General News

As we bring February to a close, here is a final reflection on our monthly theme: Intellectual Honesty. Every time we choose to present hard truths honestly, we are building momentum toward honest thinking habits that can positively transform our lives and the lives of those around us. If every subtle intellectually dishonest act chips away at the health of our relationships, poisons the pursuit of knowledge and undermines the trust essential to our political and economic freedoms, then every intellectually honest act is an equally powerful step in the opposite direction. (from Virtuous Minds, p. 69)

Hello again readers, as we bring to an end another week and another month of teaching and learning at John Calvin School. May our Heavenly Father continue to provide the students and teachers with what they need to stay focused on their respective tasks during the next two busy weeks leading up to the two-week March Break.

We congratulate William and Hannele DeJong with the birth of their daughter, Chloe Michelle. All is well with mom and baby, and the rest of the family too, including Mikenna in Grade KB. (“Our children all are gifts of God, our sons and daughters his reward– each one a blessing from the LORD, as heritage on us bestowed. Psalm 127:3, BoP). May the Lord provide the parents with all that they need as they raise their children in the fear of His Name.

Earlier this week, at His appointed time, the Lord called home his servant, Mr. Bill Horsman. He was a leader in the field of education in our Canadian Reformed schools where he was a principal and a teacher at John Calvin Christian School in Burlington (he taught yours truly in Grade 8); and at Covenant Canadian Reformed Teachers College where he was an instructor for three decades (he instructed a number of teachers on our staff who attended the CCRTC). He was the grandfather to Stephen and Lindsey Horsman and great-grandfather to Charlotte (KA) and Evelyn in our school community, as well as an uncle to the Witten family. May the God of all comfort surround the Horsman family and relatives with His love and grace.

In spite of a rainy day on Wednesday, good progress was again made this week on interior hallway walls of the addition. May the Lord continue to bless the work being done on the construction project.

A few items for your attention:

*The “Toonies for Anchor” campaign wrapped up today. However, students will have until early next week to return their “toonie” envelopes. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Witten and Grade 7A are planning to deliver the envelopes to Anchor Home and spend some time singing and visiting with our special needs brothers and sisters.

*Tonight, Benjamin Alkema will be reciting his poem, “The Dentist and the Crocodile” by Roald Dahl, and Rachel VanEgmond will be delivering her speech, “Scary Speeches”, at the biennial Canadian Reformed Public Speaking and Poetry Recitation contest. The contest begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of Ebenezer Canadian Reformed Church in Burlington.

*Basketball practices continue next week Monday, February 29 (Mr. Joosse’s boys’ team, and the girls’ team) and Thursday, March 3 (Mr. Hofsink’s team and the girls’ team).

Reminders:

Due to construction, please do not park in the parking lot by the kitchen during the day.   Thank you for your cooperation.

*Grade 2B is planning to visit Kilean Lodge on Monday, February 29th.

*Grade KB is planning to visit Beacon Home on Tuesday, March 1st.

*Grade 7A is planning to visit Anchor Home on Wednesday, March 2nd.

*Report cards go home on Friday, March 11.

*March Break is from March 14 – March 25. First day back after the break is Monday, March 28, Easter Monday. You are invited to attend the Easter Assembly planned for that morning.

Enjoy your weekend everyone and have a blessed Sunday. We hope to touch base again in a week’s time.   G. Hofsink

Classroom News

Kindergarten

The children have had a busy week with purple day and dress up day! What fun! We will be going to the veterinarian clinic next week. You should have received the details via email. We are doing lots of practice for the concert and will send some details of songs that your kindergarten kids may enjoy listening to and practicing at home. Have an amazing weekend. SL/MD

Grade 1

Greetings to all. We have had a busy week. On Wednesday we went to sing Happy Birthday to Mrs. Kingma who turned 101! What a blessing. Thank you to the bus drivers, Mrs. W. Vis and Mrs. T. VanLuik for driving us there. We have been working hard in all subject areas. If all went according to plan, we finished another Math unit with a test today. Look for the results early next week. We plan to have a Bible test on Friday- notes will go home on Thursday. Thank you to all who sent along plastic bags. With the wet weather, we always need a lot of bags to send wet clothes home. More bags are always welcome. Have a happy Saturday and a blessed Sunday. HB & JV

Memory Work Psalm 93:4 Text Ps.119:104

Grade 2

This past week we finished our unit on Zimbabwe with a test. These tests were very well written. We have moved on to a Science unit on solids, liquids, and gases. The students are quite excited about this unit and have already an enjoyed an experiment. In our Church History unit we have begun studying the church at Antioch in the times of John Chrysostom. We will be learning about five different reformers in this unit. There will be a quiz after each mini unit. We will then have our first quiz on Thursday. On Monday, Grade 2B is going to be visiting Kilean Lodge. This is a wonderful opportunity for them to shine as lights in our community, Have a wonderful weekend! RG/HV

Memory Work: Psalm 31:1

Words: phone, ride, skate, children, best

Grade 3

March is right around the corner! Wow, time flies! In Bible History we are learning how the Lord uses Moses, a weak and sinful man, to lead His people to the promised land. The children are becoming more fluent in their mixed timetables facts, however, keep up the practice at home! Thank you parents, for helping your child in studying their memory work, math facts and spelling words, and for monitoring homework. We are nearing the end of our Heat Unit in Science….a test will soon follow. Grade 6 helped us with our pebble art. Wow, it looks amazing! We are busy practising the songs for the concert. Thank you Miss B., for helping us along. We could sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Mrs. Kingma, who turned 101 this past week. Remember to hand in those Toonies for Anchor. That’s it for this week. Have a lovely weekend. MP/JB

