General News

The monthly theme for the month of November is Intellectual Tenacity. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4, ESV)       Greetings everyone as we bring another week of instruction to an end at John Calvin. We thank the Lord for His blessing and guidance on our work throughout this past week. The teachers continue to be busy with putting marks together which will be discussed next week before they are entered onto the report cards. Report cards are scheduled to go home two weeks from today.          We congratulate Darryl and Emily Bosscher with the birth of a healthy son, Shawn Gregory. Everything is well with baby, mom, dad, and the rest of the boys. May our Heavenly Father provide the Bosschers with all they need to raise Shawn and the rest of their children in the fear of His Name. (Our children all are gifts of God, our sons and daughters his reward– each one a blessing form the Lord, as heritage on us bestowed. Psalm 127:3, Book of Praise)

Last Saturday, on a beautiful but cool day (thankfully the wind and rain of the previous two days had abated), the school community could enjoy the annual Winterfest. Once again, the school was a beehive of activity with many, many people coming out to participate in the event, whether it was eating breakfast or lunch, purchasing products from the Farmer’s Market or the different rooms, bidding on items at the silent or the live auction, or just enjoying fellowship. The parking lot was chock-full, as were the venues in the school at various times throughout the day. The school was given the green light by the Winterfest committee to share with the community that the grand total of $37 459.00 was raised. WOW! A record amount. We thank the Lord for this blessing. Thank you also to everyone for participating in this event and making it such a big success. We especially thank the committee members for the many hours they put into making Winterfest the success that it was. We also thank the volunteers who helped out during the day in various capacities. Once again the school program will benefit greatly and with much thankfulness.

We hope to see many of you at the fall membership meeting next week Wednesday evening beginning at 8:00 in the school gym.

A few items for your attention:

• Students in Grades 7&8 who have outstanding monies from the Anchor Work Day are encouraged to bring in the money next week as we would like to wrap up this fundraiser by the end of the month. Thanks for your cooperation in this matter and thank you to the students who have already brought in their money.
• Three weeks of practicum are completed for Mrs. Kelly in Grade 2A. We trust that her practice teaching session at John Calvin was a positive and beneficial experience. We wish her all the best and the Lord’s blessing as she returns to the Teachers College for regular instruction and preparation for exams. Mr. Breukelman will continue his practicum session in Grade 7B for one more week.
• Volleyball practices wrapped up this week. Next week Tuesday after school, John Calvin is planning to host a “tune-up” tournament with ACRES. It will be a good practice for the Guido De Bres invitational tournament next week Thursday, November 26. The tournament is scheduled to take place at the Dofasco Center located on First Road East in Stoney Creek. Directions are as follows: Take Highway 20 towards Hamilton. Turn right on First Road East, about 1 km before Centennial Parkway. Stay on First Road East until you see the Center on the right hand side of the road. It is past Mud Street. A bus will be bringing the players to the tournament but parents will need to pick up their athletes from the venue as the end of the tournament will be determined by the success of the teams. Players will be receiving a tournament schedule either today or on Monday. All the best at the tournament, players and coaches.
• The next skating sessions at the Smithville arena are scheduled for Wednesday, November 25. Grades KB and 1B will skate from 12:30-1:30 and Grade 5 from 1:30-2:30. Half of grade eight will serve as helpers for the students in Kindergarten and Grade 1. 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 John Calvin School choir, under the direction of Miss Breukelman, has been invited to participate in a couple of concerts with the Niagara Region Voice of Praise choir. They would love to have our choristers participate in their concerts scheduled for December 18 in Grassie and December 19 in Smithville. Both concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. Students in Grades 4-8 are invited to join the choir and participate in these concerts. The choir would be singing 3 or 4 selections. This is another exciting opportunity for our school choir.

  Reminders:

• Scholastic orders are due on the 15th of every month. Please make your cheques to John Calvin School.
• Grade 6B is planning to visit Kilean Lodge on Monday, November 30.
• Gade 2 is planning to visit Anchor Home on Monday afternoon, November 30.
• Grades 2 and 6 are scheduled to go skating on Wednesday, December 2.

May our Heavenly Father refresh us all physically and spiritually over the course of the weekend and we hope to touch base again next week Friday. G. Hofsink

Classroom News

Kindergarten

We are continuing on with the Old Testament stories of Joseph, from prisoner to Prince in a day! What an example of the fact that anything is impossible for our God. A reminder that KB is going skating this coming Weds November, 25th at 12:30, and don’t forget a helmet! Also Blue day is this coming Thurs/Fri, so pull out the blue clothing, toys, etc. Janelle Donker and MaryJane Porter will be bringing a special blue day snack for us! Also memory work is due Thurs/Friday Hymn 21:1, and Gen.8:22

*A side note in the original calendar it said Membership meeting was Weds 18, it is actually on Weds, Nov, 25. Have a beautiful weekend. SL/MD

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Grade 1

Memory Work: Psalm 81:6, Ruth 1:16,17a

Greetings from grade one. We have come to the end of another Bible unit and will have a test on Tuesday. Booklets will go home on Monday.

