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.
Good Friday morning on Thursday readership as we bring another week, and month, of instruction to a close at JCS. Wow! We are already at the end of April and that means that only 20% remains of the 2021-2022 school year. We pray for the Lord’s continued blessing and guidance as we prepare to carry on with a new month of learning and teaching in his service.
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. In this regard, we think of the employees and management of Janco Steel (who employ many from our school community) as they had to deal with a workplace death earlier this week. May the Lord be near to them and comfort them, especially the family of the man who died.
It was good to get together (for the first time in 2½ years) at Wednesday’s Spring Membership meeting. We are thankful that another budget could be passed. It was good to receive an update from Mr. J. Wynia about the Teach With Us Canada (T.W.U.C.) program to attract more career teachers for our Reformed, Christian schools; especially in light of this year’s shortage and its impact on our schools, including JCS (where we need to put together the two grade six classes to make one grade seven class for the 2022-2023 school year). Please encourage the young men and women in our community to take the call to be a teacher in our schools. It is a beautiful vocation.
Several staff members (Miss J. Breukelman, 25 years; Miss K. Vanderlaan, 5 years; and Miss D. Aalbers, 5 years) could be recognized for their years of service in the teaching profession. In his remarks, the chairman also made mention of the fact that two of our staff members will be going on maternity leave at the end of the current year and four staff members will either be (re)retiring, moving on to other schools, or returning to school. May the Lord continue to bless our students, our staff, our supporting community, and the work of the board and its committees.
Staffing News: The board has appointed Miss Kendra VanderLaan as the new Vice-Principal (20%). Congratulations, Miss VanderLaan.
We congratulate Mr. and Mrs. Elgersma with the birth of grandchild #8, Alison Ruth Elgersma. She is the third child for Blake and Samantha. All is well with mom and baby, and the rest of the family too. May the Lord provide them with all they need to raise their children in the fear of his Name.
A few matters for your attention:
*Mid-term progress reports (on a needs basis) went home today. If you would like a follow-up conference with your child’s teacher, please contact the teacher and she/he will arrange one with you one day after school, if they haven’t already done so.
*Curriculum PD Day tomorrow. Students can enjoy a day at home while the staff will be busy with professional development work, i.e. Mathematics and follow-up to the School Culture presentation which was given at the combined staff/ed com/board meeting at the end of March.
*Dr. Jongsma continues with his six weeks of observation and participation in the teaching/learning process at John Calvin School. Next week, he will be spending time in Grade 7A with Mr. Witten.
*Hike for Hospice: We are looking forward to the McNally House Hike for Hospice scheduled for next week Friday. We pray for good weather so that we can hold our walk. Pledge forms for the hike went home last week with the students. We encourage all participants that the pledge sheets be filled, and don’t hesitate to seek out the support of your neighbours—they are often quite willing to give to such a cause and in this way it doesn’t always come out of the same pockets. The hike is scheduled for the afternoon of May 6, the same day as the Open House. We plan to follow the same route through town like we did, pre-covid. In this way, all walkers will be using sidewalks thus making for a safer hike. Those who are participating in the walk are encouraged to wear their John Calvin School t-shirt or a McNally House t-shirt received from a previous walk. Parents and grandparents are also welcome to join us on the hike, but no pets please. Parents, please let your child’s teacher know if you are planning to walk with them. This will be the 13th year that JCS will be participating in the Hike for Hospice, D.V.
*The planned route for the Hike for Hospice is as follows (Grades 5-8 hike the route twice): Station Street to St. Catharines Street (we will cross to the right side of the street at the Canborough Street lights); we will turn right at the Townline traffic circle and follow Townline to Rock Street; we will turn right on Rock Street, then right on Davis Street, and left on Ellis Street; we will take the path from Ellis Street to Canborough Street; we will cross at the Canborough lights once again and then head back to the school via St. Catharines and Station Streets. Grade departure times are as follows:
Grade 5 12:20 Grade 1 12:50
Grade 6 12:25 Grade 2 12:55
Grade 7 12:30 Grade 3 1:00
Grade 8 12:35 Grade 4 1:05
Grade K 12:40
McNally House Walk Notes:
*Please collect all money before handing in the pledge forms.
*Please fill in the correct names and addresses (no Oma or Opa).
*Please fill in the T-Shirt form.
*Do NOT return pledge forms and money until after the walk.
