Primary Students Connecting and Sharing
A Typical School Day in Sointula, Canada
We loved Mr. Salsich’s slideshow so much that we wanted to share our typical school day with you too.
Our school is located on a little island off the West Coast of Canada. 800 people live on our island and there are 50 students in our school from kindergarten to grade 7. Our school seems very small compared to a lot of schools we hear about.
We started school on September 6th this year and will go until the end of June. We made this video to show you what a typical day at our school looks like. We hope you like it!
| Print article | This entry was posted by Melody Watson on October 26, 2011 at 3:53 pm, and is filed under School Day. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 6 months ago
Hello Mrs. Watson and Class,
I’m a regular visitor and commenter on Mrs. Yollis’ Class and the 2KM/2KJ blogs. When I found out your class had posted a video of a typical day, I had to drop in.
Your school seems to be set up very well. It would seem small compared to some of the schools you are working with but being small can have advantages too. A small school can be more like a family.
While I have retired from full time teaching now, my first school in western New South Wales, Australia, was much smaller than yours. We had only one classroom and one teacher, me. We had a large playground area and some climbing equipment.
Children in that small school ranged from Kindergarten to Year 6, although at one time we did have a Year 7 girl doing correspondence classes. In the two years I was there we had between 12 and 20 students.
The children lived on sheep and cattle properties in the area. The school itself was 100km (over 60 miles) from the nearest town and the next door house I lived in was around 20km (12 miles) away.
Can you imagine a teacher arriving at school in the morning and having to make certain any wild pigs, emus and kangaroos weren’t on the playground?
Your participation in the “Our World, Our Stories” has made you part of a global classroom. I think all involved are going to have some wonderful experiences.
Ross Mannell (teacher)
NSW, Australia
about 6 months ago
Dear Mr. Mannell,
Thank you for leaving us such an extraordinary comment!
We love our small school and you’re right, it is kind of like a family. A lot of students in our class have brothers, sisters, and cousins in our school (and even in this classroom). We are all really good friends, we all play together outside, and look out for one another.
Your school really was smaller than ours. We have 3 classrooms in our school, but there are some one room schools in our school district. One of the schools only has 7 or 8 students. Our school district is very spread out and includes other small islands as well.
People sure were spread out in your town. Our houses are pretty close together, but there is another small community about 20 minutes away on a logging road.
We had a chuckle about the wild animals on your playground. We don’t have any dangerous animals to worry about, but the teachers here often have to check for cows, turkeys, ducks, and geese on our field. We would love to know more about the kangaroos. Would they hurt the students? Did you ever have any problems with the animals when you tried to get them to leave?
Thanks again for the great comment!
Your new friends,
Mrs. W and the 2/3s
about 6 months ago
Dear Mr. Mannell,
I certainly echo what Mrs. Watson just stated, that was an extraordinary comment! I loved it!
After reading about the one room school, I must ask…how did you do it? You must have had non-readers in kindergarten and then kids in year 7. How did you handle that range in ability? Wow!
I’m also wondering about the wild pigs, emus, and kangaroos. Which animals were the hardest to remove from the schoolyard?
Thanks for being a part of our global classroom!
Mrs. Y♥llis
about 6 months ago
Good Morning,
We just watched your video and we really enjoyed it. Our class wishes we could have a couch and i-pad too. We have 23 students in our second grade classroom.
We have a smart board in our classroom too, but we can’t use our fingers to move items. We must use the stylist.
We think it is exciting that we are learning about the Solar System too!
Have a great day and thank you for sharing,
Mrs. Auer’s Second Grade
about 6 months ago
Dear Mrs. Auer’s Second Grade,
Thank you for the marvellous comment you left us. We sure do have a lot in common.
We wonder where you live and how big your school is.
It is cool that we are both learning about the solar system. What planets have you learned about? Do you have a favourite planet? We have finished the planets and now we are going to learn about the stars.
We’d love to learn more about you!
Mrs. W and the 2/3s
about 6 months ago
Dear Mrs. Watson and class,
We love The BFG. Have you ever seen our movie trailer?
We have a few things in common with you even though we live so far away! We both go home at about the same time. You also have a small school much like us, except, we think that your school is even smaller than ours!
We were wondering, how long does it take for students to get to the high school? How early do they have to leave to get on the boat?
Thanks!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery’s Class
Plympton, Massachusetts
about 6 months ago
Dear Mr. Avery’s Class,
Thanks so much for leaving a comment about our typical school day.
We watched your BFG movie trailer last year, but we hadn’t read the book. We are going to watch it again now. Last year we loved how you made the BFG look huge and had someone in his hand.
We think our school probably is smaller. How many people are in your class and school?
Students in grades 8-12 go to the next town on the ferry for high school. The ferry comes at 7:55 and the get to the other side at about 8:20. The ferry leaves at 4:00 to bring them home. It is a long day!
