General News

Hello again everyone as we bring to an end another week of learning and teaching at John Calvin School. Our Heavenly Father has richly blessed us in that we could, once again, educate His covenant children in freedom in our Reformed, Christian school to learn more about Him, His Word, and His world; freedom that we are so very thankful for and can reflect upon at this time of year. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with Mrs. VanAndel and Mr. Joosse and their families as they mourn the recent passing away of their mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. May the Lord continue to provide strength, comfort and encouragement, also to those in our community who are dealing with serious illness or difficult family situations.

On Monday of this week, in dramatic storytelling fashion, Miss Homan told us the story of the part of Martin Luther’s life that led him to initiate what we know today as the Great Reformation. This event is not just very much a part of the world-wide Reformed community but even the Roman Catholic Church has recognized that, after 499 years, Martin Luther was right (see the Wednesday, November 2 edition of the Hamilton Spectator for the article). May the themes of the Reformation (sola fide, sola gratia, sola Scriptura, soli Deo gloria) continue to strengthen the Reformed churches.

We thank Mrs. Jane Oosterhoff for “supply-secretarying” for Mrs. Elgersma as she and her husband spend time with their son and daughter-in-law in Bermuda. Mrs. Oosterhoff will be in the office until next week Tuesday.

A few items for your attention:

The annual ANCHOR WORK DAY is an event of the past. Thank you to all the students in Grades 7&8 who participated in this act of service. The students are encouraged to bring in the money as soon as possible if they haven’t already done so. Thanks for your cooperation in this matter.

Earlier this week, we could welcome two student teachers from the Covenant Canadian Reformed Teachers College. Miss Brandi Boersema (in her second year of the three-year program) is teaching with Miss VanderZwaag in the Special Education department, and Miss Rachelle VanLuik (in her first year of the three-year program) is teaching with Miss Breukelman in Grade 3A. FYI, both student teachers are former students at JCS. We hope that they had a good first week and wish them all the best and the Lord’s blessing for the duration of their practicum at John Calvin School.

Volleyball practices continue after school every Monday and Thursday for the next few weeks leading up to the tournament, hosted by Guido de Bres high school, on Thursday, December 1st.

The submissions for the annual Royal Canadian Legion Poster, Poetry, and Essay contest were dropped off at the Legion office yesterday.

For a small donation to the Royal Canadian Legion poppy fund, students will be able to receive a poppy next week Friday to help in remembering why we pay attention to this event.

Parents, grandparents, and other interested members of our community are invited to join Grades K-4 at the Remembrance Day assembly to be held on Friday, November 11 beginning at 10:45 a.m. in the school gym. Mrs. VanIperen will be leading the assembly.

The students in Grades 5-8 are planning to participate in the Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Smithville cenotaph at the Royal Canadian Legion on Friday, November 11. Two students will be laying a wreath in behalf of the school and we have been invited to sing O God Our Help in Ages Past and Amazing Grace by the organizers of the event. They enjoyed the school singing these hymns at previous gatherings so much so that they requested that we sing them again. The students have also been invited to enjoy a pizza lunch on behalf of the Legion. Parents, grandparents and other interested members of our community are invited to join us at this event as well.

Reminders:

Time changes this weekend. Enjoy the extra hour of sleep.

Parent-Teacher Interview Forms were sent home this week. If you didn’t receive it (or misplaced it), it’s attached.

Scholastic orders are due on the 15th of every month. Please make your cheques payable to John Calvin School.

Grades 6A and 8A are planning to visit Shalom on Monday, November 14 to sing for and visit with the seniors at the manor.

The first skating session at the Smithville arena is scheduled for Wednesday, November 16. Grade 4 will skate from 12:15–1:15 and Grades KB and 1B will skate from 1:15–2:15. In the interest of safety and concussion prevention, students in Grades K-3 must wear helmets while on the ice. They can be either hockey helmets or bicycle helmets. Students in Grades 4-8 are also encouraged to wear them. Those playing hockey must wear them.

The Fall Membership meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 16. As per the church bulletin announcement, please check your church mail slots for the membership package on Sunday, November 13.

Winterfest is on Saturday, November 19. We are looking forward to a fun and festive day. We thank the organizing committee and the army of volunteers for the enormous amount of work that they have put into making this event happen.

Enjoy your weekend and have a blessed Lord’s Day. We hope to touch base again next week Friday.