We have also sent the Kittens and Bears readers home. Please listen to your child read and send the books back next Friday. The children are definitely getting better with their reading! Grade 1A enjoyed skating last Wednesday and are thankful to all the parents who came out to help. 1B are the lucky ones to go skating this Wednesday. We welcome all the parents to come and join us. We hope to be at the arena at 12:20. As the weather gets cooler again, please dress your child in layers- if it is warmer at recess we will let the children dress accordingly. Have a relaxing and blessed weekend. HB &J vB

Grade 2

Memory Work: Hymn 1

Words: one, won, who, how, thing

Congratulations goes to Landon and the Bosscher family with the birth of another son! Babies are a wonderful blessing from the Lord, and we wish each and every parent strength to raise their children in the fear of His name. We’ve come to the end of our Science unit on Investigating Health and Safety. We enjoyed a presentation from Mrs. McKinnell. She works for the Dairy Board and she was able to review much of the information the students had learned about eating wisely. The students will be writing a test on Thursday. We will also be writing a Bible test on Friday. After three weeks, the time has come to say good-bye to Mrs. Kelly. We would like to thank her for all her hard work, we will miss you! May the Lord continue to bless you as your studies continue at Covenant. Have a good weekend! HV/RG

Grade 3

Memory work: Ps 15:1; Text: Gen 15: 5, 6

Spelling words: their, there, they’re, went when

In Grade 3, Rev. Bosch spoke in his own fun and positive way about being a minister and how many years it takes to become one. He certainly showed his love for serving the Lord. Thank you, Rev. Bosch. The children asked some interesting questions. We had a Science test this past week; ask your child how he/she did. It is important to go over the information the evening before as well. Thank you so much for taking the time to study with your child. We have moved on to two body systems, the circulatory and the respiratory system. Amazing how our Lord has created each system and how they work together. Continue to study the 0 – 3 times tables and practise the spelling words on a regular basis. We hope you had fun at the Winterfest, we certainly did! Mrs. Sophia Dam is willing to burn a CD for you with Pioneer Day pictures at no cost. Her email is sophia.dam@gmail.com. Our Pioneer Day posters are hanging, they are amazing! Thank you so much, Mrs. Dam! Have a blessed weekend. MP/JB

Grade 4A

Memory Work – Psalm 60:1, Isaiah 9:6,7

THANK YOU, Winterfest committee! Everyone had a great time together last Saturday! Grade 4 also had lots of fun skating this past Wednesday. Thanks you to the parents and older siblings for helping us out, either by tying skates, or playing games with the students. Look for your child’s Bible test; they did well on them. We heard one of their favourite stories this week, David and Goliath. This coming week in Science we are looking into the last parts of the body system. You should see your children enjoy learning about God’s amazing wisdom in the way He created our bodies.. If you happen to come to school on Wednesday morning (11:00- 11:50), ….feel free to pop in when we have our science lesson. There will be a real kidney of a cow on our table….. thanks to Mrs. Poort (gr.3). We will do a deeper study, using gloves, through smelling the stench, to better understand it all. What a privilege to all when we are so young! Remember each week to study then new spelling words with your child (in their agenda) as well as practise their math facts. Have a great week.

Monday & Thursday: PhysEd

Wednesday: Library – Cow Kidney

Friday: Mission Money, Spelling 10

Grade 4B

Memory Work: Psalm 60:1; Text: Isaiah 9:6&7

Hello again, from Grade 4B. We have been very busy this past week learning many new and wondrous things. We stand in awe of God’s wisdom as we discussed our digestive systems, how they work, what can go wrong with them, and how we should properly care for them. These have been wonderful discussions and we look forward to discovering much about of Urinary System next week. We have spent quite a few in the last weeks building characters and settings and now we are almost finished our Fairy-tale stories. In our French classes we have been learning our l’historie and soon we will be taking turns playing each individual character. Support from home about the importance of learning French is greatly appreciated. 🙂 In Math we have been measuring things, with the metric system, and now we are learning all different polygon shapes and their proper names. In our Bible classes we have been listening to and discussing the early life of David, after he was anointed king, but before he takes his rightful place on the throne. The idea that God looks at your heart and what lives there, not what you look like on the outside (being strong, handsome/beautiful etc.) is the theme of many of our lessons. The students really enjoyed their skating class. Thank you to the parents who came out to join us and help tie skates. That’s all for now; have an enjoyable weekend and a blessed Sunday. SO

Mon. & Thurs.: Phys. Ed.