Your friends,
Mrs. W and the 2/3s
about 6 months ago
Dear Mrs. Watson and the 2/3′s,
We loved your video!
Here are some things that we noticed were different from our day:
You don’t have lockers.
You have gym everyday and we have it once a week.
You can go home for lunch and we can’t!
Your day ends about a half an hour earlier than ours.
Here are some things that are similar:
We both have a smartboard.
You have a CAFE menu and so do we.
We both use reading boxes or reading baskets.
We were wondering:
Do you have to do push-ups and sit-ups in gym? We do.
Do you celebrate “red ribbon week” in your school?
Do you have the same schedule every day?
How far away from the school are your houses?
We have lots more questions and ideas, but we will leave more comments with those questions later.
Your blogging buddies in Connecticut,
Mr. Salsich’s students
about 6 months ago
Dear Mr. Salsich’s students,
Thanks for asking us such great questions!
-We don’t have to do push-ups or sit-ups in gym, but we do have to run laps around the school sometimes.
-We don’t celebrate “red ribbon week” at our school. None of us have heard of that before. Can you tell us more about it?
-Our schedule is almost the same every day. The only big change is that after the Daily 5 round after lunch we either have Health and Careers, Science/Socials, or Art depending on which day of the week it is. We also fit library in once a week instead of our calendar math. Do you have the same schedule every day?
-Some of us live close enough to school to walk or ride our bikes and those of us who live further away take the school bus. The furthest away is probably a 10 minute car ride on the logging road. How close do your students live to the school?
Learning about each other is so interesting!
Mrs. W and the 2/3s
about 6 months ago
Dear Mrs. Watson and 3/2 class,
Your school seems really fun because we don’t have a daily 5 that you can play with an ipad , color, play games on the computer, and sit on the couch. It is also cool how you can go home and eat lunch if you didn’t bring a lunch.
Is there a monument on your island?
Sincerely,
Aidan (Mrs. Yollis’ Student)
about 6 months ago
Dear Mrs. Watson and 2/3 class,
We are fascinated by your post!
Royce: You are so lucky that you have your own iPads.
Kelly: We do not have a SmartBoard, but we have a Mobi. You use a pen.
Acacia: I did not know that you lived on an island. That’s interesting!
Ellie: You are so lucky that you get to go home and eat lunch with your parents! (Mrs. Yollis used to do that when she was in school.)
Sammy: You are so lucky that you have a couch and a coffee table! Everyone is jealous! How comfortable!
Sasha: I wish we had the Daily 5 where you can pick what you want to do.
Mia: I did not know that you only had 50 students in your entire school. We have 100 students just in third grade! Our school has around 600 students.
Boy, do we have questions!
Alyssa: What is the class’ favorite science subject?
Royce: Do you get to play on the SmartBoard during Daily 5?
Ellie: Do you catch your own turkey for Thanksgiving or do people buy them at the the market?
Sarah: How many students fit on the comfortable couch? (We REALLY love that couch!)
Maya: How many animals visit daily on average?
Alexandra: At snack, are the tables crowded?
Logan: In math, we are learning multiplication. What are you learning in math?
Jake: What is a SmartBoard? How does it work?
Aidan: Are there any monuments on your island?
Trey: What apps and/or games do you use on your iPads?
Brenden: How large is your island in square miles?
Jordyn: How many kids go home for lunch?
Parsa: Do most kids live on your island? How many take a boat to get home?
Rexon: Can the kids play in the forest behind the school?
Etai: What types of pets do people have?
Jakob: How many kids walk to school?
Your new blogging buddies in California,
Mrs. Y♥llis’ class
P.S. I know we asked a lot of questions. Maybe some students can answer a few at a time. We love the Our World, Our Stories project!
about 6 months ago
Dear Mrs. Yollis’ Class,
Thank you for the wonderful comment. We were excited to see so many questions. We’ll put the answers below each question.
Alyssa: What is the class’ favorite science subject?
-So far our favourites are plants and space.
Royce: Do you get to play on the SmartBoard during Daily 5?
-Yes, we use it as a Word Work choice.
Ellie: Do you catch your own turkey for Thanksgiving or do people buy them at the the market?
-We loved this question! Solomon’s grandpa catches his own turkey. Bradley has turkeys at his house. The rest of us buy our turkeys at the grocery store.
Sarah: How many students fit on the comfortable couch? (We REALLY love that couch!)
-Sarah, we love the couch too! We let 2 students sit on the couch at once, but 3 would fit.
Maya: How many animals visit daily on average?
Do you mean on the field outside or in the classroom? On the field we often see ducks and geese, but the cows only drop by once in a while.
Alexandra: At snack, are the tables crowded?
