General News

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The purpose of John Calvin School is to assist and support parents in the education of their covenant children to the glory of God.  In accomplishing this mission, the vision of John Calvin School is to provide excellent Christ-centered education in service to God and our neighbour.

Greetings readership as we conclude another week of instruction at John Calvin School.  Even though it was a three-day week, there was plenty to keep the students and staff busy.  In addition to regular classroom work, they participated in a number of activities associated with our first theme week, Horse Week.  It was an exciting and fun week.  Aside from this morning’s rain, it was a great week weatherwise as well.  May our Heavenly Father continue to provide students, staff and parents with all they need as they carry out the tasks that he has given them to do in service to him and the neighbour. 

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with those in our community who need the Lord in a special way, whether they are coping with serious illness, grieving the death of a loved one, or are dealing with difficult or challenging family circumstances.       

This week we could officially welcome Mrs. Emily Breukelman to the JCS team.  She is serving as a part-time E.A. in the Learning Resource department, replacing Mrs. Taylor Ludwig who went on maternity leave.

A few items for your attention:

*Here’s another installment of service tasks carried out by the JCS Service Teams.  This week it is the turn for the Kindergarten and Grade 1 Assistance Teams.  Each year, the students in Grade 4 assist the Kindergarten classes with getting ready to go outside, e.g. winter gear, and serving as bus buddies.  The students in Grade 5 provide the same services to the students for the Grade 1 classes.  These activities are a wonderful service opportunity from these students.  

*I jumped the gun last week when I said that the goods collected from our food drive would be picked up by West Lincoln Community Care. That didn’t happen then, but it did happen yesterday. 

May the Lord continue to bless the work that is being done to provide for the needy in West Lincoln and the surrounding communities.  Thanks again everyone for your participation in this act of service for the broader community.

*Most of the chocolate money is in.  We are still waiting for the money for 11 boxes which translates into $990.00.  This is one more reminder to those who still need to bring in money to do so as soon as possible.  Again, thank you to all the children in Grades 4-8 who sold chocolate for your hard work in this fundraising venture for you field and class trips.

*Veggie Chop: The grade eight students along with their teachers and parents were busy yesterday and Wednesday afternoon putting together thousands of veggie packs.  We also thank the parents/grandparents who put together hundreds of jars of red pepper jelly. 

What a great fundraiser!  Thanks again to all involved in this project, especially the folks at Niagara Christian Gleaners for allowing us to once again use their facility, and the ladies in charge of coordinating the event- Mrs. Elsa DeVries, Mrs. Steph Jansen, and Mrs. Klarie VandenOever.  There are plenty of extra veggie packs.  Please contact the school or one of the organizers if you would like to purchase some. They are sold in $40.00 bags (20 x 2 cups, with leek).    

*Last week, the JCS Grades 7&8 Cross Country team participated in the annual Guido De Bres invitational cross-country meet for LCRSS elementary schools.  Congratulations boys’ team on finishing in third place overall, and congratulations Theo Witten on achieving second place in the boys’ race.  Yesterday, the Grades 5-8 cross country team participated in the Golden Horseshoe Invitational Cross Country at Southward Park in Grimsby.  The top individual runner for JCS at this meet was Olivia Poort who finished 4th in the Grades 7&8 Girls’ Division, and the top team was the Grades 5&6 boys who finished 4th out of 11 teams.  Thank you very much Mrs. Kelly and Mrs. Heemskerk for all your time and effort in coaching and training the cross-country teams.  It was very much appreciated. 

*Horse Week:  What a great week we had paying attention to this favourite animal for many children, and a few adults too.  Students had fun learning more about horses, finding the hidden horses, participating in the colouring contest, hearing horse stories and watching horse movies, and enjoying dress-up day.  It was great to have horse paraphernalia and horse tack in the school, thanks to the VanderVelde family and Gabby Alkema.  It was wonderful that Grades 5&6 could visit River’s Edge and learn more about how they use horses to help children and youth who are dealing with difficult situations in their lives.  Students and staff could also hear from an actual horse farmer, Mr. J.W. Jonker, at today’s assembly.  Thank you very much Horse Week committee for putting together a fun and exciting week.