Wed.: Library

Friday: Memory Work, Spelling Dictation, Mission Money

Wednesday: Library

Monday & Thursday: Phys. Ed. You MUST have your shirt AND shorts

Grade 5

Memory Work: Psalm 59: 1 Matthew 5:2-6

Spelling Words: people, muscle, gentle, example, serve, purring, handle, herself, furry, worked, greatly, swiftly, silently whiskers, quietly, worst

Lunch Devotions: Leah, Luke, Avery, Tristan, Weston

Spelling Quiz – Thursday

Social Studies tests and Punic Wars booklets were returned this week. Ask your child to show you their results. Next week we will begin to have students do the Bible reading and closing prayer at lunch times. When we studied the Sermon on the Mount, the students were assigned to write a prayer appropriate for this. Those prayers should have been brought home and initialled by a parent. We have begun our Bible unit about the Parables of the Kingdom. At some point during this unit, students will be creating a small booklet about them. Next week, students will also take home an assignment sheet for a Roman Structure project that we will be working on. Most work will be done at school. Some may need to be completed at home. Please take some time to read over the assignment sheet so that you know what is expected from the children and help them to pace their work.

Grade 6A

Memory Work -Ps.141:1-Nov.25   Ps.141:2-Nov.27 Ex.20:1-7-Dec.3

We have completed another busy week with a variety of activities. Welcome back to Caleb. We are so thankful that the LORD blessed your operation and made it possible for you to join us again. During our Bible lessons we made a comparison between circumcision and baptism. Using the allegory of Galations 4, we also compared Hagar to Sarah. The students enjoyed reciting and acting out various scenes of the novel. The chrome book time is now being used to type out the six paragraphs for the bird research. The next step is to bring in pictures and put together a display. Have a blessed weekend. CV

Devotions: T-Reuben W-Leanne Th-Jenna F-Elora

Bible Quiz-Nov.26

Grade 6B

Memory Work Song: Psalm 141: 1,2 (November 27)Text: Exodus 15:1-3 (November 26)

In 6B this week we have finished our Bible unit which looked at the life and journey of Abraham. Next week we will have our unit test and then will begin looking at the lives of Isaac and Jacob. We finished our novel study and are almost done our summary booklets. Next week we will begin a new unit looking at stories about space. On November 30 we will be going to sing some songs at Kilean Lodge. On December 2 we will be skating from 1:30-2:30; if you would like to come help tie skates and play some hockey please let me know! If students want to play hockey they have to wear helmets! On December 4 report cards will go home. Please take the time to sit down and go over them with your children. Have a lovely weekend! MDB S

Bible Unit Test: November 24

Social Studies Unit Test: November 26

Devotions: M. Tara, T. Ryan, W. Sylvanna, T. Shaelan, F. Cameron

Grade 7A

We’ll wrap up our study of Martin Luther next week and afterwards we’ll move on to Bible History and Samuel/Saul/David. After our LA study on Short Stories we’ll move on to Public Speaking; just in time for the upcoming public speaking contest. Math has us learning about expressions and equations, and we’ll play scrimmage volleyball games with the other Grade Seven class(if they’re lucky). Ask your child how their energy barrier performed and what Chief Seattle said about stewardship. Enjoy your weekend.

Grade 7B

Memory Work – Psalm 3:1

We have completed our Church History unit on Martin Luther and the great reformation. Tests were returned to the students. Please ask to see them. In Math, students completed a unit today with a test. Mr. Breukelman is spending one more week with us, and hopes to teach Bible History, Math, and History next week. KB

Devotions week of November 23 – Leah M.

Devotions week of November 30 – Levi

Grade 8

Memory Work – Hymn 69:3; 1 John 2:28-3:3

Another busy week in the Eight Grade at JCS. This week students began their investigation of the English Reformation in our first Church History unit, and focused on the situation in Europe just before the start of the Reformation. In Math we started our 3rd unit and will spend the next few weeks analyzing data and statistics and creating ways to plot and graph that data. Here are some things for next week:

Mon: Vocab Quiz;
Wed: Mr. Hofsink’s math class is skating with KB & 1B;
Thursday: Spelling Quiz;
Friday: Fish Art is due.
Devotions: IN.

Cheers, Mr. J

Wrapping up Winterfest 2015

All Praise and Thanks to our Heavenly Father for yet another fun and successful day enjoyed by all at Winterfest. We, the Winterfest committee, would like to say Thank You to all of you. Whether you came out to help to fill a time slot of over 300 positions, baked, crafted, brought in delicious food, or stayed to the bitter end to mop the floors and clean the bathrooms, THANK-YOU! Winterfest could not happen without it’s community of hard working volunteers. It was amazing to look around and see that God has blessed all the volunteers with diverse talents and abilities to bring enjoyment to one and all. Thanks also to all of you who came out to support this event! It is with full hearts that we announce that this year Winterfest raised $37,500. This money will be used towards the Teacher’s Wish List which is comprised of items to help our school run more efficiently. A detailed list of these items can be found in the December edition of the News and Views, so be sure to check it out. At this time we would love to hear from you. Your feedback is important to us in order to make improvements for next year. Please email kerri@arborwood.ca with your suggestions. Until 2016!