Grade 9 News

Energizing. Cheery. Intriguing. Intense. Hilarious. Enlightening. This is just a sampling of the words yelled forth by this year’s Grade Nine squad when asked to describe the year thus far. In ELA, Mr. Kirk has us exploring Human Rights and Freedoms. In Social Studies, we’ve just finished making personal timelines and now we are looking at ancient human history and pre-history. They’ll be on display in our classroom shortly, so swing on in and have a look. (bring chips) Speaking of items on display, we’ve been working on painting the ceiling tiles. It’s a bit like the Sistine Chapel except with a little more Disney and Sports Logos. Do you have any questions about finding the surface area of a Composite Shape? You can ask us now, because that’s what Mr. Herman is teaching us in Math. Can you imagine having Ms. Prakash as a science teacher? It’s a blast. Literally. She sure likes blowing things up. Our leader, Mr. Graham is teaching us about Decision making in Health class and we’re looking at life for teenagers in past decades. It’s crazy. Volleyball, welding and Kitchen Wizardry round out our daily schedules.

All in all, I don’t think we’ve ever been happier.

 

Grade 8 News

The grade 8s are in various class combinations this year and getting a variety of topics in their classes. In ELA classes, students are reading The Giver as well as focusing on Poetry and essay writing. Science class has started this year with the topics of the Water Cycle and Light Reflection/Refraction. Study of various cultures, immigration, migration and maps is the focus in Social Studies. The two classes are at the same place in Math, reviewing some work from last year, and learning about exponents. Fitness courses, dodge ball and mat ball as well as throwing skills have been topics in Phys Ed. Lastly, isometric drawings, reviewing how to cook and putting those skills to the test making cookies have been the areas of study in PAA.

Grade 7 News

Another year has begun and the adventure is upon us! It has been wonderful to see so many familiar faces and to meet new people. Our class this year is made up of 25 amazing students! They are hard working, kind and funny. We are currently exploring sustainability in ELA, whole numbers review and pre-algebra substitution in math, and basic mapping skills in Social Studies.

I am currently planning our first field trip of the year. In early October, the Grade 7s will be venturing to the city to swim and bowl as part of our team building goal for the year. We will be doing some fundraising to help offset the cost of the trip. Please keep your eyes peeled for more information about the trip and fundraising in the weeks to come.

We have an intern working with us this term. Her name is Nicole Andre and she has already been busy

building relationships, coaching, and teaching the Grade 7 ELA. We are both excited about this term and the successes we are sure to see. As always, should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact one of us at the school (306-544-2511). We can also be reached via email: Nicole.Bain@spiritsd.ca or Nicole.Andre@spiritsd.ca.

 

Grade 5 & 6 News

What a beautiful start to a new school year. In the grade 5/6 room we are diving into a lot of things. In ELA we are learning about Messag- es. In Social Studies we have been studying maps about Canada and around the world. We are observing several living things in Science. Healthy lifestyles is the focus in Health. We are staying active in Phys. Ed. with a variety of games and activities. When we can get out and observe the world around us, we will take the opportunity to do a bit of learning outside the classroom.

Ms. Bishop Moisan and the Grade 5/6 class.

Grade 3 & 4 News

It has been a great start to the year and I am excited to be joining the Grade 3/4 class for part of this school year! We have a bunch of exciting things happening right now. In ELA, we are working on a unit called “My Friends and I”. In Math, both Grade 3 and 4 classes are exploring different kinds of patterns. In Science, we are learning about structures and have been on several structure hunts around the school! In Social Studies, we are exploring our world and trying to learn a bit about our new friend Windy’s previous home in China! We have also done a few fun Arts Ed. projects and will be bringing home our letter hangings at the end of September. The Grade 3/4 class is an energetic group who are showing their excitement for learning new things each day. I am looking forward to spending the next few months together!

Miss Adelman

 

Grade 1 & 2 News

It’s been a great couple of weeks back at school! The students are settling into a nice routine. In ELA, we are spending September reviewing the alphabet letters and sounds, numbers, and colours. We are starting to learn sight words, which will be written in the planners every week so that you can focus on those words at home as well; there will be five new words each week that both grades will learn to read. The grade two’s did awesome on their first spelling test last week….what a good start to the year! Starting next week, the grade two’s are going to be picking some chapter books from the library for home reading. The grade one’s will be bringing a notebook home from time to time called “My First Stories” where they can show off some of their new reading skills! In math, the grade one’s are learning about patterns with Mr.  Woods-Fehr, while the grade two’s are learning about patterns with me. We are starting a unit on Senses in science, Safety in health, as well as Belonging in Our World for social studies. Please feel free to pop in for a visit if you have any questions or concerns!

 

From the Office

As seems to be the case every year, it feels like we’ve already been here for months instead of weeks, as so much seems to fill the day and the before and after school times for the students and staff at Hanley Composite School. It’s great to see the students back in the school and in the gym and on the field. The SRC is also busy making plans for the year’s events and we’ll look forward to their contributions to our positive environment at school.

High School students are settling into their timetables, and our encouragement will be that parents be involved in conversations with their children about credits and prerequisite courses for any programs students may want to enter after Grade 12.

We welcome the new students to our school, including our Grade 7s from Dundurn. We hope you make plans to have the best year you can and remember, now it’s your school too, so get involved! We have a total beginning enrolment of 230 students this year K-12 which is up a little from last year, and also, great to hear!

This morning, our new Kindergartens made a tour through the school, stopping by the office on a scavenger hunt of clues about our school. It was great to see the wonder and curiosity on their faces as they begin their education in the school system today.

