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 everyone as we wrap-up the first week of learning and teaching in December. We thank the Lord for His blessing and guidance during this past week and we pray that he will continue to provide for the needs of students and staff during the next couple of weeks before we break for the Christmas holidays. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with those in our community who need the Lord in a special way; whether they are grieving the recent death of a loved one, coping with serious illness or are dealing with difficult family circumstances. In particular we think of Mr. and Mrs. Mike and Esther DeBoer. Yesterday, Mrs. DeBoer gave birth to little Samuel who is currently in the NICU at McMaster Children’s Hospital. He is a little brother to Victoria in Grade 2A and William in Grade KB. He was born with hydro-encephalopathy and also has a brain tumour. Samuel will likely be undergoing surgery on the brain tumour today sometime. We know that he is in God’s hands and with him all things are possible. Please keep the DeBoer family in your prayers.
It was good to have our Fall Membership meeting this past Wednesday, and thankful that we could have an in-person meeting (the first in Mr. Nordeman’s tenure as chairman) as well as be able to offer it via livestream for those who were not able to be in attendance. During the meeting, we could get a Harvest Foundation update from Mr. Bernie Kottelenberg along with a cheque for $26,853, for which we are very grateful. An excellent presentation promoting the Covenant Canadian Reformed Teachers College (as part of their 40th anniversary celebration) was also given by Mrs. Jackie deBoer and Mr. James Meinen. We thank the outgoing board members (Mr. Rick Nordeman, Mr. Dan Huizinga, and Mr. Marc Rozema) for all the work they have done during their tour of duty on the JCS board, particularly during the challenges presented by covid during the past 20 months or so. We welcome on board Mr. Ron Boverhof (Covenant-Grassie) as vice-chairman, Mr. Steven Vis as representative of the new church of Grimsby, and Mr. Troy Tenhage as representative of the “newer” church of Niagara South. May our Heavenly Father give the new directors the wisdom and strength necessary for their tasks in representing the school community on the Board of Directors.
A few items for your attention:
*Triple Ball: At last week Friday’s Triple Ball tournament, players and coaches had an enjoyable day of competition, fun, and fellowship. As you may already be aware, the co-ed team won their division. Congratulations to the team and their coaches. The boys’ team lost in a thrilling three set final (16-25, 27-26, 10-15) to Bellstone. It was a great match. The girls’ team finished first in their pool but lost in the semi-finals to Covenant-London. Well done teams and coaches. Thank you coaches (Miss Vis and Mrs. VanAmerongen, Mrs. VanBrederode and Mrs. Groen, and Mr. Hofsink) for your time and effort in coaching the teams. Next on the interschool tournament schedule, D.V., is basketball.
*Hockey for JCS students: Some parents (coaches) are once again starting up hockey for students in Grades 6-8. Sign-up sheets will be posted on Monday. The first scrimmage will be on Thursday, December 9 at 3:15 and then the following Friday, December 17 at 3:15. We are just waiting to hear back from Smithville arena with regards to protocols and ice time for the new year. Everything is subject to change. We will keep you posted.
*Picture retake day is on Monday, December 6.
*News and Views material is due on Monday, December 6.
*The Ladies Auxiliary is planning a Pizza Lunch for Wednesday, December 8. Yippee! No lunches to make. For those children with allergies, the Ladies Auxiliary will look after heating up/preparing food that they bring for lunch that day. Thank you very much Ladies Auxiliary!
*Winterfest: Successful online silent auction bids can be picked up today from 3:00-4:00 and then again from 7:00-8:00. If you need to make other arrangements for pick up you can email johncalvinonlineauction@gmail.com
*Lost and Found: If you are in the school at some point and time during the next two weeks, please check through the bin to see if any of your child(ren)’s missing paraphernalia is in it. What is left in the box on December 17 will be taken to the GBF, Bibles for Mission, or Value Village.
*Free Huntington Piano: All you need to do is pick it up from the school and transport it to your home. If you are interested, please give the school a call or email.
