Happy Monday!

We are starting a fun week here at SJA! This week is Valentine’s Day

and we are going to celebrate our friendship and kindness in our P.J.'s.

Students are invited to bring their "stuffies" for the day. We will be

playing some fun games and we may even enjoy a little treat! 

I have seng home a list of the first names of all of the students in the

class. If you and your child decide to send in cards or treats, feel free

to use this list. Another option is to just have your child write their

name on the card. Also, please do not feel obligated to send anything.

I know it can be difficult with your child being part of two classes. We

will have plenty of kindness and treats to make it a great day here!

Here are some of the activities we will be doing this week to celebrate

our friendships this week!

We have read a story, There Was An Old Lady who Swallowed a

Rose. We will be using this Valentines themed book to reinforce

rhyming and sequencing. It follows the same pattern as many of the

other "Old Lady" books we have read this year. 

We will also look at a story about the Valentine adventures of Amelia

Bedelia. We will use this book as a springboard for activities about

figurative language, following directions, vocabulary studies and

looking at the components of narrative stories.

We will be using Valentine's Task Cards to help us infer information.

"My Valentine is for an animal that is long and thin. This animal

slithers. This animal might stick out its tongue"!

To practice our reading and speaking skills, the students will

participate in a fun heart game involving reading, telling stories and

active participation tasks! 

These activities will be going on all week! Check out our Twitter

account @MrsFaloonPLC to see some of the pictures of our exciting

days!

Just a reminder that your child's Term 1 report card and IEP will be

coming home soon. These reports are completed as a collaboration

between myself and the homeschool. They are sent home from your

child's homeschool. 

If you would like to discuss your child's progress at all, either on the

phone or in person, I am happy to talk with you. I will send home an

interview request form at the end of the week. 

Some schools will be including the Term 2 IEP's in with the reports

from Term 1. This means you will be receiving the grades and

evaluations of their progress on their expectations from Term 1 as

well as the new IEP goals that your child will be working toward in

Term 2. Some schools will be sending the Term 2 expectations home

at a later date. 

Regardless of when you will be receiving the Term 2 document, I am

happy to go over it with you as well. There is a lot of information in

those documents and your voice as the parents is important. Your

input on the IEP is encouraged! 

Thanks for reading! As always, let me know if you have any questions

or concerns.

Have a great week ☺

My apologies! This was written and sitting as a draft since the beginning of January. Apparently I never published it. I am sorry!!!

Hello and Happy Winter!

What a weekend that was! So much snow! I hope that everyone

was able to stay warm and have a little fun in all that snow.

Well, we are right back into the swing of things. After just a few weeks,

Christmas seems like a distant memory! I hope everyone had an enjoyable

and restful Christmas break. I have noticed the children have returned

refreshed and ready to go.

In Our Class

As the New Year has just begun, we have taken some time to discuss

resolutions.  We discussed about how people use the turning of the New Year

to set a goal for themselves, to try and improve on something.  Some great

examples were learning to play an instrument, reading more and practicing a

sport.

Throughout the past two weeks, each student set a few goals for him/herself.

 The idea is to discover how each student will shine!!! We really want to focus

on looking at steps they need to take to meet their goals. Ask your child about

what they are looking to improve on.

We are currently reading the story, The Mitten. It is a lovely story written by

Jan Brett. We are using this winter text to discuss sequencing, comprehension,

vocabulary and elements of a story. The students have done a great job looking

at the characters, the setting, the events of the story, and how the story begins

and ends. We will also link this book to some fun writing!

As this week is fairly busy already and we have many learning activities

planned throughout the week, we will  continue to practice our word wall

words from last week. We did not give them enough time last week, and I feel

like one more week would be beneficial in learning to read and spell these

words. If your child has mastered their weekly words, please feel free to review

previous words as well. We have spent some time reviewing many of the word

wall words that we have learned throughout the year. We will have new words

to focus on next week.

Report Cards and IEPs

Shortly, (mid-February) you will be receiving the Term One report card. Don’t

forget to look for the Language development and Self-Advocacy comments

that are directly on the IEP.

Next Year

If I have not yet already,  will soon be speaking to each family about plans for

next year. I will leave it to parents to discuss our decision with their children at

home, as parents tend to discuss this at different times. Some children will

however be talking about this issue at school, so don’t be surprised if the

children come to you with questions. As the paperwork comes home, please

sign and send it back as soon as possible. Thanks!

More Learning!

Many people have asked about different apps for iPads and tablets for the

students to work on at home. Here are some that I think are useful tools.

Some are free and are to be purchased, although they usually have a free

version!

• ABC Pocket Phonics
• Farm Phonics
• Phonics Genius
• Starfall
• ABC Ya Games
• Raz Kids (same login as on the computer)
• Sentence Maker
• Sentence Constructor
• Draw, then WRITE
• Say that thing
• Pixwords
• Word Match
• Please ask me if there is something specific you would like help looking for! I am always happy to search for new apps and try them out!

Just a reminder that winter weather is cold and wet!  Please make sure that

they children are dressed appropriately.

This will be a busy month, so stay tuned for more information!

Again, I wish you all a Happy New Year!  

Stay warm and dry!!

Sarah Faloon