G. Hofsink

Classroom News

Kindergarten

October has flown by as well! The students enjoyed their trip to the pumpkin farm, yellow day, and also the Greijdanus choir. We have learned 8 letters already, and we continue to get better at printing and cutting. In the next two weeks, we will be making sure that we really do know those letters, (S, A, T, I, P, N, C, K), so please let us tell you their names and sounds! In our Bible stories, we will move on to the next generation of the patriarchs as we follow what happened to Jacob’s sons, especially Joseph. We will also do a LOT of singing as we work through all our Christmas program songs. It’s a good thing that we love singing! Please also note that the skating schedule changed since the November newsletter was sent out: KA will go skating on November 16, and KB on November 23. Both sessions are 1:15 to 2:15. So now is a good time to check those skates. 🙂 MDBS & FV

Grade 1

Memory Work for Friday, November 11 – Ps. 93:1, Ex. 20:2,3

Spelling Words: by, had, one, or, word

This past week we wrote a Bible test. Please look for the test in their backpack. Please take the time to review notes with your child before a test. Our next unit will be the stories about Moses. Students are being asked to work more independently in both their reading and writing activities. We are beginning a new reader, ‘Pets and Puppets’, this week. Students will be coming home with the Kittens and Bears reader today. Please enjoy listening to them read it to you. We are working very hard to learn our Christmas program songs. Just a reminder to check that your child has appropriate outdoor wear (jackets, etc.). Have an enjoyable weekend and a good Sunday.

Grade 2

Memory Work: Psalm 92:1

Spelling: of, crashes, played, when, has

Grade 2 has starting their new Science unit called “Investigating Health and Safety”. Next week we hope to study the Canadian Food Guide and learn about what healthy choices we should make when we are eating. On Friday, we will spend some time reviewing our Bible notes, after which we will write our Bible test. This is to avoid having to study over a weekend and writing a test on Monday. Have a great weekend!

HV & JB

Grade 3

We hope everyone enjoyed the extra-long weekend. The teachers had the opportunity to be students, as we were participating in the Teachers’ Convention in Fergus. We wish to welcome Miss Rachelle VanLuik to the Grade 3A class. She will be working with Miss B. for the next 3 weeks. Enjoy your stay with us! We have come to the end of our Pioneer unit. The posters will soon hang in the hallway. Great job, boys and girls! Our Pioneer Day Pictures are hanging in the hallway already. Come in some time and enjoy! We’ve also come to the end of our Bible unit and will turn to Church History again. This time we will be learning about The Communion of Saints. In PE we are spending time throwing and catching. We have PE on Monday and Thursday; please remember to bring PE clothes to school those days. Grade 3A will be doing a lapbook and novel study on Sarah, Plain and Tall, and Grade 3B will read and make a lapbook about the novel Mr. Popper’s Penguins. Grade 3B could visit their brothers and sisters in Anchor Home. Thank you all for letting us sing and visit, and thank you Mrs. T. Vanluik for driving us there. Thank you, Miss Homan, for the wonderful story telling about Martin Luther on Reformation Day! We wish you a blessed weekend. MP/JB

Memory work: Ps. 34:3 Text: Gen. 15:5-6 (two weeks)

Spelling words: beautiful, before, discover, enough

Grade 4A

In Music we started practicing for the Christmas program and enjoyed learning our gospel song about how the world will change when the Lord Jesus returns. The text is simple, but so rich. We could talk about that beautiful future with joy. We also listen to part of the ‘The Messiah’. How nice to see that some students recognize it. We are spiritually so rich that we know this kind of beauty already at this age! In L.A. our lapbooks are coming along beautifully. The students enjoy adding their creative touch to their novel study.

In Math we will start the third chapter already so be prepared to hear stories about subtraction with larger numbers and also subtracting amounts of money. With the madness of all the December presents coming up, we will have to do some accounting and see how our bank accounts go down…..a good preparation for real life…….We also picked a new theme -Be self-controlled- which is so important for the atmosphere in a Grade 4a class. We hope to finish the unit that we are working on in Bible next week, and that means we will have a test to follow covering the rest of the stories we’ve learned. Enjoy your weekend and the words of Psalm 100 : 1-5 which your children know by heart.

MW Ps21:1,2 Isaiah9:6&7(2weeks)

Grade 4B

We are wrapping up our unit in math on Place Value. Our next unit is on subtraction. We are also starting a short unit in church history on John Hus.