We only have 13 students in our class, so there is lots of room
Logan: In math, we are learning multiplication. What are you learning in math?
We are learning place value and we finished our unit on patterns.
Jake: What is a SmartBoard? How does it work?
-A SmartBoard is an interactive touch screen, kind of like a giant computer screen that you use your finger or pen on.
Aidan: Are there any monuments on your island?
Not that we are aware of, but we do have a giant anchor at our harbour that is a memorial to those who have lost their lives at sea.
Trey: What apps and/or games do you use on your iPads?
We use Story Chimes, Word Wizard, iMovie, GarageBand, and a lot of other ones. We have about 200 apps on the iPads.
Brenden: How large is your island in square miles?
Malcolm Island is 15 miles long and 3 miles wide.
Jordyn: How many kids go home for lunch?
3 students go home for lunch and the others eat here in the classroom. (Mrs. Watson goes home for lunch too.)
Parsa: Do most kids live on your island? How many take a boat to get home?
We all live on the island. 5 families in our class own a boat.
Rexon: Can the kids play in the forest behind the school?
Yes, we definitely play in our forest. we call it the million dollar playground. There is a boundary line that we don’t cross.
Etai: What types of pets do people have?
We have: cats, dogs, bunnies, ducks, and fish.
Jakob: How many kids walk to school?
4 students walk, but others also ride their bikes.
Phew! We did it!
Your friends,
Mrs. W and the 2/3s
about 6 months ago
Dear class 2/3,
My name is Sarah and I am from Mrs. Yollis’ third grade class. I really liked your video. It was interesting to see that we both study similar things. We live in a suburban community, but it seems like you live in a rural community. Is that true? It must be nice having a forest as your playground. What kind of animals live in the forest? Do you ever see them? Are you aloud to go into the forest? How big is your island. How many people live on the island? How often do you have to go to the main land? I have a visited an island before, in Hawaii.
From,
Sarah
about 6 months ago
Dear Sarah,
There is a chipmunk that we call Chippy we do see Chippy sometimes. We don’t go to the main land lots.
We do live in a rural community. It is nice having a forest to play in
Your freind,
Sophie (from Mrs.Watson’s class)
P.S Chippy throws pinecones.
about 6 months ago
@ Mrs Watson,
Great post.
I loved your video!
At the start of the day your it is the same as ours, but at the end of the day our days are both very different.
Best Wishes,
Hannah(2KM)
about 6 months ago
@ Mrs Watson and Class
I loved your video!
The start of the day is the same but the end is different.
From
Molly
about 6 months ago
Dear Mrs. Watson and class,
It is amazing that you guys live on an island. Are there large stores there or do you have to take a boat to get to them? How many people stay for lunch and how many people leave the school on an average day?
How does the Smartboard work? It looks really cool! Do you let your students take their shoes off in class? That is the first thing I do when I get home! It is definitely more comfortable.
I wish my class had an Ipad and couch. I also wish my class could have our own computers. At least we get to share one with my whole class. I wish my school let us go home for lunch.
Sincerely,
Sasha
P.S.: I am in Mrs. Yollis’ 3rd grade class
about 6 months ago
Dear Sasha,
Thank you for your great questions! We’ll try to answer them all.
We don’t have any big stores here on our island. We have to take the 30 minute ferry to the next store for a few more stores, but have to drive down Vancouver Island if we want to actually get to a town with a mall or movie theatre (2 hours away).
We can’t wait to get to know you better!
Mrs. W and the 2/3′s
On an average day one or two students go home for lunch (and Mrs. Watson).
The SmartBoard is just like a big computer monitor that is touch sensitive. It is a lot of fun to use.
We aren’t allowed to take our shoes off at school either. We do have inside shoes that we change into if our outdoors are mucky or we are going to the gym for PE.
Mrs. Watson put a note in the school newsletter asking if anyone had a couch they would like to donate to the classroom and we got lucky. We were also really fortunate that Mrs. Watson won a grant this year and that is how we got the iPads. Your classroom looks great too! We wish that we had a mascot and AlphaSmarts.
about 6 months ago
Dear Mrs. Watson and class,
I really like your classroom! It looks so cozy with a couch and a coffee table! I think that if we had a couch in my classroom I would have an urge to take a nap on it!
I am so amazed that there are only fifty students in your school. It must be nice to be able to know every single student in the school.
I think it’s wonderful that you have iPads, I hope one day we get them also.
Do you have Alpha Smarts or anything else that can teach the students how to type?
Sincerely,
Leila (Mrs. Yollis)
about 6 months ago
Dear Leila,
Thank you for your comment. We really like our classroom too and some of us do get awfully comfy on the couch sometimes.
Having a small school is really nice, but we wonder what it would be like to be part of a large school too.
We don’t have AlphaSmarts for typing but we can use programs on the computers in the lab.
