General News

Greetings from the school everyone as we bring to a close Term 1, and wrap up a short but very cold week of learning and teaching at JCS.  It’s been awhile since we have had temperatures (with wind chill) that low on the Centigrade scale.  We thank the Lord for the many gifts and blessings He has provided during the course of term one.  We pray that He will continue to provide for the needs of the staff, students, and parents during the second term.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Mrs. Brandy Stieva, one of our bus drivers, who has been hospitalized for a couple of weeks because of a brain bleed.  We pray that the doctors may be able to determine the cause and provide a remedy so she can return to her family and in due time resume her bus driving duties.  In speaking with one of her boys (Mason, Grade 2) this morning, he said that she was feeling a bit better but her condition is still very serious. May the Lord continue to be with Mrs. deVisser as decisions need to be made whether or not she will need/benefit from chemotherapy treatment.  May He also be near to Mrs. vanBrederode as she recovers from a bout of pneumonia, and Mrs. Boersema who has been sick all week battling influenza.  We are thankful for supply teachers and supply TAs who can fill in at a moment’s notice.

Term one report cards have gone home today with your child(ren).  The report consists of three pages; two pages with grades and teacher’s comments, and one page for parent and student comments.  We would like students and parents to complete the third page and return the entire page to school (please do not cut it in half as it suggests) on Monday or Tuesday of next week so that the comments made can be used as discussion points at the Parent-Teacher conferences.  Thank you in advance for your participation in this aspect of reporting and communication between school and home.

The interview schedule for the Parent-Teacher conferences will be emailed to you directly.  Please check your day and time and we hope to see you next Tuesday or Thursday so that we can discuss with you the progress of your child(ren) academically and/or behaviourally to the end of the first term.  Special Education interviews will take place in Miss VanderZwaag’s classroom on the afternoons of Tuesday, February 5 and Thursday, February 7 from 1:00-4:00 p.m..

A few items for your attention:

*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.  All the best next week Tuesday!  Parents and grandparents are welcome to be part of the audience for this event.

*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 same evening, at 7:30 p.m., the 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 needs support, enrichment, and student leadership development.

*Today, after school, the JCS hockey team is playing an exhibition game against Beacon Christian School as a final “tune-up” before their tournaments.  The NACE tournament is scheduled for Thursday, February 7 at Gateway Arena in Stoney Creek, and the Guido De Bres invitational tournament is scheduled for Tuesday, February 12 at the Mohawk Quad Pad in Hamilton.  The schedule for the NACE tournament is as follows:

8:50-9:30               John Calvin vs Heritage, Jordan

10:30-11:10          John Calvin vs Calvin Christian, Hamilton

11:20-12:00          John Calvin vs John Knox, Stoney Creek

If the team makes it to the play-off round, the semi-finals are from 1:20-2:00, and the final is from 2:20-3:00.  We wish the players and their coaches a good day of fun, sportsmanship, and competition at the tournament.

*The plan is to start basketball tryouts followed by practices for a boys’ team, girls’ team, and co-ed team on Monday, February 11.  We are in need of at least one parent coach for either the girls’ team or the co-ed team.  If anyone in our community is interested, please give the school a call or email.  Thanks.

Reminders:

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

*The Ladies Auxiliary is planning a Soup Day for next week 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.

*News and Views materials are due on Monday, February 11 and the magazine is scheduled for distribution on Sunday, February 17.

*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 beginning on Monday, February 11), designing a colourful page of a favourite book (Grades K-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.

*The “Toonies for Anchor” campaign to raise awareness for the need of the Anchor Association and to learn more about our Anchor Homes, is scheduled for the week of Feb.  25-March 1.

Have an enjoyable weekend (it looks a little warmer) and a blessed Sunday.  We hope to touch base again next week Friday.                G. Hofsink

Classroom News

Kindergarten

Last week we had a lot of fun dressing up for black and white day! A big thank you to the parent volunteers who brought in a yummy snack for the whole class. Although it was a cold couple of days we made the best of the indoor recess’s by bringing the snow inside! In math class we learned about 2D and 3D shapes, we will continue to study this next week as well. In social studies we are wrapping up our unit on winter and hibernation. This week we will begin to learn about community helpers. During Bible class, we hope to start going through the book of Joshua and will focus of God’s faithfulness towards His people. Wishing you all a blessed week! NR & JB

Letter of the week: Ff

Words of the week: on, purple, seven, eight

Memory work: Hymn 8 & Psalm 136:1 (text)

Grade 1

A cold and short week finished in grade 1. We were busy in this short week. We completed our unit in Math on place value. We also finished our unit on Transportation in Science. These tests will be going home with your child shortly. We will be learning the same spelling words and memory work for one more week. Please keep practicing the agenda words at home with your child. In Bible we have started our unit on God caring for His chosen people with judges. This week we were missing both Mrs.VanBrederode and Mrs. Boersema as they are both sick  and in need of our prayers. Thank you to those who were able to come in to help in their place. Enjoy your weekend and have a blessed Sunday.

