I’m sure it makes us a heartier brand of people to live in a part of the country with such varied weather and to raise our children in the same environment. Given the level of heat in the summer, and the bitter cold in the winter we can live through, and the changes that can happen within 24 hours, we really should feel lucky to deal with it and be proud to live in Saskatchewan. While you’re being proud with me, can I remind you that we send students out for recess until minus 25 degrees, and that our bus drivers are expecting the students they pick up to have adequate warm clothing with them for the bus trips to school and back home.

The Career Fair we took the grades 11 and 12 to this last month was a good trip and had many students talking about their future plans. I’ve encouraged a number of students who are planning to pursue a trades career route to sign up for the Youth Apprenticeship Program at the office. The YAP helps students prepare for that trades career and gives them some rewards for starting their planning in their high school years.

I’d like to remind you that our school is continuing its focus on our multi-year School Goals. Our Literacy Goal and its supporting Professional Learning Community is about targeting students who are struggling with reading or are reading below grade level and making strides to help them improve. Our Math Goal and its supporting PLC measures students at three grade levels and looks for gaps in their prior knowledge, giving classroom teachers opportunity to reteach or supplement their lessons with help to get the students back on track. We’re looking forward to our future results. Take time to ask the staff about their work towards student success.

This next Monday is a day away from school for students as teachers have the day for class preparation. It also is the first of two weeks this year that the Grade 12s will be away at work sites for their Career Work Experience class. Good luck Grade 12s and work hard as your work placement may provide you with a great reference for your resume.

Parents, I hope you had a chance to sit down with your child and look through their report card and behavioural report this weekend. Reports went out on Friday, Nov 15. It was great to see the student progress and the comments about how they’re doing in class.

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.

We have been having a great time in Kindergarten this month.

Here are a few things that we’re keeping busy with:

• Math: We had a lot of fun with patterns and now we’re moving into sorting and describing. Ask us about our “Touchy-Feely Boxes”.
• ELA: We have been busy with our ‘Story Acting’. Not only do we love writing our stories, we especially love to perform them! We have also been reading piles and piles of awesome books. We love to do Reader’s Responses. You can check out some of our work in the hallway outside of the classroom! We’ve also been having a blast with Mrs. McGregor working on ‘Animated Literacy’. We love to learn about letters of the alphabet!
• Phys. Ed: We’ve been learning how to move our bodies in different ways. We’ve been crawling, sliding, rolling, hopping, etc. all over the place!
• Social Studies: November was a great time for us to start learning about Remembrance Day, war, and peace! We’ve been learning that peace has many forms and can look different to different people.
• Creative Play: We just got a PILE of recycled dress-up clothes. Let’s just say that there are about 85 costume changes during the day now! Thank-you to Andrea Townsend and the figure skating club for dropping those off for us.
• Exciting: We are about to launch our “My Family” project. We want to learn about all of the Kindergarten families. The focus question is: “What’s Important to My Family?” I’d like to invite all families into the classroom during November/December to share with us what’s important to your family! This will look different to all families. It might be Dad coming in to share a family recipe with us, Mom coming in to read the favourite bedtime story in their family, Grandma coming in to tell a story about traditions in the family, or anything else that you’d like to do with your child(ren) to share with us about your family! Please remember that this is an invitation, not something that is mandatory! I am very aware that you are all very busy people! Email me if you’d like to book a time!

Important Dates:

• November Kindergarten: 5, 7, 12, 14, 18, 20, 22, 27, and 29th
• December Kindergarten: 3, 5, 9, 11, 13, 17, and 20th
• Christmas Concert: Tuesday, December 17th (more info to come soon)
• K-12 Christmas Banquet: Friday, December 20th

Another month has passed us by and we are getting closer to Christmas. This past month, the class enjoyed a fun Halloween party put on for us by a few Grade 12 Home Ec. students. Thank you, Chris, Ryan and Jesse! Everyone looked great in their costumes! Report cards have been sent out and congratulations to students on their hard work so far! We are getting into the Christmas season and practices for our Christmas concert will be starting this week so there are plenty of things to keep us busy.

Here are some of the things we have been doing this past month in our subject areas. In ELA, we are soon wrapping up our Friendship unit. We also took a break from our unit to write some creative stories. The students did a great job of coming up with ideas for each of their stories and as well as creating an illustrated picture book version of it! They are all excited to bring them home after they have been shared with our class. In Math, the grade 3’s continue to look at numbers between 1 and 1000 and the grade 4’s just finished a unit test on numbers. Both groups are doing some work on the computers with IXL math. If you can get a chance to help your child work on some extra skills at home that would be great! Our Science unit on Structures and Materials is soon wrapping up and we will be having a test at the end of this week or early next week. Our Social class continues to research and learn all about Saskatchewan. In Arts Ed., the students just finished a Pointillism project and they are very excited to bring them home, along with some other art projects that will also be coming home soon!