*Speaking of the Open House, it is scheduled for Friday morning, May 6, from 8:15 – 11:30. A lunch will be served for the grandparents/seniors by the Ladies Auxiliary beginning at 11:30. A few items for your attention regarding the Open House:
*Baseball practices (tryouts) for the boys’ and girls’ teams began today. Six grade seven boys have been added to round out the team. Practices continue every Monday and Thursday after school from 2:50 – 4:00 until tournament time on May 28.
Reminders:
*Pet Show and Tell: We would like to remind parents that if their son or daughter would like to show and tell a pet, they need to contact their child’s teacher at least a day or two in advance. Bringing in a pet the day of does not allow for any preparation on the part of the teacher. Thanks for your cooperation in this matter.
*Please continue to be wary of ticks.
*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.
*Final notice: what follows is a note from Mrs. Joelene Ravensbergen in regards to guitar lessons at JCS for 2022-2023:
Hello parents,
Registration is now open for guitar lessons at school for the 2022/2023 school year! Please contact Joelene Ravensbergen for more information. Call/text (905) 719 5797, or email trueblueguitarstudio@gmail.com
Have a good weekend everyone and a blessed Sunday. Until next week Friday, D.V.
G. Hofsink
Classroom News
Kindergarten
It was a shortened week at JCS with Friday set aside for a Professional Development Day for the teachers. In Bible we continued to learn about the life of David, how he became king and how the Lord was continually with him. Next week, we will be learning about Elijah and King Ahab. In math, we continued to learn about teen numbers rather than starting a new unit on subtraction. This new unit will start on Monday. In science we are starting a new unit on plants, the parts of a plant and what plants need to survive.
Schedule for next week:
Monday: SH – Max
Tuesday: SH – Gavin
Wednesday: KB DAY ONLY
Thursday: SH – Colton
Friday: SH – KA/KB DAY. Open house and McNally Walk
Have a great weekend.
Grade 1
Starting next week, both grade one classes will be working in our new reader: The Green Fern Zoo. All of the readers are enjoyable, but this one is especially fun for the children because it is all about animals. The stories are great and the illustrations are spectacular. The classes are at different places in the Math book, but both are starting to move along quickly with the lessons. Sometimes we do one and a half or two lessons a day. We are beginning a new unit in Bible. These are stories about the Israelites in exile and finally their return to the land of promise. During the last months of school, we will be tackling the Church History stories. We are looking forward to our hiking afternoon on Friday. Because of all the extra activities on Friday, we will begin asking children to sing it for us on Thursday.
Memory Work: Hymn 44:1 (Thursday) Revelation 17:7 (May 13)
Spelling/Sight Words: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, would
Grade 2
We finished another short week of school! We are wrapping up a lot of our units and look forward to starting new ones next week. This week, we continued working through the book of Acts and heard stories about the first deacons, Stephen’s trial and death, and Philip and the Ethiopian. The highlight for the students this week is the news that we are going on a field trip to Ripley’s Aquarium in connection with our next Science unit on animals! We have had an overwhelming response to the parent chaperone sheet! We would love to take everyone but numbers are limited so we will be choosing three parents from each class. They will be picked at random; we’ve been telling the students we will be putting them in a hat! We will let you know next week, who is coming along. Have a great weekend and a blessed Sunday! RG&BV
Grade 3
Hello dear parents. It has been a short and busy week. In Church History, we are nearing the end of learning about Rev. Hendrik deCock and hope to have a test next week. Please check the agenda for this. The children did very well on their Science Test, and are looking forward to learning about Communities in Social Studies. What makes a bird a bird? Ask us all about it. Mrs. Breukelman and Miss B. taught Art in both classes; however, it is all very TOP SECRET! Thank you so much for helping us in Art. Mrs. B. and Miss B.! We are looking forward to seeing you at the OPEN HOUSE, parents and grandparents. Lord willing, we will walk for the McNally House in the afternoon. Please consider coming along to supervise. Jot us a line in your child’s agenda. Thank you in advance. Have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Sunday.
