General News

The monthly theme for the month of October is Intellectual Tenacity. “Those who are intellectually tenacious earnestly want to know the truth, so they are consistently unwilling to give up when they find an assignment difficult or boring. Instead, they are determined to fight through the difficulty in order to gain a deeper understanding of the material. The corresponding vice to intellectual tenacity is intellectual laziness.” (Philip Dow in Virtuous Minds, Intellectual Character Development)

Good day readers as we bring another busy week of learning and teaching to a close. The students have been busy with tests, assignments, and projects, as well as with various extra-curricular activities. The teachers have been busy with daily instruction, coaching, refereeing, and working on gathering marks for report cards; while parents are keeping busy encouraging and supporting their children in their work.   May the Lord continue to provide energy, wisdom, understanding, and insight for everyone’s respective tasks.     We hope to see you all at some point and time at Winterfest tomorrow. The gym opens for breakfast, flowers, and farmer’s market at 7:30 a.m., and the rest of the rooms and activities (including the dunk tank☺) open at 9:00 a.m. We are looking forward to an enjoyable day. The weather looks much better than yesterday or today but it will be cool. Once again we thank everyone involved in Winterfest for making this event happen.

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 as soon as possible. Thanks your cooperation in this matter and thank you to the students who have already brought in their money.
• Two weeks of practicum are completed and that means one more week to go for Mrs. Kelly in Grade 2A, and the half-way point for Mr. Breukelman in Grade 7B. We hope and pray that their final week and third week will continue to be successful.
• Volleyball practices continue after school every Monday and Thursday (except November 23) for the next two weeks leading up to the tournament, hosted by Guido De Bres high school, on Thursday, November 26. John Calvin is planning to host a “tune-up” tournament with ACRES on Tuesday afternoon, November 24.
• This past Wednesday, November 11, the students in Grades 5-8 along with their teachers and a number of parents visited the cenotaph at the Smithville Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 393. During the ceremony, the school sang four stanzas of O God Our Help in Ages Past and Abide With Me. The folks at the Legion once again expressed their heartfelt appreciation for our presence at the ceremony, and especially our choral contribution. Mrs. Cathy Putman said that we have a standing invitation for future Remembrance Day ceremonies. Two students of our school, Brody Mans and Matthew Stel, laid a wreath in behalf of John Calvin School. It was good to be a part of the ceremony and thus be a witness to the community. We also thank the Royal Canadian Legion for providing the students with a pizza and juice lunch.While Grades 5-8 were at the cenotaph, Grades K-4 had an assembly in the school gym led by Mrs. Oosterhoff. By poems, songs and readings they paid special attention to The Last Post and Why We Wear A Poppy. The Grade 4B students and Mrs. Oosterhoff did a great job. Thank you very much!
• We trust that Grades 6A and 8 had a good visit to Shalom Manor today singing and performing for, and interacting with the residents.
• The first skating session at the Smithville arena is scheduled for Wednesday, November 18. Grade 4 will skate from 12:30-1:30 and Grades KA and 1A will skate from 1:30-2:30(one-half of the grade eight students will be helping with tying up skate laces). 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.
• Bus Stop Reminder: It has been brought to my attention by one of the bus drivers that, at one of the stops, some children were playing in a ditch alongside the road while they were waiting for the bus. This is a safety concern at any time but especially now that winter will soon be upon us and road conditions become that much more difficult. Please remind your children about safety at the bus stop. Thank you.

Reminders:

• Scholastic orders are due on the 15th of every month. Please make your cheques to John Calvin School.
• Next week Friday is a PD Day for Guido De Bres high school. Therefore the morning bus routes will be the afternoon bus routes in reverse. Please note that your pick-up time may be different than usual.
• Grades KB, 1B, and 5 are scheduled to go skating on Wednesday, November 25.
• Fall membership meeting on Wednesday, November 25. The membership packages have gone out this week.

Have a wonderful, Winterfest Saturday and a blessed Sunday, and we’ll be in touch in a week’s time, D.V. G. Hofsink

Classroom News

Kindergarten

Another wonderful week has come and gone and we have much to be thankful for. We hope to see many of you at Winterfest. The excitement and anticipation is alive and well in Kindergarten. We continue to do lots of reviewing and assessing for upcoming report cards as well as carrying on with our Bible stories in the book of Genesis. The children love to hear the stories of the people in the Old Testament and are always surprised at how different things were for Gods people in that time. We continue to learn about the amazing life of Joseph and how God used so many trials to led him to his purpose. KA will be skating this coming Wednesday, the 18th at 1:30, and KB will be going on the Wednesday, the 25th at 12:30. PLEASE remember helmets are a must for the children to go out on the ice. Each class will have some Grade 8 students along to help out the little ones. We welcome parents to come and help out as well, especially for tying skates and getting ready to go at the end of the hour. Have a beautiful weekend. S.L, MD

