In Social Studies the Grade 8’s are starting on a new Unit about Canadian Identity and World Views, particularly “How Land Forms Our Identity”. In Physical Education the Grade 8’s have started a unit on Floor Hockey and finished their Basketball unit. Fitness test- ing begins again right away in January when the Grade 8’s return, so not too many ‘Christmas Goodies’ without a lot of fresh air and exercise. In Industrial Arts the Grade 8’s are working hard to complete their wood projects which are mostly mirrors, frames, shelves and stools. In Art they are just finishing movie Scroll Boxes. In Home Ec. the Grade 8’s are completing the sewing on their Pajama Pants. In Math the Grade 8’s are wrapping up a Fractions Unit with a test the last week before the Christmas break. Meanwhile, in ELA the Grade 8’s are finishing novel projects. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Category Archives: Newsletter
Grade 9 News
Nothing Says Christmas like a good ole Limerick, so here’s a sample of some Holiday Limericks written by the Grade Nine class.
Grade nine is surprisingly fun
Our classes can’t be out done
I’m so glad I’m in it
I love every minute
It’s too bad that Christmas
has come.
By: Erika
The New Year is about to come
For the tests their will be a ton
Grade 9 is a blast
But it’s going too fast
2013 will be fun.
By: Luke
On Christmas, there’s presents galore,
We open them and sit on the floor,
The presents are open
But still I am hopin,
That Mom and Dad bought me some more.
By: Jackson and the Math Club
Oh Grade nine. There’s nothing above it.
Disagree and I’ll tell you to shove it!
I’ll stand in the hall
And yell out for all!
“I love it, I Love it! I Love it!”
By: Jesse
Happy Holidays from the Grade Nines!
Grade 10 News
Ever have one of those years where it seems like Christmas should already be here? Yep, us too! Although the holidays are almost upon us (or may already be upon us, depending on when you’re reading this), there’s still a bunch to do until they get here! In Math, the 10’s are busy studying Similar Polygons. Sci-Fi thrillers like 1984, and Lockdown are being read in ELA. Science is now focusing on Chemistry, which has produced a lot of interesting reactions (sorry for the bad pun)! In IA, the builders are frantically trying to finish up their projects, while their compatriots in Home Ec are making delicious Christmas baking (like iced sugar cookies and homemade chocolates, which have Mr. H. dropping by more often than usual). In Wellness, the end of Basketball is nigh (which may or may not have been predicted by the Mayans – can some- body check their calendar?), while the advent of floor hockey is up- on us. And finally, in Wildlife, they’ve been studying bears and other fur-bearing animals! Conclusion – definitely fuzzy. Merry Christmas, everybody!
Grade 11 News
Christmas is coming, and this is the week of exams in the Grade 11 class. In biolo- gy, we are having an exam on the diversity of life and then….. an exam in physics on refraction. If it is not an exam, we are presenting our independent projects in Social Studies. After all that, we have time for reading, the book Thief, in ELA. Parabolas are where it’s at in math. Lastly we round it out with fun times in Phys Ed.
Grade 12 News
The Grade Twelves’ are just finishing up their Math units on Logarithms and Tessalations. We are coming to the end of our Acid and Bases unit in Chemistry. In English/ History, we have started a new unit on Building a Nation, and the formation of the nation of Canada.
-Kennedi
From the Office
We’ve managed to make it through another month of excitement and learning opportunities at Hanley Composite School. This year our school is concentrating on three School Goals: Reading Intervention, Numeracy and Student Engagement. Each of the teachers are part of developing plans to meet those goals, so if you have some questions, or are interested in more information, stop by and ask one of them about the school goals.
Some more staffing changes are happening at our school this year. Mrs. Bain left this month on her maternity leave for the remainder of the year. Congratulations to Mrs. Bain and her family on the birth of their son, Liam. Ms. Adelman will be replacing her in all of her classes. Mrs. Koroll will be away on her leave by the end of the month. We’ll be moving Miss Martineau to the K/1 room at that time and Ms. Stefanson will be in to work with the grade 2/3 students until Mrs. Romanchuk’s return in the second semester.
Congratulations to Mr. Howie on the birth of his daughter. Mr. Howie is one of our interns we have working with Ms. Prakash.