Memory work: Ps 108:1; Text: Deut. 18:18

Spelling words: another, confusion, I’m, its, it’s

Grade 4A

We had a fun (dressed-down) day today. (Thank-you for the gifts) The Social Studies unit about Canada will be finished on Monday, and we hope to start our new Science unit on Wednesday. It will again be fascinating to see how light travels and how light affects almost everything in life. We continue working under our theme for science during the whole year: “The Lord created, We Discover”. In Bible we have come to the end of the stories about the first number of kings of Israel. It is disappointing time and again to see how each king reigned, and didn’t learn from their fathers’ mistakes. On Wednesday we will have a Bible test covering these kings. We have noticed the progress the students have made in Math and will start working on Unit 2 . Students must know the timestables in order to understand the upcoming concepts. We will continue to repeat and recite them every day. Please take the time to practise at home.

M&T: PhysEd clothes, W:Bible Test & library

Devotions: T- Carter F-Titus

Friday: mission money, Memory Work: Ps30:1 Text-Psalm 121:5-8

Grade 4B

What an interesting week we’ve had. Beautiful, colourful hot-air balloons are floating over our heads. The students thoroughly enjoyed creating these paper-mache works of art and now we all are enjoying the finished product. Both the Math and Bible tests have been returned. While there were those who did well, there were also those whose tests showed that little studying was done. There are still students who think that as long as they pay attention in class they need not study. Parents, please ensure that your child studies properly for their tests. Books usually go home 2-3 prior to the test day so that ample time can be spent studying. Along this same vein, there will be a Canada test on Wednesday. Students need to know their provinces, territories, capitals, great lakes, and regions of Canada as well latitude and longitude lines and how to use them. The class has been enjoying having Miss Bouwman in our midst. As time goes on she is taking on more and more teaching duties and the students are very excited that she is doing the novel study From Anna with them. Have a restful and blessed weekend. SO/JB

Memory Work: Psalm 30:1; Text: Psalm 121:5-8 (two weeks)

Wednesday: Canada Test

Grade 5

We have come to the end of our novel study about the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Students should have handed in their lap books on Friday. We will resume our work in the World of Literature reader again on Monday. The four teams presented our French play “L’arbre Ungali” on Tuesday. Some of the students did a fabulous job of memorizing their parts, as well as other parts of the play. They were a good help and support to others in their group. Having said that, I was quite disappointed that a significant number of students did not have their lines memorized. We have been working on this for months. Look for a sheet with marks and comments sometime next week. We are currently working on revising a descriptive paragraph that we’ve written about a place that we’ve visited. One thing that the students really need to work on in this assignment is to keep their focus.

Memory Work: Psalm 128:1

Spelling Words: clothing, unfinished, suit, except, unusual, pair, appear, unpacked, loose, pieces, reaches, unidentified, size, pants, making, right

Bible Test – Wednesday

Spelling Quiz – Thursday

Grade 6A

In our study about Japan we looked at images of the 2011 tsunami. We also ready a story called “Disaster Debris” relating to the debris found on the Pacific shoreline years after the tsunami but also speaking of the garbage patch in the ocean. This led to a discussion on looking after God’s creation and the effects of garbage on the ecosystem. We also discussed the plagues and how God used these as a punishment for both the Egyptians and the Israelites. He wanted the Egyptians, Israelites, and all surrounding nations to know how powerful He was. They were also an attack on the gods of the Egyptians. The students should be looking for or drawing pictures for their State project. Have a blessed weekend. CV

Devotions:   T-Lydia W-Amy Th-Quinton F-Abby   Ps.37:1-Mar.4

Grade 6B

We had a busy week here in 6b! In Bible we have been looking at the ten plagues, students worked in partners to make small posters with information about each plague. In Literature we discussed what an allegory is and read through a piece from Pilgrims Progress to look at the journey of Christian. In Social Studies we have begun looking at the geography of Japan. Meanwhile in work periods students have been busy working on their state projects. Please remind your children to wear weather appropriate clothing! Have a lovely weekend! MDB

Literature Quiz: Wednesday March 2

State Project Due: Friday March 11

Memory Work Text: Deut. 6:4-9 (March 11)

Memory Work Song: Hymn 48:1 (March 4)

Devotions: M. Evan, T. Caleb, W. Claire, T. Eliana, F. Emmalyne

Grade 7A

This week we’ll start our new unit in Math dealing with ratio, proportion and percent. A new unit will also start in History as we move from the War of 1812 to the development of Upper Canada. We’ll learn about characters like Simcoe and Talbot. We’ll leave Ulrich Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation and return to redemptive history with King David. In Physical Geography we’ll move from global climate factors to local climate factors. We’ll enjoy the communion of saints and visit Anchor Home on Wednesday. Enjoy your weekend.

Grade 7B

We are nearing the end of our units in both Math and Church History, and hope to complete them with tests early next week. This evening is a special one for Rachel as she hopes to compete in the provincial public speaking competition. We wish her all the best with that.

Devotions week of February 29 – Sam

Devotions week of March 7 – Ashley

Wednesday – Vocabulary quiz

Friday – MW – Psalm 126:2

Grade 8

With the last full week of February behind us, things continue to be busy in the Gr. 8 classroom. This week we filled the first half of the week and the students rose to the challenge with both math classes achieving at least an A as a class average. Well done! Today we got to enjoy the annual Geography challenge. Here are some things for next week: Devo: ND; MW: Ps. 91: 1, 4. Cheers, Mr. J