General News
“Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” Eph. 6:11
I write this Chronicle with the melodies and words of our School Concert still running through my mind. We are so grateful for the opportunity to put into perspective both the ascension of our Lord and the upcoming outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We look forward to sharing our final concert with you this evening. The students and staff have worked diligently, and we have been deeply blessed throughout our practices. As we celebrate Pentecost this coming Sunday, may God be praised through our music.
The baseball teams are scheduled to head out to Dorchester tomorrow for the tournament, though the weather does not look favourable at this moment. Plans are currently being made to see if we can reschedule for Wednesday, May 27th, and we will be sure to keep you in the loop as a final decision is made.
Looking ahead to next week, we hope to welcome the Guido Band to JCCS on Tuesday for a performance at 11:00 +AM in the gymnasium. If you would like to come out and hear them, you are more than welcome to join us. On Wednesday, our kindergarten teachers will welcome our next group of incoming students for our annual Kindergarten Day. We look forward to seeing those smiling—and perhaps a little nervous—faces as they explore the school for the first time.
We also have some special personal milestones to note this week. This coming Thursday, Mrs. K. VandenOever will be celebrating her birthday. May God continue to richly provide for her in the upcoming year. Then on Saturday, there will be a milestone celebration at CCRTC as Dr. Christine Van Halen retires after serving the community for over 25 years. You are cordially invited to join in the celebration of a career spent serving Reformed education in our schools, as her work has deeply impacted many of us in the profession.
May God grant you all a restful and rejuvenating weekend, steeped in His Word!
JVI
Tues – Guido Band @ 11:00
Wed – Kindergarten Day
Thurs – Early Years Morning, Grade 4 to River’s Edge
Friday – Mrs. VandenOever’s Birthday
Saturday – Dr. Van Halen Retirement @ CCRTC 1-3pm
Pop Bottles
We are planning some exciting activities for our upcoming Play Day and need your help. If you have any empty plastic two litre pop bottles at home, please rinse them out and send them to school with your child over the next two weeks.
Classroom News
Kindergarten
We had a busy week in Kindergarten preparing for the Ascension Day concert. The children sang so well Thursday afternoon and we are very excited for our next performance this evening. We are wrapping up our skip counting in Math and will be moving onto some review for the last few weeks of school. Next Wednesday is Kindergarten Day for new students starting in September, a reminder there will be no school this day. We are looking forward to our field trip to Happy Rolph’s on June 3, we would love to have some volunteers join us. Please reach out to us to let us know if you can come with us. We practiced some of our Play Day events this week and the children are excited to show off their skills! That’s all for this week, we hope you have a great weekend! MV/DV
Grade 1
This week was a joyful one in our classroom. We greatly enjoyed presenting our Ascension and Pentecost concert after spending so much time learning and practicing the songs together. The students worked very hard and were excited to share what they had learned with you.
In math, we are continuing our unit on graphing information – a class favourite! The students love collecting data, organizing it, and discovering what the graphs can tell us.
During language arts, we read about termites and learned that these tiny insects actually eat wood! The students were very thankful that their lunches included much tastier choices like hot dogs and chicken nuggets instead of tree bark and wooden beams. It led to many giggles and funny discussions!
In Bible, we have been learning about the prophet Elisha and how the Lord healed Naaman from his leprosy. We also learned about the destruction of Israel because of the people’s continued disobedience to God. This week we are beginning to hear about King Hezekiah and his trust in the Lord during difficult times.
Grade 2
In Bible, we are continuing to learn about Paul and his missionary journeys. In Math, we are wrapping up our unit on larger numbers and hope to start fractions next. In science, the students are interested in learning about animals and their habitats, and our own habitats as well! What an amazing Creator we have! A heartfelt thanks from Mrs. Stel for all the birthday wishes! See you at the concert tonight. Have a great weekend and a blessed Sunday!
Grade 3
We thank the Lord for another week in His service. In math, we finished our geometry unit with a test and we hope to move on to financial literacy next week. Israel continues to travel from Mount Sinai. However, they continue to learn that God is in control and not to murmur and complain. We too, have to learn these hard lessons daily. What is soil? What are some different types of soil? We will continue to explore and examine these questions.