Grade 1

Memory Work for Friday, Nov. 20: Hymn 66:1; Exodus 20:2,3

This week the Grade One students could complete a Bible, a Senses. and a Math test. They have been marked and students have taken them home. Please check your child’s bag if you have not seen them. We have begun a new unit in Math dealing with addition and subtraction. This has been quite challenging for some students. We will continue to do a lot of practice with these concepts during the coming weeks. The students are very excited about the upcoming Winterfest on Saturday. We hope to see many of you there. We wish you all a blessed Sunday. Til next week. Jvb/ hb

Grade 2

Memory Work: Psalm 42:3, Micah 5:2

Words: every, where, jump, too, more

We have completed another Bible unit on the Ministry of Jesus. The students will prepare on Monday, and then they will write a test on Tuesday. In Math, we have begun a new unit on patterning. It seems rather easy to the students after working with some complicated number concepts. It is a rather short unit and next week we look forward to a unit on measurement. The students are super excited for Winterfest. See you tomorrow! HV/RG

Grade 3

Memory work: Psalm 39:1; Text: Genesis 15:5,6 (2 weeks)

Words: first, hopeless, journal, let’s, recycle

Here we are again! Students did well on their Bible test and we have moved on to Church History. Just a reminder that students give LOTS of details and examples on tests. Ask your child what the communion of saints is all about. We hope to have Rev. Bosch come in on Monday to talk to us about the task of the minister. We can’t wait! We continue to write stories with lots of ideas and voice! We are making class booklets on some of our stories. We are authors and illustrators. Thank you, Mrs. Oosterhoff and your students for a beautiful Remembrance Day assembly! In our Math classes, we are memorizing those multiplication tables already. Please remind your child to do the drill every MONDAY/TUESDAY night. Merci. Winterfest is just around the corner and we are SO excited. Hope to see you all there on Saturday! Thanks to the organizing committee for all the work that you have done! Oh… and parents please check your child’s agenda every day and sign. Merci. J.B./M.P.

Grade 4A

Memory Work – Psalm 56:1 Isaiah 9:6,7

The Bible Tests went well this week. The students should be getting them back soon. We will turn our studies back to learning about the kings of Israel, as soon as we are finished writing our letters to the elderly in our congregations. In Science, the discussions about the body systems are becoming very interesting! We stand amazed of all the things that are going on in our bodies and how we are staying healthy. The more we know about it, the more we are impressed. This coming week there will not be a test, but soon. Please help your child practising the 1-5 times tables. They are needed to make good progress in Math. On Tuesday afternoon we hope to welcome our violist mother and learn more about the secrets of music through such an instrument.

Monday & Thursday: PE Clothes

Wednesday: Library

Grade 4B

Memory Work: Psalm 56:1; Text: (two weeks) Isaiah 9:6,7

And so the day of Winterfest is almost here! the children have been abuzz with talk of Winterfest for this past week. I hope to see many of “here” tomorrow, enjoying all the yummy food and wonderful items to buy. Thank you so much to our committee and all the volunteers for all their hard work. This past week has seen us finishing off our Church History unit and so we are turning our attentions to David and his life as God’s chosen king of Israel. In Math we have begun our unit on metric measurements. The students are happily enjoying estimating and measuring many, many things including some of the own body parts. Parents, most afternoons your child will come home with a math drill. Please ensure that they do these (no calculators allowed) each night so that their math facts become second nature to them. While there are some who know their 3, 4 , 5 times tables well there are others who are still struggling and need to practice, practice, practice. Science has us discovering the wonders of how God made up organs and systems to help our bodies work. We are focussing our attention on the Digestive System this week. Quite and eye opener for the students. the last number of weeks I have been noticing quite a few children who are forgetting to bring their library books back. Mom and Dad please help you child to remember to bring their books back so that others may enjoy them as well. Have a wonderful weekend and hope to see you at Winterfest! SO

Wednesday: Library

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

Grade 5

Memory Work: Psalm 57:1,5

Spelling Words: bicycle, kinds, style, bright, finds, pedal, flashlight, highway, pilot, surprising, tiny, frightened, chain, quiet, traffic, front

