Category Archives: Newsletter

From The Office

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I looked back last month at the “From the Office” and read that I mentioned we’d be having nicer weather by the end of March to see that “lamb”. I’ll bet you can guess how well that turned out – I turn around and see the piles of snow that still fill up our courtyard at the front of the school, and think back to the frozen puddles I slid over this morning – what a strange spring!

We’re on the slide towards the end of this school year, and while it’s a good chance to look back at how the school year has gone, this is the time of year I look forward to students and staff powering through to the end of the year, and I start to make plans for next fall.

Our school year calendar is still in the works – we’ll get some conclusion to that in the next few weeks I’m sure. The School Goals we set for Hanley Composite School in September have been a focus for our staff Professional Learning Communities and we’ll be reporting on those goals and our results in May. I’m pleased to see the results that show growth in our students in the areas of numeracy and literacy and student engagement. Thank-you to those of you who’ve shown interest in our work.

Congratulations to our Drama club on a great showing at Regionals on April 20th. They did an amazing job of their play “Just a Teenage Wasteland” and received many awards. They are planning on a repeat public performance May 7th at Hanley Composite School, and will attend provincial competition May 9-11th.

Junior Badminton playoffs were held last week with Steffen T and Emily C progressing to the second round of Conference Playoffs. Congratulations! The Senior Badminton team is in playoffs this week – their first day in Hanley on April 23rd, and then on April 25th and 27th. Good luck everyone!

I’m excited to let you know we have received some further grant funding from Western Economic Diversification Canada due to a partnership with the Town of Hanley, to make some further improvements to our outdoor court and surrounding area of our playground. The amount is just over ten thousand dollars and wouldn’t have been available without the help of Darice Carlson and the interest of the Town Office to support working with the school to improve an area for students to use year round. We’ll update you soon with how the funds are put to use.

Some upcoming items to remember are the following: Jump Rope for Heart April 30th, Senior Band Tour to Edmonton May 1-4th, Grade 10 Shekinah trip May 1-2nd, Dance Recital in the gym May 11th. A last professional development day for teachers is May 3rd so there will be no classes for students that day.

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.

Ski Trip Cancelled

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Table Mountain has cancelled our booking for the ski trip on March 22nd due to impassable roads from the snow storm this week. They were not able to reschedule our school for next week as they are fully booked already. Table Mountain will not be open after the April break which will result in the trip being cancelled for this school year. We are as disappointed as the students will be to hear we will not be able to reschedule the trip but we will look forward to another opportunity next year, as well as better weather.

From the Office

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Semester two started off with us hitting the ground reading…. I mean hitting the books running… Well, something like that. Courses are already two weeks into this half of the year and a busy semester again is before us. Parents of senior students – take some time to ask your student if they know how many credits they currently have completed? Do they know which math pathways they should be taking this semester and the next year or two if they have that time left in their high school education? If they plan on pursuing post-secondary education at the trades or university level, have they spent some time looking at what classes they should have completed by then and have they started the application process for further education? For example, the end of this week is the application deadline for a couple colleges. I ask you these questions so that you can keep involved and help your high school student be prepared for their further education.

We continue to have turbulent weather this winter and February has been no different, taking a toll on our highways and their conditions. Take it easy on the roads as you travel and remind our young drivers about the same.

Elementary report cards will be going out March 7th, and next month, the second set of interviews this year will take place on March 19th and 20th. The day in lieu of those TriConferences will be on March 18th, so that means no classes for students. The report cards for the Grade 6-12 students will follow the interviews in the next month, April.

The school year calendar for next year has been an item in the news as the Ministry of Education in Saskatchewan is creating some stricter guidelines for school divisions to follow. We will email our new calendar home to you as soon as we know anything further.

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.

Kindergarten & Grade 1 News

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February has already been an awesome month in the K/1 room! Here are a few things that we’ve been busy with: Readers’ Workshop, counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s, and working on being good friends. We are looking forward to going skating with the Grade 6s. We are very lucky to have such great role models in our school! The Grade 1s are still busy with Writer’s Workshop. Our writing stamina is up to 23 minutes! We are loving Science because we each picked an animal to learn about. We are learning about: seals, sea lions, snakes, alligators, and cats! We look in books and on the computer to learn about

their habitat, what they eat, and where they find their water.

We are excited for the rest of February and for the beginning of March! We wish everyone a Happy February break!

