The monthly theme for the month of December is Intellectual Fair-mindedness. At our staff devotions on Monday morning, Mrs. VanBrederode shared with the teachers the following about the Bereans (Acts 17:10-13) and fair-mindedness. This came from a commentary that she researched. “The Bereans were more fair-minded (noble) than the Jews of Thessalonica. What does it mean to be fair-minded or noble? Originally, it meant ‘wellborn’ and implied nobility. Later, it described those of a generous spirit, who are open-minded toward truth, not prejudiced, hostile, or suspicious of others, but give others a fair hearing. The Bereans were a unique people with a strong desire to follow God’s truth. They combined genuine character with zeal to lead and live by example and by the whole Word of God. Their search for the truth did not rely just on the accepted sources of their time but also on the words and actions of those shown to be credible leaders of God’s people. Once this was evident, their lives began to show fruitful ‘works’ that
centered on God and His truth. Good day readers as we wrap-up the first week of the second term. It was good to get together as teachers and parents on Tuesday and Thursday evening to discuss the progress of the students to the end of the first term. It was good to speak about matters that may help us to teach your son or daughter more effectively, and for you, as parents, to support the teachers on the home front. Please feel free to touch base with your child(ren)’s teacher any time should you have a question or concern about their progress. Teachers’ emails are published every other month on the back of the front page of the News and Views. May our Heavenly Father continue to bless this important communication between home and school as together we instruct His covenant children in the fear of His Name. We thank the Lord for His many blessings during term one and we pray that He will continue to provide for the needs of the staff, students, and
parents during the course of the term two.
A few items for your attention:
Reminders:
Have an enjoyable weekend and a blessed Sunday. We’ll touch base again in a week’s time, the Lord willing.
G. Hofsink
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Kindergarten
This is the last week of classes before the winter break! Monday and Tuesday of next week are Green Day! Please remember to dress your child in green and/or bring a green show and tell item. Thursday and Friday (half day for KB on Friday) will be a fun day for both classes to wrap up before the Christmas break. We have taken a pause from the Old Testament and are learning about the birth of Jesus to go along with celebrating Christmas, Jesus’ Birthday! We hope you all have a blessed, family filled Christmas break, and we look forward to next year:) S.L./M.D.
Grade 1
Memory Work: Psalm 100:2; John 3:16
It was good to meet with all of you and discuss the students during interviews. Thanks for your support and help at home – much appreciated. We have completed another Bible unit today and will be having a test on Monday. Notes will be in your child’s school bag today. In our next unit we will see how God leads His people into the promised land after wandering in the desert for forty years. These are some exciting stories to tell and listen to. We have been reviewing addition and subtraction this week and will begin our next Math unit on Monday. Many thanks to our Ladies’ Auxiliary for providing us with a delicious pizza lunch and snacks – it was great. Have a enjoyable weekend and a blessed Sunday. jvb/hb
Grade 2
Memory Work: Hymn 58:1,2, Proverbs 3:5,6
Words: Review – see agenda
Thank you all for coming to the interviews this past week. It is always fruitful to meet together and discuss the progress of the students. If you ever have concerns please do not hesitate to ask. This week we also had a Bible test, it was quite well done. Although it’s a short unit we will have another test on Thursday. We are hoping to have library on Thursday of this coming week since Friday will be a half day only. By Friday, the students will have all the addition math facts added to their bag so that they can practice over the holidays. We hope to begin testing the students in the new year on all these facts. In order to earn their certificate the students need to be able to provide the answers in five minutes or less. This is usually a very exciting process for the students. Have a lovely weekend! RG/HV
Grade 3
Memory work: Psalm 72:1; Genesis 49:10 (two weeks)
Words: everything, hidden, our, are, write, right, terrible, trouble, won’t, wouldn’t
Another busy week has passed. We are hearing the stories of the patriarchs in our Bible lessons. Ask your child about them and how the LORD keeps His covenant with His people of all times and places. Don’t forget those subtraction drills, Grade 3. This will help you memorize your number facts. Practise, practise, practise… Just a reminder to bring those library books on Thursday in your library bags! Skating was great fun. Thanks to all the parents who helped us and the bus driver too! Pizza was yummy! Thanks ladies; it was much appreciated! What is positive and negative space? Grade three knows. Ask them about their cool art activity. Finally, thank you for coming to the interviews. May the LORD continue to bless our efforts as we work together to serve our awesome God. Have a great weekend. J.B./M.P.
Grade 4A
Memory work: Psalm 52:1, John3:16-18
Next week is our last school week in 2015, wow! We will be finishing off a few things before we return in the new year. We will have a unit Bible test covering the unit of David. We will also have a Chapter Test in math to finish this off, on Tuesday. We have begun our science projects, and they look great. The efforts of the students are wonderful to see. In language arts we read a story about bears and hibernation, so now we have set aside some time to make a pamphlet about this. Thank you to the parents for coming in this week to visit with us to communicate about your child, and their learning. Thank you Ladies Auxiliary, for the pizza lunch yesterday! Have a wonderful weekend.
Monday: P.E.
