Congratulatons Mrs. Gallagher

Margaret Gallagher

 

There are some families at Tecumseh Vista Academy who doubted, for a time, that Margaret Gallagher even existed. Children would come home from school talking about this wonderful woman who wore a green coat, had a bun on the top of her head and made dresses every day. It was easy to assume that this was some fictional story book character… like the Grimm fairy tale of the shoemaker and the elves.

 

The reality is though, that like the cobbler in that classic fable, there was actually a magical character who arrived at the school each day and made an incredible difference in the lives of the students.

A particular interest in fashion of one early years student became the pattern for this all too true story. The child’s fascination with fabric and glitter and making clothes spread like an unraveled ball of yarn throughout the classroom and soon some expert intervention was required.

 

In rolled Margaret Gallagher with 2 sewing machines, fabric, scissors and thread. She immediately became a daily member of the teaching team as more and more students wanted to design and make their own piece of clothing.

 

Four months, miles of thread and an immeasurable amount of imagination later, 52 students had created their own dresses or sports jerseys and modelled them for classmates and families at a special fashion show.

 

Besides the basic skills of measuring, cutting and sewing, Margaret taught the students about different fabrics and the parts of a sewing machine. She also modelled important qualities of patience, cooperation and compassion.

 

The testimonials from children and families were uniform in their gratitude for “guidance on a project that was personal to each child”, “allowing a student to show her creative side” and for making “52 children very happy”.

 

But unlike the magical elves in the fairy tale, Margaret has not disappeared after this life-changing experience. She continues to volunteer in the classroom on a daily basis and she’s now considering a quilting project.

 

Margaret Gallagher is a real life Champion for Education.   

It's Migration time!

The local birders have been keeping busy with our regions annual migration of the return of our feathered friends. Our friends in Mme. Schertzer and Mme. Prestias class have been keeping in the spirit of things by helping out the grade 6s with their study of local birds. We've been very excited with all of the new friends we've seen! We're hoping to have some birds move to our side of the school but we discovered were missing one key element! A bird house! We've done our research and believe we know what we need to make one. We're drawing up our blue prints and hope to be putting our houses up by next Friday. 

If you have any supplies you think we could use please feel free to send them with your student. 

Pop bottles 

Orange juice containers 

String 

Etc.

We're hoping this will be a great introduction to our trip to Hillman Marsh. 

Google earth

Part of our curriculum covers learning about community helpers. We've been very lucky to have had so many of our parents volunteer their time, and help us understand the many different roles people play to help our community function. 

We became curious about the different places in our community, and with the help of google earth we've been able to explore all over Tecumseh and Windsor. We had so much fun with Google earth we've downloaded it to our class desk top and have been using it as a centre. We've especially loved finding our own homes and exploring our neighbourhoods. 

It would be great if at home we can start learning our addresses and exploring our neighbourhood. It's even one of the tasks in our blue folder!