Welcome to Div. 17's Website!

30 October 2026

The costumes looked great today! Wishing everyone a fun and safe Halloween! 🎃

This week, we introduced our spelling booklets and optional Spelling Bingo. There’s a new routine to learn, so please don’t worry if things felt a little unfamiliar. We’re taking time to practise how everything works!

Each week, we aim to begin a new unit, with the unit number posted in the agenda. We’ll usually introduce the words and do a pre-test on Monday, followed by lessons and class time to work through the booklets. Some students may need extra time at home.

Spelling Bingo offers optional extra practice. Students can choose activities to complete a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line and earn a small prize!

For this first week:

Booklets are due Monday, when we’ll mark them together.
Optional Spelling Bingo is also due Monday.
The spelling test will be Tuesday, giving everyone a little breathing room after Halloween.

Spelling is just one part of writing. We’re building skills and routines one step at a time!

>>>> Mr. O'Connor!

16 October 2026

Dear Division 17 families,

A shorter week still gave us plenty to explore! Government and elections were a big focus, with students discussing issues that matter to them and putting democracy into practice.

Government learning came to life on our trip downtown!

Our adventure began today on the public bus, where students practised some useful everyday skills: boarding, choosing where to sit, sharing space with other passengers, and holding on so a sudden stop didn’t send anyone tumbling! We had wonderful drivers who helped make the journey such a positive part of our day. Thank you BC TRANSIT!

At the Parliament Buildings, our guide, Grace, made the tour memorable. She was knowledgeable, patient, and fun, and her enthusiasm for her work shone through. She welcomed students’ questions and helped us connect our classroom learning with the place where provincial decisions are made.

We explored the grand rotunda, looked up into the towering dome, admired the stained-glass windows, and learned about the building’s history. We also saw the carved canoe representing a bridge between peoples, visited the Memorial Rotunda, and explored the symbols and traditions of the Legislative Assembly.

The biggest highlight? We received special permission to go inside the Legislative Chamber! Being in the room where MLAs debate issues and vote on laws was incredibly exciting and very different from the Chamber of Secrets! We learned about the Speaker’s role, how the government and opposition are seated, and the significance of the mace and Talking Stick. It was a wonderful way to make our government unit feel real and a very cool experience to share together!

Back to our week at school, we worked through a poster activity, wall of information and many discussions, our students shared their thoughts about issues facing BC, including housing, the environment, and hospitals. We also explored the responsibilities of municipal, provincial, and federal governments - from collecting garbage and maintaining highways to managing Canada’s borders.

One highlight was turning the library into a polling station for our municipal Student Vote. Students helped run the election as clerks, election officers, and scrutineers. Bravo to everyone who took on a role and helped the process run smoothly! After work Mrs. Malloy, Mrs. Postlewaite and I counted, marked and sent to Student Vote over 2000 individual choices for Mayor, Trustees, and counsellors. Phew!

Thank you for discussing the candidate planning sheet at home. If the long list of choices felt overwhelming, you certainly weren’t alone! The purpose was to give students experience making choices and participating in an election.

In the Learning Commons, we turned our attention to the provincial election through a slideshow and discussion. Students also explored Google Classroom links to learn about provincial party leaders and local candidates. We’ll continue that research next week before casting our provincial ballots. This time, students will choose one candidate from three options - a considerably shorter ballot!

Elsewhere in our classroom:

Writing: We practised spotting sentence fragments and run-on sentences as we work toward writing clear, complete sentences.
Grade 4 Math: Students explored expanded form and compared numbers.
Grade 5 Math: We began working on addition with whole numbers up to one million.
Buddies: We explored the Salish weaving artwork displayed in our school, looking closely at its shapes and patterns.

Next week, we’ll join our buddies for a mini pumpkin art project. Look for photos on our class website once our creations are ready!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mr. O’Connor

PS: Pictures to come next week!

08 October 2026

We’ve been busy in Division 17! Here’s a look at what we’ve been learning this week.

Fire Safety Expo

Our visit to the North Saanich Fire Department sparked plenty of excitement! From spraying fire hoses to learning the PASS steps for using a fire extinguisher (Pull, Aim, Squeeze, Sweep), students enjoyed hands-on opportunities to learn about fire safety. We also discussed evacuation plans and what to do in an emergency. This is a great opportunity to review your family’s escape plan and outdoor meeting place together.

