Ah, winter! You finally got here! The grade 10’s couldn’t tell if the icy blast was the weather outside or the knowledge of their first set of final exams coming up at the end of the month! Teachers have been busy hitting those last few topics that need to be covered before exams start on the 25th. In Math, they’ve just finished up Geometry. Commercial Cooking just put out a fantastic chilli-and-abun lunch, perfect for the cold weather. In IA, projects are furiously being clamped and glued in preparation for a final sand and stain. In Science, they’ve been studying motion. In ELA, they’re just finishing up their Jurassic Park project. They’ve caught the entrepreneurial bug in Social as they create their own fur-trading companies. In Wildlife Management they’ve been studying ecosystems and winter weather. And finally, as a break to all that studying, they’ve had a chance to play some basketball and badminton in Wellness. Have a great week!
Author Archives: christucker
Grade 11
Wow! Hard to believe semester 1 is almost over and we are writing final exams next week. It will be a challenging week of studying and completing final projects. Final exams include Physical Science 20, Foundations 20, and a mid term exam for ELA/ History 20. A final independent project needs to be completed for Health Science 20. Next semester, classes are as follows: a continuation of ELA/ History 20, a choice of Psychology 30 or Robotics 30, a choice of PreCalculus 20 or Workplace 20, a choice of Construction 20 or PAA 20 and Environmental Science 20. Good luck on exams!
Grade 12
Wow where has January gone? Now that 2016 is here, the grade 12’s are on their final push to finish this semester! And Contech is back working on the balcony! At this time the grade 12’s are busy preparing for their final exams. The social studies class is reflecting on the course in order to address two final exam questions. The grade 12 ELA class is working hard to prepare for their final exam on Canadian literature. They have been reviewing all of the texts studied during the year. The pre-calculus section finished their last unit on exponentials and logarithms, and now are studying up to write the final on Wednesday! Foundations 30 has a small class, and they are ready to write the comprehensive exam. In Bio 30 the kids are getting their a-b-c and d’s ready for the big final exam. Mrs. Prakash has them working overtime! The P.A.A. students are trying to stay on their teachers good sides and finish their woodworking or bunnyhugs on time. Good luck to all students on their exams, and may the curve be ever in your favour. See you next semester! Feel free to stop in and visit me any time if you have any concerns! Brandon Hutchinson and Jill Why were the teacher’s eyes crossed? He couldn’t control his pupils!
From the Office
Welcome to our new year, everyone. We’ve been fortunate to have some abnormally nice temperatures so far this month as well as some very cold days to balance them as well. Try to keep sending warm outdoor clothing on the cold days, especially with bus students of all ages in case of bus trouble.
January is filled with finishing Semester 1 classes and studying for final exams and completing course end projects. See this newsletter for the exam schedule taking place the last week of January for the grade 10-12 students and encourage your student to study as much as they can. Assignments for all the finishing courses must be in soon if not already to make the course credit available, so students must be completing each assignment that is given by the teacher. Many students have been dropping in at the office for help with applications to various university or technical programs – that’s exciting to see! We also have a number of Youth Apprenticeship Program students working through those assignments as well and we hope to hear of successful apprenticeship agreements made as well for next year.
Curling and basketball season are the focus of school sports right now. Just like our Riders, some “building years” have been coming for a while and it’s great to see some strong junior teams working towards filling some future senior teams. Great job to all the coaches.
This is a reminder that January 29th will be the “turn around” day between semesters, and not a school day for students. Report Cards for grades 7-12 will head home on February 4th. I want to also remind our Grade 12 students that their second Work Experience full week is Feb 22-26 which follows the February break Feb 15-19. We did schedule this again on purpose so it wouldn’t break up their learning after the February break until the next one in April. I hope you enjoy your Family Day on Feb 15th .
The School Community Council would like me to mention that we still have some of the Community Calendars available at the office that families ordered this fall. There are also a few extra available for a reasonable $10.
That’s all for now. For further information and updates from the students and classrooms, check out our school website at http:// blogs.spiritsd.ca/hanley/. As always, Mr. Anderson and I would love to talk to you if you have time to drop by the office or give us a call. Take care and I’ll talk to you soon.
