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.

On Sunday, we celebrate Pentecost, when we remember the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, who is together with the Father and the Son, true and eternal God.  He is given to us, to make us by true faith share in Christ and all his benefits, to comfort us, and to remain with us forever. (H.C. L.D. 20).

At our Ascension/Pentecost assembly this morning, Rev. Swaving, aka Pastor Cody, spoke to the students and staff about What we can learn about Ascension and Pentecost.  In his presentation he focused on Acts 10 (the story of Cornelius) where we learn that the gospel is not just for the Jews but also for the Gentiles (the Spirit came down from heaven, sent by the Lord Jesus).  It belongs to all peoples and all languages.  The gospel is for everyone who has faith and believes.  That is the Power of the Holy Spirit, bringing all believers together.  Thank you Pastor Cody, and thank you Miss Buist for leading the assembly. 

Good Friday morning everyone as we bring to an end another week of learning and teaching at John Calvin School, a week that saw us segue quite nicely from May into June.  We thank and praise the Lord for the many blessings we could receive during the course of this week and pray for his continued blessing through the remaining three weeks of the school year.  

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with those who need the comfort, encouragement and guidance of our Heavenly Father in a special way; be it those who are sick, are dealing with difficult family circumstances, or who are grieving the recent passing away of a loved one.  

A few matters for your attention:

*Earlier this week, we were informed by McNally House that just over $21,000.00 was raised by our Hike for Hospice.  What an amazing total!  Thank you to everyone who went out and got pledges, whether from family, friends or the neighbour.  This is a record amount, surpassing the previous high by over $6,000.00.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

*On a beautiful day for a baseball tournament, the girls’ team came home with the trophy for their division.  Congratulations!  The boys’ team made it to the finals but lost to London. Their comeback in the top of the fifth fell short.  Nonetheless, well done boys! Thank you coaches (Mrs. N. VanBrederode, Mrs. M. Spoelstra, Mrs. J. Groen, Miss L. Vis, Mr. R. Mans and Mr. G. Hofsink) for taking the time and effort in preparing the teams for the tournament. 

*Mrs. Danyse VanDam is planning to be at school next week Wednesday morning to take class pictures.  Earlier this year, Lifetouch was in but they only took individual pictures.   

*Regional Track and Field meet in St. Catharines on Friday, June 10.  Student athletes will be brought to Niagara Olympic Club by bus but parents will need to pick up their son or daughter from the venue. 

*Year End Trips:  We have reached the month of June🙂 and all of what that month represents on the school calendar (after two non-school, extra-curricular event Junes).  One of the exciting events is the annual year-end class trips.  This year, Grades K-3 are planning to visit Safari Niagara on Tuesday, June 21 and Grades 4-6 are planning to travel to Wet ‘n’ Wild in Brampton the same day (along with about 600 other students from LCRSS schools; lots of fun). Grade 7 is planning to participate in a number of activities in Niagara Falls on June 17, and Grade 8 is looking forward to spending the week of June 20-24 at Wilderness Tours in Canada’s National Whitewater Park on the Ottawa River.  As mentioned previously, this year there will be no extra fees required from the parents for the Grades K-7 trips.  The JCS Student Fund has sufficient funds to cover the entrance fees to all three destinations for all the children. There is also no need for students to bring any spending money on the K-6 trips.  This year we would again ask that all students wear JCS or blue t-shirts while on their trip.

Parents are reminded of the protocol for class trip volunteers (it’s once again included with this edition of the Chronicle).  All volunteers must request permission to join a trip via email, office@johncalvinschool.com. Permission requests are not to be directed to teachers and not by notes in agendas. Parents who wish to join any of the trips may not take along their pre-school children.  All parents who come along will be assigned a group of students to chaperon for the grade they wish to accompany.  If there is no room for parents on the buses, they will have to car pool to the venue.  Also, all parents (including class moms and classroom volunteers) who come along will need to pay the group rate:  $28.00 for Wet ‘n’ Wild, $22.55 for Safari Niagara, and $38.50 for the Grade 7 Niagara trip. This can be paid by cash, cheque or etransfer to office@johncalvinschool.com.

For the June 21 trips, the buses are scheduled to return between 3:45 and 4:00.  Parents are requested to pick-up their children from the school at that time. 

*Thanks to all who donated 2L pop bottles for one of our Play Day events.  We have enough.