Memory work: Ps. 77:5 Text: Joshua 24:15 (two weeks)
Spelling words: weather, whether, were
Library, Memory work and Spelling test on Thursday
Friday: OPEN HOUSE, mission $
Grade 4
Grade 4B will be having a math test about fractions sometime next week. Please keep an eye on the agendas for further information about this. We hope that the students enjoyed their trip to the farm today. We were able to observe some of the concepts that we have been discussing in science class in a real life context. We look forward to Open House next week when we will be able to welcome some visitors to our classroom. If you are willing to walk along with the Grade 4 class on the McNally walk next Friday afternoon, please let one of the Grade 4 teachers know. We would appreciate your help with this. Thank you!
Spelling words: sound, turn, mountain, which, count, others, allowed, fur, about, suit, clouds, bird’s, west, man’s, bounce
Memory work: Psalm 79:1/Philippians 2:8b-11
Upcoming memory work: Psalm 11:1
Grade 5
This past week marked the start of our Church History units where we see how the Lord continues to gather His people from all nations and tongues. We continue to work with fractions in math. Many students have made a lot of progress on their planet projects. Please remind your son or daughter not to leave this project to the last minute! In connection to our ‘Investigating Space’ unit, we are planning a trip to the Science Centre. Please look for a note coming home today about this trip!
Devotions for the week are as follows: 5A – Aubrey (M), Teagen (Tu), Jessica (W), Ryley (Th), Charlize (F), and for 5B – Lilly (M), Victoria (Tu), Izzy (W), Mason (Th), Tanner (F). Have a great weekend! RK/KVL
Grade 6
This week was short, but that did not mean that we did less work. Science and Church History have come to an end and the tests are written. We are back in Bible History: God’s walk with His people Israel. It is amazing how the Lord deals with them and us in great compassion and patience! What a great way to get to know the Lord of the Covenant. We are all looking forward to the stories so we can learn to fear and love Him. In Social Studies, we are learning about the Indigenous people. We have a lot to think about as we learn to be respectful of other very interesting cultures. We are using our chrome books to try and find as much information as possible in order to develop a little bit of a historic awareness. We are also trying to improve our writing skills again and love to write and read our stories to the class. In Art, beautiful things are made and we hope that you all use the opportunity to visit our classes during Open House so you can enjoy the “stuffies” and the Beauties! This ‘Open House’ is going to be fun as we play some good games and learn new things about our environment. Please encourage your young people to be active asking other people to support them financially for the “Walk for Hospice” which will be held the coming Friday. We have already heard from some generous dads and granddads who will double the amount that boys or girls have collected. Great initiative! Have a blessed weekend.
CVA/ IDEV
Grade 7A
Next week, we’ll bring several units to a close. “Equations and Inequalities” will make way for “Financial Literacy”, and “Thermal Energy and Heat Technology” will wrap up with a culminating activity. The Company of Thirteen have arrived at the foot of the Lonely Mountain and they have awakened its current resident; we’ll read of the consequences for Thorin and Lake Town. We’ll work our way through the Kings of Judah and Israel in Bible History, seeing how the LORD maintains His promise to David. Our battle studies of the War of 1812 will be presented next week as we next move on to the Rebellion of 1837. Enjoy your weekend.
Grade 7B
This week, we wrapped up both our Church History unit on Zwingli and our math unit on proportions and percents. Today we will jump back into our Bible stories, looking at the Kings of Judah. Next week, will begin a Financial Literacy unit using a program put together by Ramsey Solutions (Dave Ramsey). This includes a lot of practical and useful life skills like saving and budgeting, credit, investing and more. In LA, we continue to make our way through the Hobbit. This week, we finished up chapter 8, where Thorin and Company fail to heed multiple warnings to stay on the path as they make their way through the dark Mirkwood. Students are working on creating a comic strip as a summary of the events. Enjoy your long weekend! MJ, AL.
Grade 8
We look forward to seeing lots of familiar faces next Friday at the Open House. In the afternoon we have the McNally walk, so please make sure students are collecting pledges to return to school in a timely manner. Count on a History and Geography test in the following week.
Monday: French Quiz Vocabulary pt 1
Tuesday: Accelerated Math Mid Chapter Quiz, 8A Idiomatic Expression Quiz, 8B Ch. History Quiz France + Map
Wednesday: French Quiz Vocabulary pt 2, 8A Ch. History Quiz France + Map
Thursday: Regular Math Functions Quiz
Memory Work: Psalm 118: 6, Next Week: Col. 3: 12-14, Psalm 124: 2,3
© 2015 Canadian Reformed School Society of Smithville and Surrounding District