*On Monday, October 25, JCS is looking forward to welcoming three student teachers from Covenant Canadian Reformed Teachers College.  Miss Kylie Enter will be teaching with Mrs. Fledderus in Grade 4A and is in her first year of the three-year program at the CCRTC.  Miss Marisa Petter will be teaching with Ms. Stoffels in the Learning Resource department and is in her second year of the three-year program at the College.  Miss Patricia Bouwman will be teaching with Miss VanderLaan in Grade 5B and is in her third year of the three year program at the CCRTC.

Reminders:

*Anchor Work Day: The annual Grades 7&8 Anchor Work Day is coming up in two weeks’ time (October 29).  The usual information about the event was sent home with your daughter or son today.  The confirmation slip needs to be returned on or by Monday, October 18.  When considering job opportunities with your son or daughter, please keep in mind covid protocols.  It is good for the students in Grades 7&8 to be involved in this community service for one of our Reformed institutions. 

*Due date for News and Views contributions is Monday, October 18.

*Hotdog Day is planned for Wednesday, October 27, courtesy the JCS Ladies Auxiliary.

*The due date for picture orders was today with picture retake day scheduled for the first week of November.

Have a wonderful weekend and a restful Sunday everyone.  The Lord willing, we will touch base again next week Friday.

G. Hofsink            

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Classroom News

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Kindergarten

Praise God from whom all blessings flow for another week in the kindergarten class. The students absolutely loved horse week and in particular they really enjoyed finding the hidden horses in the classroom as well as in the basement.  Thanks so much to the organizers and planners for this week!  In Language Arts this week, we learned the first letter sound for this year which was “m”.  Next week we will be learning the letter sounds of ‘a’ and ‘t’.  Next week Wednesday we will be going on our 2nd class trip and this time we will be going to Warner Ranch and Pumpkin Farm.  This is a new pumpkin patch for JCS as Bry-Anne Farms does not have a program for schools due to covid.  I am very excited about this trip and will be sending out more information this weekend via Google Classrooms. For our art project next week, the students will be using fall leaves.  If you and your child could collect 4-6 leaves at home and bring them to school for Thursday/Friday that would be greatly appreciated.  Please try to pick a variety of colours for the leaves rather than only brown leaves.  Have a good weekend. JB/SV

Grade 1

We really enjoyed our trip to the Safety Village last Friday.  Some photos of our activities have been posted in our Google Classroom and possibly some on the School’s Instagram page.  We have enjoyed many of the horse week activities and look forward to the assembly with Mr. Jonker.  We are beginning a couple of new units in the coming week.  Both Mrs. VanEs and Mrs. deBoer have begun teaching about transportation in Social Studies. We have also begun our Bible stories about Joseph.  In grade one we are still working hard to master the art of listening the first time instructions are given.  We are also working on making sure that we answer teachers with ‘yes ‘ rather than ‘ya’ when she asks for our attention.  Similarly, we are working at saying ‘pardon’ or ‘What did you say?’ when we would like her to repeat something, rather than just saying, ‘What?’ 

Memory Work:  Psalm 81:2 (Oct. 22)   Sons of Jacob (Oct. 28  NB Thursday)

Spelling and sight words:  are, for, he, on was

Grade 2

We’ve enjoyed a nice short week in Grade 2! It was full of fun horse week activities too! Next week we will be finishing up our Science unit on bones and muscles! We will be having a test some time next week, please check your child’s agenda. Please take the time to check and sign your child’s agenda each day! If you have any questions it’s the best way to communicate with us since we check them each morning! We also really appreciate notes letting us know if your child is being picked up at the end of the day instead of going on the bus. Keep an eye out for our Scarecrows in the next News & Views! Have a great weekend and a blessed Sunday! RG & BV

Grade 3

Horses, horses, horses What a wonderful week has passed!  Thank you, committee for organizing all the activities of this week. Thank you Mr. John Jonker, for giving us a “horse” presentation.  We would all love to come and visit and see the horses, face to face.  The colouring contest, finding the horses, dress up day, horse stories, poems, songs, videos were much appreciated..  Ask us all about it! We started a new unit dealing with Abram and we thank the Lord for the covenant He made with Him and His descendants. In Math, we continue to work with addition strategies and word problems. Continue to practice those facts at home too. That’s it for now. Have a blessed weekend.

