General News

Celebrate1517: Solus Christus

During the months of November and December, we are focusing our attention on the second pillar of the Reformation: In Christ Alone.

Martin Luther had a deep sense of his own sinfulness. For years he was so tormented by his depravity that he came to hate God for his own painful inability to live up to God’s standards. Though perhaps few now have the same deep sense of depravity that tortured Martin Luther, we are all aware of our shortcomings. Deep in our hearts, we know we miss the mark. We are sinners.

Our behavior seldom reveals our private reality. We know the rules, and we can usually play by them. But we have a secret awareness of the depth of our sinfulness. Only we know how hard it is to love our neighbor as ourselves and to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. There’s just no way to put a happy face on our moral condition. As Paul says so concisely and accurately, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) What are we to do?

At perhaps the lowest point in his spiritual life, Luther came to a realization that shook him to this core; we can do nothing to save ourselves. Only in Christ is there freedom. Only in Jesus Christ are we made right with God. Thanks be to God that being aware of our helplessness delivers us straight to Christ. (adapted from a devotional that I recently read)

Greetings readers as we wrap-up another week of learning and teaching at John Calvin School. We thank the Lord for His blessing and guidance on our work throughout this past week. It was good to get together as teachers and parents on Tuesday and Thursday evenings to discuss the progress of the students at the mid-point 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 the first half of term one and we pray that He will continue to provide for the needs of the students, staff, and parents for the remainder of the term.

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 open at 9:00 a.m. We are looking forward to an enjoyable day. The weather looks a bit iffy for Saturday. The forecast is for some rain and a high of 10º C. Once again we thank everyone involved in Winterfest for making the event happen.

Reminder: The Fall Membership Meeting is scheduled for next week Wednesday, November 22. The membership packages will be placed in your church mail boxes on Sunday. We hope to see you all next week.

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 Miss Samantha Oosterhof, Miss Victoria VanRaalte, and Miss Naomi Tigchelaar. We trust that their practice teaching sessions at John Calvin School were a positive and beneficial experience. We wish the girls all the best and the Lord’s blessing as they return to the CCRTC for regular instruction and preparation for exams.

*Volleyball practices continue after school every Monday and Thursday for the next couple of weeks leading up to the tournament which is hosted by Guido De Bres Christian high school on Thursday, November 30. JCS is planning to host an exhibition tournament involving our school and Bellstone Christian School next week Thursday beginning at 2:45.

*The first skating session at the Smithville arena is scheduled for Wednesday, November 22. Grade 4 will skate from 12:15-1:15, and Grades KB and 1A will skate from 1:15-2:15. In the interest of safety and concussion prevention, students in Grades K-3 must wear helmets when on the ice. They can be either hockey helmets or bicycle helmets. Students in Grades 4-8 are encouraged to wear them. Those playing hockey must wear them.

My apologies to those who showed up at the arena this past Wednesday. I incorrectly wrote the 15^th in the November 3^rd Chronicle.

*Today Grade 6A could visit the residents at Shalom Manor. It was good for the children to be able to participate in this act of service for the seniors in our community.

Reminders:

*Next week Friday, November 24 is a PD Day for both John Calvin School and Guido. Students can enjoy a long weekend while the teachers of JCS will be primarily busy with professional development coming out of the workshops they attended at the CRTA Convention.

*Grade 5B is scheduled to visit Kilean Lodge on Thursday, November 23

*Grade 5A is scheduled to visit Anchor Home on Wednesday, November 29.

*Grades 5 and KA and 1B are scheduled to go skating on Wednesday, November 29.

Have a wonderful Winterfest Saturday and a blessed day of rest and worship on Sunday. We’ll be in touch in about a week’s time.

G.Hofsink

Classroom News

Kindergarten

Thanks so much for all the dinky cars! We are thrilled to have enough to share with our friends. Next week we look forward to visiting the Fire Station on Monday/Tuesday morning. Then on Wednesday, KB will be going skating in the afternoon from 1:15 to 2:15. Any parents/grandparents who can help us skate, or help tie skates, are more than welcome! Just come on over to the Smithville arena before 1:15. All K students MUST wear helmets on the ice. Hockey helmets are great; bike helmets also work. Skating aids are also welcome. KA will be skating the week after (Nov. 29). Friday is a PD Day. In our Bible stories next week, we will finish learning about Joseph in Egypt, and we will see how God’s plan unfolded for Jacob’s family. In Math, we continue to study the numbers 0-5. Our Letter of the week will be Rr, our sight word “is”, and our colour word is “black”. Our memory work DUE next week is Psalm 93:1 as well as our text, Gen. 8:22. Please practise them at home, especially KB whose is due Wednesday already. NR & FVI

Grade 1

It was good to meet with many parents at the interviews this week. Thank you for all your support and encouraging words. May the Lord continue to bless all of us as we teach His covenant children. Please continue to review the Spelling and agenda words on a daily basis. It should take only about 15 minutes per day. We will be finished our Bible unit on Monday with a test to follow on Tuesday. Students should have their notes in their school bags on Monday. On Wednesday, Grade 1A will be going skating! Please send along a helmet, mitts, snow/splash pants and skates. Parents/grandparents are welcome to join us at the arena. We hope to be there by 1pm. The students are very excited about the Winterfest. We hope to see many of you there. Have a great weekend and a blessed Sunday.

