Happy Monday!

What an amazing snowfall yesterday!  As inconvenient as 30 cm of snow can be, we live in a beautiful city and I love the way the snow glistens and shines on sunny days like today. And the kids are having a BLAST playing in it! 

That being sad, I hope all were safe and sound yesterday. 

We are starting a fun week here at SJA! Tomorrow 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 sent 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 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"!

We are going to learn some special friendship words and use them to play an exciting game of BINGO!

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!

Last week, we started writing in our journals about something the students could do. The class was asked to brainstorm something that they were really good at. It had to be something they were proud of.  This is something we are going to continue to work on. The students will be asked this question many times, "What can you do?" The idea is to remind the students that we are all good at some things, while others tasks may be more challenging. It is important for us all to remember that we are people with strengths and weaknesses. This is what makes us, us! It is good that we all have different strengths because it makes this world unique, diverse and beautiful. Watch for more learning about this! Look for the title, I Can!

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 J

Hello! 

I cannot believe that it is February already! 
January flew by and I have a sneaky suspicion that this is an indication of how quickly the rest of the year will go!

As early in the year as it seems, we have already begun discussions about the student's progress and where their learning journeys will take them next year. For some students, they will be returning to their home school full time while other students will be returning here to the PLC at St. John the Apostle for another year in this program. It is necessary for these conversations to happen this early as there are many protocol to follow and some paperwork that needs to be done! I have been lucky enough to have already spoken with many of you about this. Please know that I will be touching base with everyone about the next steps for your child. 

Term 1 report cards and IEP's will be sent home this month. The assessments and reports are completed as a collaboration with myself and their homeroom teachers. 
Once they are sent home, I will be available to meet and discuss your child's progress. I will send home information about this in the next few weeks. 
Soon after, your child's Term 2 IEP will be sent home. Some of you will be receiving these IEP's along with the report cards and some will be receiving them at a later date. The dates vary because the home schools choose the date in which they are sent home within a certain time frame. 
The Term 2 IEP's will be the goals and expectations that your child will be working toward for the remainder of the year. After you receive this document, I will be happy to go through it with you either in person or over the phone. These are important pieces to your child's education and your input is encouraged. Never hesitate to contact me if you have a question regarding the IEP. 

Just a reminder that with the winter comes cold and wet snow. Extra clothes for your child are a great idea! 

We have been really busy here in the Primary Language Class! So much learning and many exciting events have happened in the past few weeks!

Last week, our school had a Structure Challenge. Each class was given one 75 minute block of time to build a structure with just straws, connectors and some blocks. The focus of the challenge was collaboration. The students were amazing! The morning class decided that they wanted to build a play structure. During our building time each student was responsible for different part of the play structure and then it came together beautifully in the end. In the afternoon we ambitiously decided to build an igloo. There were many challenges… But everyone worked together to connect all the straws in a circle, worked through the mistakes, and create an igloo that could stand on its own. I was so proud of both classes for their patience, collaborative skills, and great communication throughout the projects. 

We have even thought about other things that we could build.....just for fun!

The students have been doing a great job with their word wall words. Just as a reminder, I send the words home each week in their notebooks. You are welcome to work through the words as you would like. As I have mentioned before, I completely understand that your lives are busy and there are so many other things you would like to be doing with your children that are not homework! That being said, exposure to these words is extremely beneficial. Repetition and daily use of these words will improve their recognition of the words, alleviating some stress while learning to read. There are many different apps and programs that focus on sight words as well. Please let me know if you would like some information regarding these useful sites. 

Here are the words for this week!

big, run

three, yellow, two

pretty, three, not, ten, see

green, hot, any, children, flag

This month, we are looking ahead to Valentine's Day and what it means to be kind. Our class and environment works really hard to promote a place where we can all be ourselves...exactly how God made us. We accept each other and celebrate who we are. This will be our focus for Valentine's Day. While the students are welcome to bring in cards for their friends, it is certainly not necessary. We will have a little celebration of kindness on that day in class. Stay tuned for more details about that! Also, please let me know if you would like a list of first names for cards. 

Lately, we have been exploring different technological tools to help us in our learning. The students have been working in an app called SeeSaw. Here they can record their learning in picture, photograph and video format. They are many options including taking a video, recording their voice or show their learning by drawing. They are all able to independently record their learning and store it in their own file. I am pretty impressed with the ease of which they have picked it up! There are many other functions of the app and as I learn them (it is new to me this year) I will introduce the functions to them. I am excited about this new tool we have. Ask your child about SeeSaw! 

I have also introduced an app called Google Read and Write to the Grade 3 students. This is a tool that they will be using to help them gain independence as a learner. This program helps students with reading, comprehension, vocabulary and writing. I am very excited to teach the students this tool as I hope they will be able to use it independently in the junior grades. I will also be introducing this tool to the Grade 1 and 2 students later in the year. 

I cannot say it enough.....I am so proud of my classes. Even on my grumpiest days, they make me smile and bring my spirits up. Even when my children at home are sick and I do not get enough sleep, they brighten my soul. Even when I feel overwhelmed with all that needs to be done in a day, they remind me of what is truly important. I am one very lucky woman to be able to do a job that I adore with students like your children! Happy February everyone! Stay warm and stay tuned for more exciting adventures from the PLC at SJA! 

Monday, January-09-17

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope that this first week back to reality finds everyone healthy, rested and full of wonderful memories from an amazing holiday!

I certainly do not take for granted this special time that I have to spend with my family. I feel blessed to be able to have 2 weeks with my children to celebrate, play and grow together! This morning was truly bittersweet! While I was a little sad that my holiday adventures with my babies have come to an end, I am truly excited to begin 2017 with YOUR children!

As an educator, I love this time of year!  It is busy and hectic, but the students really do seem to grow over the break. They come back refreshed and ready to learn.....so that is exactly what we are going to do!

We had some renovations done in the classroom over the holidays! The students were super excited to come in and see the new cupboards, closet, counter top and cubbie area! It really is lovely! Check Twitter for some pictures later today! 

Today, we spent some time discussing our Christmas holidays with each other. We practiced active listening and some students even tried asking other students questions about their stories! Everyone had such lovely tales of what they did. We turned the conversation into a discussion about the difference between telling someone something, and asking a question. We will be focusing on "telling sentences" and "asking sentences" throughout this month! 

As the New Year has just begun, we will be taking some time to discuss resolutions.  We will discuss 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 would be: learning to play an instrument, reading more and practicing a sport! 

Throughout the week, each student will be setting a goal for him/her self.  They will also be looking at steps they need to take to meet their goals. Ask your child about what they are looking to improve on! 

As this week is fairly busy already and we have many learning activities planned throughout the week, we will have no word wall words this week.  We will be focusing on our 4 vocabulary words from the story, Gingerbread Baby. This words that we are studying are, pranced, worn, peppy and fool. SO far, we have talked about the words within the context of the story. This week, we are going to come up with an action that we can associate with the word to help us remember the word. 

This story has already led us into some exciting learning.  I am looking forward to seeing where else it takes us!

Just a reminder that this week will be COLD, then WARM 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!! 

Sarah Faloon 

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!