General News

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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.

Good day readership on this snowy Friday morning (and snow day #4) as we bring to a close another busy week of learning and teaching at John Calvin School.  May our good and gracious God continue to provide the students and staff with all they need for their respective tasks during the next three weeks leading up to the March Break.

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 Mrs. VanEs who continues to be on sick leave.  Thanks again, Mrs. vanBrederode, for stepping in and teaching Grade 1B in her absence.  We also think of one of our students, Rylee VanderHoeven, who will be undergoing ear surgery today.  We pray that the desired outcome for the surgery will be achieved. 

With thanks to the Lord, we can report that one of our staffing needs has been met.  Mr. Tim Breukelman has been re-hired to fill the teacher opening in Grade 6B.  Welcome back Mr. Breukelman!  At the time of writing, we are still in need of two grade one teachers, and an EA.  We pray that the Lord will provide for our remaining staffing needs in due time.

A few matters for your attention:

*The News and Views was scheduled for distribution this Sunday but because of today’s snow day paper copies of the magazine will be delayed until Sunday, February 27. 

*This past Tuesday, we celebrated the 57th anniversary of the Canadian Flag with a virtual assembly (students and staff were treated to a Canadian film classic, Paddle to the Sea, as part of the assembly), and throughout the school the colours of our flag were evident.

*The annual February CARE Day was cancelled because of restrictions that are still in place for larger gatherings.  That is why we were going to have a regular school day today, until the snow day was called.

*The students in Grades 7&8 continue to prepare for the bi-annual Speech and Poetry Recitation contest.  The in-school competition is scheduled for the week of February 28 and the regional competition is scheduled for the week of March 7.  All the best, students, whether you are delivering a speech or reciting a poem.

*Tryouts for the JCS basketball teams begin next week Thursday.  Students in Grade 8 will have opportunity to try out for either the girls’, boys’, or co-ed teams.  The coaches for the three teams are:  Miss Vis (girls), Mr. Hofsink (co-ed), Mr. Joosse & Mr. Witten (boys).  The tournament is scheduled for Friday, March 25.

*The Toonies for Anchor campaign to raise awareness for the needs of the Anchor Association and to learn more about our five Anchor Homes, is scheduled for the weeks of February 28 – March 4 and March 7 – 10.  The little envelopes will be sent home at the beginning of the first week of the campaign and all students are encouraged to donate a toonie (or more) in support of our special needs brothers and sisters.  The students will have until Thursday, March 10 to return their envelopes.  Thank you in advance, children, for participating in this fundraising activity.

Reminders:

*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:  Graphic Novels on Tuesday, Non-Fiction on Wednesday, Fantasy on Thursday, and Teacher’s Choice on Friday.  Activities planned for the week include:

• Journeying across Canada from east to west, illustrated by footprints representing the number of books read by all the students in the school (a total of 5,514 books will need to be read).  This will be a two-week event, February 22 – March 4.

• D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read)- every day from 1:00 – 1:20

• Book Character Dress-Up Day on Thursday, February 24

• Book Bingo for Grades K-4 and Book Trivia/Jeopardy for Grades 5-8

*Barring more snow days, we hope to celebrate (along with Grade 1) 100 Day the week of February 28.  We look forward to seeing all the little centenarians in and around the school.

*Just a reminder that the school is still collecting can tabs for wheelchairs.

*March Break is from March 14 to March 18.  The first day of the break is actually Friday, March 11 and the first day back after the break is Monday, March 21. 

Enjoy your extra-long, Family Day weekend everyone and have a blessed day of worship.  We hope to touch base again in a week’s time.                G. Hofsink

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Classroom News

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Kindergarten

It was a very short week in kindergarten this week with the snow days and canceled days due to illness. Thank you to Mrs. VandenOever and Mrs. Groen who were able to help in the kindergarten classroom while Mrs. Visser was unable to be with us. The short weeks means that we are a bit behind in our math and language arts curriculum. If you look at the calendar, we are a fully day behind which means we will be learning the letter sounds for w and v. In math we will be continuing to learn about addition and different ways we can represent addition sentences. Next week also is book week. I will be sending out an email explaining how this week works sometime this weekend. Enjoy the snow and extra long weekend. JB/SV

Grade 1

Both Grade 1 classes have written a number of tests lately…. meaning that we have completed some of our units of study.  Most notably, we have finished a very comprehensive unit about long vowels in our Phonics lessons.  Once children have grasped the idea of long vowels, for many of them, they will really begin to gain confidence as readers.  For some, we will need to provide extra support because this is a very difficult concept for them to grasp.  We continue to work with long vowel patterns in our Reading program as well.  In Bible, we will continue with the stories about David as the LORD prepares him for kingship.  Both classes having fun learning how maps can be very helpful tools to picture the world around them.  Our celebration of 100 days of school is just around the corner.  The children should be planning for Show and Tell featuring their collections of 100 things.  (In the past, we have seen 100 pairs of socks, 100 piece lego sets or puzzles, 100 collector cards, 100 candies, 100 fishy crackers, 100 pennies, 100 stuffies.  Since 100 day will likely coincide with Book week, 100 books or books with 100 pages might also be appropriate Show and Tell artifacts.)  More info will be forthcoming in next week’s Chronicle.  Day 100 will likely fall on February 28 or March 1. 

