Embedded Files
Discover our latest achievements! Every day brings new opportunities to grow and move closer to our personal goals. In Division 17, we focus on progress over perfection. Stay tuned - exciting developments are on the way!
01 Dec. 2025
Hello Muggles, Witches, and Wizards!
We’ve had an exciting, rainy and creative stretch in Division 17! I know I almost always say something like this, but it’s true.
Our class has begun exploring Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and the level of enthusiasm has been incredible. Students shared some outstanding artwork - some even completed pieces at home with their families, which was wonderful to see. We also held our Sorting Ceremony, where students were sorted into four houses that they’ll work within over the next several weeks. These houses will support our learning in comprehension, making inferences, following schedules, and taking on a variety of Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies activities (with a few fun surprises still to come).
This past week was also Career Week. Students developed their keyboarding skills and explored a variety of careers such as carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and other trades and professions. We had great conversations about the many different paths students might take as they grow. Specifically because we’ve also begun preparing to use the Tool Cart as part of the Saanich Building Bright Futures initiative. Across the district, select classes are developing hands-on skills with mobile tool carts filled with a variety of hand and power tools, and we’re excited to join in. We'll work on authentic projects and our class is beginning the early steps toward creating, designing, and building. One student summed up the excitement perfectly:
“I’m so excited. I can’t wait to use these tools and build stuff.”
During our time in the LLC, Mrs. Malloy continued guiding us through important lessons on digital citizenship, including understanding the difference between fact and opinion online - an essential skill for safe and thoughtful digital use.
We also practiced a fire drill last week. The class did an excellent job moving safely, quietly, and quickly to our muster point. We’ll continue reviewing expectations so students feel confident and prepared during any emergency procedure.
In PE, we continued building our floor hockey skills, focusing on stick handling, passing, spatial awareness, and learning how to work as a team during small-sided games. The energy (and sportsmanship!) has been fantastic.
In Math 5, we’re about to begin our summative project-based board game unit. Students will design and create their own math board games that review key concepts from the term - everything from operations to place value to problem-solving strategies. These games will include instructions, chance cards, question decks, and creative themes. Stay tuned… this is often a highlight of the year! Lots of learning, creativity, and collaboration ahead.
All the best!
>>>> Mr. O'Connor
Enjoy a bonus free reading of HP!
20 November 2025
The past few weeks have been incredibly productive in Division 17, with students strengthening their skills across many areas of learning. As we explore digital literacy and keyboarding, here’s a riddle to begin:
“I’m full of keys but can’t open a door. I help you learn faster, think clearer, and work smarter. What am I?”
In Career Education, we are strengthening our keyboarding skills - perfect timing as Career Education Week approaches at Lochside next week. Developing accuracy and efficiency now helps prepare students for the growing digital demands of school and future careers.
In Science, we have been exploring Earth’s rotation, axis, the seasons, and the Saanich Moons. Students are making thoughtful connections as they investigate how celestial movements influence our environment.
We are also learning about mental fitness and social-emotional well-being, grounded in current neuroscience. Students can now explain how the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala work together to support focus, learning, and emotional regulation. Ask your child how mindful breathing can help when we’re upset - or how our tactile “calming stickers” support grounding and self-regulation. These tools are helping students build emotional literacy, resilience, and compassion.
Yesterday, Division 17 had a brilliant and unforgettable visit to the Goldstream Hatchery. The Goldstream Volunteer Salmonid Enhancement Association (GVSEA) welcomed us at the CRD Watershed and guided students through an in-depth look at the salmon life cycle. Our class rotated through three fascinating stations focused on spawning adults, eggs, and fry/fingerlings, giving students a rare opportunity to see each life stage up close. The visit concluded with an exciting visual - and in some cases, hands-on - experience with an egg-take or salmon dissection, which sparked thoughtful questions and plenty of wide-eyed curiosity. It was an incredibly rich learning experience that connected perfectly with our science curriculum and deepened students’ appreciation for the salmon that are so important to our local ecosystem. We will raise salmon in our classroom in the new year! How exciting!!!
In Visual Arts, we created LEGO-style self-portraits as part of our learning about identity, personal expression, and overall health. Understanding ourselves and the various aspects of well-being helps students develop a more balanced lifestyle.
This two-day project began with a discussion about what a self-portrait is - an artistic self-representation - and an exploration of famous artists’ self-portraits. A key idea we highlighted is that self-portraits often reflect an artist’s own unique style. Students embraced this beautifully and created imaginative, personalized LEGO-inspired versions of themselves.
