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 and salutations school community as we bring to a close Term One, and wrap-up a very short week of instruction at John Calvin School thanks to Monday’s PD Day, and the two snow days. It’s not too often that we get consecutive snow days.  Hopefully you had an enjoyable day1(s) playing in the snow, shovelling the snow, or just enjoying its picturesque beauty.  Time continues to march along swiftly with more than 50% of the school year now behind us.  We pray that the Lord will continue to bless the learning and teaching that takes place at John Calvin School on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis during the course of the second term.   

                Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with those who need the Lord in a special way, whether they are grieving, dealing with serious illness, or coping with difficult family situations.  We especially think of staff and students who have been away for an extended period of time.   It was good to see Mrs. VanAndel back at school again for part-days this week.   

The staff had a productive report card writing (teachers) and reading/signing (principal) PD Day on Monday. The staff is very appreciative of this day.  The Curriculum PD Day was cancelled but the staff plans to work on the vision, biblical framework, rationale and general aims for Mathematics over the course of the next few weeks.

   First term report cards were to be going home with the students this afternoon; however, they will be going home on Monday instead.  In-school Parent-Teacher conferences remain scheduled for Tuesday, February 8 and Thursday, February 10.  The schedule will be emailed to you later today or on Monday morning.  It is the same schedule that was used at the November conferences.  Please note that Mrs. VanEs is unable to conduct her conferences; however, Mrs. vanBrederode will be available to conduct the Grade 1B conferences in the school on both evenings.  If you are unable to make your conference, please let the school know in fairness to Mrs. vanBrederode.  Also. Mrs. VanAndel will be conducting her interviews via Google Meets.  Grade 6A parents can access Google Meets through the Grade 6B Google Classroom in order to book their conference.  Here again is the protocol that has been put in place for the conferences.  It is the same as the one that we had in place for Parent-Teacher Conferences in November.

 We congratulate Josh and Rachel Blokker with the birth of their son, Jericho Cornelius.  All is well with the baby, mom, dad and the rest of the family too.  Jericho is a brother for Kolten (Grade 2A) and Gabriella (Grade KA). (Our children all are gifts of God, our sons and daughters his reward—each one a blessing from the LORD, as heritage on us bestowed.  Psalm 127:3, BoP).  May the Lord provide Josh and Rachel with everything they need as they raise Jericho and the rest of their covenant children in the fear of his name. 

A few matters for your attention:

*Thanks again parents for keeping your children home if they are not well.  It helps to keep the overall absentee rate down.

*FYI, at the time of writing, we continue to wait for word from the PSIE (Private and Independent Schools) unit of the Ministry of Education about the availability of rapid tests.  Apparently there is a need for them everywhere.   

*Reminder to the Grade 8 students and their parents to complete the Grade 9 registration form and send it to the office at Guido.  Here is the link to the form:  https://forms.gle/HgnVUDnoikJsRv728   On Monday, February 7 Guido is planning to host a parent information evening for parents with children in Grades 6-8.  This meeting is especially helpful for parents whose oldest child will be entering Grade 9.  The Grade 8 Day at Guido, originally scheduled for Monday, February 14, has been rescheduled for sometime after the March break, probably in April. 

Reminders:

*The Ladies Auxiliary Soup Day, originally scheduled for Wednesday, February 2, has been rescheduled to Wednesday, March 2.   

*News and Views materials are due on Monday, February 14 and the magazine is scheduled for distribution on Sunday, February 20.

*Heritage/Flag Day is scheduled for Tuesday, February 15.  An afternoon assembly is planned where we hope to commemorate this special day in our country. 

*The annual February CARE Day, scheduled for February 18, has been cancelled because of restrictions that are still in place for larger gatherings. 

*Book Week is planned for the week of February 21 – 25.  The theme of the special week is READ, with genre subthemes for each day, e.g. Historical Fiction on Tuesday.  Some of the activities planned for the week include:  journeying across the map of Canada with the number of books read by all the students in the school (a total of 5,514 books will need to be read), D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read), Book Bingo for Grades K-4, Book Trivia/Jeopardy for Grades 5-8, book character dress-up day on February 24. 

     Have an enjoyable weekend, enjoy the copious amount of snow, and may the Lord grant you a blessed Sunday.  We hope to touch base again next week Friday.