Chris Tucker
Principal
Kindergarten
Season’s Greetings! Thank you to the families who came out for the Family Fun Night! It was an evening filled with singing and fun. Kindergarten worked very hard to deliver a fantastic performance. They did a wonderful job! This month Kindergarten has been writing about the theme of Christmas. Weeven wrote letters to Santa! As a class we walked our letters down to the Hanley post office, dropped them in the mail and we are hoping Santa isn’t too busy to write back! Keep an eye on your mailbox! Show and Tell has been going great in Kindergarten! The children are becoming more comfortable speaking in front of the class. They are turning out to be fantastic public speakers and performers! Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Have a fun and wonderful Christmas spending time with your children! The Kindergarten’s & Miss. Buchinski
Grade 2
Season’s Greeting from grade two! It has been a busy, yet fun month around here. We had a wonderful time on our field trip! I was amazed at how many dare devils we had at the Forestry Farm, where they were able to feel a variety of animals, such as a snake, hedgehog, and a ferret just to name a few. The kids also enjoyed all of the activities at Flip Gymnastics, from relays to stations to free exploration. We have been busy wrapping up lots of units in math and science, as well as health. I think we are all excited to start some fresh new topics in the new year. We wrote friendly letters to Santa, and even had a chance to walk down to the post office to mail them! I also made a colour photocopy so that the kids could read each other’s letters and share them with you at home as well. We will continue our letter writing in January as we buddy up with Miss Janet Adelman’s grade two class from Martensille. The kids are pretty excited to write back and forth with their soon to be pen pals! They are really starting to enjoy our daily 5 activities, and it’s amazing how well they are working independently through this process. We have been working on making connections as we read, as well as answering the 5 W’s (who, what, when, where and why) as we write to include more details in our work. We have had lots of fun singing Christmas carols and making beautiful Christmas art. I hope that everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas holiday!
Grade 1&3
The 1/3 class is excited for their upcoming field trip to the WDM and Fuddruckers! We have been busy doing lots of writing. The 1s have created ‘Giving Books’ and the 3s have written Christmas poetry. In math, both grades are working on their measurement units. The 3s will not have a test for this unit. The 3s did very well on their oral presentations in social studies! The 1s have learned about needs and wants by deciding what they would bring with them on a deserted island. We have been reading books on space and recording the new information we learn to practice building our background knowledge on a topic. Ask your child what new facts they know about space! We have made some beautiful pieces of Christmas art, too! It was great to see all of the families at Family Fun Night! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Grade 4,5,6
Whoosh!! Where did that month go? I hope everyone has a very restful break and enjoys some fun times with friends and family. We have started our unit about matter and the students are becoming very engaged in our experiments. In Social Studies the students have been given opportunities to explore the topic of culture. The students are just finishing up some literature circle activities in language arts. After The break, the grade 5’s and 6’s will be beginning a new unit in math about decimals. Have a great break!!
Grade 7
December has arrived and the time is flying by! The new snow has been welcomed with laughter and fun! The Grade 7s have been busy studying integers and number theory in math, and have just begun a unit on humour in English. We continue to look at the implications of globalization in social studies, and in science, the students are mixing up a great deal of fun in their “Mixtures and Solutions” unit. I would like to take a moment to let you know how amazing the Grade 7s are in art. Their work is fantastic and has had many compliments. These kids are always willing to gothe extra mile and are a pleasure to work with! Thank you, to parents, for encouraging your children to think outside the box and to explore with their creativity. If you get a chance, come out and check out their work; their watercolours are posted in the classroom and hallway of our wing. I had hoped we could venture out for a day of sledding and skating before the Christmas break. However, we don’t have enough snow yet! I would like to plan a day early in the New Year to get outside! I would also like to have a class potluck. I will keep you posted on these plans. Finally, I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous, healthy and exciting New Year! All the best to you and yours! As always, if you have any questions or concerns regarding your child’s progress, please contact me at the school (306-544-2511) or via email. (Nicole.Bain@spiritsd.ca).
Grade 8
The Grade 8s have been working hard and are looking forward to a wonderful Christmas break! The students have been working towards mastering ratios and proportions in math. Meanwhile, in ELA, the class has been exploring a novel study of The Giver. The students have been participating wonderfully and seem to really enjoy the novel so far. Science has the class exploring “Optics and Vision”; it’s been quite the eye opener! In social class, students have been investigating events that have changed Canada. Have a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year! Best Wishes to everyone!