Hello from Mrs. O'Connor

Hello everyone,

My official posts with pictures will make a debut tomorrow. I want to introduce myself to those of you that I have not met yet. My name is Kyla O'Connor and I am currently the grade 4 teacher in Mr. Wilson's class on Wednesday morning and Thursday. On Friday's you can also find me in the school working with Mrs. Shortreid's class.

I am very fortunate to work at Tillicum School this year with such a great staff and group of students. I look forward to working with Mr. Wilson to share our learning experiences with you. Tomorrow I will arrive with my camera in my hand!

Monday Sept 25th

We began the day with a five minute name game "7-up" to help the new students to the class and school learn and remember the names of all the students. After attendance and the game the students began their third mini-book, "An ABC of me" The students are making an ABC book of themselves. It will have their likes and dislikes and things about themselves for each of the letters of the Alphabet.

The students were given their spelling words for the first 15 weeks. There are two spelling groups so ask your child which spelling list they received to study. The spelling words are in a black duo-tang. A separate small sheet containing the spelling words was also sent home, however, the beauty of the blog is the words are also on the right side of the blog so you will always have access to them. After recess the students had music with Mrs. Awalt. In music the students began with a game, sang a french song and a few other familiar songs.
After music the students had 15 min to work on their new mini-book and make sure they finished their last week's mini-book on fear. Music was followed by Math where the students worked in their groups on addition.

After lunch most of the students in our class went to choir. Those students not in choir had a musical appreciation period where they listened to music by Beethoven and worked on a one page report oh him.

After choir the students had 10 min of free catch up time followed by Social Studies. In social studies we studied the West coast Longhouses. We compared them to temporary structures such as the igloo and the tepee. The students worked on completing a one page report on the Longhouse.

We ended the last 10 min of the day with a game of 7-up because they were working hard on their Socials.

Friday Update Sept 23

Notice:

Click on the pictures to see them larger. The pictures on the blog are just a few of the ones taken. Click on the photo gallery (along the right) to see all the pictures.

We began the day with two show and tell. Student 'I' shared her remote control super tank, and 'J' brought in a unicorn toy, a mythical magical creature that she likes.

After Show and Tell we began working on our mini book on "dealing with a fear" based on a poem by Shel Silverstein and the book "There is a nightmare in my closet" by Mercer Mayer. As we worked on our mini books we watched part of the movie "Monsters Inc" which deals with the monsters that live in our closets.

In the half hour before lunch we broke up into three math groups one guided by Mrs. Colley, one by Mrs. M and one by me. We worked on addition and each group worked at their appropriate math level.

After recess we had our first Buddy class where we learned strategies as older buddies for working with beginning readers. There are 16 little buddies and 26 of us. Today all were trained and had a chance to interact and read with a little buddy in Mrs. Dagg's grade 1 class... in the future we will take turns during buddy activities, some students with little buddies the others working in the class.

We ended the day by having the little buddies join us in the gym for relay races. It was fun, it was hilarious and we got to know our little buddies and they got to know us.

Tuesday Sept 20

Notices:

Please return your permission forms for the blog

Weekly Spelling will start next Week as this is a short week.

The students asked for the first half hour to work on catching up on work due. I guess like me they did nothing on the long weekend. ha ha...

These students proudly show their mini books from last week. The mini-book was a circular story that began and ended at the same place. It was based on the popular book series by.... If you give a mouse a cookie.

This weeks mini-book writing theme is Fear. We read the poem Frightened by Shell Silverstein, and the book "There is a Nightmare in my Closet" by Murcer Mayer. Both the story and the poem are intended to help children face their fear. This Friday the students can earn the movie "Monsters Inc." if enough students have finished their work.

Here are some tips for parents on helping children with fears:

Tips

• Respect your child’s fears.
• Understand that your child will outgrow most fears.
• Allow your child to gradually work through the fear.
• Understand fears in relation to your child’s personality
• Be aware of the variety of fears children experience at different ages

After recess the students had a library and reading period. Students all took out two books, one of which is to stay at school and the second may come back and forth from home. For math, just prior to lunch, the students were given a math diagnostic quizz so we can set up appropriate learning groups for each of the students. The quizz was given by our learning assistance teacher Mrs. Colley (Holt).

After lunch we read or worked on our mini-book on a fear (due next monday) had a rousing P.E. period followed by Social Studies. In Social studies we are looking at the diversity of First nations houses, homes group dwellings etc. Our focus is on how resources from the natural environment were used to make a wide variety of amazing buildings to suit the lifestyles of each of the First Nations peoples. Today we wrote about the Inuit show house the Igloo. We finished the day with a rousing game of P.E. with Mr. Edwards class.

Writing a description

The students were given the assignment of writing how to make a peanut butter and jam sandwich. Other students had to follow their instructions exactly. The results were usually quite hilarious as the writers often skipped simple steps.

Blog will be up and active as of Tuesday Sept 20

We will have the blog up and running after the Pro-D day on Monday the 19th. Look forward to updates on the great things we are doing at school. Thanks Mr. W and Mrs. O'connor

School Begins

Welcome back students. A note will go home for permission to use your work and picture on our blog. The blog will begin next Monday. Take care Mr. W and Mrs. O'connor.