I want to wish congratulations to our fall volleyball and football teams for their great performances this season and their accomplishments! Special congratulations to the Junior Girls’ Volleyball team on winning the District champions title, and to the Saber Football team on winning silver in the Provincial Final we hosted last weekend. We are proud of each of you and your efforts to represent our school with pride and respect. For your interest, Basketball is underway at Hanley with Junior and Senior teams already starting practices. Good luck to all the teams.
Information was sent home this week for parents to be able to start an account on PowerSchool – our online database for grades and attendance for students. If you have any questions or concerns, give the teacher a call to ask about it, or drop by to talk to me about it.
As always, Mr. Anderson and I would love to talk to you if you have time to drop by the office. Take care and I’ll talk to you soon.
From the Office
It feels again like that colder, blustier weather that seems to track us down every fall is here for a while. Six weeks of our school year have disappeared behind us and Hanley Composite School once again doesn’t appear to be slowing down. This week staff and students are taking part in some Education Week activities. From practices like Stop, Drop, and Read, to a middle years trip to Wanuskewin, as well as a speaker on Treaty Education, this week involved the annual library Book Fair and our fall Tri- Conferences on Oct 16th and 17th. The older version of Parent-Teacher Interviews is becoming an old practice – being replaced by a Tri-Conference: a conversation that involves parent, teacher, AND student. A much more authentic sharing of work habits, practices, and behaviours happens, and when those areas are focused on, then much better learning takes place, always positively affecting the grade. This is the first year that we have had these Tri-Conferences before report cards are sent home – done on purpose to give students a chance to talk about and hear how they could improve, BEFORE the grades are sent home a few weeks later. I would love to hear about what you think of the change. Like always, we will encourage you to keep in contact with your children’s teachers, so if there is a question that comes up after the report cards arrive at home, make sure to contact the teacher to discuss it.
There will also be a big change happening in reporting this year that I want to make you aware of as it’s being finalized. Hanley Composite School will be moving to a Live version of reporting through an online program called PowerSchool. Students first, followed by parents, will gain access to reporting on their progress online by logging in to a site where they will be able to find a list of their courses and marks assigned to their work. Student attendance as well as work habits and behaviours are other areas that can be accessed. We will send home further information as it is available to families from Hanley School.
We had some excitement last month with the news crew out here to see the town and area, the school, a football game, and our newly paved court. It was a lot of fun and a great crowd was here all day.
This week we also held our Meet the Staff BBQ on the first evening of Tri- Conferences. A burger or hotdog, followed by a piece of cake and some witty conversation with one of our staff members was the norm I witnessed this week. It is clear that the teachers in our school care a lot about your children and really do want the best for their education and well-being. I’m proud of them for that.
I want to highlight that we’ll again be hosting another Flu Immunization Clinic on October 25 in the school gym. Be sure to tell others and encourage them to come to the school for a “shot in the arm.”
Extra-Curricular activities are moving along at a fast pace as well. We had a lot of interest in Cross Country this fall and I want to congratulate Chery for her progress to Provincial Competition. The Senior and Junior Volleyball seasons have been filled with a number of tournaments and a lot of practices, both before and after school. Saber Football has had a great undefeated season as well and is looking forward to playoffs starting this weekend in Hanley.
Just a reminder from me that there is no school on Monday, Oct 22 due to evenings put in by teachers for the Tri- Conferences this week. There’s also a couple days, Nov 9 and 12 that there will be no classes as well due to a day of professional development and a stat day recognizing Remembrance Day on Nov 11. We’ll hold a Remembrance Day ceremony at the school on November 8.
Continue to enjoy the year, everyone. Mr. Anderson and I would love to talk to you if you have time to drop by the office. Take care and I’ll talk to you soon.
From The Office
Welcome back everyone!! As I sit here thinking back to the last couple weeks, our first few weeks of this year, I’m amazed that so many things have already taken place this school year! This fall was our first year in a long time to have students return to school after the Labour Day long weekend. I hope each of the Hanley School families enjoyed the longer summer break. Teachers and support staff were in the school and around the division taking part in some meetings and professional development opportunities in the last week of August, getting ready for another great year of teaching our students.