In Mathematics 5, students finished up our bigger unit on addition and subtraction and examined how data can be represented using many-to-one correspondence in graphs. Next week, we begin multiplication fact fluency and work toward multiplying two- and three-digit numbers.
In Physical Education, our trail walks continue as we explore the changing landscape behind the school - including the rapid progress on the new housing development next door! We also began our inclusive hockey unit, focusing on daily physical activity, movement skills, and building personal fitness.
As a school, we marked Remembrance Day with meaningful guest speakers, talented student emcees, and thoughtful musical and spoken-word performances. Bravo to all involved. Our class also created beautiful felted poppies with our buddy class from Ms. Miller’s room.
We also held our parent–teacher conferences this month. It is always an extremely busy week, but such an important and positive opportunity to connect with you and discuss each child’s learning, growth, and goals.
We recently finished Linda Bailey’s Seven Dead Pirates - a book with a spooky-sounding title but rich themes about friendship, shyness, courage, and bullying. Funny, adventurous, and full of heart, it quickly became a class favourite. (You could say we hooked the students with this one!)
Our newest read-aloud is The Fourteenth Goldfish, Jennifer L. Holm - a light and engaging science-fiction novel that explores curiosity, scientific discovery, and big questions about change and growing up. Students are already intrigued by its humour and imaginative storyline.
In the Learning Commons, students revisited digital safety through guided lessons about effective searching. They explored:
Why search engines like Google sometimes gives irrelevant results
How search operators work
How to use keywords and strategies to improve search accuracy
Lastly, a huge shout-out to our soccer players who showed up, played hard, and stayed committed throughout our lunchtime practices. This was a completely free, open-to-all opportunity, and every player who joined demonstrated fantastic growth in skills, confidence, teamwork, and perseverance - even while putting up with me and Ms. Howells at lunch!
Their dedication paid off with an exciting, match-filled day at Blue Heron Turf Field, where they represented Lochside with pride, positivity, and heart. We saw slide tackles, strong passes, brave saves, and plenty of smiles. Christine Sinclair reminds us that leadership is about lifting others up, and Alphonso Davies shows us that joy, speed, and determination can take you far - our players embodied that spirit all season long.
Well done, everyone!
Division Seventeen continues to grow, wonder, and learn each day - thank you for your ongoing support!
>>>> Mr. O'Connor
PS: The answer to the riddle is... ¡pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ɐ
17 October 2025
WOW, as I typed this up I I can see Division 17 truly has had a busy and exciting few weeks. I’m really proud of the effort and growth students are showing across all subjects.
On Monday, September 29, we observed Orange Shirt Day, reflecting on the message that “Every Child Matters.” We talked about the importance of kindness, inclusion, and listening to one another’s stories, and how we can help make our school a place where everyone feels they belong. As part of this, students made buddy activity bracelets with a partner. The bracelets are a simple but powerful reminder of our responsibility to treat others with care and respect, and to honour the experiences of Indigenous children and families affected by residential schools.
In English, we’ve been focusing on making our writing stronger and more engaging. Students have learned how to start their paragraphs with list statements, power number statements, and attention-grabbers, and many are already using these confidently in their work. We’ve also had a spelling test in class today of common words like the days of the week and months, which is helping us build up a spelling foundation. On top of that, we’ve been exploring “Triple Scoop” words. "Triple-Scoop Words” is a vocabulary strategy (from Adrienne Gear) that encourages students to replace plain, overused words (like good, nice, fun) with richer, more precise language.
Just like adding extra scoops to an ice cream cone makes it more exciting, adding stronger words makes student writing more descriptive, expressive, and engaging. Students start with a “single-scoop” word and brainstorm three or more “triple-scoop” words to use in their stories, journals, and persuasive writing. This helps grow their vocabulary and confidence as writers.It’s been great to see their writing grow more detailed and expressive as they gain confidence using these tools. Ask you child what his/her word was tonight!
We’ve been continuing our read-aloud novel, Seven Dead Pirates by Linda Bailey, and we’re now almost halfway through. The story follows a shy boy who discovers a room full of ghostly pirates, and through his adventures, learns about facing fears, building confidence, and finding a place to belong. These themes tie in beautifully with the social and emotional learning we do in class, especially around bullying, shyness, and fitting in. We tied in art in a fun and creative way, students designed and made their own pirate hats last week. The results were fantastic - each hat had its own unique design, showing off students’ creativity and excitement for the story as it unfolds.
In Math, the Grade 5 students have been doing a fantastic job working with whole numbers up to 1 000 000, especially with addition. They’ve been trying out different strategies, solving problems that involve money, and building confidence through practice and games. We’re starting subtraction next, and I’m excited to see them apply what they’ve learned so far. This work builds important number sense and problem-solving strategies that students will keep using all year.
