General News
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour…, Luke 1:46b-47
We are into the month of November already! Staff enjoyed a few days of professional development and networking at the Compass Reformed Educators Conference which which was held at Bellstone Christian School. We thank the staff at Bellstone, as well as the Professional Development Committee, for the work done in preparing this conference. Later in November we, as staff, will spend time on our PD day looking at ways to implement the learning from this conference.
I have some exciting news to share with you. We have hired three new staff members. Mr. Rylan Vanderwoude will be joining us from November to June as part teacher/part EA. His role will ease the pressure in the grade 7/8 staffing arrangement and will have him working in the Learning Resource Department. He has recently completed his undergraduate degree and is looking for teaching/educational experience before he heads back for his teaching qualifications. Welcome, Mr. Vanderwoude!
Mrs. Tigchelaar will go on maternity leave after the Christmas Break. We have really enjoyed getting to know Mrs. Tigchelaar and she has easily stepped into the role, adding a spark to the staff! This meant that we needed to fill this role as well. Mrs. Brooke Baartman and Mrs. Beth Stel have been hired to fill this role. While the final details as to how this arrangement will work has to be ironed out, we are thankful for the qualified staff that we could put in place. We look forward to welcoming you both and pray that God will bless the preparations for joining us here at JCCS.
We have started Reading Month. This is longer than the traditional reading week and is a purposeful change. Reading is one of the most important things that we teach and do in our school. We need to be able to read, infer, meditate, and contemplate God’s word. God revealed himself in this manner, so it is important that our students don’t just read but love it. We hope that you will help and encourage your children to read as much as possible. Maybe you can dig out your favourite books and share them with them! There will be a scavenger hunt this week as well as a DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) that involves you sharing that time with your Teddy Bear!
On Friday progress reports will be heading home. Please take the time to review them with your child. We look forward to the parent-teacher conferences as we use this time to discuss and work together in the education of God’s covenant children
On Friday we hope to have a Remembrance Day Assembly. It will begin at 10:45 a.m. and will be held in the gymnasium. All are welcome.
On Monday Mr. Joosse hopes to celebrate his birthday. It happens to be during Reading Month and at first, he was really excited about having time for DEER during the school day until he realized it was DEAR. We wish you the LORD’s blessings in the upcoming year!
That is all for this edition. Wishing you all a blessed weekend!
JVI
Monday – Mr. Joosse’s Birthday
Tuesday – Volleyball Practice
Wednesday – DEAR – Bring a Teddy, Grade 4/6 Skating
Thursday -Volleyball Practice,
Friday – 10:45 Remembrance Day Assembly
Classroom News
Kindergarten
In Bible the students eagerly listened to the story of when Jacob and Esau met after Jacob returned home from living with Laban. They wanted to know if Esau would still want to kill Jacob and they were so excited to learn that Esau no longer wanted to hurt his brother! In Math we continue to learn all about shapes and next week we will be learning the difference between 2D and 3D shapes. Here’s a look at next week:
Monday – SH: Jace
Tuesday – SH: Hadley
Wednesday – Combined day, library, teddy bear day
Thursday- SH: Elias
Friday – SH: Weston
Have a great weekend everyone. JB
Grade 1
After a long weekend for the students, it was good to come back together and pick up our tasks on Monday morning! Welcome back also to Mrs.Poort who was able to visit with her parents in Holland last week. May we all be given strength to continue with our work. This past week, Grade 1 continued in their studies of the English language. We’ve been working with blending words and adding sounds to our ‘inventory’. This week, we focused on the ‘sh’ and ‘ch’ sounds. At the same time, new sight words were introduced, and spelling words also. In our Bible classes, we have completed the stories of Joseph in Egypt. We now turn our attention to Church History for the next week or two. The weather has changed and the ground can be quite muddy at times. If your child does not yet have an emergency set of clothes at school, please add that to their backpack this weekend. Have a blessed weekend!
Grade 2
This week in Grade 2 we continued with Bible stories about Jesus. The students enjoyed hearing about Jesus feeding the 5,000 and Jesus walking on water. In Math we have started a new unit on shapes and have learned some big math words: quadrilaterals and pentominoes! In Science we have continued to look at the different properties of solids and liquids. With November starting we are looking forward to some fun book month activities coming up! This is a great month to practice reading at home too. The weather has started to get cold as well, please remember to pack hats and mittens for cold recesses. Have a great weekend and a blessed Sunday! MB & BV
Grade 3
Welcome back! We thank the Lord for another week of learning at John Calvin Christian School. We continue to pray for Mrs. Elgersma and may God continue to grant patience and healing. On Monday, we had a guest speaker come in and tell us more about pioneer times and items. Thank you, Mrs. H. Buikema for visiting us and telling us some fantastic stories.
On Tuesday, Dr. M. denHollander led our reformation assembly with the story of Rev. deCock. We thank the Lord that He uses weak and sinful people to gather His church of all times and places. In math, we hope to finish off our unit in addition and move on to subtraction strategies. In language arts, we will be working on our CKLA program, starting with the classic tale of Aladdin. On Thursday, there will be a Bible test. Notes will go home on Wednesday.