The K/1s & Miss Martineau

Grade 2 & 3 News

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February brings yet another change for the Grade 2/3 class. My last day will be February 15, then Mrs. Romanchuk returns after the break. In the last few days before the break, we’ll be wrapping up our Owls in the Family novel study, working on our measurement units in Math and continuing our Health classes along with Mr. Cory. I’ve had a wonderful time teaching the 2/3s. I’ve been so impressed by their growth and creativity. I’m making sure to fit some cool Art and Language Arts projects into our last couple of weeks to tap into that creative spirit. There are a few other fun events happening this month too. Keagan & Brody earned Saber awards for their great attitudes, bright outlooks and hard work! We also had our Bunch of Munsch puppet show day with the Dundurn students, and of course Valentine’s Day brings celebration and sweet treats to our room! I will miss this class and being part of the Hanley staff. I hope I’ll be able to stop in to see how everyone is doing throughout the rest of the year. Good Luck 2/3! Miss Stefanson

Grade 4 & 5 News

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The grade 4/5 students have been enjoying all the snow at breaks and playing on the hill. Writer’s workshop has been a big focus for their work in ELA and the parts of the Human body including the various systems has been the focus the last few weeks in Science. In Grade 5 math, multiplication and division are the current topics and in Grade 4 Area is the topic we’re finishing up with our test today. We continue to learn about the pioneers in Social Studies. To raise money for our  coming field trip next month, we’re holding a Dirt and Worms sale (chocolate pudding and gummy worms) at noon on March 1st. Mmmm, sounds yummy!

Angela Pozniak
Teacher Grade 4/5

Grade 6 News

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The grade 6 class is very much looking forward to an early spring, lets hope we get one! We are just wrapping up a couple of units in Math and ELA. In Social Studies we are starting some research projects about specific countries from around the world. We are doing several activities in Science to learn about flight. After the February break we will be looking at some dates to begin fundraising for our trip to Moose Jaw. Have a great break!

Ms. Bishop Moisan and the Grade 6 class

Grade 7 News

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January was a cold but busy month that flew by! The Grade 7’s are now settling in to our second semester at school. In ELA, the girls are continuing work on the Unit: Learning from the Past and have learned some very inter- esting things about an Ice- man! In Math, they just wrote a unit test on Fractions, Decimals and Percent and have started a new unit on Circles and Areas. In ELA, the boys are still reading the novel Megiddo’s Shadow by Arthur Slade and in Math they are continuing to work with fractions and decimals. In Social Studies, both groups have started a new unit on Power and Authority and in Science they are doing a series of labs on Changes of State of Materials as it relates to Particle Theory. The girls and boys have switched for I.A. and Home Ec. and are now learning new skills in those subject areas. In PE, we are into our Badminton unit and wrapping up Floor Hockey. I hope that everyone has a happy, restful, and safe February break!

-Miss Adelman

Grade 8 News

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In Physical Education we are working on individual Badminton skills and rules, then playing some Badminton games and some floor hockey. In ELA we are continuing to work on a short story unit about taking a second look at things and sometimes being surprised at what you see. Students also just finished a Reader’s Theatre on the Monkey’s Paw and are now writing a script for a prequel. Math, we are still working on our unit: Measuring Prisms and Shapes. In Arts Ed. the students are completing Acrylic Art Line paintings. In Science, the class is studying about Refraction of Light. In Grade 8 I.A., the boys are working on Isometric projections. In Grade 8 Home Ec. the girls are reviewing kitchen basics. They are making a cake pop bouquet for Valentine’s Day. In Social Studies the students are exploring suffragettes and the women’s right to vote. We researched Nellie McClung and are now working on related projects. In Health class the students are working on a Decision Making unit focusing on ‘self’ and utilizing Steven Covey’s “Seven Habits”.

Grade 9 News

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Well, according to research, February is everyone’s least favorite month. By everyone, I mean Hank, and by research I mean asking Hank, a few minutes ago, what his least favorite month is. I don’t think Hank is alone, however. It’s cold and dark and the snow piles are only outmatched by the homework piles. Thankfully we have our class and our daily adventures to keep us going until the lionly lambs of March arrive.

School is certainly keeping us

busy. In ELA, we have started a novel called “A Long Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah. It’s about child soldiers in the civil war in Sierra Leone. In Social Studies we have looked at the United Nations Millenium Development Goals and we are working on some research, awareness and expression projects. In Health class, we are looking at some of the issues that are affecting teenagers in 2013 and comparing them to the issues of teenagers in dec

ades gone by. Fascinating.

The mighty, majestic universe is the topic of our science classes of late and we’re solving inequalities in Math class. Got

an inequality? We can help.

Well, stay warm, stay safe and feel free to ask us how we are 

doing.