*Lost and Found:  The tables and coat rack are quite full so when you are next in the school please take a look in the hallway leading to the Learning Resource room for missing items.  All remaining items will be taken to the Community Care at the end of the month.

Reminders:

*It’s that time of year again, so when you are outside please continue to be wary of ticks and mosquitoes. 

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

*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.

*For Kindergarten parents:  Just a reminder to return the Kindergarten registration form and student information form.  They were due this past week.  Kindergarten Day is on Tuesday, August 30.

*Library Books:  Today was the last library day for the Grade 8 students.  They have two weeks to return all library books.  The last library day for Grades K-7 is June 10.  They will then have two weeks to return their library books. 

*News and Views material is due on Monday, June 13.

*After an absence of two years, the annual Staff vs Grade 8 baseball game is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, June 14 from 1:00 – 2:30.  Come on out and cheer on your favourite team.

*Local Play Day on Friday, June 17

*The last day of school, June 24, will be a half-day.  You are invited to the year end assembly planned for 11:15 in the gym.

*Grade 8 Graduation on Monday, June 27

Have a good weekend and a restful Sunday.  We’ll touch base again next week, D.V.        G. Hofsink

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Classroom News

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Kindergarten

It seems as though the days are just flying by in kindergarten.  It is hard to fathom that after today we will only have 15 days left of school and 2 of those days are very fun days.  The kindergarten students began writing their 2nd books.  This time the students will be writing “How to” books where they will be teaching the reader how to do something!  It is a hard concept for the students to understand but they are working through it very well. In math we continue with our measurement unit and will be reviewing the teen numbers. Most of the students already have a good understanding of teen numbers but it is important that they are confident in all numbers from 0-20.  In Bible we continue to learn about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.  Next week we will be learning about some of the parables that Jesus taught to the people.  Have a great weekend everyone.  JB/SV

Grade 1

We are continuing our stories about how God uses weak and sinful people to care for his church.  We have seen that he provides people who will preach about the LORD Jesus, confess his name and to be missionaries and tell others about him.  In this same unit we will see that the LORD provides people who will defend his word and people who will help return people to the right way.  Many of the children are complaining of stomach aches, headaches, etc.  Perhaps they are tired.  We are getting closer to the end of the year and we will soon be doing some of the fun end of year activities that have been on hold for a long time.  There is a lot to look forward to. Hopefully that will perk some of them up.

Memory Work:  Hymn 79:1

Spelling/Sight words:  horn, porch, short, park, barns, herd, verb, said

Grade 2

How exciting it was to begin our 20 day countdown this week! We’ve been busy with choosing a new name for a day, share a joke day, kindness day, inside out day, and bring a stuffie day. It’s such a fun thing to look forward to a surprising activity each day; especially as exhaustion and warmer weather settle in to distract the students. Amidst all that fun, we are thankful that much work was completed too. In math we’ve been learning about capacity. In Bible, Paul has returned from his 3rd missionary journey and has been imprisoned in Jerusalem. In Science, we’ve been talking about different kinds of teeth that God has given animals to equip them for the food they eat. How blessed we are to learn new things each day! Have a great weekend! BV/RG

Grade 3

All glory be to Thee, Most High,

to Thee all adoration;

in grace and truth hast Thou drawn nigh

to grant us Thy salvation.

Thou showest Thy good will to men,

and peace shall reign on earth again;

we praise Thy name forever.

Hymn 82:1. This was our last memory work for Grade Three. Indeed may the Lord receive all praise from us His children. In Math, we continue to investigate perimeter, area, transformations, and lines of symmetry. Our novel study has us in suspense and laughter. Ask us about Mr. Popper and his penguins. In our Bible classes, we continue to hear about Israel’s travels to the Promised Land. The Israelites have to remember that the Lord guides them and that they have to learn to trust in Him alone. We have finished our Spelling program. Well done, grade three. Continue to spell them correctly in your daily work too. That’s it for now. Have a blessed weekend.

Library Books on Thursday.  The last week for taking out  library books will be June 6-10.

Mission $ on Friday.

