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.

Greetings and salutations from the school everyone, as we bring the first week of April to a close. May our good and gracious God continue to provide students and staff with all they need during the busyness of concert week. This coming Sunday also marks the beginning of the Passion Week, wherein we remember the events leading up to and including the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

In a recent Cornerstone church bulletin, Pastor Darren Feenstra shared this quotation from John Calvin in one of his Institutes.  I thought it was fitting to our concert theme and Easter. 

“When we see salvation whole—and every single part—is found in Christ, we must beware lest we derive the smallest drop from somewhere else.  If we seek salvation, the very name of Jesus teaches us that he possesses it.  If other Spirit-given gifts are sought—in his anointing they are found.  If strength—in his reign; purity—in his conception; tenderness—expressed in his nativity, when he was made like us in all respects, that he might learn to feel our pain. Redemption when we seek it, is in his passion found; acquittal—in his condemnation lies; and freedom from the curse—in his cross is known. If satisfaction for our sins we seek—we’ll find it in his sacrifice; and cleansing in his blood. If reconciliation now we need, for this he entered Hades; if mortification of our flesh—then in his tomb it’s laid; and newness of our life—his resurrection brings; and immortality as well comes also with that gift. And if we also long to find heaven’s kingdom our inheritance, his entry there secures it now with our protection, safety too, and blessings that abound— all flowing from his kingly reign.  The sum of all for those who seek such a treasure-trove of blessings, these blessings of all kinds, from nowhere else can now be drawn than him; they’re found in Christ alone.  (Institutes 2.16.19)

May the Lord continue to provide for those in our community who need him in a special way; be it those who are sick, are dealing with difficult family situations, or those who are grieving the recent death of a loved one.   

Staffing News:  We thank and praise the Lord that Miss Kelsie VanderVeen has been hired to teach Grade 1A for 2022-2023.  This means that one more staff opening, in the intermediate division, needs to be filled. Welcome on board the JCS team, Miss VanderVeen!

The students and staff are looking forward to presenting our school concert, Christ the King Conquered the Cross. After a rehearsal in the Smithville church on Tuesday morning, the school will put on a matinee performance on Wednesday, April 13 beginning at 1:00 p.m. The concert will be completed in time for the students to take the buses home. For the matinee performance, students will not be required to wear their JCS t-shirt. The second concert is on Thursday evening, April 14 beginning at 7:30.  May the Lord bless the efforts of the children, the director, and the accompanists/musicians as they continue to prepare for the performances.

For the Thursday evening performance, parents are requested to bring their children to the school by 7:20, and pick them up again from their respective classrooms immediately after the concert. It would also be good for the students to wear short-sleeved shirts for the evening performance as it will be quite warm at the front of the church. We also have a request for Grades 6-8 parents to help bring the risers from the church into the school gym after Thursday evening’s performance. The students will look after putting them away in the storage on Tuesday, April 19. Thank you in advance for your cooperation in these matters. FYI, there will be no KA class on Thursday of next week.

Just a reminder that there are still a number of rapid test kits at the school. If you would like a box or a partial box, please contact the school and arrange to pick one up.

This week Wednesday, we celebrated BLUE DAY in recognition of World Autism Awareness Month.  It was a fun day, especially for Grade 2A who got to wear specially made t-shirts (made by some staff of JCS, including their teacher) for the occasion because Gavin N is their classmate. Gavin thoroughly enjoyed himself as well.  Check out the class picture on the school’s Instagram page.

A few matters for your attention:

*Thank you very much JCS Ladies’ Auxiliary for the delicious Pancake Lunch we could enjoy on Wednesday.  It was very much appreciated by the students, staff and parents.

*Yesterday, the JCS hockey team participated in the annual Hamilton Christian Schools hockey tournament co-hosted by Guido de Bres Christian high school.  After losing their first game by a considerable margin, they lost the next two as well but by much close scores (5-3 and 6-5).  Good effort boys!  Thank you Mrs. Nobel for organizing, and Mr. J. Tenhage and Mr. R. Tenhage for coaching the hockey team. It was much appreciated. 

*Dr. Jongsma continues with his time of observation and participation in the teaching/learning process at JCS.  Next week he will be in Grade 2A.    

*The annual Spring Food Drive for West Lincoln Community Care wraps up next week Thursday.  Please consider making a donation to the drive at some point and time during the next two weeks.  Thanks to all who have participated thus far. 

