General News
Greetings readership as we wrap-up another week of learning and teaching at John Calvin School. We thank the Lord for the beautiful weather we could enjoy for most of the week, a continuation of the spell of Indian summer that began last week. And now back to more seasonable weather conditions.
Progress reports will be going home with the students this afternoon. Parent-Teacher conferences are scheduled for Tuesday, November 17 and Thursday, November 19. The schedule will be emailed to you later today. Parents whose oldest child is in Kindergarten are being scheduled an interview for Tuesday, November 24. Here again is the parent protocol that has been put in place for the conferences:
1. Parents are required to wear masks/face coverings, properly worn, when in school for the conferences.
2. Parents are to practise physical distancing from other parents when entering and exiting the building, and when in the school. Physical distancing will also be practised during the course of the conference.
3. Please use the main entrance when entering the school and sanitize your hands. To avoid congestion in the halls, please exit the building using the doors that are closest to where you have your last conference.
4. If you are unable to attend the conference(s), please let the office know so that we can inform the teachers and, thus, alternate arrangements can be made.
5. We look forward to these important conversations about working together as home and school to help our covenant children learn to the best of their ability.
We thank the Lord for the many gifts and blessings He has provided during the course of the first half of the first term. We pray that He will continue to provide for the needs of the students, the staff, and the parents during the remainder of the term.
The Act of Remembrance
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor do the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them. We will remember them.
Remembrance Day Assembly: Thank you Miss Breukelman and Mrs. Poort (and Mrs. Feenstra, sr. who shared her personal story, and a very moving one at that, of the impact that five years of war had on her and her family) for the Remembrance Day presentation. It certainly helped us to Remember them!
Mr. Hofsink and eight Grades 7&8 students attended the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Smithville cenotaph. Even though there were limited numbers and we were not permitted to sing or lay our wreath in behalf of the school, it was still good to be a part of the ceremony, in person.
A few items for your attention:
*Winterfest: More and more items are becoming available for purchase on the Winterfest website. Check them out at www.johncalvinfundraising.ca and then place your order. Next week Thursday is Loot Bag Day. Yippee! All the grades are also busy collecting items for the annual Winterfest baskets which will be auctioned off at the silent auction. Please send your items to school by next Thursday.
*Three weeks of practicum are completed for Miss Schuurman in Grade 4A with Miss Hoeksema. We trust that her practice teaching sessions at John Calvin School was a positive and beneficial experience. We wish her all the best and the Lord’s blessing as she returns to the Teachers College for regular instruction and preparation for exams.
*Pretty much all the money from the Anchor Work Day has been brought in. I think only a handful of students still need to bring in money and then the fundraiser is over for another year. We extend a big thank you to all those in our community who “hired” the students to work for them.
*From the Library: Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to find their missing library books! We had more than 150 books still out of the library when we started the school year, and we received almost all of them back! A big thank you to those parents who paid for their child’s missing books so that we can replace them—this is especially important when books in a series have gone missing. As of this week, we have deleted all outstanding books that have been signed out since March. This means that each student has a clean slate and we can start fresh this school year! It’s best to return books weekly and to keep them in a select spot at home so that they don’t get lost. Take good care of your books and keep reading lots!
*Mission Money: We continue to encourage students to contribute what they can (usually about a loonie per week), so that we can maintain the support of three children through CRWRF and two children through Word and Deed. We encourage the students to give spontaneously and joyfully. Let us share generously from our abundance.
*Triple Ball: Practices continue every Monday and Thursday leading up to the tournament scheduled for November 25. The boys’ tournament is planned for ACRES, and the girls’ tournament for Guido. A scheduled for the day will be sent our way in the near future.
Reminders:
*Please continue to collect pop can tabs to help support children who are in need of a wheelchair. Our bucket is located in the foyer by the offices.
*Friday, November 20 is a PD Day for both John Calvin and Guido de Bres Christian high school. Students can enjoy a long weekend while the teachers at JCS will be busy with local professional development.
*The Fall Membership Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 25. Members of the school society will soon receive the membership package for the meeting.
Enjoy your weekend and have a blessed day of worship. We’ll touch base again next week Thursday, D.V..
G. Hofsink
Classroom News
Kindergarten
Another week has been completed in kindergarten. This past week, the students had the opportunity to celebrate Remembrance Day. Many of the students expressed thankfulness that we are not living in a time of war. A special thank you to Mrs. Feenstra who was willing to share her experiences of WWII with the entire school. We are continuing to learn a new letter of the alphabet every week. As more letters are added, it is especially crucial that parents practice these letters at home every day. In Math, the students are working on recognizing and writing numbers 0-10.
Have a great weekend. JB/NV
Grade 1
What a beautiful week it was for playing outside! We really enjoyed the warmer weather in the early part of the week. Now that it has cooled off a little, it is a good idea to wear a sweater or coat to school. On Remembrance Day, we heard a really compelling story from Mrs. Feenstra about her experiences during the second world war while she was a girl in the Netherlands. What a privilege it was to hear that she and her family put their trust in the LORD. We were also able to read a story about how important it is to ‘remember’ by wearing a poppy. Grade 1A has written a test about Famous Canadians. Look for it in the backpacks next week. We will probably write a Bible test near the end of the week about Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. We are nearing the end of our number review in Math. Some children are still struggling to be able to tell what comes before or after. If you have some number games to play at home once and awhile, that would be a great practice. Please remember the Winterfest theme basket contributions. For Grade 1, we are collecting items for boys.
Memory work: Hymn 66:1 and chorus, Isaiah 9:2
Spelling words: do, how, if, she, their
Sight words: pretty, more, move, often, done
Grade 2
Grade 2 has had a busy week. We have finished off another Bible unit focusing on Jesus’ Ministry. We read about some of the miracles that Jesus did. Ask your child to tell you about them! We finished up our Science unit on Health and Safety. This coming week, we will start our first Social Studies unit on the Arctic. This is always one of the favourites. We’re looking forward to learning about this fascinating part of Canada.