                                                                                                                    G. Hofsink

Grade 1

The children are having plenty of snow to play in during their recess breaks and they love it!  Mittens tend to get quite wet after the morning recess, especially if they are the knitted or flannel kind.  If you can, please send them with waterproof mittens or gloves and perhaps an extra set so that they can enjoy playing during their lunch break as well.  We have the children pack up their wet outdoor things right after the lunch break and that is best done in a bag separate from their backpacks.  It would be really helpful if you could pack an extra one with them each morning.  We quickly run out of extras at school.  If you have spare bags at home, we would love a donation.  Valentine’s Day is coming up soon.  We usually begin our day on that morning, by handing out cards.  If your child would like to participate in handing out cards, we ask that you provide cards for each of the children in the class (Self made cards are great!  Purchased cards are not required.)  both classes hope to write a test on their unit about Living Things later in the week (likely Thursday).  Barring any more snow days, we hope to celebrate 100 days of school learning near the end of this month.  Memory Work:  Hymn 11:1,  Text:  Psalm 8:1  due Feb. 11Spelling/Sight Words are in the agendas. 

Grade 3

We thank the Lord for restoring health to our classrooms.  His mercies are new every morning.  Great is His faithfulness. In our Church History Unit, we finished off our Church Life unit with a test.  Well done, boys and girls!  May we continue to pray for God’s Church and that she may remain true to His Word. We turn now to another Bible unit dealing with Joseph.  You can find these stories in Genesis 37 and the following chapters.Science was all about magnetism.  Ask us how it is an invisible force that works at a distance. Our Stone Fox postures are finished and yes we learned a lot about advertising.Great job grade three!And just a reminder to practice your spelling words every night.  This shows responsibility and gives glory to God.Your child’s report went home today.  Please take the time to read it with your child.   Thank you. Please return the envelope on Monday. That’s it for now.Have a blessed weekend!
WORDS:  about, especially, except, friendly, knew, new, know, no, myself, really, probably, then, usually, what

MEMORY WORK:  Hymn 11:2,3TEXT:  Psalm 32:1,2Library books in the library bag on Thursday.Mission $ and Dictation on Friday.

Grade 5

A P.D. Day and two snow days made for a short week, but we hope you enjoyed the extra time off! We hope to finish off reading and to begin our dioramas for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe next week. If you have any shoeboxes at home, please send them in next week so we can use them for the dioramas. If you have more than one that you are able to part with, we would appreciate those as well. Thank you in advance! We are continuing to work our way through our unit on cells, and we are constantly amazed by God’s handiwork in the microscopic world of creation. Devotions for next week are as follows: 5A – M. Gideon, Tu. Timothy, W. Noah, Th. Paige, F. Thomas; 5B – M. Austin, Tu. Trevin, W. Jakob, Th. Jasmine, F. Ryder. We look forward to seeing you next week at parent-teacher conferences. Have a wonderful weekend! RK/KV

Grade 6

The days that we were at school  this week were full of activities. Several tests were done and the teaching could happen. We are very thankful that Mrs. Van Andel is back for a couple of hours every day. Mrs. Oosterhoff is teaching the second part of the day and we are very thankful for that too. Grade 6A could not celebrate her birthday yet, but that may happen in the week to come. pray that all the activities will be continued next week. Please check the agendas for the tests that are planned so students will prepare properly. We also ask your attention for the Mission Money that is collected every Friday. Sometimes we forget that mission work is very important and all small money in the end makes a lot. The important part is that students learn to think of others and take part in furthering the Gospel in the many ways that are given.We hope to see you at our parent teacher interviews on Tuesday or Thursday.May you all have a blessed and safe weekend!CvA/IdeV

Grade 7A

Today the Semester 1 reports go home; please review your child’s report with them focusing not so much on percentages as on their God given ability. Next week we hope to begin our “Public Speaking” unit in L.A. This unit is typically enjoyed by students and is a nice change from the “ordinary” L.A. curriculum.  We’ll be doing more hands-on activities in Science as we look to apply what we’ve learned so far about thermal energy and heat technology, specifically, warming and cooling. The first part of 2 Samuel has highlighted King David’s military achievements and securing of the kingship, next will follow his fall into grievous sin and the results of that sin played out in his family. Indeed, God is merciful but we do live with the consequences of our sin. Enjoy your weekend.  

Grade 7B

Let it snow! An interesting week in 7B. Monday was a PD day. Several students were absent Tuesday and Wednesday, and then back to back Snow Days. Our History Test that we scheduled for this week is pushed to next Tuesday/Wednesday. Memory Work will also be pushed to next week. Students can still expect to hand in their Geography and Music assignments next week as well. Have a blessed weekend! Cheers, Mr. J and Mrs. L