Blog Post: April 1 2019
Happy April everyone!!!
With the March Break and the winter weather behind us, HOPEFULLY, we are
celebrating Spring in big ways here at St. John the Apostle! There are many fun and
interesting days and activities coming our way!
The second term is underway and the students have been hard at work.
We are working on new vocabulary words from different stories, listening
comprehension skills, writing, different parts of speech, phonological awareness,
decoding strategies, and punctuation.
We will begin our study of narratives very soon. We will be looking at the different
parts of a story with specific focus on the 5 W’s (who, what where, when and why).
You can reinforce this skill at home by reading with your children and asking them
any one of these questions while reading. (Who is in this story? Why do you think
they decided to do that? What is happening now?
What do you think will happen next?)
The students have continued to work really hard on their writing. A new daily
practice has allowed the students to practice their writing skills at every level.
Each day, the students come into the classroom to a picture on the Smart Board.
The Grade 1 students are working on sounding out the words and writing it down.
They are working on sounding out CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant.
For example: cat, hot, jet).
The Grade 2 students are focusing on writing “perfect” sentences using their Writers
Eye and the Grade 3 students are required to write a description of the picture.
I have seen a lot of growth in the students skills and confidence in their writing
through this activity!
The Grade 1 students are working on sounding out the words and writing it down.
They are working on sounding out CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant.
For example: cat, hot, jet).
The Grade 2 students are focusing on writing “perfect” sentences using their Writers
Eye and the Grade 3 students are required to write a description of the picture.
I have seen a lot of growth in the students skills and confidence in their writing
through this activity!
We have also been learning about the structure of a paragraph, focusing on how to
start and end a paragraph. We discovered that a topic sentence introduces a paragraph
and lets the reader know what the text will be about, and that a closing sentence sums
up the paragraph and tells the reader that the text is finished.
start and end a paragraph. We discovered that a topic sentence introduces a paragraph
and lets the reader know what the text will be about, and that a closing sentence sums
up the paragraph and tells the reader that the text is finished.
This term, we will expand our writing with descriptive writing.
Our goal for this style of writing is for the reader to be able to make a picture
in their mind of the text. The students will learn to use their five senses and
descriptive adjectives to write about people, places, things and events.
This will be a fun and long writing unit!
A good and helpful strategy for the older students to edit their work is for them to
read their written work out loud to see if they can hear the errors. As we write,
we want to get our ideas out on paper as quickly as we can so we don’t forget
anything! This strategy provides a good opportunity to check to make sure it is in a
logical order, has the proper punctuation and includes everything
they had hoped! I am really proud of how each student has made gains in their writing!
read their written work out loud to see if they can hear the errors. As we write,
we want to get our ideas out on paper as quickly as we can so we don’t forget
anything! This strategy provides a good opportunity to check to make sure it is in a
logical order, has the proper punctuation and includes everything
they had hoped! I am really proud of how each student has made gains in their writing!
You may have noticed your child talking about a program we have been exploring
called Google Read and Write. We have been learning about this amazing tool
that will help us with our reading and writing tasks. The Grade 3 students have
been working on using the "read" function on the program which will highlight and
read a text out loud! This is a fantastic way to eliminate frustration when text becomes
too difficult. The idea is that the students are familiar and comfortable with this program
in Grade 3 so that they can be better self-advocates in their learning in the junior grades.
The students in Grade 1 and 2 have been exposed to the program in whole group activities.
The focus for these students is more on logging into the computer and
locating the programs. They will continue to use these programs in the coming years
so that they feel comfortable and confident in using them throughout their learning.
Throughout the year, the students have been learning about different strategies
that will assist in their reading decoding and comprehension. Last term, we
practiced making predictions and visualization. This term, we will focus on inferring.
The basic idea of inferring is to figure out the things that the author does not
outright say in a text.
that will assist in their reading decoding and comprehension. Last term, we
practiced making predictions and visualization. This term, we will focus on inferring.
The basic idea of inferring is to figure out the things that the author does not
outright say in a text.
We will continue our focus on Lent and how our actions and words can bring us
closer to Jesus during this solemn season.We have new vocabulary words that
reflect the Season of Lent, Easter
and Spring.
closer to Jesus during this solemn season.We have new vocabulary words that
reflect the Season of Lent, Easter
and Spring.
Remember to check Twitter to see what fun activities we are doing!
A few reminders:
It can be a challenging time of year as the weather fluctuates so much!
The students should be dressed warmly and ready to be outside.
With all of the ice melting and puddles around, sending in an extra pair of clothes,
socks and mittens is a great idea!
Please inform STS if your child will not be requiring transportation.
If your child is sick, staying at their home school or bring picked up early,
please call STS so that they can inform the drivers. The phone number is 613-723-9677.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Our Lenten Projects continue. We continue to collect cans for the Knights of Columbus
and coins for the OK Clean Water Project. Please feel free to send in contributions any time.