*Included with this week’s Chronicle is the fall issue of the LCRSS Newsletter, the Link. This issue includes an article, Giving Thanks for Gathering (on the unity we’ve been able to express, experience, and develop, albeit in different ways, during the ongoing COVID pandemic); committee updates from the Government Contact, CARE, and Compensation Committees; and the annual Directors’ report to the LCRSS Membership.
Reminders:
*For the Dutch folk in our community— Happy Sinterklaas on the 5th.
*You are invited to join us for the Christmas assembly on Friday morning, December 17 beginning at 11:00 a.m. in the gym. Please remember to follow the JCS return-to-school protocols.
*Friday, December 17 is a 2/3 day of school. Students will be dismissed at 12:00 and the buses will be leaving at 12:10. The Christmas break is scheduled for December 20 – December 31. The first day back in the new year is Monday, January 3.
Enjoy your weekend and may the Lord grant you a restful Sunday. We’ll touch base again in a week’s time, D.V.
G. Hofsink
Classroom News
Kindergarten
Exciting events happened in kindergarten this week! We celebrated the last student’s birthday! Now all our friends are 5 years old! We also celebrated the start of a new month: the month of December. There is a special emphasis this month on the gift of kindness because as a class we are remembering the greatest gift of kindness ever done on this earth: the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for us. Every day the students take one present off the classroom door and then they are presented with a kindness challenge. The first challenge was to make bookmarks for the students who use the library here at JCS and the second challenge was to thank the bus drivers for all their hard work. Next week we will have 5 more kindness challenges to complete! In Bible we have taken a break from learning about the Israelites in Egypt and are now focusing on the events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ. We learned about the angel visiting Zechariah and Mary as well as the birth of John the Baptist. In math we are continuing to learn how to identify and correctly write the numbers 0-10. In Science we are learning about the different types of weather that exist on the earth and how the Lord controls all of these types of weather. The students did an experiment this week when they learned about clouds. Perhaps you can ask your child what a cloud is made of and how rain/snow falls to the earth! Have a great weekend everyone. JB/SV
Grade 1
Both grade 1 classes wrote a Bible test this week. Look in the agenda bags for the marked tests. We are nearing the end of the first reading unit dealing with our Snap Shot readers. All of the students are making progress in their reading. Some are becoming quite fluent. Others still need to decode (sound out) many of the words. In our reader, other than the ‘tricky words’ which we teach separately, all of the stories are written in single syllable short vowel words. Students have begun to work with long vowel patterns in their Phonics workbooks and in their next reader, they will learn how to read long vowel words as well. Please give your children opportunities to read with you or to you. They love to show off what they are learning. Please look at the pages that we send home. Some of them will have the reader stories on them and your child should be able to read it to you. We have banished the ditch and other muddy places as play areas for the grade ones until the ground has a good hard frost. We were beginning to have to scrape away the mud after recesses to see who we were talking to 🙂 If your child borrowed socks from our spares bucket, can you make sure they eventually are returned to it?
Memory Work: Psalm 12:4, I Samuel 16:7B
Spelling/Sight Words: do, how, if, she, their
Grade 2
We’ve had another busy week in Grade 2! We have started a new unit in Church History about the worship service! The students are enjoying the stories about Nick and the many questions he has. This weekend the students in Grade 2B will be coming home with a mini assignment to do in church! Please fill out the purple sheet so the students can be more aware of what happens during the church service. In Social Studies we have been focusing on the globe and the different hot and cold regions around the world! We are going to start focusing on Nunavut more specifically in the next lessons! This week has been a very muddy week at school. Please continue to keep an extra pair of socks and/or clothes in your child’s backpack. Have a great weekend and a blessed Sunday! RG & BV
Grade 3
We have entered the month of December; time just flies. God in His providence led Jacob to Haran to be with his family. The Bible stories continue to teach us that God is firmly in control of everything. Mrs. Jolene Linde and her daughter Lauren came to teach us about the circulatory and respiratory system. The children were very interested in the presentation as well as learning about what a nurse does. Thank you very much for telling us about God’s amazing creation and our body systems, Mrs. and Lauren Linde. In math, we continue with subtraction with regrouping and practising our two times table. The children thoroughly enjoy the stories about Aladdin in our reading program. Tinting and shading keeps us busy in Art class. Ask us all about it. We are having great fun learning to navigate on scooter boards in gym class. That’s it for now….until we meet again. Blessings this weekend.