Thanks again for the great comment!
Mrs. W and the 2/3s
about 6 months ago
Dear Mrs. Watson and class,
I enjoyed watching your video today. It is so cool that you have a couch and a coffee table . It is also great that you have your own ipad.
I went to Toronto in Canada last year with my parents. It was freezing!
Is it cold there?
Do you go in the forest to play at school?
You live in a rural area. I live in the suburban area.
Are there markets near your school?
It is amazing that you have a small school with only fifty students.
Do you know every one at your school?
Sincerely,
Atrina
P.S. I am in Mrs. Yollis’ third grade class.
about 6 months ago
Dear Atrina,
Thanks for your super questions. The weather here in western Canada is quite different than it is in Ontario. We live in a temperate rainforest. The weather is quite mild. We get a lot of rain and it never gets really hot or really cold.
We play in the forest all the time. We actually call it our million dollar playground! There are lots of old stumps, trees, and bushes that are great for tag, Predator/Prey, Hide and Seek, Kick the Can, and lots of other games. Do you have any forests near where you live?
We don’ t have any moarkets, but we do have one Co-op Grocery store. Do you have markets.
It is really nice that we know everyone at our school. Most of us have brothers, sisters, or cousins here at the school or even in this class. Do you know everyone at your school?
Mrs. W and the 2/3s
about 6 months ago
Dear Mrs.Watson and class,
I really enjoyed watching your classroom video.Very exciting living on an island.I wish our class could have I-Pads along with a couch and coffee table.Your class is very lucky to go home for lunch,we only eat at school.
Wow only 50 students in your school.We have about 100 students just in the 3rd grade.It must be exciting at recess to sometimes see animals on the playground.We some
times see a coyote in the hills.It looks very cool to have SmartBoard.
From, Jakob Mrs.Yollis 3rd grade class
about 6 months ago
Dear Jakob,
Ipads are cool. i like going home for lunch. 100 people in grade 3 WOW!!!
from,
Sophie
about 6 months ago
Dear Mrs.Watson and class,
I loved watching your video. You are so lucky that you get to go home for lunch! About how many students in your class go home everyday?
I saw students using iPads in the video, that’s so cool. The iPad is a great learning tool and lots of schools use them. I have an iPad2 and like to make videos on photo booth. Does each student have their own iPad? Or how many do you share?
From Rexon
about 6 months ago
Dear Rexon,
There sure are a lot of great apps. We have 3 iPads and 2 iTouches that we share. They are really popular choices for Daily 5 and math centers. WE think it is pretty fantastic that you have our own iPad! Do you have any other great apps you can recommend?
From,
Mrs. W and the 2/3s
about 6 months ago
Dear Mrs. W and the 2/3′s,
Thank you for commenting back to me. I share the iPad with my mom and dad. Some of my favorite apps are Implode, Pocket God, Angry Birds, Garage Band and Aerox. My mom enjoys playing Words with Friends and 7 Little Words.
What apps do you and your students like?
Sincerely,
Rexon
about 6 months ago
@Mrs.Watson
That was a great post! Our school day is in someways the same and in someways diffrent. One of the diffrences is that we leave at 2:22pm. One of the similarities is that we both look at our blogs in the mornings.
Sincerely,
☀Acacia♠
about 6 months ago
Dear Acacia,
I think it is interesting that your school day starts and ends at a different time than ours does. I am not much of a morning person, so I think I might have trouble waking up earlier if I taught at your school. Do you find it hard to wake up in the morning? I think I stay up too late reading.
From,
Mrs. W
about 6 months ago
Dear Mrs. Watson and class,
I had fun watching your class video. Your classroom looks very comfy with a couch and coffee table.Very cool to have a I-Pad in your classroom. I would like to go home for lunch as we eat at our school. At recess it must be cool to see animals walking on the playground. We sometimes see coyotes in the hills.
From, Jakok
Mrs.Yollis 3rd grade class
about 6 months ago
Dear Jakok,
Thank you so much for your comment. Do the coyotes ever come close to the school? Do you have to worry about them? We don’t really have any scary animals here on our little island, although the odd cougar or bear has been known to swim over once in awhile from the mainland.
From,
Mrs. W
about 3 months ago
I really enjoyed your blog. Congratulations on your award! You must be very proud of your efforts!
I am a teacher-librarian from Port Hardy and I am trying to connect with our t-l in our district. Is there a teacher-librarian or a library clerk at your school? Who is in charge of the library? I look forward to your message. Thanks
about 3 months ago
Dear Mrs. Gunson,
Thank you so much for checking out our group blog and for your congratulations. Our World, Our Stories was an amazing project that we feel very fortunate to have been a part of. Mrs. Walker is the teacher-librarian at our school.
I hope that helps,
Mrs. Watson