General News
Greetings everyone and Happy New Year! Hopefully you had an enjoyable Christmas Break whether you spent it at home or on vacation. May our Heavenly Father guide and bless the students, staff, parents, board, and committees throughout the Year of our Lord, 2020. We do not know what the new year will bring but as long as put our hope and trust in Him, we can move forward with whatever He puts on our path.
Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with those who need the Lord in a special way, whether they are grieving, dealing with serious illness, or coping with difficult family situations.
The New Year assembly was led by Miss Hoeksema and Mrs. Tesfaye. The focus text for the assembly was Psalm 27:11a, (Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path…”
As we begin a new calendar year, we do not begin it on our own or in our own strength. We continue to rely on God and pray to Him to teach us, guide us and lead us in the way we are to go. Throughout 2020, we need to continue to do all things to the glory of God.
The Grade 4 teachers also spoke to us about Anno Domini (A.D.) the Year of our Lord. Secular society does not want to use the acronym A.D., they choose to use C.E. (Common Era) because they do not want to recognize the Lord Jesus Christ, they want to leave Him out. As followers of Christ, however, we continue to use Anno Domini because our hope and trust is in Him. Even though we and society don’t know, God knows what is going to happen this year; it is a great comfort to Christians knowing that God has promised He will take care of us. Perhaps Jesus will come back, we can only hope and pray.
We concluded the assembly with the singing of Hear O Lord and Answer (lyrics below) based on Psalm 86. It also connects to our theme text for 2019-2020, “…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31b)
1. Hear, O Lord, and answer, I am poor and needy,
Guard my life for I am devoted to You.
Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my cry for mercy,
In the day of my trouble I will call to You.
2 Teach me, O Lord, I will walk in Your truth,
Give me an undivided heart.
Nations You’ve made will worship You
For You alone are the living God.
3. I will praise You, I will praise You,
Glorify Your name, O Lord,
I will praise You, I will praise You,
Glorify Your name, O Lord.
We congratulate Anthony and Stephanie Ouwersloot with the birth of their son, Wyatt James. He is the brother to Tyler (Grade 1A). All is well with mother and baby, and the rest of the family too. (“Our children all are gifts of God, our sons and daughters his reward—each one a blessing from the Lord, as heritage on us bestowed. Psalm 127:3, Book of Praise). May our Heavenly Father provide the Ouwersloots with all they need as they continue to raise their children in the fear of His Name.
A few items for your attention:
*The students in Grades 7&8 are participating in the bi-annual Public Speaking and Poetry Recitation contest. Parent/Grandparent volunteers are needed to judge the classroom finals on Thursday, February 6 and the school final on Tuesday, February 11. Please contact Mr. M. Joosse at mike.joosse@johncalvinschool.com if you would like to be involved in serving as a judge for either or both of these events. Thank you in advance for your consideration and/or participation. John Calvin School is also hosting the Regional competition on Tuesday, February 18 after the school originally scheduled to host was unable to do so.
*On Monday, January 20, Mr. R. VanAndel, a vice-principal at Guido De Bres Christian high school will be speaking to the grade eight students about grade nine course selection and life at Guido. The students will need to fill in a course selection sheet as part of their grade nine registration.
*On Monday, February 3, 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.
*Request: We are in need of a member of our school community to help out with coaching one of the basketball teams. He or she would be coaching either the girls’ team or the coed team. If you are interested, please give the school a call or an email.
*Hockey practices/exhibition games continue for the JCS hockey team as they get ready to participate in two tournaments in February (the Cairn Christian Schools tournament and the Guido De Bres Invitational). The team has a practice this afternoon from 3:00-4:00 at the Smithville arena.
*Lost and Found: All remaining unclaimed items have been taken to Value Village.
Reminders:.
*January 27th and 28th are PD Days for the staff. The students (and their parents) may enjoy an extra long weekend.
*End of term report cards are scheduled to come home on Friday, January 31st with Parent-Teacher conferences for all parents to follow on Tuesday, February 4 and Thursday, February 6.
Have a good weekend everyone, and a blessed Sunday. We’ll touch base again next week Friday, Lord willing. G. Hofsink
Classroom News
Kindergarten
Welcome back to the kindergarten students! They have adjusted very well to the routines of the classroom! In Bible we are continuing our stories about Moses and the Israelites. This week we learned how powerful our God is and how He controls all aspects of our lives. In math we were introduced to the teen numbers. Please practice these numbers with your child at home! Next week the at home reading program will begin. Students will pick one book for the entire week and they are encouraged to read that book every day! I am looking forward to reading the students week. Have a great week! JB/NV
Grade 1
We have had a good first week in 2020! We are enjoying listening to the stories about a little girl named Maria in Church History. We also visited the Smithville church building this morning. Thank you Rev. Swaving, for leading the tour of the church and explaining many things to us. Next week, we will learn how Christ cares for His church through the minister, elders, and deacons. Ask your child about all the things they have learned this week. We will wrap up our unit in Math with a test on Thursday. We are having a lot of fun with our Mapping unit and enjoying all the activities involved. We are working with the long vowels in Phonics. Ask your child which letters make the long “a” sound.