Next week, we’ll also begin our Science unit, where students will explore how the Earth’s axis, rotation, and orbit affect the positions of the Sun, Moon, and Earth. We’ll be investigating how these movements create patterns we can observe, like day and night and the changing seasons.
In PE, we’ve been continuing to build cardio strength through our trail walks, exploring local parks like Outerbridge and Lohbrunner Park. Students love searching for the resident owl in Lohbrunner and observing seasonal changes along the way. These walks have also been a great chance to integrate science, as we’ve been noticing local plants and wildlife, making connections between what we see outside and what we’re learning in class. Alongside this, we’ve been focusing on soccer - building movement skills, playing games, and supporting our indoor lunchtime teams. Just as importantly, we’re talking about how to be cooperative, kind, and resilient when challenges pop up. It’s been great to see students encouraging each other and showing a growth mindset both on and off the field.
We also spent some time sharing and learning about our own holidays, traditions, and celebrations, and reflecting on how these experiences make us feel and connect us to one another. We explored a range of cultural and religious observances that are commonly celebrated across Canada, helping students appreciate the diversity of experiences within our classroom and in the wider community.
We mapped out where everyone was born, and it was exciting to see the variety of places represented. Many students were born in B.C. and Alberta, while others were born in India, Hong Kong, and Singapore. This led to thoughtful conversations about our different backgrounds and shared experiences, and helped students see how our personal histories shape who we are as a group.
To build on this learning, we focused on a Diwali project today, a festival that some students in our class and school celebrate. Students painted and decorated their own diyas (small clay lamps), which are traditionally used during Diwali to symbolize light and hope. It was a creative and meaningful way to build understanding and celebrate the rich cultural mix within our classroom.
Lastly, it's also been an exciting time for school activities and clubs, with lots happening outside of regular class time. Students had the chance to sign up for a variety of lunchtime activities, and it’s been great to see so many getting involved. Our indoor soccer teams have begun, with students joining once-a-week practices open to all skill levels, leading up to a tournament at the end of the season. Choir is also up and running at lunchtime, giving students a chance to explore music, build confidence, and be part of a supportive performance group. Lochside also started our crossing guard safety program, with students taking on leadership roles before and after school to help keep our community safe with neat tips from the Saanich Police! It’s been wonderful to see the kids stepping up with responsibility and care.
And finally, we had some great results at the school Spelling Bee - one of our students placed second overall, and another represented our class with focus and pride. It was a terrific example of students challenging themselves and supporting one another.
>>>> Mr. O'Connor
PS: Good Luck Blue Jays -
26 September 2025
Hello Families and Students!
Division 17 has had a fantastic start to the year, filled with learning experiences that stretch across subjects and connect to the world around us. Here’s a look at some of the highlights from our classroom.
Digital Citizenship
Digital Citizenship
We’ve started our Digital Citizenship unit, where students are diving into what it means to use technology in safe, thoughtful, and responsible ways. Our conversations have sparked lots of interesting ideas as we’ve talked about protecting personal information, communicating kindly online, and finding a healthy balance between screen time and offline activities. It’s been great to hear the different perspectives students bring from their own experiences with technology!
These lessons connect directly to Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies as well as the Personal and Social Core Competency, guiding students to see how their choices with technology affect not just themselves, but also the people around them. By building strong digital habits now, students are setting the stage for confident, ethical, and positive use of technology in the years ahead. It’s such an important conversation - one we return to often as part of our learning. See photos below!
Bike Safety with Capital Bikes
Bike Safety with Capital Bikes
Last week, we were fortunate to host Capital Bikes for a practical and engaging bike safety session. Students practiced fitting helmets, learned about hand signals, and discussed how to share paths and roads responsibly. Beyond bike skills, this work supports the goals of Physical and Health Education, where students are encouraged to develop lifelong habits of active living, safety awareness, and healthy decision-making. The students left the session not only more confident in their riding but also more aware of how their choices can keep themselves and others safe. See photos below!
Mathematics: Place Value
Mathematics: Place Value
In grade 5 mathematics, our focus has been on place value up to one million. Students are reading large numbers aloud, writing them in expanded and word form, and beginning to see how numbers are structured and related. This unit ties into the Mathematics curriculum’s focus on reasoning and analyzing, as students strengthen their number sense, patterns, and prepare for more complex problem solving in operations later this year. We will conclude this unit with a short assessment next week, giving students the chance to demonstrate their growth and allowing us to plan next steps.
