General News
Good Thursday morning everyone as we bring another week of instruction to a close at JCS, albeit an abbreviated one because of tomorrow’s PD Day. We thank the Lord for his blessing and guidance on our work throughout the past week. We are so thankful that we were able to get together as teachers and parents on Tuesday and Thursday evenings to discuss the progress of the students at the mid-point of the first term. It was good to speak about matters that may help us to teach your son or daughter more effectively, and for you, as parents, to support the teachers on the home front. Please feel free to touch base with your child(ren)’s teacher any time should you have a question or concern about their progress. Teachers’ emails are published every other month on the back of the front page of the News and Views. May our Heavenly Father continue to bless this important communication between home and school as together we instruct his covenant children in the fear of his Name. We thank the Lord for his many blessings during the first half of the first term and we pray that He will continue to provide for the needs of the students, staff, and parents for the remainder of the term.
Thank you, parents, for your cooperation in following the protocol and making sure that masks/face coverings were worn in the school, and during interviews.
We welcome the Rizk family to the John Calvin School community. They are here as permanent residents of Canada, sponsored by the Covenant Canadian Reformed church of Grassie. Welcome to Canada! Their daughter, Judy, is in Grade 4A, and their son, John Paul, is in Grade KB. We wish them all the best and the Lord’s blessing as they find their way at John Calvin School. It was great to see their classmates and teachers greet them with a big, warm welcome on Monday/Tuesday morning.
Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with all who need the Lord in a special way, whether they are grieving the recent death of a loved one, coping with serious illness or dealing with difficult family circumstances. We think of the N. DeKlerk and R. Schulenberg families whose grandfather and great-grandfather, Mr. A. Hartman, passed away this past weekend. May our Heavenly Father continue to surround the Hartman family with his love and care.
Tomorrow, the teachers will be professionally developing themselves as they follow-up on an earlier presentation about Executive Functions, continue with work on the CARE Language Arts Conceptual Framework, and engage in some curriculum work specific to their grade or division level. Students (and parents) may enjoy a three-day long weekend.
A few items for your attention:
*The Fall Membership Meeting is scheduled for next week Wednesday, November 25 beginning at 8:00 p.m.. It will be conducted via livestream from the Smithville Canadian Reformed Church. The membership packages will be sent out via church social; up to 50 paper copies of the package will also be placed in each of the supporting churches.
*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. Thanks again Winterfest committee for organizing Loot Bag Day and the annual Winterfest baskets. Your hard work for COVID Winterfest is very much appreciated.
*With much thankfulness we can report that $2612.00 was raised in support of the Anchor Association. Excellent job all participating students! 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!
*Triple Ball: Unfortunately, due to city of Hamilton entering the “Red Zone”, the triple ball tournament has been postponed to January 13. Practices will continue off and on between now and then. Students, and parents, will get plenty of advance notice for when an after-school practice will take place. Between now and the Christmas Break, the teams will be participating in several lunch recess practices. The boys’ tournament is still planned for ACRES, and the girls’ tournament for Guido.
Sadly, we have also informed by the organizers that the annual NACE hockey tournament, scheduled for February, has been cancelled.
Reminders:
*The Ladies Auxiliary is planning a Pizza Lunch for Friday, December 11. Yahoo! No lunches to make. For those children with allergies, the Ladies Auxiliary will look after heating up/preparing the food that they bring for lunch that day. Thank you very much Ladies Auxiliary!
May our Heavenly Father continue to refresh us physically and spiritually over the course of the weekend. We hope to touch base again next week Friday.
G. Hofsink
Classroom News
Kindergarten
It was a short week for everyone at school this week. A special thank you goes the Winterfest committee ladies who provided the students with the Winterfest loot bags. The children all had looks of surprise and delight as they opened their bags. In math, we are working on learning numbers 0-10, both how to write and recognize the numbers. In Language Arts, we are continuing to learn all the letters of the alphabet. Last week, the attention was on the letter Rr and this coming week, it will be on the letter Mm. Parents please continue to practice these letters at home with your child as this is a crucial step for learning how to read!
Have a great long weekend everyone. JB/NV
Grade 1
Another busy week of learning at John Calvin School has zoomed by! Thank-you for taking the time to chat with us about your child’s progress at school. Both Grade One classes wrote Bible tests this week. Look for them in the backpacks and agenda bags. We will be resuming work in our regular Grade 1 Math book in the next few days. It looks like the review of number theory was quite helpful for many students. Our apologies for mixing up the vocab and spelling words this week. (In spite of it, 13 students in 1A managed a perfect score on their pre-test.) A little review every day of those words is really helpful. We know that at times it is hard to find the time and the children don’t always feel like it, but it really does help lock these words in their long term memory. It’s totally ok for an older sibling to ‘play teacher’ if that works better for your family. We try to do fun chants and cheers to review at school as well. Thanks for the contributions to our theme basket. (Some of the children are a little jealous of the toys in it.) Your child will probably come home quite excited about a loot bag treat they received at school. Thank-you Winterfest ladies!