That’s it for now.
WORDS: exciting, countries, city, laughed
MEMORY WORK: Psalm 34:3
TEXT: Genesis 15:5,6
Library books in a LIBRARY bag please. 3A on Wednesday, 3B on Thursday
Spelling Dictation, Memory Work, and Mission Money on Friday.
Grade 4
After a few short weeks and theme weeks, we are settling back into a normal routine at school. We have started our Reading Month in November, and look forward to fun activities planned to celebrate reading! Students are continuing the novel study “Owls in the Family” and have enjoyed learning different facts about owls. We have also continued exploring different regions of Canada. We are continuing our unit on subtraction in math, and have started some daily math drills to work on memorizing patterns in subtraction. Our first French unit is coming to an end! Students have been working on numbers 1-20, greetings, dates, and weather, which should be a lot of reviewing what was introduced last year. It is especially important that students are confident with numbers 1-20 (both English to French AND French to English). If you would like flashcards for your child, please write a note in their agenda! We have skating planned for this coming Wednesday afternoon. Please ensure your child comes to school with the proper equipment! Also take note of the many things happening throughout the week, and especially on Friday! It’s a busy day! Mrs. VA & Mrs. T
Monday: Photo retake day; French quiz #1-20
Tuesday: Reading Quiz Chapters 1-6 (comprehension) (4A)
Wednesday: Skating 12:15-1:15
Thursday: Math test (4B) Library;
Friday: Progress reports go home; Remembrance day assembly; Bible test (4A & 4B); Spelling Test; Psalm 21:1,2; Text: Psalm 100:4-5; Mission Money.
Spelling Words: art, master, smart, sisters, bar, finger, bark, paper, part, barrel, sand, says, matter, because
Grade 5
Thank you to Mr. Witten and Mr. M. den Hollander for leading our Reformation Day assembly on Tuesday. It was good to reflect on the different aspects of the Reformation and to learn more about Rev. Hendrik de Cock. We have started working on their building projects for Ancient Rome. We’re already seeing a lot of creativity coming through! We look forward to some fun Reading Month activities throughout next week and this whole month! We continue to learn about Jesus’ ministry in Bible; next week we will hear about Jesus casting out an unclean spirit and about the Sermon on the Mount. Just as a heads up so you can find and sharpen skates on time, we will be going skating on Nov. 22! Please continue to think about our 3 students that we support with our mission money on Fridays!
Devotions for next week are as follows:
5A – M. Peter, Tu. Dylan, W. Allison, Th. Luke, F. Isaiah
5B – M. Mark, Tu. Emma, W. Evan, Th. Corban, F. Micah
Have a wonderful weekend! RK/KV
Grade 6
We were thankful to have a regular full week of school to get back on track with items from our curriculum. In Language Arts, we will be reading a historical fiction novel entitled Number the Stars. Since the background of the novel is World War 2, the students will get to know what it was like to live as a child during that time. A Social Studies unit will be started on Canada and its Trading Partners. The students will also start a research project on an unknown bird. The work for this project will be done during class time. The final flight of the paper airplanes took place on Thursday. Congratulations to John, Camryn, and Leena from 6A and Claire, Eddie, and Judah from 6B. We look forward to our skating time this Wednesday from 1:15-2:15. Students are reminded to bring helmets if they are playing hockey. Have a blessed weekend. TB/CVA
Grade 7A
We’ll be acting out in Gr. 7A as we portray parts of the short story, “Home on the Range”. Ask your child what kitchen disaster they are reliving. In History, the Seven Years War/the War of the Austrian Succession/the French Indian War has our attention; why do we have to learn French? Our Bible History unit has come to an end as the LORD’s promise to David comes to fruition. We slide into Church History with the beginning of the Reformation in Germany. We’ll bring what we learned to a conclusion in Science as we design and build our own stable structure. Enjoy your weekend.
Grade 7B
A full week! Wow! This week we transitioned to the month of November (the best month if you ask me ) . Discussions have also turned towards how the students have progressed to this point of the school year. Lots was made about HOW students study and prepare for assessments and WHAT they specifically study or prepare (don’t study what you know!). Additionally we also talked about how to reflect on their strategies (what is working? what is not?). Finally we talked about redoing assignments. Several students decided not to bother with redoing an assignment and were quick to shrug their shoulders (and the mark) and move on. Something to think about and talk about to be sure! In other news, in math we are nearing the end of chapter 3, which means a test early next week on fractions and decimals. As we near the end of our Structural Strength and Stability unit in Science we are preparing for our culminating activity. Students will be put into groups and will design and build a structurally sound bridge out of popsicle sticks. To aid them in this process we will be taking a trip to Turkstra Lumber to learn more about trusses, girders, load, span and more. Stay tuned for more details. That’s all for this week! Cheers, Mr. J
Grade 8
In this week ahead, we will be kept relatively busy. Wednesday there is a Science Test and a test in both the Geometry and Coding classes. Thursday, we switch the geometry and coding classes and Friday the 6th Commandment Essay is due by the end of the day. We also have some ongoing project work in History. Expect progress reports to go home on Friday. Have a blessed weekend, RT, BK and AL
