General News
The purpose of John Calvin School is to assist and
support parents in the education of their covenant children to the glory of
God. In accomplishing this mission, the
vision of John Calvin School is to provide excellent Christ-centered education
in service to God and our neighbour.
Greetings from the school everyone on this
beautiful, sunny Friday morning as we bring the first week of learning and
teaching in March to a close. We thank
and praise the Lord that students and staff could go about their daily work
without any hindrance or delay. What a
blessing! Unfortunately, due to meltage last weekend and earlier this week,
Mount Calvin was sled-less this week.
It’s a year ago that the coronavirus made its way
into this part of the world and things haven’t been the same since. However, no
matter how much things change our Father in heaven does not; he remains the
same yesterday, today, and forever. Let us continue to put our hope and trust
in him today and every 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 virus, who are dealing with difficult family situations, or
those who are grieving the death of a loved one. In particular, we think of the family of
Chelsey Kamphuis, a young mother of three and pregnant with twins, who was
killed in a car accident earlier this week.
She was a relative to both Ed and Rachel Gansekoele as well as to others
in our school community. May our God of
all Comfort be near to the Kamphuis family, their relatives, and their friends
during this very difficult and sad time.
A few matters for your attention:
*One more reminder to students (and parents): Please
be respectful to those who do/do not wear a mask. There have been a few
reported incidents of students being bullied for wearing a mask or for not
wearing a mask. It is the decision of parents for their child(ren) to wear or
not wear a mask so please speak to your children to be considerate of others
and to keep their comments to themselves.
Thank-you.
*The following is an announcement from the Harvest
Foundation. The attachments are included
with today’s Chronicle.
Greetings! Harvest Foundation is planning a will
webinar next week. The registration links are included in the attached PDF and
should stay live when forwarded to you. With these webinars, Harvest Foundation
seeks to achieve two goals:
• Assist
families with stewardship planning
• Raise
long term support for our benefiting schools.
Bernie Kottelenberg, Executive Director, 519 806
7817
*An invitation from River’s Edge Haven of Hope: River’s Edge is hosting free family tours
during the April break to experience the farm/horses, etc.Their newsletter is
included with today’s Chronicle.
*Just a reminder that the school is still collecting
can tabs for wheelchairs.
*Monday, March 15 is a day off for students and
staff.
Have a good weekend everyone and enjoy a blessed day
of rest. We hope to touch base again
next week Friday. G. Hofsink
Classroom News
Kindergarten
We had such a fun week in kindergarten this week.
The highlight of the week was Wednesday when both KA and KB were here. A
special thank you goes to Mrs deBoersap who came in to partner teach with Miss
Broersma! The students loved being able to play with new friends and
eat lunch together as one large class. Next week will be a regular week
for KA and KB. The students have begun to learn new sight words. Please
continue to practice these words with your child by having them point to the
words that they know in a book. We also will be starting our at home
reading program. The students who are ready to begin reading will be
receiving a new book each week. Instructions for the at home reading
program can be found inside the black duotang that will be sent home on
Monday/Tuesday. Please also remember to send in an extra pair of
clothes and a pair of socks for the wet weather! Have a great
weekend. JB/NV
Grade
1
We
are planning to finish our stories about King Saul and David by the end of next
week. Students should expect a test either on Friday or Monday. We
are fully into our next CORE Knowledge reader Entirely, Gran. From time
to time, the students will take home a page or two that have the text of the
story on them. Please encourage your child to read these to you.
This will give you a good picture of how they are progressing in their reading
and it also helps to build your child’s reading fluency.
Memory
Work: Psalm 93:4, Psalm 111:10
Spelling
Words: run, tell, us, went, why
Sight
words: because, before, ocean, beautiful, down
Grade
2
This
past week we have continued learning about God’s continued care for His Church.
The students began learning about Polycarp and his work in Smyrna. We will
complete a quiz on Tuesday. Please note
that we will not be sending the student notes home for studying. We prepare for
the quizzes in class and additional studying often serves to stress the
students. In math, we continue to test the students in their knowledge of the
math facts they’ve been learning. Keep practicing! We’ve started a novel study
in our Language Arts. The students are excited to read Nate the Great, a
detective novel. They’re also eagerly looking forward to our Detective day on
March 19th. More details to follow! Have a great weekend! BV/RG
Memory
work: Psalm 31:1
Spelling:
Review (see list in agenda)
Grade
3
We’ve had a full week of learning. In Bible History,
we pay attention to the call of Moses by I AM WHO I AM. Clock reading keeps us
busy in Math. Keep practising the times tables facts often, boys and
girls. Our penguin poster is finished and will grace our hallways soon. A super
job, boys and girls! We hope to begin reading the novel “Mr. Popper’s
Penguins” this coming week. Our textured ‘wild things’ have been painted
with water colours. How is heat created? Why is the sun placed where it is? Ask
us these scientific questions. In gym class, we have been dribbling with
basketballs. Please let your child bring an extra pair of socks to school as
playing outside can be a ‘wet business’. Greetings, have a wonderful weekend,
and a blessed Sunday.