Grade 4

We look forward to Medieval Day on Friday, June 10th! Just a reminder to send the food items with your children on Friday morning. We have volunteers ready to heat up the food at school. Please let us know if you have any questions. We are looking forward to a fun day! Thank you again for the offers of help. Have a great weekend. YF/KO

Memory Work: Revelation 21:1-2/Psalm 27:1

Upcoming Memory Work: Psalm 76:1

Grade 5

Grade 5 had a good and productive week! Grade 5B has now finished the last theme in World of Literature. Our last novel study is Mystery at Cranberry Farm. Grade 5A has started it this week, and Grade 5B will be starting next week! We will be doing a project with this novel that requires cereal boxes. We have some here, but not enough for everyone, so if you have any at home, please send them to school with your child. Thanks in advance! Parents, you should have received a letter from the school through your child, regarding the Science unit being taught next week. As it states in the letter, we ask you to review the unit together with your child, before Monday, in preparation for the lessons. We look forward to starting baseball in Phys. Ed. next week! If one is available, we ask that each student brings a baseball glove with them for Phys. Ed.

Devotions for next week are as follows:

5A – M. Ryley, Tu. Charlize, W. Cedric, Th. Georgia, F. Augie

5B – M. Tanner, Tu. Joshua, W. Grayden, Th. Dayna, F. Austin

Have a wonderful weekend! RK/KV

Grade 6

There are still three weeks to go and we have a lot of things to do. Thank you to all the parents who have indicated that they want to come along on the year end trip. Just make sure that our secretary is also aware of this! Here are a few of our favorite things .. In Church History we are focusing on three forerunners of the Reformation: Peter Aldo, Dr. John Wycliffe and William Tyndale. We will see three important aspects of the work the church needs to do to spread the Gospel:

1. Come back to the Living God and the preaching about Him.            2. Translate the Bible so people can read God’s word and grow in Christ.

3. Make sure that the Bibles are printed and available.

In Phys.Ed we try to be outside as much as possible and we are  preparing for the local field day. We are also working on our endurance in running around the track and already see improvement. We have started a new Novel study: The Island of the Blue Dolphins. It is a book about a girl who lived for 18 years on her own on an island after she was left there and never been picked up again. It is a true story, with lots of fantasy and elements of imagination. So far we have read that her dad, who was the chief of her people, died in a fight with  the invading Aleuts. She also lost her little brother. For us as teachers it is fascinating to see how the students have grown in reading in a critical manner! They learned so much this year. Of course Art is an important subject and as we connect the Art projects to the themes of Language Arts, we learn even more about the history of the Indigenous people and of the Explorers. We have a rich history in Canada. May the students become enthusiastic to study and remember! We wish you all a blessed Pentecost celebration and may we understand, together, how the Lord blesses us by sending the Holy Spirit, Who is willing to work in our hearts. Where would we be if the Lord had not sent His Holy Spirit to help and purify us? Praise God from Whom all blessings flow. CvA/ IdeV

Grade 7A

John Calvin and two fellow ministers have been banished from Geneva by City Council. Next week we’ll see where Calvin ends up and how he will eventually return to Geneva. Lord Durham has filed his report concerning the dissatisfaction in Upper and Lower Canada with the British colonial government; we’ll see what Lord Elgin has to say about the matter next week. We enjoyed playing ultimate frisbee in P.E.; it was just like regular frisbee except…. ultimate. Thank you to B. Helder(Trillium Floral) and R. Zwaagstra(Zwaagstra Trucking) for visiting our Math class to discuss entrepreneurship with us and answering our questions. Enjoy your weekend.

Grade 7B

As we enter June it seems every day there is another fun and exciting activity going on. This week was no different! We were busy with track, the hobbit, volunteer lunch and other ‘surprise’ activities all squished in between regular lessons. We look forward to our meet next Friday, June 10 at Niagara Olympic Club. See the parent email that went home for more details. Have a blessed weekend! Cheers, Mr. J and Mrs. L

Grade 8

And just like that, the third last week of Grade 8 has come to a close! Our countdown is officially 10 school days until Ottawa (yay!). On Friday June 10, many of our grade 7 and 8 students will be representing John Calvin School at the Christian Track and Field tournament – best of luck as you finish preparing by strengthening your bodies and fine tuning your skills.

Next week Tuesday, the Accelerated Math class will be having a Chapter 10 test (review during Monday’s class). The Bible journal powerpoint about Paul’s Missionary Journey is due on Tuesday for 8A and Thursday for 8B (brief group presentations to follow). There will also be a Voyage of the Lucky Dragon Part 3 quiz on Tuesday (Comprehension and Vocab). In Geography, we are starting an interesting unit about NGOs and CRWRF – ask your students about what they are learning about Harlan, Kentucky.