General News

The monthly theme for the month of December is Intellectual Fair-mindedness. “Genuinely fair-minded people will always make and keep friends more easily than people whose thinking habits are close-minded or biased. Among the many reasons for this, perhaps the most important is the inherent link between fair-mindedness and listening. Because they are committeed to discovering the truth, fair-minded people listen–they really listen.” (Philip Dow, Virtuous Minds- Intellectual Character Development). That is why we are blessed with two ears and one mouth, so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.      Greetings everyone on this brisk, early December day as we bring to a close another week of instruction at John Calvin School. Report cards went home today with your child(ren) as well as a copy of the interview schedule. Please check your day and time and we hope to see you on Tuesday or Thursday of next week so that we can discuss with you the progress of your child(ren) academically and/or behaviourally, to this point in the school year. We thank the Lord for the many gifts and blessings He has provided during the course of the first term and we pray that He will continue to provide for the needs of the staff, students, and parents during the course of the second term. Thankfully, we can report that Evan Schulenberg (KB) was released from the hospital earlier this week and could be at school today.

A few items for your attention:

• For the Dutch folk in our community– Happy Sinterklaas tomorrow.☺
• The next skating sessions at the Smithville arena are scheduled for Wednesday, December 9. Grade 3 will skate from 12:30-1:30 and Grade 7 from 1:30-2:30. 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 Ladies Auxiliary is planning a Pizza Lunch (which will also include a drink, fruit, and a snack) for Thursday, December 10. Yippee! No lunches to make. For those children who have allergies, the Ladies Auxiliary will look after heating up/preparing the food that they bring for lunch that day. Thank you Ladies Auxiliary!
• 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. Rehearsals for the school choir are taking place at school from 2:15-2:55 on Friday afternoons. There will also be a rehearsal with Mr. Jonathan Kingma on Wednesday morning, December 16, from 8:15-9:00 in the school gym.
• Lost and Found: Don’t forget to check through the lost and found items when you come in to the school during the next couple of weeks. The items will be on display in the hall outside the staff room until after the Parent-Teacher conferences (December 8 & 10).Reminders:
• News and Views material is due the week of Monday, December 7 with distribution scheduled for Sunday, December 13.
• Scholastic orders for December are due on the 10th so that the order can be received before the Christmas holidays. Please make your cheques to John Calvin School.
• Grade 2 is planning to visit Anchor Home on Wednesday, December 9.
• Grade 8 is scheduled to go skating on Wednesday, December 16 from 12:30 to 1:30.
• Friday, December 18 will be a half-day of school. Students will be dismissed at 11:45 a.m.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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Classroom News

Kindergarten

Memory Work – Psalm 12:4, John 3:16

Letter: R; Word: go

Time is flying, and term one is done, and the report card binder is home. We ask that after you have a chance to read through the binder you either send it back next week with your child, or bring in for the interview. We keep adding to the binders all year long so that you have a nice portfolio at the end of the year! KB is so very thankful to let you know we have our friend Evan back after 2 weeks missing him. Welcome back Evan! We had so much fun at the Fire station and we hope you all enjoyed checking your fire alarms and making escape plans:)

Grade 1

Memory Work: Psalm 12:4, John 3:16

Greetings from grade one. We have been following the Israelites on their journey through the wilderness- they have left Mt. Sinai and sent spies to Canaan. This coming week we will hear about the things that happened during their long wandering after the spies came back. We have come to the end of another chapter in Math and will be starting a chapter about Time and Money. We continue to make good progress in our reading . There are still a number of readers that have not been returned- if you still have one at home please return it asap. Thanks. We have been learning about the family-it’s interesting to see what kind of jobs the children think their parents do! We are looking forward to seeing all of the parents at the interviews on Tuesday and Thursday. Don’t forget that we have pizza lunch on Thursday. Have a restful weekend. HB &JvB

Grade 2

Memory Work: Hymn 51:1

Words: found, stop, after, some, they

The students enjoyed skating this past week. Thank-you to the many parents who came and tied the skates. It seemed to go quite quickly this year! This coming Wednesday, we are looking forward to a visit with the Anchor residents at their home. Also on Wednesday, we have another Bible test. Report cards will be coming home with your child today. It is always good to communicate together about their progress. We look forward to interviews next week. Please be sure to check the schedule for your time. Have a wonderful weekend. HV/RG

Grade 3

Memory Work:

Memory work: Hymn 20:1, 4, Proverbs 3: 9, 10

Words: anyone, are, can’t, don’t, everybody

We are going skating next week Wednesday! Helmets are a must for this event. We would love to have some help tying skates. We hope to see you there. We continue to learn more about our body systems. Ask your child how to keep our heart and lungs healthy. Report cards have gone home today; next week we may speak to you in person at parent-teacher interviews, the Lord willing. We teachers are humbled to see how much your child has learned and is able to use his/her talents to honour their heavenly Father. Thank you for your ongoing support in helping your child and your prayers for the teachers at John Calvin School. We are looking forward to our pizza lunch on Thursday; thank you Ladies’ Auxiliary! Have a blessed weekend. JB/MP

Wednesday: Skating from 12:30-1:30

Thursday: Pizza lunch

Grade 4A

Memory work: Psalm 54:1, Text: John 1:1-4

Report cards have been handed out. Please take the time to go over the marks/remarks with your child. Did he/she use the talents the Lord has blessed them with? All our work is for the Lord; what a blessing He has granted us all we need to do our jobs/studies. We ask that you send in a box of Kleenex with your child since we are running low with all these runny noses. In Bible we will move on to learn about King David, and all that he encounters as the new king of Israel. In Science we have spent time learning about different body systems. Each body system interacts with another one; how amazingly we have been created. We have also completed our novel study, the students have handed in their lapbooks, and they look great! We will direct our attention back to The World of Literature stories next week. Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