Memory work: Ps. 84:1, Text: Exodus
20:1-6 (two weeks)
Spelling words: didn’t, doesn’t, general, governor
Library on Thursday and mission $ on Friday
Grade
4
We
are in the middle of our novel study From Anna. Students have been
enjoying reading about someone their age who is adjusting to life in a new
country. In Church History we have been studying about the reformer, John Hus
and his work. Count on some extra practice with the times tables and keep
reading at home!
Spelling
List Unit 24: caught, everyone, people, having, houses, doesn’t, knew, nothing,
cherries, remember, covered, think
Friday:
Spelling Test Unit 24, John Hus Test 4A, memory work Psalm 30:1; Next week: Psalm
6: 1
Grade
5
This
week was another enjoyable week here in grade 5. We have written a Bible
test to finish up Unit 4 in Bible class. Next week we will begin
studying the events leading to the death of our Saviour. Students have
learned some fascinating things about some of God’s creatures in our World of
Literature studies and we will continue this into next week. The dioramas
have been admired by teachers and students alike and will be coming home on
Friday for you to enjoy in your homes! If you have any shoe boxes to
spare, please consider sending them to school for us to use for next year’s
dioramas! The devotions for next week are as follows: 5A Tyson(M),
Taylor(Tu), Chloe(W), Madelin(Th), Evan(F) and for 5B: McKenna(M),
Tanya(Tu), Keagan(W), Blake(Th), Kali(F). Have a wonderful weekend!
RK/KVL
Grade
6
This week we we’re finally able to do a full five
days worth of school! In art class we have been working hard on one point
perspective drawings of our dream bedrooms. (Look out parents, these students
have some high expectations!) In Bible class we’ve been focusing on the Lord’s
continued providence throughout the life of Joseph. As we studied this, we were
also able to realize that this providence is constantly extended into our own
lives! Wishing everyone an enjoyable weekend and blessed Lords day! CV/AF
Grade
7A
Our new unit in Math has begun;
“Measurement” will include conversion factors and the Metric/Imperial
systems. The individual study of a battle from the War of 1812 continues as
students wrap up the written component; next will be the visual component.
Within the Swiss Confederation, cantons are aligning themselves with Roman
Catholicism or Protestantism and there are rumblings of war between the two.
We’ll see next week where Ulrich Zwingli will stand on the matter. After being
introduced to relief and intaglio printing in Art, we’ll move on to creating an
intaglio print using linoleum. Enjoy your weekend.
Grade
7B
In
Church History, we have seen over the past week how Zwingli has been led by the
LORD to be a reformer in the Swiss Confederation, and we will see next week the
opposition to the Reformation and how the LORD in His providential care allows
the Reformation to grow! We continue to make our way through “The Hobbit”, and
we will continue reading, doing assignments, and watching installments of the
movie. In Physical Geography, we have moved on to Renewable Resources, where we
will be looking at soils and agriculture, fish, and forests, to see how we
(over)use these resources and look at ways to treat God’s creation better.
Independent study continues, and we are now using our journal article to create
an annotated bibliography. Have a great weekend!
Grade
8
Spring is creeping in slowly and
Mount Calvin is out of commission. Students have begun ball hockey outside at
recess with this new weather; wonderful! In History we are working on
developing our essays on the Canadian Mounted Police – keeping on top of your
research will keep the workload light. In Church History we learned about John
Knox and the incredible ways God worked in his life. We are wrapping up our
unit on density and buoyancy in Science, preparing for our test on Wednesday.
Our morning devotions in 8B are spent slowly going over the story of Esther and
discovering how God worked in this woman’s life. Our lunchtime devotion
schedule is as follows: Mon – KN; Tues- AS; Wed – CDV; Thur – ES; Fri – AN.
Have a blessed weekend! Cheers, Mr. J and Ms. P