At this time, we are eagerly waiting to perform our concert which is titled, TO LIVE FOR HIM! May the Lord be praised!
Psalm 77:5
Text: Psalm 24:1-3
Please check your child’s agenda for the spelling words.
Grade 4
“Charlotte was delighted with the way her trick was working. She sat without moving a muscle and listened to the conversation of the people.” This quote from E.B. White’s beloved novel Charlotte’s Web begs the question: Do animals understand humans? It certainly seems that they are quite aware of our presence and activity around them. Speaking of animals, on Thursday we are excited to be heading out on another field trip! This time, we will travel to River’s Edge to see their animals up close. We will also tour the facility and spend time visiting with the Beacon residents. In addition, we will explore the shoreline of Port Maitland and Lake Erie, searching for signs of living things, invasive species, and other shoreline life. Thank you to everyone who has volunteered to chaperone the trip! In the event of rain, we may unfortunately need to cancel unless we are able to reschedule for another day. In math, we have been learning about elapsed time and telling time to the minute. Next week, we will begin working with coordinate planes and finding distances on maps. These are valuable skills to develop, even in the AI-driven world we live in today. Lastly, in Phys. Ed., we will continue preparing for our local Field Day on June 12. We will also begin our baseball unit. If your child has a baseball glove, they are welcome to bring it to class to use during our activities.
Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!
— FR / JB
Grade 5
After much practice, our concerts are finally here! We are thankful to be able to sing God’s praises before so many of you as we celebrate the ascension of our Saviour and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Thank you to Mr. Van Iperen for all his work in getting us ready for the concert and for directing! Thank you also to the other organizers and accompanists. In the midst of all the concert activities, we’ve been completing other work too. We are near the end of the fourth church history lesson; 5A will have a quiz on Lessons 1-4 on Thursday, and 5B will have one on Friday. 5A will be having a Unit 12 math test on Friday. 5B will be starting Unit 10 next week, where we will multiply and divide fractions. In science class, we hope to wrap up our “Conservation of Energy & Resources” unit with a project. We had hoped to get to baseball in PE this week, but we spent some extra time practicing the relay race and triple jump/long jump, so we will be starting baseball next week – please bring a glove if you’re able!
Devotions for next week are: 5A – Autumn (M), Avalon (Tu), Levi (W), John Paul (Th), Eden (F); 5B – Veda (M), Payton (Tu), Malachi (W), Sawyer (Th), Shawn (F). Have a wonderful weekend! CDV/KV
Grade 6A
After many hours of practice and two wonderful concerts we have now put another major event of the school year behind us. In class we are in the midst of a poster project studying the different major Indigenous and First Nations groups of Canada. In Bible History we continue our study of the Exodus. Moses has been called out of Midian and despite his doubt, given a staff and a spokesman to call on Pharaoh to, ‘let my people go.’ Have a blessed weekend! CVA MJ
Grade 6B
Have a great week!
Grade 7A
The big focus this past week was our Ascension/Pentecost concert. It was exciting to follow through a program from introduction to refinement and finally to performance. In math we have completed questions relating to possible careers and we also completed personality quizzes to become more self-aware. These tests helped us better understand how we think and learn, and what matters to us in a career. Be sure to ask your child for their results. In church history we’ll learn how the free spirited Libertines will gain power on the Genevan City Council and politely ask John Calvin and William Farel to leave Geneva. Things will get a little murky in a forest next week in language arts class as we travel there and back again. Enjoy your weekend.
Grade 7B
With the concert behind us, we will once again resume regular memory work. Our study of John Calvin will take us through the years he spent in Geneva and the Lord’s work through him there. As we study Foundations in Personal Finance, we will continue to learn about education, careers, and entrepreneurship. We will be welcoming a guest speaker, Mr. Mike Smouter, to talk about owning your own business. While reading The Hobbit, the class was excited to be introduced to a new character from under the mountains. What is he, my preciousss? Ask a grade 7 student to find out! Have a great week! RK
Grade 8
Another week flies by and we are 2 school weeks away from Ottawa. Count on a Bible/Church History test and math quiz Thursday, and a French quiz on Friday. Next week will include the postponed baseball tournament on Wednesday. More details will come from teachers/coaches in the coming week. Looking forward to seeing many of you tonight at the concert. RT and TB