We have a number of teams that have been at practice and competing already this month. We’ll be looking forward to hearing the progress and the accomplishments of the Senior Girls, Junior Girls, and Junior Boys Volleyball teams, the Junior Golfers, Cross Country runners and the Football team this fall. Students should continue to do their best to become involved where and when they can as it continues to make their experiences at Hanley Composite School the best. I heard mention this week of a Chess club starting as well – sounds like a great idea!!

I’d like to give a formal welcome to the three interns we have added to our staff this fall. Mr. David Woods will be joining Mr. Graham, Miss Nicole Andre will be joining Mrs. Bain, and Miss Chantelle Fransoo will be joining Mr. Kirk in their courses as well as teaching a lot of those courses over the semester.

I like to update you when I can over the improvements to our school and grounds to keep you aware of changes. We spent a $10000.00 grant this summer on four sets of permanent bleachers for our track and field area, six metal benches, and netting for the hockey net frames in the court area we worked so much on last year. I’d like to give a big thanks to Dwight Thall for his work in auguring out the holes for the benches. The grant was awarded last spring as part of our improvement proposal for the court area and grounds – thanks again to Darice Carlson, the Town of Hanley administrator, for her work applying for this grant. Another grant from the Roughriders made it possible to finish the siding of the Football Shed this last week! The materials were provided by Prairie Steel. I’d also like to thank James and Marie Mann for their generous donation of a new scoreboard for the Football Field! Plans are in place for it to be mounted in the ground as soon as we can this fall, with mounting beams supplied by Elance Steel and Mike Prosofsky and the electrical work to hook it up by Ryan Grindheim. For a guy like me, the bigger numbers are going to be a lot easier for my old eyes to see. Thanks to each of you mentioned for your support!!

That’s all for now. For further information and updates from the students and classrooms, check out our school website at https://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. Talk to you soon.

Kindergarten News

September 13 was the first day of Kindergarten. It was a GREAT day! We read stories, played in the gym, visited the library, played outside, AND went on a Pete the Cat scavenger hunt around the school. I can already tell that we are going to have a very fun year together!

A few important things:

  • Picture Day is on Friday, September 20. We switched the K day from the 19th to the 20th for this reason. Kindergarten is usually the first class to go, so we should still be looking good by then (I’m not speaking for myself!).
  • There is a pizza sale every Friday at Hanley School. It is $3/slice. If K falls on a Friday, I will send an order form home earlier in the week.
  • September Kindergarten dates: 13, 17, 20 (Picture Day), 23, 26 (Terry Fox Day), 30
  • October Kindergarten dates: 2, 4, 8, 10, 16, 18, 22, 24, 28, 30, 31 (Halloween)

Our class motto is: Be Nice! So, if you start hearing this frequently in your homes, you’ll know why!

Enjoy the rest of your September! I know we will!

-The Kindergartens & Mrs. Martineau

 

From The Office

By the calendar on my wall beside me, it appears there are only six more school days ahead for students. That num- ber includes days for writing final exams that start this week on Thursday. The whirlwind that is final class trips, exams and studying, marking, comments, report cards, cleaning up rooms, course selections for next year, supply lists, student handbook revisions and class lists is in full swing and we’re all running to catch up.

We’ve had a number of special events take place since I last sent out a “From the Office” message and I’m pleased to see so many things still happening at Hanley School in the last week.

Good luck to our graduating students as they finish off the school year and make their plans for this summer and next year. Everything looked and went wonderful on June 14. Thanks Mrs. Burgess and Mrs. Prakash for your work as advisors and helping the plans of the graduates take shape for their celebration.

This Friday, our Elementary students will be taking part in the annual Try-all-athon with the students from Dundurn. Students will run, swim and bike their course and enjoy a day with the other kids as they participate. Great work, everyone!

Our annual Play Day and Track and Field Day went well on June 10th with the students from Dundurn again travelling to Hanley to take part. Students again enjoyed a day of activity and play with a great comment by one student I wanted to in- clude here, “Best Day Ever!”

I’d like to give you a quick staffing update for the fall to make you aware of some changes we’ll be seeing. Mrs. Martineau will be returning in the fall as our Kindergarten teacher. The class is large enough in numbers that the other elementary grades will see new combinations for next year. Grade 1-2 will have Mrs. Romanchuk as their teacher. Miss Adelman is returning to our school in the fall to teach Grade 3-4 until Jan- uary when Mrs. Koroll will re- turn from her maternity leave. Mrs. Pozniak and her family have made a move to St. Louis this spring and she doesn’t have plans to return to teach at Hanley. We’re sad to see you go Mrs. Poz, but we’d like to wish you well in the future! We’re also going to have to say farewell to Ms. Stefanson as she is making a bigger move to Ontario this year. Good luck to you as well in the future, Ms. Stefanson! The grade 5-6 class will have Mrs. Bishop Moisan as their teacher and we’ll see Mrs. Bain return in the fall. The remainder of classes will be taught by much the same teachers as this year in grades 7-12 with some minor shifts due to some splits in the grade 8 class. Everyone can agree that it’s better to have a lower student-teacher ratio for student contact, so we’ll take advantage of some various combinations to give them the best educational opportunities through smaller class sizes the next few years.

Lastly, I just want to leave you this year with a comment about my thanks again for the support you provide Mr. Anderson and I and the rest of the staff when we work together in the best interests of your students. We appreciate it. That’s all for now. 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. Talk to you soon.

Chris Tucker Principal
Hanley Composite School

Grade 12 News

Finally, school comes to an end, and for us it will be our last month in Hanley School forever. We have been busy getting ready for Grad, but now that it is over, we get to focus on our stud- ies once again. And what do our studies consist of? Learning on our own, basically. We have been doing Independent Research Projects in all of our classes, except for Phys Ed and ELA, the class in which we dabbled in the world of Shakespeare and read Hamlet.

Now we face the world full of ambitions, waiting to see what we will become! To be, or not to be, that is the question!

– Alexander