Memory Work: Psalm 82:5
Sight words: pretty, more, have, often, done
Spelling words: about, other, out, up, will
Grade 2
Another week has flown by in Grade 2! Even though it was short it was packed full of learning. This week, we continued with Jesus’ Ministry. We learned about the Transfiguration. The glorified body of Jesus! What an amazing sight to behold.
In Social Studies, we’re learning about our community and different communities that we see around us. We’re also starting to learn about our province and our country. So much to learn! The children are full of questions and curiosity. What a blessing to live in such an amazing place.
Thank you to the Winterfest Committee for organizing our loot bags. We certainly enjoyed receiving them.
Don’t forget to read at home and practice math facts. LS/BV
Next week – bible test on Friday
Spelling words – same as this week – one, won, thing, who, how
Memory Work – Hymn 1 & Deuteronomy 6:4,5
Grade 3
Welcome back to Grade 3. We had a busy week learning new things. In Math, we are busy regrouping tens and hundreds. There are many steps to remember; it’s great to see the children are getting ‘the hang of it’. Learning about elders who have received gifts and rejoicing with those who rejoice were discussed in Church History class. Our art work, about warm and cool colours looks great. Ask your child about it. In Phys. Ed. class we have been busy catching and throwing; great fun is had when playing “monkey in the middle” and dodgeball. Our novel study is getting very exciting. Making a poster as well as working on the different characters of this story keeps us busy. Thank you, parents, for coming in for interviews and for speaking heart to heart about the progress of your child. Thank you for your ongoing support and continued prayers for us teachers. Also, thank you for adding to the festive themed baking basket. Enjoy the long weekend, and have a blessed Sunday.
Memory work: Ps. 15:1, Text: Prov. 3:9,10
Spelling words: BIG REVIEW beautiful, before, discover, enough, first, hopeless, journal, let’s, recycle, their, there, they’re, went, when
Library books in a bag on Thursday
Mission $ on Friday
Grade 4
It was good to meet with the parents at interviews this week. We pray that the Lord will continue to grant both parents and teachers what is needed to teach His covenant children. Please continue to encourage your child to practice math facts and read at home.
Wednesday: Bible Quiz 4A (Solomon: Lessons 1-7)
Friday: S: Ps. 60:1/T: Isaiah 9:6-7/Spelling Test
Upcoming memory work: S: Ps. 5:1/T: John 1:1-4
Spelling Words: said, know, too, off, because, friend, where, chief, piece, surprise, write, please
Grade 5
Another week of November has raced past! Our Bible stories continue to be about Jesus’ teaching and the miracles He performed in the early days of His ministry. Students are doing well with multiplication of three digit factors and problem solving. We plan to have a math test on Friday. The gymnastics routines are coming together in Phys. Ed. class and we will continue to practice them next week as well.
Devotions: Grade 5A – M. Katie, Tu. Jacob, W. Charlotte, Th. Tyson, F. Taylor.
5B – M. Lucas, Tu. Jenna, W. McKenna, Th. Tanya, F. Keagan. Have an enjoyable long weekend! RK/KVL
Grade 6
With cooler temperatures the students are reminded to have extra socks and gloves. Thank you to the ladies who put together the loot bags for the children. The students have started writing their paragraphs for the bird they researched. They can gather pictures for their display from magazines, computer images, and by drawing them. These pictures should include not only the bird but also its habitat and food. It was beneficial to discuss the progress of the students. May the LORD continue to bless our instruction of His covenant children. Have a blessed weekend. SO/CV
Grade 7A
Our “Structural Strength and Stability” unit ending Science project involves building a popsicle stick bridge. This past week we submitted our Google Drawings designs for approval and hope to start construction next week. In Independent Study our focus has moved from a book about or topics to viewing a documentary about it. We’ll learn what a documentary is and view examples of good and bad documentaries. Soon your child will have to find and view a suitable documentary about their topic; please be prepared to assist. In Math, we’re simplifying equations and expressions as we substitute variables. Be sure to ask your child what low order co-operative game his/her group will be teaching the class in Phys. Ed. We’ll be acting out in L.A. as we choose scenes from the short story, “Home on the Range”, to perform. Enjoy your weekend.
Grade 7B
In Church History, we have seen Martin Luther struggle with the question of how we are righteous before God. Next week, we will see the answer to that question and how Luther uses that knowledge to begin the Reformation. In LA, the students will be acting out a section of the story, “Home on the Range”, which should be an exciting experience. In History, we will be finishing our presentations from our projects and moving on to Conflict and Change in New France, focusing on the Seven Years War. We have also moved on to the next step of our Independent Study process, which is the documentary. We will be looking at a good documentary next week and analysing why it is indeed a good (credible) documentary. Memory Work – Hymn 55:1 and Psalm 2:7-12. Enjoy your long weekend!
Grade 8
It was a blessing to meet with the majority of parents this week to discuss the progress of their child. It is our prayer that the discussions we have had and the strategies we seek to implement may be fruitful in the months ahead. In recent weeks, students have been busy with projects in History and Science and those are coming to an end with presentations continuing into next week. Next week, we also aim to begin a unit on the Reformation in England. Have a blessed weekend! Cheers, Ms. P & Mr. J
© 2015 Canadian Reformed School Society of Smithville and Surrounding District