Math

We are working on place value up to one million, including reading numbers aloud, writing them in words, and understanding the value of each digit. This is a good thing to practice at home :) At school, we are practising reading questions carefully, using the reference booklets in their duotangs, and trying strategies independently before seeking support. Math games are helping reinforce these skills and build confidence and your child has many games explained in their red duotangs.

Many students are also using Mathletics at home to practise independently, work through topics, or catch up on lessons missed on Mondays. Thank you for supporting this learning at home!

Literacy

We have also been working on our District Literacy Assessments! These provide a snapshot of their reading comprehension, including making predictions, finding information in a text, and explaining their thinking in writing. Over the next couple of weeks (and during the whole year!), I will continue assessing students to better understand their strengths and identify areas where they need support. This information helps guide our lessons and individual learning goals.

In writing, we are beginning with sentence structure: recognising fragments, complete sentences, and run-on sentences. Students are learning how to express a complete thought and use punctuation to make their writing clear.

Physical and Health Education

In gym, we are developing basketball and soccer skills while practising teamwork, cooperation, and fair play. We are also exploring how physical activity and healthy habits help us care for our bodies.

We went on our first trail walk today! These walks connect physical education with learning about the natural world, giving students opportunities to exercise, talk with classmates, and notice the plants growing around us. Our focus is on observing our surroundings, respecting living things, and caring for the places we visit. Becoming familiar with local plants helps students build a stronger connection to nature, while walking reinforces the importance of daily movement and offers an enjoyable way to stay active. Today on our walk we noticed how low the water is in Outerbridge Park!

Social Studies

In this subject we are exploring the levels of government and learning who does what at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels. Using familiar examples such as parks, schools, roads, and public services, students are discovering how government decisions affect our daily lives. I’ll also share a link to a funky song the class has enjoyed. It’s a catchy way to remember which responsibilities belong to each level!

Students are creating posters about local municipal and provincial elections while learning about candidates, voting, and making informed choices. We are practising asking questions, considering different viewpoints, and discussing opinions respectfully as we prepare for our CIVIX Student Vote activities.

This weekend, students are bringing home a list of all the candidates in our local municipal election. Please take a few (or many!) minutes to look through it together and talk about the issues that matter to your family. It’s a great opportunity for students to connect our classroom learning with conversations at home.

Art

Our card project is underway! Students are creating artwork for an upcoming fundraiser, and I’m keeping the finished designs under wraps for now. With creativity and a little rhythm coming together, this fundraiser is shaping up to be purr-fect!

Professional Learning

My absence on Thursday was to attend a district workshop focused on student privacy, safe educational apps, and collaboration with colleagues across the district. This included looking at privacy impact assessments and how we check that classroom tools are district-approved and protect student information.

Another important part of this work is supporting and leading staff in choosing technology that strengthens teaching and meets students’ needs. The goal is for technology to become almost invisible: helping students access learning, express their ideas, and build independence while keeping the focus on learning and relationships.

These priorities have informed my practice since my Master of Education studies at UBC. Collaborating across schools helps us share effective approaches, work through challenges together, and support staff in making thoughtful choices for their students.

Have a fantastic long weekend!

>>> Mr. O'Connor

PS: Indoor soccer sign-up was today! Ask your child if they signed up for this fun, free, and excting opportunity for ALL SKILL levels. If they missed sign up, no worries - tell me on Tuesday morning and I can add you to the roster.

17 September 2026

Hello Div. 17 Families!

What a busy, fun and energetic first two weeks of school and I will try my best to remember some of the many highlights!

Much of September is about building our classroom community, and I have really enjoyed getting to know this wonderfully diverse group of students. We have athletes, artists, comedians, readers, creators, big personalities, quiet observers and just about everything in between! At the same time, students are getting to know one another - and I am learning everyone’s schedules as I build ours! They have had opportunities to try French, Music, PE, Library Skills and much much more.

A big focus has been learning how to be a member of a classroom community. We are practising how to collaborate, include others, take responsibility for our belongings and clean up after ourselves. We are also learning how to take care of our shared space - even something as simple as remembering clean indoor shoes helps keep our classroom comfortable and ready for learning.

Students have also been working hard to learn one another’s names. You may have noticed a sheet of classmates’ first names come home in your child’s agenda. Building relationships and a sense of belonging is an important part of the BC curriculum, and knowing the people around us is a pretty good place to start!

