change!

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! 

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! 

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. 

Lastly, a note went home today to say that the students have filled in their KINDNESS JAR and they have earned a class reward! We have decided on PJ and movie day on Friday! The children are welcome to dress in their cozies and bring a stuffy! I am proud of their hard work and respectful attitude. They have certainly earned this!

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! 

* 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 Friday.  

Please return all books on or by Friday of each week. Thanks! 

*There will be a P.J. Day on November 6th. Please bring in a donation

for United Way! 

 Hello everyone!

What a dreary day!

I know that we need the rain and it is good for our planet, but I am certainly missing the sunshine!

Here is a link to take you to our most recent newsletter. Check out the important dates and please don't forget to check Twitter and SeeSaw for great updates about what we are doing in class!

End of September Newsletter

Enjoy the end of September

Sarah 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 and lock down 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 Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

We spoke about ways to be kind and make others happy and

how these acts of kindness will, in turn, increase our own happiness! 

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. I will not be

printing out blog posts anymore, so please check us out! 

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