I sent out a parent email last week in regards to our new behaviour reporting system we are using for our class. I would like to thank everyone for all the positive responses and support given. Please continue to make an effort to review the report with your child each night and send it back signed so that we can continue to communicate with each other. Again, never hesitate to contact me anytime! Thanks,

Janet Adelman Grade 3/4 Teacher

The grade 5/6 class is excited to have one of the interns in our classroom to do some teaching. Her name is Miss Fransoo. In ELA we have started a unit about peace and are reading the novel Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. In Social Studies we are learning about countries in Africa and how countries can have a dependence on one another. In Science we are finishing up Diversity of Living Things. We have done some labs and investigations throughout the unit. The class is going to be learning about drama in Art class. In Health we are learning about decision making and the steps used to make the best decision possible for ourselves. Enjoy the beginning of the winter season.

Ms. Bishop Moisan and the grade 5/6 class

Report cards went out last week! Should you have any questions, comments or concerns, I would encourage you to contact us at the school. Overall, the Grade 7s are doing a great job of meeting curricular objectives! They are a hard working bunch!

Late last month, the Grade 7 class ventured out to Saskatoon for their team building field trip. The bowling teams and themes were wonderful! Swimming was an adventure! What a pleasure it was to take such a great group of young people into the city. We are interested in taking 2 more field trips this year: skiing at Table Mountain after Christmas and a year-end trip to Blue Mountain Outdoor Adventure Park in

June. In order to offset costs, we will be doing fundraising throughout the year. Please look for a note regarding fundraising to come home in the next few days.

Christmas is soon approaching! As part of becoming a good citizen and sharing the spirit of the season, Miss Andre has signed our class up to “Adopt a Family”. We will be fundraising to buy gifts and food for a family in need. If you would like to donate any items, we would be truly thankful for your generosity. This is not a requirement, but simply a request.

Academically, students are wrapping up their Hatchet novel study in ELA, beginning a unit on fractions in math, and wrapping up their unit on cooperation, conflict and interdependence in social studies. Science has the class exploring ecosystems, food chains, the carbon cycle and the water cycle.

Once again, please feel to contact us at the school if you have any questions or concerns

In Math 8.1 the students have just finished their unit on “Integers” and are beginning to look at Fractions, Decimals and Percents. While in Math 8.2, the students are finishing up square roots and the Pythagorean Theorem. 8.2 students will be starting integers in the next unit. In ELA 8.2 The class just finished The Outsiders novel study and will begin looking at the theme of, “Is it Fair? Justice for All?” This theme is the predecessor for our exploration of Jean Val Jean. Meanwhile, ELA 8.1 is doing short stories.

In Art we’re doing perspective drawings. The Science Boys just wrote an exam on light and reflection, while they have been working on light mazes.

Science Girls will be starting a project on the journey of water molecules around the world and through all three states of matter. In Health 8.2 we are working on “Sharpening the Saw’ which is one of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. The Health 8.1class is studying gender stereotypes. In PE we have started a mini-unit of basketball skills and games leading up to Christmas. The Girls Social class just finished writing their unit exam on “Interactions and Interdependence of Nations”, and will begin to explore the theme of “Dynamic Relationships”. The boys Social class is studying about “Power and Authority”. In Home Ec. students are learning to sew on the sewing machines. They will be making pillows and pajama pants. Lastly, in IA they have started designing wood projects, such as mirrors.

My Grandmother used to say, “Life is pretty sweet when all of your dreams are coming true. Not the scary dreams though”. I was never really sure what she meant by that, but I think, right now, I’m beginning to understand. This Grade 9 bunch is an amazing group and together we are learning and experiencing some big things. For instance, in Math we continue to divide fractions, while Chemistry has been the order of the day in Science class. If that isn’t enough, Miss Fransoo and Mr. Kirk have us exploring Norse mythology in ELA. Mr. Woods has us making screen printing on T-shirts. It’s very fun.

Mr. Graham has started a home business selling his own brand of canned soup. He calls it Big Joe’s Soup Fantastico. Great name, but sales have been very slow to say the least. So, in Health class we’re helping him understand how to market a product to teenagers. We’re putting together some targeted advertising to help him move some product and make a little money. (Just pretending though)

In Social Studies, we somehow got onto the topic of Holodomor. If you don’t know what that is, you’re not alone. Most people have no idea about it. That is a shame. We plan to get the word out by the end of the month. Everybody needs to know. Please ask any of us about it. We will be conducting an Holodomor awareness project at the end of the month. Pay attention.

205 days until the canoe trip. The Grade 9’s

The grade 10’s are so excited for the snow to arrive! Ok, maybe excited is the wrong word, but there are definitely some strong emotions. The snow is making it easier to focus on their studies, though. For instance, in English, they’re studying Challenges. Workplace Math 10 has them doing unit conversions for temperature and mass. Wildlife Management is currently focused on wilderness survival, trapping and hunting. The kids are having tons of fun in Wellness playing Basketball. Next week’s meal in Commercial Cooking is Lasagna. In IA, they’re still focused on cabinetmaking. And in science, they’ve just started Chemistry!

Have a great November!