*Mr. Joosse and Mr. Hofsink, along with a board member or two, are participating in the Teach With Us Canada National Strategy which is taking place today at Cornerstone Canadian Reformed Church in Hamilton. The objective of the meeting is to determine a strategy for how to attract more career teachers to teach in our schools. 

*For the first time in a couple of years, Mrs. Tesfaye, Mrs. VanAmerongen and the Grade 8 students are off to Guido de Bres Christian high school on Monday, April 11 to participate in Grade 8 Day.

*Hike for Hospice:  We are planning to once again participate in this annual event, this time in the form of a whole school hike; like we did pre-covid.  A staff ad-hoc committee has been in communication with McNally House and we are planning a kick-off assembly on Tuesday afternoon, April 19.  The hike is scheduled for the afternoon of May 6, the same day as the Open House. 

*What follows is a message from Mrs. Danyse VanDam regarding summer soccer:

Hello everyone!

It’s the time of year where I start thinking about summer soccer and sending out forms for teams, etc.  I have been organizing this for approximately eight years and I believe it is time for a fresh face and some new ideas! 

Please let me know if running the summer soccer program this year is a good fit for you!  If this is something that you would like to do, I would be happy to help you get started before handing over the ropes.

Reminders:

*Good Friday is on April 15 and Easter Monday on April 18. 

*Mid-term progress reports (by request): Parents, if you would like to receive a progress report about your child, please contact your child’s teacher on or by Friday, April 22.  Requested reports will be sent home on April 28.  

*The Spring Membership meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 27.

Enjoy you weekend and have a blessed Sunday.  We’ll touch base again next week Thursday, D.V.        G. Hofsink

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Classroom News

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Kindergarten

What an exciting week in kindergarten! First we had a whole school Easter concert rehearsal, followed by blue day, pancake day and crafts with Grade 3A/4A. Thanks so much to the Ladies Auxiliary for providing the students and staff alike with a delicious, tasty lunch. Thank you also to the Grade 3/4 students who helped the students make a spring craft. We look forward to completing these crafts next week!  Here is the schedule for next week:

Monday: a regular KA day. Special helper: Grayson G

Tuesday: KA/KB day combined due to the dress rehearsal for the Easter Concert

Wednesday: KA/KB day combined. Matinee concert in the afternoon beginning at 1:00pm

Thursday: no school for both classes!  Evening concert begins at 7:30pm.

Friday: Good Friday – no school.

Have a blessed weekend. JB/SV

Grade 1

It’s hard to believe that in a week we will be celebrating Good Friday and Easter. The children have worked hard to learn their songs for the program and it is a pleasure to hear them sing.  For this week, perhaps we could have the children sing psalm 122 at home and at school. We will pick up our regular Memory Work program again the following week. Both classes will be finished their phonics book by the time you are reading this. (Grade 1A will do their last test on Monday). We will be using the additional class time to really dig into the activities connected to our reading program including a few more listening and learning activities which help support Oral Communication learning.  The playground is still quite muddy and wet, so if your child has them, rubber boots are a good footwear option for school.  (So are splash pants.)  For Thursday evening’s Easter program, the children should aim to be at school around 7:15. 

Song Practice:  Psalm 122

Spelling/Sight Words:  run, tell, us, went, why

Grade 2

We’re getting very excited about our Easter concert next week! Several gym practices have been held and next week we look forward to the performances! Please see elsewhere in the Chronicle for information about the logistics. We’ve had a case of ‘mistaken invite’ to a birthday party this week. If your child is hosting a party, perhaps it would be helpful to email us with the guest list so we can send the right children in your direction. 😊 Grade 2 really enjoyed blue day this week in honor of children that are on the autism spectrum. May we all celebrate our God created differences! In Church History we will be completing our unit on Characters in Church History by studying John Calvin. After Easter we will continue in Bible History. Grade 2A will be welcoming Dr. Martin Jongsma to the classroom this coming week. We pray that his time with us will be fruitful! That’s all for this week! Have a blessed weekend. BV/RG

Grade 3

Bonjour et ca va? It’s been another busy week at JCS! Thanks for all the food items that were brought in for the FOOD DRIVE! Another BIG thank you to the ladies auxiliary for the yummy pancake lunch on Wednesday.  We are so spoiled at John Calvin! We also dressed up in blue on Wednesday.  Ask your child why? In our Bible classes, we are nearing the end of the unit.  Stay tuned for the test. Science continues to be about heat and the transfer of it.  Ask us what convection is all about. We’re so thankful for the gift of heat.  Our God continues to care for us. That’s it for now. Have a blessed weekend.

