General News

Hello again school community as we bring to a close another week of instruction at John Calvin School. We thank God for once again providing for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the staff and students as they went about their daily work in the school and at home.  May our Heavenly Father continue to be gracious to us and bless us as we strive to serve Him in all we do.

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be Mrs. deVisser as she continues to heal from her surgery and as she patiently waits to hear from the doctor whether or not she will need chemotherapy treatment.  We thank and praise the Lord with her that she will not need radiation treatment.  What a blessing!

Monday, January 28th and Tuesday, January 29th are PD Days for the staff. Monday is a report card writing and reading day, and Tuesday is a staff meeting and curriculum work day. The students (and parents) may enjoy an extra long weekend.

A few items for your attention:

*Bullying Awareness: In our broken and fallen world, bullying continues to happen.  That’s why it is good to be reminded from time to time about how we are to treat one another as Christian brothers and sisters whether it’s on social media, on the bus, on the playground, or in the school. We are all created in God’s image and we need to remember that when we interact with our neighbour, i.e. our classmates and schoolmates.

*The staff participated in an excellent conference last week Friday. It was good to hear again the confirmation of the relationship between school, home, and church in instructing His covenant (baptized) children about His Word and His world.

*As a result of the preliminary round of the Great Canadian Geography Challenge, the following students will be participating in the championship round:  Jewel Bouwman, Natasha Dam, Arie DeVries, Eli DeVries, Carter Evers, Elijah Jonker, Kierra Ravensbergen, Myles Schuller, Timera Tenhage, Zach Tenhage, Levi VandenOever, and Jeremy Wanders.  Congratulations and all the best on Tuesday, February 5!

*On Monday, January 28, Guido de Bres Christian high school will be hosting a parent information evening for parents with children in Grades 6-8.  This meeting is especially helpful for parents whose oldest child will be entering Grade 9.  They will be explaining what the school has to offer in terms of academic programs, student services, special need support, enrichment, and student leadership development.

*Hockey practices/exhibition games continue for the John Calvin School hockey team as they get ready to participate in the NACE tournament, scheduled for Thursday, February 7 at Gateway Arena in Stoney Creek, and the Guido De Bres invitational tournament scheduled for Tuesday, February 12 at the Mohawk Quad Pad in Hamilton.  Today, after school, the team has an exhibition game against Covenant Christian School, Smithville.  This will be helpful as the team gets ready for the tournament.

*On Monday, February 4 the Grade 8 students are planning to travel to Guido de Bres Christian High School to participate in Grade 8 Day.  The students will make their way through a very brief version of the courses they will be taking in September.  This is something that the grade eight students always look forward to.

*The plan is to have basketball tryouts and begin practices for a boys’ team, girls’ team, and co-ed team in early February.

Reminders:

*Please continue to collect tabs for cans for Jude VanVeen so he and his family can get a wheelchair for his sister Anna.

*End of term report cards are scheduled to come home on Friday, February 1st with Parent-Teacher conferences for all parents to follow on Tuesday, February 5 and Thursday, February 7.

*The Ladies Auxiliary is planning a Soup Day for Friday, February 8.  We are looking forward to a hot bowl of soup on a cold, winter day.  Students are reminded to bring a bowl/mug and spoon that day.  Drinks will not be provided.  Thank you very much Ladies Auxiliary for this treat at this time of year.

*Heritage/Flag Day is on Thursday, February 14.  An afternoon assembly is planned where we hope to commemorate this special day in our country.

*For extra long weekend planning:  the annual February CARE Day, to be held at Cornerstone Christian School in Guelph, is scheduled for Friday, February 15 (this is a day off for students), and Monday, February 18 is Family Day.

*Book Week is planned for the week of February 18-22. The theme for the special week is Family. Some of the activities planned for the week include:  book reading contest (a two week event), designing a colourful page of a favourite book (Grades 1-4), Book Trivia Contest (Grades 5-8), D.E.A.R.(Drop Everything And Read), buddy reading, Guess the Book or Author contest, book character day, parents or grandparents reading to the class, writing a class/grade story.

Have a good weekend everyone and God bless. We’ll communicate again via the Chronicle in a week’s time, the Lord willing.                                                 G. Hofsink

Classroom News

Kindergarten

Last week was a lot of fun! We had Teddy Bear day on Monday and Tuesday.  We were able to wear our pajamas and learn more about hibernation. Next week we hope to finish up our Social Studies unit on Winter and begin learning about Community Helpers.  We wrapped up our math unit on numbers 1-10. This week we started our chapter on solid shapes. In Bible class we learned about God’s faithfulness and saving hand towards the Israelites. They crossed the Red Sea and were in the wilderness. Before long, God’s people started to grumble and complain. This week we will learn about how the Israelites grew impatient waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain and built a golden calf.  Memory work is due this Thursday and Friday. We wish you a lovely week in Gods service! Enjoy your time off with your children on Monday and Tuesday! NR & JB

Letter of the Week: Uu

Words of the Week: purple, seven, me

Memory work: Hymn 5:1 & 4, Genesis 9:16

Grade 1

On Tuesday, we enjoyed some extra time on Mount Calvin sledding as a whole Grade 1 class. In Math we are finishing up our unit on place value. We are also finishing up our unit on Transportation in Science. There will be a Math and Science test on Thursday, January 31. Today we wrote our test in Church History and you can expect these home with your child in the next week. We will switch back to Bible History in the coming week and we will see how God uses judges to care for His people.  Please remember to return library books as we have library on our first day back.  If you are able to send along a box of tissues and any extra plastic bags to school, it would be greatly appreciated. Enjoy your extra long weekend and have a blessed Sunday.