Memory Work:  Psalm 132:6,  Psalm 119:105

Spelling/Sight words:  call, car, find, now, who

Grade 2

Grade 2 has had a very busy week in completing and/or beginning new units. In Bible class, we have finished our unit on Christ’s Suffering, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. Next week, we will turn our focus to a Church History unit again, this time with a focus on People from all Times and Places. We’ll be starting by learning about the work of John Chrysostom as a preacher. In our Social Studies, we’ve really begun to delve into learning about the country of Zimbabwe. We’ll be comparing and contrasting what we learn with what we know about Nunavut. We have also done some assessments in our Language Arts, and will turn our attention next week to a novel study unit on Nate the Great. This is a super exciting novel study, and we plan to wrap it up before the March break with a Detective Day. You’ll hear more about that as the date approaches! That’s all for now. Please enjoy the extra long weekend with your families! BV/RG

Grade 3

Greetings to you all!  It’s been a good week! On Tuesday, we celebrated Flag and Heritage Day. Thanks to Mrs. Poort and Miss Broersma for organizing the activities and powerpoint presentation. May the Lord continue to bless Canada. Math is all about division and sharing equally. Ask us about dividends, divisors, and quotients.What is a circuit? Ask us about the one we put together.Our visual texture monsters are done!  Well done boys and girls! Just a heads up…next week is Book Week. On Thursday, it is dress up as a favourite book character. More information to follow.

Memory Work:  How Deep The Father’s Love For Us

Psalm 84:1; Text:  10 plagues

Words:  governor, something, sometimes, one, won

Library books on Thursday in the LIBRARY bag.

Mission $ and dictation and memory work on Friday.

Grade 4

Grade 4B, will have a Math test at some time next week. More information will come in the agendas.

Friday: Grade 4A French quiz (topic: the verb “porter” which means “to wear”)

Spelling Words: she’s, you’re, wore, someone, we’re, born, won’t, storm, everyone, fort, nothing, forgot, twelve, doesn’t

Memory Work: Psalm 9:4,5/Psalm 121:5-8

Upcoming Memory Work: Psalm 30:1

Grade 5

We finished our Science unit about cells this week, and although it was fairly short, we learned quite a lot about what cells are made of and got a taste of what heredity is all about. We stand in awe of God’s amazing work in creating each one of us uniquely. We have now moved back to Social Studies, and we will be studying Ancient Egypt for the next number of weeks. Grade 5B is just wrapping up our unit on two-digit divisors (test on Tuesday), and we will be moving on to Chapter 6, “Multiplying and Dividing Decimals”. It took some hard work, but the students ended up doing quite well with long division, and we look forward to a little bit of a simpler unit when we do Chapter 6. Our dioramas for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe are looking really good, and they are nearing completion. When they are finished, we will be switching back to World of Literature, where we will study Theme 5: Growing and Changing. Although next week is a short week, it will be quite full with different activities for Book Week that we are looking forward to! Devotions for next week are as follows:

5A – Tu. Cohen, W. Nolan, Th. Aubrey, F. Teagen 

5B – Tu. Reece, W. Tara, Th. Lilly, F. Victoria

Have a great long weekend! RK/KV

Grade 6

For the coming week a few great things we hope to work on:                   1. FAMILY DAY: we ponder about how we can be a blessing in our families. The students know a lot about how to help  in the shaping of a blessed family. May you see the result as parents.

2. We hope to celebrate BOOK WEEK. We count on many opportunities to read and expand our knowledge. It is important to know that we have a DEAR period every afternoon. DEAR stands  for:DropEverythingAndRead. That will be a great time every afternoon from 1:00 till 1:20. There will be a friendly contest in class but also school-wide. Worthwhile to participate.

3. The Easter Concert program: we are growing in understanding the words and the messages of the Easter songs. We wish you a blessed weekend as you may think about this phrase:Death is dead…….How we can long for the return of our Saviour! Children too understand this very well! CvA/IdV

Grade 7A

This past week we constructed and tested our energy barriers in Science. The task was to keep 200ml of hot water, hot for twenty minutes by slowing down the transfer of heat energy. Although his sins are forgiven, David continues to live with the effects of his sin; the sword will not depart from his family. He has returned to Jerusalem after the failed coup by his son Absalom. Next will be Sheba and Adonijah’s revolt, a census, followed by David’s last will and death. Our Public Speaking unit has begun in L.A.. Of course, the best way to get better at public speaking is to do it; ask your child how they are progressing in the art. Enjoy your long weekend.

Grade 7B

This week we wrapped up our first geometry unit in Math with a test on Chapter 9. Students should be bringing them home early next week to be signed and returned to school. Our Bible lessons continue with David re-establishing his kingdom after Abslom tried to take it from him. We have seen that God punished David for his sins, but also ensures that he is victorious so that His plan for salvation through David’s line will be carried out. In Language Arts we have moved on to our Public Speaking unit which will include preparations for the poetry and speech contest. Have a great weekend and enjoy your Family Day!  MJ and AL