Memory work:  Hymn 11:1 (Feb 8); Text: Matthew 7:12   (Feb 8)

Spelling words:  two, ask, go, more, see (February 8)

Grade 2

What a cold week we have had! The students largely stayed indoors at recess times and enjoyed playing the games on our shelves. In the midst of all these cold temperatures,  we began studying a culture in a warm climate. The students were fascinated by the Google Earth traveling we did! We even visited several homes here in Southern Ontario and took a peek. Next week we will look at the land, pants, and animals of Zimbabwe.  In writing class, we are continuing with our summary of the The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Have a blessed weekend! BV/RG

Memory work: See agendas

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

Thursday: Bible test

Grade 3

Salutations! Grade three has had a short but sweet week! Just remember to wear your snow pants when you are outside! In our Bible classes we ended with a test on Friday. Please check your child’s agenda for the results. We will turn to Church History next week. Math continues to keep us dividing and multiplying! Grade three sure knows their facts so far! Who is Barbara Reid? Ask us all about her artwork! The report cards went home today. Please return the envelope and assessment sheet on Monday. May the LORD continue to bless our efforts of teaching the next generation the wonderful deeds of God. May we continue to grow in our love for God and our neighbours. That’s it for now! Have a blessed weekend! J.B./M.P.

Words: about, especially, except, friendly, knew, new, know, no, myself, really, probably, then usually, what

Hymn 11:2,3; Text:  Psalm 23:4-6

Gym clothes on Monday and Thursday.

Library books on Tuesday.

Dictation on Friday; Mission $ on Friday

Grade 4

Hello everyone after this short week. Hopefully you all had some time to refresh and relax. Please continue to review the multiplication tables with your children. 4A should know up to the 4 times tables and 4B should know up to the 6 times tables. Here’s a look at next week:

Wednesday: Canada Quiz, Practice 3. The province and territory names will not be listed.

Friday: Spelling Test: buttons, roses,mothers, houses, people, tanks, bushes, cherries, colours, steps, wishes, brothers, ponies, star (Grade 4B: amuse, weary, baffled, marionette)

Friday: Psalm 107: 1, Text: Psalm 121:1-4 (Next memory work: Ps. 67:1)

Friday: Grade 4B: Social Studies quiz about water systems (Lesson 5)

Grade 5

The three short days this week flew by! We are still working our way through Ancient Egypt in Social Studies, and we have started building our pyramids. We’ve started bucket drumming in music, and we were even able to play a song in our first class! Have a wonderful weekend, and we hope to see you at Parent/Teacher Interviews next week! RK/KV

Memory Work: Ps. 119:4; Text (Feb. 15): Psalm 103:1-5

Devotions: 5A – M. Rebekah, Tu. Lani, W. Rylee, Th. Kiera, F. Madison

5B – M. Gabrielle, Tu. Mya, W. Isaac, Th. Kelty, F. Morgan

Grade 6

Hello from Grade 6. It has been quite a while since I’ve been in charge of writing the chronicle. This past week has seen some very cold days and it has reminded us how truly blessed we are to have such a warm, inviting and well equipped school. Grade 6 is busy at work in so many things. We are learning about what happened in our church’s history during the Middle Ages and what other religion arose during this time. We have wrapped up our learning about the immune and nervous systems and are hard at work completing our disease projects. In Math we have begun our unit in fractions and it is good to note that there does seem to be quite a bit of recall as to what was taught about this last year. Reports cards are coming home today. Please take the time to go over these with your child and see how they are progressing this year. For those if you with a child in Grade 6B, due to Mrs deVisser’s leave of absence, there are no scheduled interviews. If you wish to talk to me (Mrs Oosterhoff) in regards to your child’s progress fell free to contact me and we can set up an alternate time for this. You get reach me by text or phone at 289-213-8716 or email at simoneoost@live.com. Have a restful and blessed weekend. CV/ SO

Grade 7A

As we move through our study of the Reformation in the Swiss Confederation, we’ll see why the Anabaptists disagreed with the Reformers and the rising conflict between reformed and R.C.C. cantons. We’ll wrap up integers in Math and move onto equations and inequalities. Our focus in Art will be gesture drawings as we work with art media and techniques. Before we move onto basketball we’ll finish up our badminton unit with some game play. Enjoy your weekend.

Grade 7B

After a chilly shortened week in Grade 7B, we look forward to warmer temperatures and a full busy week. In Church History, we look at how the LORD works in Ulrich Zwingli to bring the people back to God’s word. In Math, we are coming to the end of our integer unit and should be having a test toward the end of the week. In History, we will be starting our unit on the War of 1812, which will also be the start of quite a large project! Devotions – Keira DB. Have a great weekend!

Grade 8A

Did you know that at one point this past week it was colder in Chicago than it was in Antarctic!?! Indeed it was a frigid week here at JCS, but thankfully it was a short one and if we are to believe the forecast it might be above zero within a few short days. Relief is on the way. On Friday teachers were able to send home the Semester 1 reports which means that next week will also be a busy one with  Parent Teacher Interviews taking place. Please take the time to go over them together with your student. Have a great weekend. Cheers, Mr. J.

Grade 8B

Students have written several tests this week. Please ask to see the results. They should be returned by Friday or the beginning of the week. We have begun a new unit in our Bible Studies whose focus is the time leading up to the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Report Cards will have been sent home this week and the plan is that we will have spoken to each of the students about their progress thus far. Students will have asked to develop some specific goals for their learning next term.  There is a form specifically for that purpose included with the report card. Be sure to have a look at it and discuss it with your child.. Students should be prepared to write a math test on Tuesday.

Devotions:  Leah, Avery, Natasha, Denver, Aidan

Memory Work:  Psalm 89:1