Tuesday: Math Test
Wednesday: Library
Thursday: Bible Test
Friday: Mission Money, Spelling Dictation
Grade 4B
Memory Work: Psalm 52:1, John 3:16-18 (due in Jan)
Oh the plans of mice and men. Every once in a while (truth be told– more often than not ) teaching throws a wrench into our carefully laid out plans. And so it happened in Math this week. So our test will be changed to Thursday instead of Wednesday. We will be spending the beginning of this week reviewing all the concepts we have learned this unit and wrap up the week with the test on Thursday since we do not have Math on Friday. Our Bible test will still be Tuesday, as scheduled. Duotangs have gone home this weekend already. Parents please make sure that your child does some studying this weekend. While the weather is no where near frightful, our classroom is definitely looking wintery with all of the snowflakes we have been making in Art. The students have thoroughly enjoyed these activities and it gives our classroom a nice wintery feel. Please note that our Spelling Dictation has been moved to Thursday this week. Please make sure your child is ready. It was wonderful to be able to “touch base” so to speak with you all at the interviews this past week. Thank you for all the positive feedback and encouraging words, they are really appreciated. Have a wonderful weekend and blessed Sunday. SO
Monday and Thursday: Phys. Ed.
Tuesday: Bible Test
Thursday: Math Test, Spelling dictation
Grade 5
Memory Work: Psalm 73:1
Spelling Words: spirals, addresses, telescope, kilometres, matches, state, branches, arms, coaches, bunches, waves, classes, objects, groups, directions, planets
Devotions: Liam, Jordana, Evan, Ilse
Math Test (Miss Buist’s class) – Wednesday
Bible Test – Thursday
Spelling Quiz – Thursday
Students have been eagerly working on their Social Studies projects this week. It is a pleasure to see the level of enthusiasm and co-operation they are bringing to their work. Interestingly, students also need to apply their knowledge of Math and Science to their building projects as well. Although many of the students are naturals, when it comes to cleaning and tidying up, hopefully by the end of the project all of the students will have learned something about how to do that efficiently as well. We have about two more stories to go before it is time for a test in Bible. We hope to complete a review before we do so. Students should use their notes, as well as, the review to study from. It was good to meet with parents this past week, to discuss the progress, behaviour and growth of the grade five students. Often, hearing a parent’s perspective helps to improve and guide the teaching, learning, evaluating, shepherding, and discipling process for each of the children.
Grade 6A
Memory Work:Ps.114:1 (Dec.18) Ex.20:8-17 (Dec.17)
Thanks to the ladies who provided us with a pizza lunch and treats. It was much appreciated and even helped some us to perform better during keyboarding! We have discussed the departure of Jacob and his family from Laban’s family. We paid attention to the covenant made between Jacob and Laban, the different choices of name for their newborn son between Jacob and Rachel and why, and how Jacob prepared his family to serve the LORD in arriving in Canaan. In our Science lessons we looked at how the inside of our body reacts to bacteria. We were amazed to find out how quickly bacteria multiplies and that after just 8 hours we have 17 million from just one bacterium! Did you know that although viruses are smaller than bacteria they are more dangerous? Yes, many interesting facts and an amazing immune system to fight these viruses and bacteria. Have a blessed weekend. CV
Devotions: T-Abby W-Jayden Th-Kendra
Vocab Test-Dec.17
Science Quiz-Dec.17
Grade 6B
Memory Work: Hymn 38: 1 (Dec 18), Exodus 20:8-17 (Dec 17)
We had another busy week here in 6B. We have started our new Bible unit looking at the life of Joseph. We saw how his brothers sold him into slavery, but also how that was in the Lords plans for Joseph’s life. In Literature we are wrapping up our unit on stories about space. We will start our new novel unit, Underground to Canada, in January. In Science we continue to look at the Immune System. We discussed the differences between communicable and non-communicable diseases as well as the differences between viruses and bacteria. We also took a break from our hard work to watch an episode of the Magic School Bus! In Art we made festive reindeer to hang up in the classroom and even had a contest for most festive one! On Thursday we could enjoy a pizza lunch, thank you so much to the ladies who prepared this all for us! Please remember to check and sign your child agenda. Next week we will have a few tests and will be preparing for the Christmas assembly. Please feel free to join at 11:00 next week Friday! Have a lovely weekend! MDB
Literature Unit Test: Tuesday December 15
Science Quiz: Thursday December 17
Devotions: M. Emily, T. Nathaniel, W. Tara, T. Ryan
Grade 7A
What a blessing it was to discuss with parents the education of their children; what a blessing that what their children hear at home is reinforced at school. In Science we’ll look at the particle theory and phase changes as well as energy transfer systems. History will look at the trouble spots in North America leading to the eventual conquest of the British over the French. Speaking of French, the class will perform like frogs as they present their French plays, “Louis la Grenouille.” In Bible History, we will learn about God’s redemptive history as He chooses a man after His own heart as the next king over His people. Enjoy your weekend.
Grade 7B
Memory Work -Hymn 55:3; Col 3:12-15
First of all thanks to everyone for coming in for Parent Teacher interviews. It was good to be able to talk to everyone as we move forward in the school year. With only one week left to go before Christmas, there are a few units that will be wrapping up with quizzes and tests next week. On Tuesday students hope to write a Bible History test on the life of King Saul, as well as a Math test. In Language Arts we are spending some time next week on the book The Boy in Striped Pajamas by John Boyne.
Devotions week of December 14 – Rachel VanEgmond
Devotions week of January 4 – Lukas Wielink
Tuesday – Bible History Test; Math Test
Grade 8
Memory Work – Hymn 3:3; Rom. 8:37-39
It was another busy week at JCS and in Grade 8. As we wound down our study of Tom Sawyer, we also began the much anticipated Ceiling Tile project. We will continue this well into next week as we also look forward to the quickly approaching Christmas Break. Students are reminded of the Church History test and Math Quest that will happen mid-week. Have a blessed weekend all! Cheers, Mr. J.
Wed: Math Quest
Thursday: C.H. Test
Devo: AK
© 2015 Canadian Reformed School Society of Smithville and Surrounding District