Memory Work for Friday, February 8 – Hymn 11:1;  Matt. 7:12

Spelling Words: ask, go, more, see, two

Grade 2

This week we completed our unit in Nunavut. The tests were well done! We are enjoying watching Arctic Tale to wrap up this unit.  Next week we will begin studying a culture in a warm climate in Zimbabwe. In math we’ve been working on learning to tell time.  Ask your child to tell you the time! The students are very excited for a long weekend.  Enjoy it! BV/RG

Memory work: please check the agenda,  since both classes are working on a different song

Spelling: can’t, eating, kicked, could, laugh

Grade 3

Temperatures plummeted; it was cold. How do we measure this? In Science we are talking about heat and temperature. How amazing God works. He is in control of the weather and all the small particles that move. The children have worked hard on mastering the 3 times table and certificates were handed out. Great job boys and girls! Continue to practise these facts on a daily basis as times table facts will be used for the rest of their lives. In Bible we are nearing the end of Joseph and how the Lord used him to save his people. A test is scheduled for next week Friday. Have a blessed extra long weekend and Sunday.

Memory work: Ps. 95:1;  Text: Ps. 23:4-6

Spelling words: probably, then, usually

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

Grade 4

This week is a short one (just Wednesday to Friday). We hope and pray this may be a restful, productive time for parents, teachers and students. We are continuing with our studies of fractions and multiplication tables in Math. Count on some study time reviewing the various times tables at home. Memory work is from Psalm 132: 1, 10 (Feb. 1) and Psalm 121: 1 – 4 (Feb. 8).

Wednesday: 4 A and B: Canada Map quiz (including capitals)

Friday: Spelling Test Unit 19 — goose, flew, songs, saved, shoot, grew, bush, chirp, cuckoo, robins, knew, caught, places, nest (4B drenched, absorb, legend, glitter)

Grade 5

We have wrapped up Unit 3 in Bible and hope to continue our study of Jesus’ earthly ministry in Unit 4 when we return to school on Wednesday.  Memory work for the week is Acts 2:36-39 and Psalm 117. Devotions for this week are as follows: 5A: W. Hannah, Th. Jude, F. William. 5B: W. Tabitha, Th. Nate, F. Theo.

Enjoy the extended weekend! RK/KVL

Grade 6

The students enjoyed the activities in the snow this week. We were thankful for travelling mercies once again. In math we could complete a construction challenge using popsicle sticks and masking tape to construct a bridge that could hold textbooks. Next week we will start a unit on fractions. Many facts were discovered about our brain. Ask the students about which ones they learned. We are thankful for the bodies that God has given us and were reminded about how we can look after them. Have a blessed long weekend. SO/CVA

Grade 7A

We’re positively enjoying our unit in Math dealing with integers and we’ll work with multiplication and division equations next week. We’ll learn how the Reformation transforms the city of Zurich and how the Anabaptists will respond to the teachings on Zwingli and Bullinger. In P.E. we’ll cause a racquet as we move on to badminton game play. In Art we’ll work on our drawing skills and apply them to gesture drawing. Enjoy your weekend.

Grade 7B

In Church History, we have started our unit on Ulrich Zwingli and we will see next week how the LORD prepares Zwingli to begin the reformation in the Swiss Confederation. In LA, we have written a story about going to the past or the future, and have now moved on the editing/revising stage. In Phys. Ed., we are studying the technical game of Badminton and will be moving on to gameplay in the coming weeks. In History, we have come to the end of Simcoe/Talbot chapter and will be moving into the War of 1812. Devotions – Mr. Breukelman. Have a great extended weekend!

Grade 8A

As we conclude another week of instruction in 8A there are a lot of different things on the go. Chess team tryouts continue during lunch while at recess students are participating in basketball intramurals. Teachers have been busy finalizing semester 1 marks and so a lot of discussions have been taking place regarding student achievement and success. We look forward to meeting with all of you in the coming weeks. In Math this week we wrapped up Unit 4 and after the long weekend hope to begin Unit 5. In History we spent time discussing the structure of the three levels of Canadian government. We officially began our poetry unit and are digging into the different forms and structures of different kinds of poetry. Students are encouraged to keep geography and vocabulary in mind while they enjoy their long weekend. Have a blessed one. Cheers, Mr. J

Grade 8B

We have come to the end of our Bible unit about the middle of Christ’s ministry. We hope to write a test on Wednesday.  Students will have worked on a sample test as a review this Friday morning. The next unit will deal with the end of Jesus’ ministry and the events leading to his death. Students have written and in some cases rewritten their History tests and they have been returned. We have also completed another chapter in our geography book and will be tested on Thursday. Finally, in connection with our novel study on the book Shattered, the students are making presentations about the various themes that we discovered in that book. We also hope to ask a guest speaker to tell us about her experiences with respect to the Rwandan conflict in 1994.

Memory work:  Psalm 85:4, I Corinthians 13: 8-13