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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.

Hello again everyone as we bring another week of learning and teaching to an end at John Calvin School.  It is amazing how quickly the time goes by!  Next week, the month of November comes to a close and then it’s time to flip the calendar page to December.  We then enter the time of Advent during which we celebrate the miraculous birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; who came to preach and teach and ultimately to die to rescue and save us.  We thank and praise the Lord for his many blessings.  We pray that he will continue to provide the students and staff with good health, energy and strength during the final month of the calendar year.

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with those in our community who need the Lord in a special way; whether they are grieving the recent death of a loved one, coping with serious illness or are dealing with difficult family circumstances.  In particular we think of the family of Mrs. B. Dantuma who passed away this week at the age of 94.  She was the great-grandmother to Brianna and Azlynne Lof and Declan, McKenna and Caleb Mans.  May our Heavenly Father surround the Dantuma family with his love and grace.  

Reminder:  The Fall Membership meeting is scheduled for next week Wednesday, December 1 in the Smithville Canadian Reformed church building or via livestream.  The meeting begins at 8:00.  The membership packages have been or will be sent out via church social.  Paper copies will also be available at the meeting. 

A few items for your attention:

*Here’s the final installment (#10) of the service tasks carried out by the JCS Service Teams.  All the students (and staff) in the school are involved with Pop Can Tabs Collection for children who are in need of a wheelchair; a project we started when collecting tabs for a wheelchair for Anna VanVeen.  Everyone is also involved with Used Markers and Used Battery recycling   A couple more service opportunities for everyone in the school.   Hopefully this inclusion in the Chronicle has given you a bit of a glimpse in what students and staff are busy with with respect to service opportunities in and around the school.    

*A couple of stragglers brought in some Anchor Work Day money at the beginning of the week which brought the total raised to just under $3500.  I think the fundraiser is officially done now.    

*Triple Ball:  Today, the three JCS teams are at the Triple Ball tournament at Guido de Bres Christian high school (boys’ and girls’ teams) and Timothy Christian School (co-ed team).  A bus brought the athletes to the tournament but parents will need to pick up their children from either Guido or Timothy at the end of the tournament which will be determined by the success of the teams.  The players received a tournament schedule earlier this week as well as the Covid protocols from both Guido and Timothy for students and coaches.  All the best and have fun at the tournament athletes and coaches (Miss Vis, Mrs. VanBrederode and Mrs. Groen, and Mr. Hofsink).   

*Winterfest:  The online silent auction is up and running on the Winterfest website.  Lots of bids have been placed.  Check it out at www.johcalvinfundraising.ca and then place your bid(s).  The auction closes on Saturday, November 27 at 8:00 p.m.

*Lost and Found:  If you are in the school at some point and time during the next three weeks, please check through the bin to see if any of your child(ren)’s missing paraphernalia is in it.  What is left in the box on December 17 will be taken to the GBF, Bibles for Mission, or Value Village.

Reminders:

*Lifetouch was in contact with the school and retakes are scheduled for Monday, December 6. 

*News and Views material is due on Monday, December 6.

*The Ladies Auxiliary is planning a Pizza Lunch for Wednesday, December 8.  Yippee!  No lunches to make.  For those children with allergies, the Ladies Auxiliary will look after heating up/preparing food that they bring for lunch that day.  Thank you very much Ladies Auxiliary!

Have an enjoyable weekend and a blessed Sunday. We will touch base again next week Friday, D.V.       G. Hofsink

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Classroom News

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Kindergarten

This week in Language Arts we had a review week.  We spent the week reviewing the letter sounds for a, i, o, d, t, m, c, and g.  Many of the students are able to take these letter sounds and make them into words!  Keep up the good work, kindergarten.  I would like to take this time to encourage you as parents to continue to practice these letter sounds and having your child make 3 letter words that are CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words.  In math we are learning our numbers and we spent time this week learning the numbers 6, 7, and 8.  Many of the students were able to make these numbers but did reminders to not make the numbers backwards.  In Bible we completed learning about Joseph.  The students had large smiles on their faces when they learned that Joseph and his family were reunited and especially loved learning about how Joseph and Jacob were reunited!  Next week we will be starting our Christmas Bible stories and will be learning about all of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus.  Also a heads up: the new calendar and agenda sheets will be added to the agendas on Monday or Tuesday depending when your child is at school.  Have a great weekend.  JB/SV

Grade 1

The days are getting colder, but it remains quite muddy on the playground.  Many of you will see the evidence of how much your children enjoy playing in the muddy places in the school yard.  If your child has splash pants, now would be a good time to send them along to school in the mornings.  Our bucket of extra socks is beginning to look a little empty.  If you have a pair of ours, could you send them back to school?  Both grade one classes have begun working on decoding long vowel sounds in our Phonics lessons.  This is quite a challenging concept because children have to identify how teams of letters work together to make the long vowel sound, but it is exciting to be able to read so many more new words.  In Math we are working on a chapter about time and money.  In order to keep the content focused on Canadian money, the students will often be working on worksheet pages different from what we find in our Math text book.  Grade 1A will have a Science test about the five senses on Monday. 