Memory work: Hymn 20:1,4 Text: Ps. 23:4-6
Spelling words: anyone, are, can’t, don’t, everybody
Thursday: Library books in new bag Friday: Mission $
Grade 4
Wednesday: Grade 4B Math Quiz: Geometry
Friday: Spelling Test: chased, moving, scored, laughing, dressed, taking, laughed, coming, used, racing, missed, making, pushed, until
Memory Work: Psalm 54:1/T: John 1:1-4
Upcoming Memory Work: Psalm 52:1
Grade 5
Where did November go?! Students have been asking this all week! We have been busy practicing our recorder, learning about the nutrients in our food, and reading fantasy stories in our World of Literature textbook. In Bible class, we are learning about the parables that Jesus told his followers. There will be a mid-unit test on this on Friday. Devotions for the week are as follows: 5A M. Aubrey, Tu. Nolan, W. Cohen, Th. Dylan, Fr. Audrey. and for 5B: M. Tanner, Tu. Joshua, W. Grayden, Th. Dayna, Fr. Austin. Have an enjoyable weekend! RK/KVL
Grade 6
Yes, the days are full of activities and there is not much time for relaxation, except during recess. But even then, many are involved in the ‘bump’ game. It is great to see how hard students work in their leisure time. 😊 When we are inside, we are busy talking and thinking about Bible stories. We have learned to see how the Lord was faithful to Abram, the Father of all believers. That gives hope to us as believers in our own time. The Bird project is slowly but surely coming together and we are looking forward to the time that the posters are finished and the results of the research we have done can be shared. It is amazing to see how suddenly the students have so much interest in where countries in the world are. We have been playing games to learn the concepts that are important in local trade, but also the international relationships with partners in the USA, Mexico and Japan. When we take the time to think of our full school days, we can only conclude that school is fun. We are also preparing to celebrate Christmas. This week one of the students said,” It is actually so sad that the Jews think that the Messiah still has to come. How lucky we are that we can celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.” When students discover this truth we congratulate the parents! The Lord blesses all the work you do to help your children see Him at work in their life! Have a blessed Advent time.CvA/IdeV
Grade 7A
In Phys. Ed., our new unit is, “low order co-operative games”; students have been placed in groups and will teach a lesson to their peers, while being evaluated by their teachers. Volley mania, ultimate basketball and dodging, speedy games are sure to be enjoyed. We learned what documentaries are and critiqued the, “Dear Mr. Watterson” documentary; next week we’ll begin to look for quality documents related to our topic of interest. Our bridge building assignment continues as we transition to the building phase. Enjoy your weekend.
Grade 7B
This week we wrapped up our last New France presentations as a group presented their ‘New France Monopoly’ board game. Students have enjoyed playing the game at recess all week! In Art class we continued our study of the elements of art with an investigation into movement. Students in Gr. 7 had a French and Math test this week. In P.E. we began a project where students are asked to teach their peers a specific cooperative game. Finally, in History we began a study into the ‘7 years war’ and how it was one of the world’s first experiences with a truly global conflict. Have a blessed weekend! Cheers, Mrs. Ludwig and Mr. J (p.s it’s Mrs. Ludwig’s birthday today!)
Grade 8
Only two weeks left until break! We will be finishing up our novel study on Tom Sawyer this week, and hope to spend the week before Christmas break working on the ceiling tiles. We will also count on a Church History Test to finish off the English Reformation, and a Ch. 5 math test next week.
Tues: HST Quiz Financial Literacy, Tom Sawyer Comprehension and Vocab Quiz 8A Ch. 19 – 28
Wed: Church History Test 8B, French Quiz Conjugation and vocab Review Ch. 4
Thurs: Church History Test 8A
Fri: Memory Work Romans 3: 21- 26, Hymn 40: 1
© 2015 Canadian Reformed School Society of Smithville and Surrounding District