We are also looking forward to meeting with parents to talk about your child’s progress this Tuesday or Thursday evening. See you then! Please don’t forget a contribution, either $2 or an item for the girls Winterfest baskets. Keep reading at home and practicing your math facts Grade 2.
Spelling words – one, won, thing, who, how
Memory Work – Psalm 150:1 (2A) Psalm 42:3 (2B) & Micah 5:2
Grade 3
Hello again! Grade three welcomed two visitors on Tuesday. Isaac H proudly presented Lily and Lucy! Ask us who or what they are? We started a few new units this week! We switched to Church History and are learning about what church life is all about. In our Math classes, we are learning a lot of different subtraction strategies. Ask us about them. The students are loving the multiplication tables of zero and one! Fun, fun, fun! In Science, we will be exploring the circulatory and respiratory systems and how we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14 P.E. is all about catching and throwing! On Wednesday, we remembered all those who fought for the freedom of our country, Canada. May the Lord continue to bless our country. We thank Mrs. J. Feenstra for telling her Remembrance Day stories. Thank you for pointing us to God’s Word and that we do not need to fear. Christ has conquered. Your child will be coming home with their progress reports on Friday. May the Lord continue to bless the education of our covenant children as we work together to His Glory. That’s it for now. J.B./M.P.
Words: when, went, they’re, there, their
Psalm 39:1; Text: Proverbs 3: 9,10
Library books in a LIBRARY bag on Thursday.
Just a reminder to bring some items or money for the Winterfest basket. The theme is “Holiday Baking Basket” Thanks!
Grade 4
Grade 4A said goodbye to Miss Schuurman today. We thank her for the work that she has done in our classroom over the past 3 weeks, and we wish her the Lord’s blessings as she continues her studies at CCRTC in Hamilton. Grade 4A is also welcoming a new student on Monday. We pray that Judy will feel welcomed and that she will quickly feel settled in her new school and community. For the rest, the work continues in Grade 4. Please continue to encourage your child to read and practice his/her math facts at home. We look forward to meeting with the parents at interviews next week, and we pray that they will be beneficial as we work together to educate the Lord’s covenant children.
A few items for next week:
Wednesday: Grade 4A/B Science Quiz – Rocks and Minerals
Thursday: Song: Psalm 56:1/Spelling Test
Upcoming memory work: Song: Ps. 60:1/Text: Isaiah 9:6-7
Spelling Words: garbage, became, jail, beside, orange, plane, job, broken, change, drove, jungle, where, cage, across
Grade 5
It was nice to have some beautiful, unseasonably warm days this week! In Bible next week we will continue our look at Jesus’ ministry, particularly some of the miracles he did. We have started our first Science unit, Investigating Nutrition, and we are learning about why it is important to eat healthy, and what our food is made of. Next week we will find out what proteins, carbohydrates, and fats are, and why they’re important. We look forward to seeing many of you at Parent-Teacher Conferences next week! Have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Sunday. RK/KV
Devotions: 5A – M. Victoria, Tu. MacKenna, W. Kayden, Th. Jackson
5B – M. Mikenna, Tu. Kingston, W. Sarina, Th. Gavin
Grade 6
We really enjoyed the warmer weather at the beginning of the week and the continuing sunshine throughout the rest of the week. The students got a better idea of how to plan their new art project by looking at the examples of previous students. Their challenge will be to come up with patterns using repeated freeform and geometric shapes that are exactly the same. We gained some more insight to what life was like for a child living during the war with Mrs. Feenstra sharing her experiences. She was thankful that her father read God’s word and prayed with them to assure them that God was in control. Thanks to Mrs. Poort and Miss B. for organizing an assembly that we could have in our classroom. We hope to meet with most of you next week to discuss your child’s progress thus far. Have a blessed weekend. SO/CV
Grade 7A
After our fractions and decimals test this past week, we will move on to Chapter 4 in Math, “Expressions and Equations”. In Church History we witnessed God’s Providence when we considered that although 1500 Europe was entirely Roman Catholic, yet in fifty years Protestantism had taken route. We’ll learn about this “almighty hand” in the weeks to come as we focus on the Reformation in the Holy Roman Empire(Germany). In Phys. ED. students have been placed in groups and assigned a, “low order cooperative game” to teach to the Grade Seven P.E. class. Be sure to ask your child what lesson they have been assigned and whether they are nervous about teaching their peers. Over the next few weeks in Science, students will be constructing popsicle stick bridges as they apply the learned material from our “Structural Strength and Stability” unit. Enjoy your weekend.
Grade 7B
In Church History, we started this week by looking at the context in Europe during the time of the Reformation, and next week we will look at how the LORD in His providential care allows Martin Luther to learn about justification by faith alone. In LA, we have finished presenting our Historical Fiction stories and now will move on to looking at how an author builds his/her story around a theme. In Geography, we continue looking at climate, concentrating on climate factors next week. Next week, we will also conclude our look at researching with books by finishing off our author profile and begin the next phase of our research by looking at good/bad documentaries! Memory Work: Hymn 28:7. Have a great weekend!
Grade 8
The weather is becoming colder and starting to match what we expect from the middle of November. This week has been full of projects! In Science students have wrapped up projects on bodily organs and should be prepared to share their knowledge with the class. We are continuing with Volleyball with P.E. as the Triple Ball tournament is fast approaching! And we have entered the world that Mark Twain created in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – what a different world it is! Have a blessed weekend. Cheers, Mr. J & Ms. P.
© 2015 Canadian Reformed School Society of Smithville and Surrounding District