Memory Work for Thursday, November 23: Hymn 66:1; 1 Samuel 16: 7b

Spelling Words: all, but, not, were, what

Grade 2

It was very nice to speak with most of you at the interviews this past week. It is always good to meet and discuss the students’ progress. We have been reading some really fun stories this week in Language Arts. It was fun to imagine a boy who was repeatedly followed home by hippopotami! We are looking forward to Winterfest; thanks Mr. Hofsink for giving us the daily countdown! 🙂 We hope to see you there! RG & JA

Spelling: one, won, thing, who, how

Memory Work: Hymn 1

Grade 3

We say farewell to Miss V. VanRaalte after 3 weeks being with Grade 3A. Thank you for teaching and learning with us. We continue to pray for you as you take up your task at the college again. We continue to look at the Bible stories about Abraham and the covenant God made with him, and us. Amazing that we may see that God has kept His promise about a great nation as well as kings coming from his line. In Science we continue to stand in awe of our circulatory system. God has indeed created us fearfully and wonderfully. We could do a quiz reviewing what we know. Continue to practise spelling words and times table facts on a daily basis with your child. Thank you so much for helping in this regard. Thank you also for coming out and meeting with us at Parent-Teacher interviews. We continue to pray that God will grant you all you need to you raise your children in the fear of His Name, and in the assistance in learning that we may provide. Have a blessed weekend. MP/JB

Memory work: Ps. 39:1   Text: Gen 49:10 (two weeks)

Spelling words: first, hopeless, journal, let’s, recycle

Library on Tuesday, PE on Monday and Thursday, Mission $ on Friday

Grade 4

Grade 4B (Mrs. Lemstra) Bible Test on Lesson 11-21 Wednesday November 22. This is a test with a lot of concepts and names so the students need to study. Math we are starting a unit on Geometry. Skating is on Wednesday, November 22. Spelling Words: garbage, became, jail, beside, orange, plane, job, broken, change, drove, jungle, where, cage, across Due Nov. 23

Memory Work: Ps. 60:1 (Nov. 23) Isaiah 9:6-7 (Nov. 23) Ps. 5:1 (Dec. 1)

Grade 5

Winterfest! This week the school has been abuzz with talk of Winterfest. There is so much excitement as all of us, teachers and students alike, anticipate spending all or at least part of our day at school for a very different reason than usual. Already a big thank you to all the organizers and volunteers! We are sure it will be a rousing success again this year. Much has been going on in Grade 5 this past week. We have wrapped up our novel study on Call it Courage. We thoroughly enjoyed reading about Mafatu and his adventures but now we are turning our attention back to our World of Literature stories and the theme this time around is North American Voices. We are almost finished the third and last stage of our Rome unit. The Punic Wars and Hannibal’s escapades are thrilling stories to learn and our Punic War booklets should be done by the end of the week. It was good to see all you parents and have a chance to chat about your child and their progress so far this year. It was fun to celebrate Miss Vanderlaan’s birthday with both classes, even though we did have some “minor technical difficulties” which made our movie last over two days. Have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Sunday. SO/KL

Thursday: Grade 5B goes to Kilean Lodge

Memory Work: Psalm 59:1; Text: mark 12;29-31

Devotions: 5A– M.Abilgale, Tu. Eli, W. Erin, Th. Noah

5B — M.Kara, Tu. Jonas, W. Ethan, Th. Davis

Grade 6

It was good to meet with so many parents this week. May our discussions be beneficial to the education of God’s covenant children whose care we have been entrusted with. We enjoyed listening to the amazing account of Mrs. Vandenhoeven’s grandfather last week. This made a clear impression on us as to the suffering of many in the past so that we can leave in freedom. The students of 6A visited Shalom today. They have interviewed several residents so that they will be able to write an account of their experiences during the war and immigrating to Canada. Have a blessed weekend.

Grade 7A

Our engineering project continues in Science as we use Google Drawings to design our popsicle stick bridges. Next week we’ll apply what we learned in our “Structural Strength and Stability” unit to our design and begin the construction. We’re quickly working our way through our History unit on everyday life in New France. At the end of the unit students will have their choice of unit ending projects; interview/model/publication. In connection with our independent study, we’ve learned what makes someone an expert or a professional. Students will need to know the difference as they get ready to interview someone who is an expert/professional on their topic. What a blessing the interviews were this past week; our students hear the same message on the same foundation at home and school. Enjoy your weekend.

Grade 7B

Another week has come and gone in Grade 7B! We continue to look at God’s Providence in our Martin Luther unit in Church History. We have also started evaluating our speeches that we have produced over the last couple weeks in our Public Speaking Unit. We will be beginning a new History Project next week on our chapter of Everyday life in New France. Devotions – Angelina S. Have a great weekend and enjoy the Winterfest!

Grade 8A

The hustle and bustle of P&T Interviews and Winterfest set-up are behind us. The students worked hard this week and continued to focus in on their willingness to mature. Next week we see a Bible test on Tuesday, a Geography quest on Thursday and a Political Cartoon assignment due that same day. Enjoy the weekend everyone and have a Blessed day of rest also! Cheers, Mr. J