Lochside Division 16

Welcome to our class website!

This site is meant to serve as a window into our classroom as well as provide students with resources and supplementary learning materials.   

The Extra Resources page contains many wonderful resource links available through both the Saanich school district or government of BC websites.

Please use this website along with classroom emails to stay informed during the school year!

Sept. 26

I hope this message finds you well!  Students have started a unit on paragraph writing by working on a colour coding activity.  We've discussed how paragraphs are organized; containing topic sentences, details/explanations, and finished with a closing sentence.  Students worked in groups to make their own paragraphs as well.  The class has also started working on an art project in the style of Ted Harrison.  These are looking wonderful with each child adding their own person touches to make them unique.  This art will be used for the Card Project.  Stay tuned to find out more about this!

Another big event this week was our first trail walk.  We started by discussing safety considerations and appropriate behaviour before setting off.  It was great to get some fresh air, discuss some of the seasonal changes and make observations in the community.

Some other highlights of the week include:

*Playing Numbers in soccer.  Ask your child to explain the game!

*Finishing up the Terry Fox booklets (Almost all are finished:)

*Spelling.  Thank you to everyone who helped their child complete their spelling homework!

*Making nature art with our little buddies

Sept. 19

I want to start by saying how nice it was to see everyone who was able to make it to our open house yesterday! It was a great opportunity to connect, share what we’ve been working on, and learn a little more about what makes your child unique. 

We're off to a great start on a number of our units.  Students started a spelling booklet this week and continued working on sentence writing.  We will be moving onto paragraphs next while learning about topic sentences, supporting details, and closing sentences.  We've also worked on some mapping and lessons related to Terry Fox in social studies which was capped off with our run today.

Another big event of the week was our bike lessons with Capital City bikes.  Our presenter, Nicholas, did a great job of explaining and demonstrating skills and safety tips.  Students worked on signalling, shoulder checking and understanding a number of road signs.  Ask your child if they can remember the ABC quick check of their bike or the 2 V 2 check of their helmet!

Some other highlights of the week include:

*Soccer skills in gym.  We worked on passing with a game called bumpers

*Meeting our Buddy class and making friendship bracelets

*Starting Mathletics in Math **Please check your child's To Do list this weekend to ensure that they are up to date.  These activities supplement what we do in class and are considered home work.

*Making "word Art" during our Tech time with Mrs. Molloy

Have a great weekend!

P.S. A reminder that Monday, Sept., 22, is a non-instructional day.  No school for students.

Sept. 12

What an awesome first full week of the new school year we've had!  It was great to look over our sticker survey to see some of the things that makes this group of learners unique.  You can check these out below!

Students have started units in a number of subject areas and taken the time to organize supplies and set up learning booklets.  We've had great discussions and completed activities about our class beliefs and expectations that will carry on through our entire school year.  As you've probably already heard, grade 5 math will be taught by Mr. O'Connor and I will be teaching the grade 4's from both of our classes.  Both classes have completed a "Math About Me" activity as an initial task.  Grade 4 students will be working on patterns and place value as our first unit.

Students have also completed self-portraits in the style of Amedeo Modiglianni.  These are on display in the class but I've also uploaded them onto our class website for you to check out.  See if you can spot your child and ask them about this style of art!  Also, please remember to bookmark our class website.

In Literacy students have received their reading logs and are starting to record each morning reading time.  We've discussed the importance of a quick morning transition and how that translates into more reading time.  We've also started a unit on sentences.  Ask your child if they can tell you what a subject, predicate and verb are and why they are important in sentences.

Some other highlights of the week include:

*Starting a soccer unit in gym

*Beginning our new read aloud book

*Completing Summer re"CAP" activity.

*Starting a mapping activity in social studies

*Participating in a library orientation.  Students can start signing out books next week!

*Setting up and writing in The Book of Thoughts.  These should be in your child's backpack and are ready for you to read.  There is a description of the activity on the inside cover which includes very important information for you.  In a nutshell, this is an opportunity for your child to share some highlights from the week in the form of a letter.  This is not a time to discuss spelling accuracy or punctuation and grammar.  We have plenty of other opportunities to practice these skills in the classroom.