Spelling Words: another. confusion, I’m, its, it’s, question, that’s, threw, through, vacation, we’re, wear, where, with

Memory Work:  Psalm 65:1

Easter Program Song:  O Praise The Name

Text:  Exodus 20:12-17

Library books on Thursday.

Mission $ and Spelling Dictation on Friday.

Grade 4

Thank you to the ladies who made the delicious pancakes for us on Wednesday. We look forward to the Easter Program next week. Have a restful weekend. YF/KO

Tuesday: Grade 4A Bible Test (Kings of Judah, part 2)

Thursday: Spelling Test, Hymn 6:2/Matthew 6:19-21

Spelling Words: minutes, girl, hours, wall, guys, turned, cousins, hello, first, told, both, owner, bats, months, grams

Grade 5

Thank you very much to the Ladies’ Auxiliary for the delicious pancakes on Wednesday! We will be having our final quest for our unit on Ancient Egypt on Thursday. It will cover Lessons 8-10 (religion, death and the afterlife, and architecture). We hope to do one more activity to wrap up the unit, and then we will be moving back into Science! We’re continuing through the final events of Jesus’ life in Bible, which coincides very well with Easter coming up. What an amazing and loving Saviour we have! With that in mind, we also look forward to the concerts next week. We hope to see many of you Wednesday and Thursday!

Devotions for next week are as follows:

5A – M. Augie, Tu. Gideon, W. Caleb, Th. Timothy

5B – M. Dayna, Tu. Austin, W. Trevin, Th. Jakob

Have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Sunday! RK/KV

Grade 6

During the past two weeks our students have been learning about very basic things in science. Matter, atoms, elements and how scientists have learned to make compounds with elements the Lord has created. We have seen how copper and silver oxidize because of the oxygen that is all around us. We are so thankful for the possibilities we have to teach by using YouTube videos. Many times we have been amazed by the details in God’s Creation in the basic elements around us. We were not even aware of God’s great care and power. School is a fantastic way to grow in faith. We learned Psalm 78 and parts of Deuteronomy 32 and we have learned to “speak to the coming generations” about what we have learned about the Lord. Using a video to hear a person tell us the Easter story in French was impressive! In every tongue and nation this glorious Gospel will be heard! Preparations for the Easter concert reveal again to us what the Lord has done on the cross and by His resurrection. We really hope that you come to share in the message the “He is a good and gracious King!” CvA/IdeV

Grade 7A

It doesn’t seem fair that the Math class should move on to inequalities and equations in our next chapter, but our overall positive experience with integers has come to an end. Our Independent Study has assigned a difficult task; read a journal article, white paper, about our topic and summarize it using the annotated bibliography format. We are making an impression in our Art lesson as we learn about printmaking, specifically the intaglio method. We will choose the image we wish to print and transfer it to our ink plate. Things are heating up in Science as we plan, design and construct our own energy transfer system. Enjoy your weekend.

Grade 7B

What busy and productive week! Easter concert practice continued this week and students are sounding so lovely! Thank you to our director, musicians and all those working hard to put the program together. We look forward to preforming for an audience next week! We finished up chapter 6 in math last week so test should have come home to be signed and returned. Our study of The Hobbit continues as well as our look into the reformation in Switzerland. By the grace of God, Zwingli is able to work with the city council to enact some big changes in Zurich! Have a great weekend! AL, MJ

Grade 8

Next week is a busy one. Monday we are visiting Guido for High School Day. We will leave from school once all the buses are here, and will be having a pizza lunch at Guido and return to school before the end of the day. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be filled with business with the concert. We look forward to seeing parents and grandparents, friends and family at the matinee on Wednesday or the Thursday evening concert. We wish all of you a Blessed Easter break as well.

Thursday: Math Test Geometry – Chapter 8 (AM), surface area of spheres, distance and midpoint on coordinate planes.

Memory work for next week: Psalm 48: 3, Philippians 4: 4-7