Memory Work:  Hymn 7:1 (Dec. 3)  I Samuel 16:7b (Dec. 10)

Spelling/Sight words:  an, each, use, there, which

Grade 2

This week, we started our new Social Studies unit! The students enjoyed working with maps and legends and learning about where we live In Ontario so that we can compare it to Nunavut next week! In Language Arts, we are enjoying our new reader called Kate’s Book! In the next week or so the students will be learning how to write their own opinion paragraph, following the same steps as our last writing assignment: plan, draft, and edit! Please continue to practice math facts at home, we hope to add new cards again before the Christmas holidays. Have a great weekend and a blessed Sunday! RG/BV 

Grade 3

Here we are again!  We had a good week in grade three. We finished our Church History unit with a quiz and now move on to our Bible stories dealing with Isaac. We thank the LORD that He keeps His covenant that He made to Abraham and to us too. In Science we wrote a quiz on the circulatory system and we can’t wait to explore the respiratory system. Our gym classes were tons of fun using scoops and balls!  Ask us all about it! Next week will be a review of all the November words.  Please take the time to practice your words every night, grade three. That’s it for now.

WORDS:  beautiful, before, discover, enough, first, hopeless, journal, let’s, recycle, their, there, they’re, went, when

Hymn 17:1,3; Text:  Psalm 23:1-3

Library books in the NEW library bags on Thursday.

Dictation and Mission $ on Friday.

Grade 4

We have wrapped up our Rocks and Minerals unit and we look forward to moving on to Social Studies and learning all about Canada! We are also taking a break from Bible after this unit and we will be learning about John Hus and how the Lord used him to bring the gospel to the people of Bohemia.

Wednesday: Grade 4B Bible Quiz: Solomon

Thursday: Grade 4A Bible Quiz: Solomon

Friday: Spelling Test: hunting, learned, heard, climbing, dreamed, reading stuffed, watching, passed, thinking, watched, talking, started, falling

Memory Work: Psalm 5:1/John 1:1-4

Upcoming Memory Work: Psalm 54:1

Grade 5

We have finished off Unit 2 in Bible, and we will be moving on to Unit 3 next week, where we will continue studying Jesus’ ministry. Grade 5A will be having a Chapter 3 Math test next week Friday (Dec. 3). The students are progressing well in recorder! We are well aware of how nice it is to listen to recorder being practiced, so thank you, parents, for allowing them to practice and perfect their skills at home as well.

Devotions for next week are as follows:

5A – M. Cedric, Tu. Charlize, W. Ryley, Th. Jessica, F. Teagen

5B – M. Lilly, Tu. Victoria, W. Izabelle, Th. Mason, F. Tanner

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

Grade 6

In our Bible lessons we have started the section on Abram. We saw how God called Abram away from the pagan idolatry of Ur to reclaim and redeem His people. In Hebrews we could learn as an example from Abram how he was looking forward to the city that has a permanent foundation whose designer and builder is God. The students have learned a lot about the Mesopotamia area during this time with the study of early trade and the Sumerians. As the bird project will have to be assembled in the next couple of weeks, please bring in pictures of the bird and also relating to its food and habitat. They can be printed and/or drawn. Have an enjoyable weekend. IdV/CVA

Grade 7A

Thank you to those who helped us with our grocery shopping and cooking for our History project; your help was appreciated. While the History project draws to a close, a new one will begin in Science as we design, build and test stir stick bridges as part of our, “Structural Strength and Stability” unit. Action produces reaction as the Roman Catholic Church will respond to Martin Luther’s 95 Thesis in Church History; Pope Leo X certainly won’t stand for it, that’s no bull. Enjoy your weekend. 

Grade 7B

As we wrap-up the last full week of November, we find ourselves wrapping up a lot of different work in 7B. On Thursday, we finished up our New France projects with our presentations. Our Formal Balance Masks are now on display in the case outside the staff room. In Geography, we endured some tough test results and students were given a chance to redo their answers and improve their mark. It’s too bad so many chose not to. As we move into December students are beginning a new major assignment, this time in P.E. as they will be designing and planning and teaching a cooperative game to their peers. Should make for some fun classes coming up! Have a blessed weekend. Cheers, Mrs. Ludwig and Mr. J

Grade 8

We hope that students had a great day at the Tripleball Tournament. Just a reminder to parents that we are having a Year End Trip meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 1, before the membership meeting.

Tues: Grade 8A Tom Sawyer Quiz Vocabulary and Comprehension Ch 11 – 18, Church History Test 8A, Math Quiz (both classes)

Wed: French Quiz Room Vocabulary Ch. 4 and AVOIR/ETRE

Memory Work: Psalm 29: 3, (next week — Romans 3: 21 – 26, Hymn 40: 1, 3)