Science Test – Monday

Social Studies Test – Tuesday

Spelling Quiz – Thursday

Bible tests written last week will have been returned to the students. Please ask your child to show you the results. Both the Science test and Social Studies tests from last week have been re-scheduled. Students seem to have forgotten that there was supposed to be a Science test on Thursday, so Mrs. Blokker reviewed with them instead on Thursday. Students were required to take their Science books home on Thursday evening to begin studying, since many of them are planning to spend the day at Winterfest on Saturday. As far as the Social Studies test is concerned, I simply forgot that I had planned one, and decided to move ahead with one more topic in our study about Ancient Rome before quizzing students on what we have already learned. We have arrived at the topic of Roman entertainment in our studies and we hope not only to look at how the Romans entertained themselves, but also use our Bibles to draw some conclusions about the rightness and wrongness of it. Later we hope to use what we have learned as background information as we study the development of the early Christian Church. I would also like to ask that we stick to the microwave schedule that has been set up. Lately many children have come with a lunch that they want to microwave on a day that has been scheduled for other people. The schedule was put in place so that all would have a fair opportunity to use the microwave and eat their lunch in a timely manner. We really appreciate your co-operation in this matter. The children have been eagerly awaiting the Winterfest and they will likely have many exciting stories to tell about it on Monday.

Grade 6A

Memory Work – Ps.36:2

It was good to be a part of the Remembrance Day ceremony at the cenotaph. We are thankful many fought in the past for our country and continue to work towards peace in other parts of the world. In our devotions we also discussed the article by Rev. Pol in the recent Clarion which referred to Ps.50 and Remembrance Day. It was nice to be a part of celebrating my Mom’s 87th birthday at Shalom with the students of gr.6 and 8 with singing and musical instruments. We look forward to the Winterfest and are thankful to all those who worked very hard for this fundraiser. The students will be acting out scenes of the novel next week. We continue to work our way through our French story, “Le Garcon qui joue de Tours” learning the gestures. Both grade six classes are working nicely together and progressing very well. In Phys Ed we will begin a session on volleyball. Have a blessed weekend. CV

Devotions: T-Jayden W-Kendra Th-Austin F-Matthew

Map Quiz & terms- Nov.19; Vocab Quiz-Nov.19; Ex. 15:1-3- Nov.19

Grade 6B

Memory Work Song: Psalm 36: 2 (Nov. 20) Text: Exodus 15: 1-3 (Nov. 26)

We had another busy week here in 6B. On Wednesday we were able to join fellow students and members of the community at the cenotaph to remember those who have fought and died for our country and for those who are still fighting. On the same day we were able to finish our novel study. The students continue to work on their novel booklets, making a visual interpretation of the story. In Social Studies we have been adding more countries to our map and have been looking the different items that countries trade with one another. Please remember to sign your children’s agendas as well as their returned tests! Have a lovely weekend! MDB

Literature Unit Test: Wednesday Nov. 18

Devotions: M. Marissa, T. David, W. Jordan, T. Emily, F. Nathaniel

Grade 7A

Next week we’ll start with a new chapter in Math covering expressions and equations. In Science we’ve been introduced to thermal energy and we’ll try to design and construct a device that will keep hot water in a tin can warm for the longest time. Martin Luther has been declared an outlaw by the Edict of Worms and the Peasant War is threatening the Reformation in Church History. We’ll learn what the Twelve Articles and the Peace of Augsburg have to do with restoring order to the Holy Roman Empire. Enjoy your weekend.

Grade 7B

Memory Work – Psalm 51:6; John 1:1-7

Another week has flown by. Today we have wrapped up our Church History unit on Martin Luther. Next week Mr. Breukelman hopes to teach the next Bible History unit on the life of King Saul. In Language Arts students have been focussing on the 6 traits of writing, while in History, they are busy studying what life was like in New France. KB

Devotions week of November 16 – Leah J.

Devotions week of November 23 – Leah M.

Grade 8

Memory Work -Ps. 44:1; 1 John 2: 28-3:3

With Remembrance Day firmly planted in the middle of the week, Gr. 8 devotions this week touched upon sacrifice, honour, and respect. On Friday we had the privilege to visit some of the residents at Shalom Manor where my Oma resides. This was a blessing for the residents, and also for us. Next week we hope to wrap up our unit on Cells , and our latest Bible History Unit on Christ’s Ministry. Here are some things for next week:

Tues – Bible Test; Wed – Science Presentations; Devotions: DP

Cheers, Mr. J

From the Winterfest Committee

Please review the map for this year as we have made some changes. Be sure to get your tickets upstairs in the kid’s games hallway and use them for the games, petting zoo and pony rides. On your way to visit the voucher committee, who will be tucked right inside the gym this year, you will see a new specialty coffee bar located across from the fresh Farmers Market outside. Also note that the books will have their very own room this year instead of lining the hallway.