Memory Work for Friday, Jan. Psalm 12:4; Ruth 1:16,17a
Spelling Words: has, him, into, look, time
Grade 2
Welcome back! After our two weeks of holidays Grade 2 is happy to be back at school! This week, the students added all the remaining addition math facts to their take home bags. We’re hoping to practise, practise, practise! Soon we will begin testing the students on their speed and accuracy. In Social Studies, we have come to the end of the section in the unit in which we learned about life in a cold community. Next week, we will review and wrap up with a test on Thursday. We also completed our first Church History unit this past week. Our focus has returned to studying Jesus’ ministry. That’s all for this week! Have a great weekend! BV/RG
Memory work: Psalm 90:1
Spelling words: with, snap, to, pull, put
Social Studies test: Thursday\
Grade 3
A blessed new year! We have entered 2020, the year of our Lord, or Anno Domini. Thank you Miss Hoeksema and Mrs. Tesfaye for beginning the school year with an assembly speaking about doing everything to the glory of God. The children quickly got into a routine again. In Bible, we are paying attention to Joseph as he travels under difficult circumstances to Egypt. In Math we continue to work on times tables. It is important to practise the math facts (and counting by twos) on a daily basis. In Science, we are learning about the many types of forces. God is truly amazing. He holds everything together and does so in an orderly manner. Visual texture is the topic in art and fitness is the topic for P.E. So you see, we are in the thick of things again. May all our work be done to God’s glory. We wish you a wonderful weekend and a blessed Sunday.
Memory work: Ps 139:13 Text:Gen. 49:10
Spelling words: about, especially, except, friendly
P.E. On Tuesday and Friday, library on Thursday, mission $ on Friday
Grade 4
Happy New Year! May the Lord continue to bless our work as we move into the new part of the school year. We’ve continued with our work in the various subject areas. Here are a few things to note for the upcoming week:
Tuesday: Grade 4B Math Test – Geometry
Wednesday: Grade 4A Math Test – Geometry, 4B Practice Quiz – Map of Canada – Students will be asked to match the names of the provinces and territories to a blank map of Canada
Friday: Grade 4A Practice Quiz – Map of Canada – Students will be asked to match the names of the provinces and territories to a blank map of Canada.
Friday: Spelling Test 15: rubbing, twenty, downstairs, cherry, pink, sorry, raining, lucky, drink, stopped, sitting, sunny, rainy, again
Memory Work: Hymn 6:1/John 1: 1-4
Upcoming Memory Work: Psalm 3:2/John 3: 16-18
Grade 5
The students have quickly fallen back into our school routines after Christmas holidays. We continue to learn about Jesus’ teachings to His followers during His time on earth. We are planning to have a test in the coming week. Grade 5A will write on Wednesday and 5B on Thursday. In Science we are learning about the amazing world of cells and marvel at the intricacies of God’s creation! A project is planned for the week Devotions for next week are as follows: 5A M.Brooke, Tu. Brianna W. Madison, Th. Morgan L, F Sydney. And for 5B, M. Alyvia, Tu. Mattheus, W. Carson, Th. Olivia, F. Nate. Have a great weekend! RK/KVL
Grade 6
We have had a very productive first week back. May the LORD bless you in the year to come. Thanks for all the cards and gifts given to us before the holidays. We have started our new unit in Science on our immune system. Indeed we have been fearfully and wonderfully made. Ask the students the many things that God has given to us on our bodies to help fight against pathogens. In an upcoming art project I need 32 patterns cut out. If you would be willing to help me with this please contact Mrs. VanAndel. Have a blessed weekend. AF/CV
Grade 7A
In connection with our Public Speaking and Poetry Declamation contest we’ll host several members of the Grimsby Toastmasters Club next week. These members will engage us in public speaking exercises and model effective etiquette and procedures. Our class room competition will be Wednesday February 15. While for the LA unit every child will write a speech, your child must decide whether to present a speech or recite a poem from memory. Ask your child what he/she has chosen. Science has us constructing better energy barriers; the challenge is for each group to keep hot water hot for twenty minutes. Working in groups in Phys. Ed., students will plan and teach a lesson following our low order cooperative games curriculum. Learning how to speak publicly, working in groups, planning and presenting; getting tomorrow’s leaders ready today. I’ll be away for next week but I trust Mr. P. deBruin will enjoy his time in Gr. 7A. Enjoy your weekend.
Grade 7B
In Bible History, we have started our unit on David, the Shephard King. We will be looking at how he is a king after the LORD’s heart as well as how David falters. In Math, we have started our unit on expressions and equations. In History, we will begin looking at the American Revolution and how that led to the migration of the United Empire Loyalists. In Geography, we are coming to the end of our climate unit and will be working on our final project. We have also started our speeches and poems for the Public Speaking Contest and look forward to working on that over the coming weeks. Devotions – Mr. Breukelman. Have a great weekend!
Grade 8A
It has been good to settle back into classroom routines this week. This week also spelled out a lot of exciting new events for the grade 8 students. PBL picks up again with students forming proposals as to what new skill they seek to investigate. In L.A. alongside our study of Tom Sawyer students began to write speeches and pick out poems in anticipation of the coming speech contest. Finally, we hope to wrap up our Tom Sawyer novel study in the coming week and will be beginning our ceiling tile projects. All told much is in the works and it certainly got busy in a hurry. Have a blessed weekend. Cheers, Mr. J
Grade 8B
We will be finishing chapter 4 in our Math program soon. When the students get to the review, they should know that a test will be scheduled a few days later. We hope to have the test completed before the end of the week. We also have a test scheduled for Tuesday in Church History. This will cover the topics we have discussed about the Reformation in England. Some of the students have become rather sloppy about having their P.E. clothes available on Mondays and Fridays. Gym shorts and shirts are mandatory. Students should not wear their P.E. clothes as their regular clothing for the day. We are beginning work on writing a speech. All students are required to write a speech. Not all students are required to participate in the speech and poetry contest. Please help your child choose a suitable topic. Topics need to be nailed down early next week. In the coming week, students will need to work on writing a proposal for their PBL project.
Memory Work: Psalm 82:2, Romans 3: 21-27
© 2015 Canadian Reformed School Society of Smithville and Surrounding District
