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!

Earth Week

As you may know here in our classes, we make an effort everyday to help minimize our carbon foot print. Our students have worked very hard to make our class as Eco-friendly as possible. We had a great time celebrating earth week! We cleaned our over flowing compost, made some amazing art out of 100% recycled products. With help from our friend the Lorax, we learned all about the importance of trees, and all of the things they impact. 

Thank you to all our families who participated in our garbage-less lunch. Your students beamed with pride as they showed off their re-useable containers. 

Within the next week our class will be receiving a compost and a digester, which will be permanent fixtures in our school yard. (Information on both was sent home last week.) We're very excited to extend our learning as we document the changes. Please try and keep in mind our efforts when packing lunches. 

Some tips we received from EWSA included: 

- cutting fruit (apples or oranges) at home 

- buying juice in big containers and filling re-useable bottles 

- limiting pre-packaged snacks to one a day (ex. Bear paws, fruit roll ups)  

- buying yogurt in big containers and filling containers 

Thank you for your support ! 

Special visit from EWSA

Together with the help of the wonderful Mrs. Heather, we learned even more about composting! Mrs. Heather visited us from Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority. She shared a great video explaining where our recycling goes, and explained to us what's really happening in our compost. 

Look out in our mail bags for some cool goodies to help us extend this learning at home! 

Strike a pose!

Fashion week may have wrapped up in Paris, but it's just starting in Tecumseh. We've been studying the runways from all over the world, and have started to to perfect our poses. We were lucky enough to have some great engineers in our classes who could help build us a temporary runway. We even had budding photographers who captured our struts. 

All of this hard work will be put to good use when the lights go on and the music starts on Thursday, April 2nd at 2:15 on the big stage in our dramatic arts room. We hope to see everyone there! 

We're super excited to announce that a local hair salon will be donating their time to make sure we're all runway ready! If you would like to volunteer your time in any capacity we are still looking for help. 

Keep an eye out after March break for your hand made invitation. 

Wishing all of our families a happy, fun-filled, and safe March break! And don't forget to fill your "capturing a moment" folders with any amazing moments your family may create! We have had so much fun sharing, and discussing all of your entries so far! Keep them coming! 

 

Getting the most out of a fading winter.m

With the temperatures beginning to warm, we thought we would take one last opportunity to enjoy the beauty of winter. Our walk to our local nature reserve was nothing short of spectacular! Everyone (students and teachers alike) had a great time! 

We would like to thank all of the parents who sent thermoses. A special thank you to Bianca's family for sending the delicious rice crispie squares, they were enjoyed by all. 

We had so much fun, we're hoping to make this a regular trip.