Words:  pretty,  prettier,  prettiest,  getting,   community,  counties,  city,  exciting

Psalm 8:4,5; Text: Genesis 15:5,6

Library Books in a BAG on Thursday.

Spelling Dictation and Memory Work on Friday.

Grade 4

We enjoyed Horse Week and all of the activities that went along with that! We read about horses, did math problems about horses, drew horses, told jokes about horses, and so many other things.

Tuesday: Grade 4B Bible Test, Unit 2

Friday: Spelling Test: rode, cabin, sail, throat, camp, rope, said, know, boats, blow, alone, float, own, closed

Memory Work: S: Hymn 76:3/T: Psalm 100:1-3

Upcoming Memory Work: Hymn 60:1,4

Grade 5

We had a short but very busy week! We thoroughly enjoyed the horse week activities, particularly the trip we were able to take to River’s Edge Haven of Hope in Dunnville. We were able to see horses up close and even touch them, as well as participate in a presentation with a horse. We are very thankful to the staff there for hosting us! Next week Thursday, both Grade 5 classes will be having a Social Studies test on Ancient Rome. It will cover all the material we’ve learned so far this year. Duotangs will go home on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Devotions: 5A – M. Teagen, Tu. Thomas, W. Noah, Th. Timothy, F. Caleb

5B – M. Jakob, Tu. Jasmine, W. Ryder, Th. Brooke, F. Benjamin

Have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Sunday! RK/KV

Grade 6

It was only a short week, but we have been quite busy. Language Arts, spelling and vocab, writing and drawing were totally integrated in the special week of Horse Farming. We also are busy wrapping up Unit 1 of Church History and Science. Next week you will find that your student is starting to tell stories and ask questions about Genesis. We also change to Social Studies and will learn about Canadian trading partners. We are very much looking forward to working on our mapping skills. Covid time has slowed down the ability to understand how the world is built up from countries and how people live and work together worldwide. It is all very interesting and we hope that our students will be engaged by the lessons and the teaching videos. This coming Tuesday we have our second class trip. We hope to visit the museum that specializes in planes and flight in Dunnville. They will treat us to a two hour program about planes and many things that are connected to flying. They require from us that we all wear a mask and we hope that all the students will be coming along. We bring our own lunch which we will enjoy on the beach- side. Just be reminded that we cannot warm up the food, there are no beach- microwaves available. We hope to conclude the day with a nice and firm walk and count on seeing many different birds. All in all: if the weather is good we hope for a great day. School times are as normal: 8:00 till 2.45.CVA/IdeV

Grade 7A

“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head”, while these words were used by our Lord, they also apply to His ancestor David as he flees from Saul. Next week we continue following the fugitive David, wondering when the LORD’s promise to him will come true. In Science we are applying our knowledge of efficiency and forces to constructing a table out of cardboard; which table will the support the most textbooks while being the most structurally efficient? The students are enjoying flag football pass patterns in P.E.; ask your child to run a four-yard square left and see what happens. In connection with, “Horse Week” we watched and critiqued the film, “The Black Stallion”; ask your child, two thumbs up or down? We will continue reading our books in Independent Study. Enjoy your weekend.   

Grade 7B

A busy, shortened week has come and gone in 7B. While Horse Week kept us galloping along, other activities demanded centre stage, namely the play we are practicing for Reformation Day. Parts and characters and roles have been decided and rehearsal begins in earnest now. Independent research is also ongoing as students continue to work their way through their books learning more and more every day about their topic. In Bible History the students are busy learning about the life of David while in Science Gr. 7 has begun building something out of cardboard. Be sure to ask them about it!  Have a blessed weekend. Cheers, Mr. J and Mrs. Ludwig

Grade 8

What a busy week we’ve had in Grade 8! Veggie chop and bagging days were a success, thank you again to the parents who organized and volunteered, we finished both days in record time! Next week we are back at work (school work that is). We have a math quiz on Tuesday, LA quiz (8B Tuesday, 8A Wednesday), and French quiz on Friday. We are also joining a worldwide sourdough experiment starting Monday! Wishing you all the best this weekend and we look forward to having a bit more of a “normal” week next week. Mrs. VA & Mrs. T