Literacy: Seven Dead Pirates
Literacy: Seven Dead Pirates
Our novel study of Seven Dead Pirates has captured the attention of Division 17. As we read together, we are learning to identify story elements such as character, setting, conflict, and theme - key learning standards in English Language Arts. The story has also sparked meaningful conversations about bullying, shyness, and friendship, helping students connect literature to their own lives. To support comprehension, we are applying Adrienne Gear’s Strong Readers strategies, which encourage students to make personal connections, ask thoughtful questions, and visualize as they read. This blend of literacy and social-emotional learning helps students become more thoughtful, engaged readers and community members.
The Arts: Card Project
The Arts: Card Project
In art, students are creating original pieces for The Card Project, where their designs will be turned into professional-quality greeting cards. This project connects to Arts Education, which emphasizes the creative process and the ability to express ideas visually. Students are experimenting with design, colour, and composition, and showing perseverance as they refine their ideas into finished products. It has been inspiring to see each student’s unique style emerge, and we’re excited to share their creativity with families when the cards are complete.
Trail Walks are a Go!
Trail Walks are a Go!
This week we set out on our first community trail walk, learning how to safely share paths with walkers, runners, and the increasing number of e-bikes. Along the way, we practiced staying aware of our surroundings, walking together respectfully, and supporting each other on the trail. The highlight was climbing the hill to see the view from PKOLS (Mount Douglas), where we were surprised to find a family of vultures resting nearby!
We learned that turkey vultures are nature’s clean-up crew, playing an important role in the ecosystem by eating what others leave behind. Just like vultures work best together, our class “family” is learning to support each other and care for the spaces we share. Experiences like this connect to Physical and Health Education, encouraging students to develop safe habits, healthy choices, and a deeper appreciation for the natural world around us. See photos below!
Professional Learning
Professional Learning
On Monday’s non-instructional day, I attended a full-day professional learning workshop at Claremont Secondary called How Do We Move Forward? led by Dr. Tsnomot Brad Baker (Ed.D.). Through storytelling, Dr. Baker highlighted how Indigenous and Western perspectives can come together to enrich the learning environment. He emphasized the importance of educators knowing themselves and reflecting on the perspectives they bring into the classroom. This learning connects to the BC Curriculum’s commitment to fostering inclusive, culturally respectful learning spaces, and I am excited to bring these ideas into our daily work in Division 17. See photos below!
Division 17 is off to a strong start, and students are showing curiosity, creativity, and care in their learning each day.
>>>> Mr. O'Connor
11 September 2025
Over the past couple of weeks, Division 17 has been busy settling into routines and learning how to work together as a class community. We’ve been practising turn-taking, asking thoughtful questions (one at a time to Mr. O!), and building collaboration through activities such as our STEM newspaper tower challenge, where students had to show ingenuity, handle setbacks, and rebuild with a new plan. In the gym, we’ve enjoyed many cooperative games, while in the classroom students have been writing in their Book of Thoughts journals (please check backpacks for these today). We’ve also started playing math games and reviewing basic facts to see where everyone is at.
A highlight in our room has been the growing Family Photo Wall - thank you for sending in 4x6 photos to make it feel more complete. Alongside these activities, I’ve been getting to know each student’s interests, strengths, and areas for support. Together, we are beginning to build not only independence but also the grit to stick with challenges and see them through. One of our ongoing projects uses a big puzzle as a metaphor for the year: with patience, persistence, and a growth mindset, we can take on complex challenges one step at a time.
We are also very fortunate to have the support of Mrs. Houston in the mornings and Mrs. Schure in the afternoons - their help has already made a big difference. Coming up next, we’ll begin using Mathletics (generously funded by LEPAC - thank you!), complete our district reading and writing assessments, and continue adding more experiences to our year of learning. I also appreciate families sending in forms, indoor shoes, and other supplies - it makes a big difference as we get started.
Wishing you a great weekend,
>>>> Mr. O’Connor
09 September 2025
Just a quick update with the biking form, and my newsletter in case it became misplaced.
Bookmark this page and check back regularly - we’ll be adding important info, reminders, and helpful links throughout the year.
Glad you’re here - let’s make it a great year together!
>>>> Mr. O’Connor
03 September 2025
Welcome to Division 17’s class website! This is your go-to spot for updates, resources, and everything you’ll need to stay connected with our learning this year.
Bookmark this page and check back regularly - we’ll be adding important info, reminders, and helpful links throughout the year.
Glad you’re here - let’s make it a great year together!
>>>> Mr. O’Connor
P.S. To keep Division 17 learning strong, check out the supply list below.
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