Literacy - Reading, Writing and a Little Mystery

In Literacy, we have begun getting back into our reading and writing routines, along with some fun spelling assessments that help me learn more about each student as a reader and writer. These early activities give me useful information about what students already know and where our instruction can go next.

We have also started our first read-aloud novel of the year! Together with Mr. Koopmans’ class, we are reading The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass. It is funny, poignant and mysterious - a terrific combination for September as we begin talking about characters, clues, predictions, themes and the way authors keep readers wondering what will happen next. With October just around the corner, a little mystery seems particularly well timed.

Art - Showing Who We Are

Our first major art project is underway - mixed-media self-portraits.

Students are creating portraits that show much more than what they look like on the outside. Alongside their physical features, they are using drawings, photographs and words to represent their interests, hobbies, favourite things and other parts of who they are. We are also exploring colour mixing as students learn to create their own unique skin tones.

This project connects visual arts with identity, communication and creative expression. More importantly, it is giving us another way to learn about the people who make up our classroom community.

We hope to have the portraits ready for you to see at our Open House on September 24, before the Family BBQ begins at 5:30 pm. Exact Open House times are still to be determined.

Buddies - Making Our Mark!

We have also met our buddy class - Ms. Miller’s Kindergarten/Grade 1 students!

Our first activities included exploring International Dot Day, which celebrates creativity, courage and the idea that everyone can make their own mark. Working with younger students gives our Grade 4/5 students an opportunity to practise leadership, patience, communication and collaboration. It was a great first experience together, and we are looking forward to many more buddy activities throughout the year.

Math - Estimation Gets BIG

Math Grade 5 has already brought one of the biggest - quite literally - highlights of our first two weeks.

Students have begun using Mathletics, but we have also been exploring estimation and measurement through a very real mathematical problem: How tall is our giant school sunflower? Have you seen how many are growing in our jungle, I mean, courtyard?!

Before measuring it, students had to estimate its height and think about strategies that could help them make a reasonable estimate rather than simply guess. We then cut the sunflower down, brought the entire thing into the classroom (which caused exactly as much chaos, I mean, excitement as you might imagine!) and discovered that it measured an impressive 4.4 metres tall. Please come see it, as it currently hangs in our classroom window!

Our sunflower investigation has helped us explore an important mathematical idea: good mathematicians do not always start by calculating an exact answer. They estimate, look for patterns, choose efficient strategies, test their thinking and then decide whether an answer makes sense. We will continue working with our sunflower as we wrap up this investigation. Addition and subtraction of big numbers, and place value will be our first topics ahead.

Digital Literacy - Internet Safety is KEY

We have also started talking about what it means to be a responsible and capable digital citizen. Students are learning about password safety, protecting personal information and developing their keyboarding skills. Have you challenged your child to a keyboarding test to see who is fastest?!

These are increasingly important parts of literacy. Knowing how to use technology effectively is one thing - knowing how to use it safely, responsibly and thoughtfully is just as important. More to come on this important topic.

Making Division 17 Ours

Finally, our classroom is slowly starting to feel like our classroom.

Students have created name tags to help everyone learn names, our birthdays are now on display, and our family photo wall is beginning to fill up. Thank you to everyone who has already sent in a 4 x 6 family photograph! These little additions help students see themselves and their families represented in the room and contribute to the sense that this is a place where everyone belongs.

There have already been lots of laughs, lots of learning and, of course, lots of things we are still working on. We are learning routines, figuring out how to work together, getting to know one another and beginning to discover what kind of classroom community we want Division 17 to be.

We are only two weeks in, but we are off in the right direction - even if our 4.4-metre sunflower had a bit of a head start!

>>>> Mr. O'Connor

PS: Indoor Soccer Update!

Coming up soon, I will also be volunteering at lunch to help run an all-welcome indoor soccer team!

There is no cost to participate, and everyone is welcome - whether your child plays soccer regularly, has never played before, or just wants to come out, be active and have some fun with friends. We will play approximately once a week at lunch, with a tournament typically planned for later in the season. Tournament details and dates are still to be determined.

It is another great opportunity for students to be active while practising teamwork, fair play, perseverance and positive participation - all important parts of Physical and Health Education. Most importantly, the goal is to have fun, include everyone and enjoy playing together!

PPS: The secret word is Canucks - Students - write this in your agenda for a prize from Mr. O!

11 September 2026

03 September 2026

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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