Spelling Words: Lesson 10 dream, rest, please, friend, they, sleeping, chief, creek, piece, meet, believe, teach, yard, leave.         Words of the day: attack, attractive, avoid, awaken

Memory Work: Psalm 21:1,2 (November 11)   Text: Isaiah 9:6,7 (November 18)

Grade 5A

Hello again from Grade 5A. Life in our class has been very busy, fun, but busy. Our Roman projects are almost complete. The students are very excited about using their newly acquired slide skills (learned in Keyboarding class) to make a slide show to present with their projects. We hope to have these all wrapped up by the end of next week. In Math we have completed our unit on problem solving. What a tough concept, but most succeeded in grasping the basics. Tests went home today and should be signed and returned on Monday. We will begin reviewing and working with the metric system now. Phys. Ed. has us honing our volley ball skills and we hope to have a few modified games next week. In French we have been slowly going through our story and reviewing old words and gestures and learning some new ones. While it is very difficult to “study” these at home, most students would do well to remember that always participating in class makes this learning so much easier. Have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Sunday. SO

Grade 5B

Memory Work: Psalm 48:1

Text: Mark 12:29-31

Thursday: Music Test– Mozart and the Magic Flute

Devotions: M. Ava, Tu. Mya, W. Braedyn, Th. Annika, Fr. Jewel

Once again a week has flown by! I can not believe that it is already November. As you may have heard from your child I was not at school today because I had a Teachers College reunion. Gr 5B has been busy lately with their Ancient Rome projects. These will wrap up on Friday (today) and the students will be presenting them next week to their classmates. The students have worked really hard on their Roman structures and the projects are really interesting! Great Work! This means that we can start talking about the Punic Wars, which is really cool! Fighting with elephants??? (ask your child) This past week we have also started playing the recorder, despite some high shrieks the Grade 5s are becoming quite adept at blowing into their recorder and playing the B and A notes. Next week Thursday we will be having a music theory quiz. In PE we have recently started a new unit in volleyball, which thankfully allows us to be indoors. In math we are working with conversion and the metric system. Changing mm to m and km ect. We are so thankful to live in Canada where we work with the sensible metric system as opposed to the imperial system. I hope you have a blessed weekend. KG

Grade 6

Both Grade 6 classes had a busy week! In Bible we have been working our way through Genesis. We looked at how after the fall into sin God shows mercy to Adam and Eve and Gods covenant of grace with His people. In the latter part of the week we looked at the story of Cain and Abel and how even though Abel had died, his blood called out to the Lord. In French we have been working on the weather, body parts, and starting our play! In Literature we have continued to look at perspective and emotion with some short stories. In Art this week we finished our line drawings on our leaves, used oil pastels to fill in the blank spaces in fall colours and then painted the background. The end result was beautiful! Next week in Art we hope to start making pattern quilts. On November 11 we will be walking to the cenotaph. Students are reminded to bring money to buy a poppy that day and to dress according to the weather! There will also be a pizza lunch provided that day, thanks to the Legion. Have a lovely weekend! MDB CV.

Memory Work Text: Exodus 15:1-3 (November 10)

Memory Work Song: Psalm 102:11 (November 11)

6A Devotions: T. Jeremy   W. Leah   Th. Luke   F. Tristan

6B Devotions: M. Jordan   T. Brody   W. Clarissa   Th. Evan   F. Kierra

Grade 7A

We spent the past week evaluating each other’s History research posters. It was a fascinating exercise to be sure; ask your child how it went. Next in History we’ll learn how the Crown takes charge. We’ll be introduced to the Sun King, a census taker, an old army officer and a powerful bishop. We’ve discussed what Church History is, who it involves, and when it started as well as ideas like “antithesis”. Next week we’ll learn more about the childhood and upbringing of Martin Luther; Hans has plans but so does the LORD. We’ll learn about thrust lines in Science as well as centre of gravity, as we wrap up Unit One, “Structural Strength and Stability”. Enjoy your weekend.

Grade 7B

We have started a number of new chapters this week that will be continuing into the following weeks We have begun our Church History unit on Martin Luther and the Reformation as well as a new chapter in History about how King Louis XIV takes charge and colonizes New France. We have also begun our unit in Math about fractions and decimals. I would like to remind students to bring in the money that they raised from their Anchor Work Days. Have a good weekend!

Grade 8A

As the weather turns and the business of November begins to pick up steam, we also continue in earnest. We wrapped up our Confederation presentations this week and they were very well done. The class did an especially good job at asking the tough questions of the presenters. Well done! In Math we are looking at a unit test sometime this week. We will make a decision on that come Monday. A BIG THANKS goes out to all the volunteers and organizers who helped with our Soup Green fundraiser for the Ottawa trip. I am thankful to report that we raised over $4000.00 selling ‘greens’, and pepper jelly! Today we also sent home a list of the Ottawa Trip Chaperones. Please check your emails if you haven’t seen that yet and keep in mind that we will have a chaperone meeting come springtime. Have a blessed weekend. Cheers, Mr. J

Grade 8B

We began the week with a Reformation Day assembly which was a great introduction to our Church History unit. We are studying the Reformation in England in the 16th century. In L.A. we have begun our first novel study, Tom Sawyer.

Devotions week of November 7 – Sam

Devotions week of November 14 – Tyla

Wednesday – Math Test

Friday – MW – Psalm 41:4/John 14:6-7

KB