Good
Friday morning everyone as we enjoy another spring day, and as we bring the
first week of instruction after the March Break to a close. What a different one it has been though with
our first week of student learning at home just about completed. Thank you very much parents, students and
staff for all that you have done in making this work to the best of your
ability. As teachers, we recognize the
huge transition that has been asked of you, as parents, with student learning
at home. We continue to humbly ask for
your patience with us as educators, as this is unchartered waters for the staff
as well. This is the first time any of
the staff has used distance education for instruction or various forms of
online learning. This is a big learning
curve for staff as well. We continue to
welcome your feedback to help us know when the work is overwhelming or not
enough or just right (many of you have been doing that already which is much
appreciated) so that we can adjust our expectations and assignments as
needed. Thanks again for your
understanding. Also, for you as parents,
please remember that you do not have to complete everything in one day. If it doesn’t get done today, work on it
again tomorrow. If you have a question,
please don’t hesitate to contact the teacher.
Please just do the best that you can.
This is new for all of us and we are in this together. Please pray for us as we pray for you. We put our hope and trust in our Heavenly
Father and pray that He will continue to guide our endeavours.
We
are currently living in a time when there are many unknowns and people can
become anxious and fearful, or enter into panic mode. In a pastoral posting earlier this week, Rev.
Louwerse from Cornerstone Canadian Reformed church shared with his congregation
this meditation on the words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew 6. There, He tells
us: do not be anxious about your life,
what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you shall
put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the
birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Indeed we as His most precious children have no need to be anxious. And yet who
among us does not have some anxiety as we worry about what is coming! What will
become of our jobs and businesses? Will we be able to pay the bills and be able
to keep it together while we are at home? These are real concerns we deal with
in this time.
May
we trust that our heavenly Father will provide for us each day. Our Lord Jesus
says it again, in verse 31 and following: therefore
do not be anxious, saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what
shall we wear? The Gentiles seek after all these things, and your Father in
heaven knows you need them! What He calls us to do each day is to seek
first His Kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to
us! May we indeed put our trust, our faith in Him; completely relying on Him to
provide, also in this time, for everything we need for our bodies and souls.
And
so our Father calls us to ask Him for our daily bread. Let us seek Him in
prayer for our daily needs! And He will provide, perhaps not as we expect. As
we pray, pray also for those who are in governing positions as they seek to
keep open certain businesses and stores so that we can buy what we need. And
may He give us contentment in this time, being thankful for the blessings we
receive each day!
May the Lord continue to provide
for those in our community who need Him in a special way; be it those who are
sick, who are impacted by the corona virus, who are dealing with difficult
family situations, or those who are grieving the recent death of a loved one. In particular, we think of the family of Mr.
Herman Poort and Mr. and Mrs. Henry and Marilyn Breukelman (brother and
sister-in-law to Miss Breukelman). Last
week, the grandmother of Joshua (7A), Camrynne (5B), Matthew (1A), and Maelle
(KA) VanDam passed away. Our thoughts
and prayers are with Jeremy and Danyse and their family and other relatives and
friends of Mrs. Wilma VanDam. May our
God of all Comfort continue to surround them with His love and grace.
As
school community, we were planning a Spring Food Drive in support of West
Lincoln Community Care. If you are able,
instead of bringing non-perishable food items to the school, perhaps you can
bring them directly to West Lincoln Community Care. The needs of the community have grown with
the outbreak of COVID-19.
A couple of ideas/suggestions:
Memory
Work: Rather
than learning multiple memory works, take turns learning one child’s memory
work per week. If children have learned it
previously, a little review doesn’t hurt.
Besides they can help with the tune and the practice.
Bible
History: It can
be very challenging to teach multiple Bible stories per day. Instead, to make it less overwhelming, teach
one Bible story per day to all children and make it a part of your devotions to
start the day. A good place to start could
be the events leading up to the death and resurrection of our Saviour,
including the Passion Week. Good Friday
and Easter are in two weeks. Some
teachers may have included information/lessons about that in their package so
you would have some material for that topic.
Grade 1 submission: It has been a March break/back to school, we will remember
forever. We hope things are going well at home for all of you, and that
you are able to follow the plans laid out for you. If you feel you are
not able to get it all done in a day, that’s ok. Continue on with it the next
day. It was good to hear back from so many parents that things are going well,
and your child is able to complete the work laid out for them. Thanks for
the pics and videos you have been sending; we love them. Keep sending them! We
miss our kids a lot and would love to be back at school with them. We would ask
you to keep the completed work at home for now. You have all you need for the
coming week and we wish you the Lord’s blessing as you continue the teaching at
home. Feel free to contact us with any questions/concerns you may have.
We are more than willing to assist in any way we can. Thank you for your
prayers and encouraging words; we really appreciate them. Holding you all in
prayer. JvB/JVE
Grade 3 submission: Thank you parents for your encouraging words. It is
beautiful to see the work you and your children are doing. Continue on with
practising the memory work, text, spelling words and times table of 4
throughout each day as it has been assigned for two weeks. May the Lord continue
to give you strength as you take on a different path because of the corona
virus. You are in our thoughts and prayers. JB/MP
Grade
8B submission: I have posted a Google
classroom for Math. Students and parents are invited to the classroom.
Reminders:
*Parents whose first child is entering
Kindergarten or Grade 1 are reminded of the welcome/information evening
scheduled for the evening of April 2nd. This event is postponed until further notice.
*The ASC (Assisting the Special Child)
committee has scheduled its annual spring meeting for Thursday, April 30th
at Grace Christian School in Millgrove beginning at 8:00 p.m. The topic for the evening is Disability
Education for All Church Members:
Everybody Fits and the speaker is Mrs. Andrea Foster. If the event is postponed/cancelled you
will be informed.
God bless, and may we continue to put our trust in
Him and in Him alone. To God be the
glory!
G. Hofsink