I want to welcome back Mrs. Burgess who was away part of last year on a medical leave. It’s good to see you back in the halls! Mrs. Burgess is here for shortened days in September and October, so we also welcome Mrs. Harder for accepting the other part of those days for the fall. Great to have you here as well, Mrs. Harder! Also, welcome to Miss Martineau, teaching in the grade 2/3 room this fall and helping coach Senior Girls Volleyball! We welcome Mrs. Pozniak, formerly known as Miss Rancourt, and congratulate her on her recent wedding this fall! A summer order of tables went AWOL this fall, and the grade 4/5 room has been doing a wonderful job making due in the arts ed room – thanks everyone! I’d like to also welcome two interns we have in the school this fall – Mr. Howie and Mr. Bartsch, both with Physics and Math backgrounds, and working with Mrs. Prakash and Mr. Herman. Hanley School will also have a couple education students from the U of S every other Friday this year as we give them a chance to work and experience various classes in a school setting. We also welcome Mrs. Ashdown to our support staff as an EA in the mornings, and two new bus drivers, Mr. Drever and Mrs. Mooney, meeting those smiling sleepy faces for the morning ride to school. Welcome everyone to another wonderful year at Hanley Composite School.
Hanley School will be on NUT ALERT again this year as we have three students with serious allergies and peanuts and nut products are some triggers of those allergies. There is a danger of anaphylactic shock in these cases which involves a closing of the airways. This safety concern for students will require families to be aware of what food items we’re bringing and sending to school. Please check packages for food items that may contain nuts or nut products or be produced in a facility where they may come into contact with those nuts or nut products and please look for an alternative that doesn’t. Thanks for your help in keeping our students in Hanley School safe and healthy.
Many of our extra-curricular activities are fully under way this year. Our Saber Football team has had two very successful games, one exhibition and one league, starting off their season in the right direction. The Senior and Junior Girls’ Volleyball teams are also doing great this year, with a couple tournaments already under their belt and a full season ahead. Our Cross Country runners have been practicing and competing already this fall, looking forward to an- other great season, and we also have a couple students, Nathan and Taylor, heading off to Provincial Golf competition this weekend. Our SRC is also taking off today for their fall Student Leadership Conference in Watrous for the rest of the week. We look forward to the new ideas and plans for the year they bring back.
A couple dates are approaching before our next newsletter in October to make you aware of. Awards Night will take place again on the first Tuesday of October at 7:00pm in the gym – congratulations to everyone who will be winning an award! Also, our fall Tri-Conferences will take place this year on October 16th and 17th from 5:00-7:30pm, prior to the report cards going out in November. It’s a good opportunity for parents and teachers to get stu- dents on the right track with classes and behaviours, as well as an excellent time to encourage all the good things students are doing to continue! We hope to see you all there. The School Community Council (SCC) will also be holding their Meet the Staff BBQ that night starting at 5:00, so come on out for a burger and take some time to talk to the staff! The library will also be holding the annual Book Fair so make sure you stop in to check out the new reading materials and other items!
We’ve got a big day ahead on Friday this week with a bunch of happenings at school. There is a pizza sale at noon and a short recognition event for the donations and volunteers that improved our outdoor court this summer. A pep rally by the SRC will follow, including some face painting last class. It’s a Saber Pride dress up day and we have a home football game starting at 4:00pm as the Sabers host Loreburn-Kenaston. CTV news is also in town filming their Rural News broadcast on Friday and their plan is to broadcast some of their afternoon from the school as well.
Picture Day is Monday, Sept 24th, with an SCC meeting that night at 7:00pm. Enjoy the year everyone. Mr. Anderson and I would love to talk to you if you have time to drop by the office. Take care and I’ll talk to you soon.
Chris Tucker
Principal
Hanley Composite School
Grade 12 News
After years of waiting, our Grade 12 year is finally here, and everyone is really busy getting back into the swing of things. In English/Social Studies, we are learning about Canada and everything our country has to offer. In Workplace and Apprenticeship Math, we are about to have our first test, while we are focusing on Rational Function Transformations (Is that a real thing? It sounds made up.) in Pre-Calculus, and in Chemistry, we are finishing up reviews from last year.
-Brittney
Grade 11 News
So great to back to school!!! Classes are in full swing. In math foundations, we will be having our first exam on Tuesday, Sept. 18th. In Physics, we are learning wonders and workings around us, as well as understanding such math components as, scientific notation, significant figures and metric conversion. In Biology, we have been focused on the smallest living thing, the cell. In ELA, we are working on inquiry learning.