Mon&Th: PE   Wed: Library

Friday: Mission Money; Memory Work; Spelling Dictation 12

Grade 4B

Memory Work:

Psalm 54:1, John 1:1-4

What a busy week we’ve had. We have completed the teaching part of our Science unit and now the students are busily using this information to create a poster booklet on either the digestive or urinary systems. This work should take a few classes with a small wrap up test next week. It seems fitting that as we are approaching the Christmas holidays that we are wrapping up a number of units. This will make for a busy last 2 weeks of school but to ask students to keep all the facts and information at the tip of their tongues, so to speak, until after the holidays would be folly, and so we will work diligently until the holidays begin and use our time off to recover.   Our Bible studies have brought us to the time just before David takes the throne. There will be a test, most likely on Dec 15th. This way we can begin the new year seeing David crowned as king of Israel. In Math we have been very busy with our Math Drills. By the time the holidays come we will be up to the 8 times tables. Parents please encourage your child to say these to you each evening and have them work with these nightly. A test will be coming soon in Math as well. Have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Sunday. SO

Fridays: Memory Work and Spelling Dictation (words are in their agendas)

Upcoming tests (tentative dates):
Dec.10 –Science- Test The Digestive and Urinary Systems
Dec. 15 — Bible
Dec. 16 Math

Grade 5

Memory Work:

Memory Work: Psalm 63:2   Matthew 5: 7-12

Spelling Words:

hold, motor, notice, robot, follow, growing, known, slowly, throw, furniture, adventures, picture, future, spaceship, travel, during

Spelling Quiz – Thursday

Recorder Drill – Wednesday

This week we sorted out who would be working on the various Roman Structures projects. Students will be given approximately eight classes to work on the projects at school (6 x 45 minute Socials Studies periods and 2 x 45 Art periods). Part of what we also hope to teach with these projects is how to appropriately manage time and resources. Some of the students may wish to do some work on their projects at home. That is fine, but they must have your permission to do so, since they all have partners to work with and it will involve parents either driving or hosting children in their home. Some students may want to do some research at home; that is o.k. too, even advisable. Students have been encouraged to bring various things from home to use in constructing their project (cardboard, toilet tissue rolls, salt dough, etc.) We look forward to chatting with everyone about the progress of the children during parent teacher interviews next week. Our schedule is quite a tight one, so if there are things you particularly want to talk about, come prepared with your questions. If, for some reason, you aren’t able to make the interview time assigned to your family, please call the school or send me an e-mail to let us know.

Grade 6A

Memory Work: Ps.106:1 (Dec.9) Ps.106:3 (Dec.11)   Ex.20:8-17 (Dec.17)

The students enjoyed their skating session this week. Thanks to Mr.Joosse for playing hockey with us. In math we had fun playing the prime and composite game. The students are encouraged to properly prepare for tests as the last Bible quiz had a 69% class average. The material is sent home 2 nights before the test and reviewed in class, so more effort is required. At the beginning of the week the students were given 2 grapes. One of them was cut and they squeezed rotten grape juice into a slit hole of the other. They have been looking at their grapes each day to compare and record the differences. This they will compare to a cut in their skin. I look forward to discussing your child’s progress in the interviews next week.

Devotions: T-Meah W-Lydia Th-Amy F-Quinton

Bible Quiz-Dec.10   Pizza lunch-Dec.10

Grade 6B

Memory Work: Hymn 29:3 (Dec 11), Exodus 20: 1-7 (Dec 10)

In Bible this week we looked at how God kept His promises to Jacob and how Jacobs name was changed to Israel. In Math we have been working with prime and composite numbers. We have started our new Science unit looking at the immune and nervous systems and are amazed at how God has created our bodies. In Art we have been making some Christmas decorations for the classroom to get ready for the holiday season. On Wednesday we could spend some time skating, it was a fun afternoon and thankfully there were no injuries! Thank you to all the parents that came with to help out! Report cards went home today, please remember to take the time to sit down and go over them with your child. Have a lovely weekend! MDB

Bible Unit Test: Wednesday December 9

Literature Quiz: Friday December 11

Devotions: M. Gabriel, T. Norah, W. Marissa, T. David, F. Jordan

Grade 7A

Next week we’ll learn how the people of Israel want to be just like all the other nations with their request for a king, and we’ll see the man the LORD gives them. In Math we’ll carry on with integers as we multiply and divide them and solve them in expressions. As we study natural disasters in Geography, we’re hearing the approaching footsteps of our Saviour. Please take the opportunity to discuss with your child God’s purpose in allowing natural disasters, it’ll make for an interesting conversation. When reviewing your child’s report card, be sure to discuss with them how they think things are going in Grade 7A; enjoy your weekend.

Grade 7B

Memory Work – Psalm 40:2

Another great week has gone by in the classroom. We have continued to study the life of King Saul, a king after the people’s heart, as his kingship is coming to an end. In the meantime, the kingship of David and his line is beginning to take shape. It is fitting to be studying this as we approach the celebration of Christmas. In L.A. we are nearing the end of our unit on short stories. In January we hope to begin our unit on poetry and public speaking. KB

Devotions week of December 7 – David

Devotions week of December 14 – Rachel

Wednesday – skating

Wednesday – Vocabulary quiz

Grade 8

Memory Work – Hymn 40:1, 3; Rom: 3:21-26

This week in Gr. 8 we dived further into the adventures of Tom Sawyer and his friends in our novel study. Next week we hope to begin our ceiling tile project, something that is certainly a highlight before Christmas! Cheers, Mr. J

Here are some things for next week:

Thursday – Spelling Quiz

Friday – Vocab Quiz

Devo: CL