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
It’s been another active and purposeful week here at JCCS, and we are incredibly thankful for the work accomplished as we seek to equip our students with truth, preparing them for a life of service to Him. We have officially kicked off Reading Month with great excitement across the school, and a huge thank you goes out to our dedicated committee, Miss Oosterhoff, Mrs. Poort, Mrs. Stel, and Mrs. Tesfaye, for developing such wonderful ideas for this special event.
If you have the opportunity to visit, you’ll see our Reading Tree rapidly filling up with leaves as our students enthusiastically log their extra reading hours. This activity is absolutely vital because through the development of strong reading skills, we are training our students to read and discern God’s Word, to use the Scriptures to better understand His creation, and ultimately to learn how to walk a godly life in service to Him. We strongly encourage all families to continue supporting their students’ reading efforts at home throughout the month
Tuesday marks Remembrance Day, and two commemorative events have been planned. Students in grades five through eight will walk to the Cenotaph, where they will lay a wreath and one student will read In Flanders Fields. This year, the students will not be singing hymns, and we are currently seeking clarification regarding this change. The ceremony at the Cenotaph will begin at 10:45 a.m., while students in Kindergarten through grade four will gather in the gym for an assembly at 10:30 a.m. All are welcome to attend either event. Students are reminded to bring in a monetary donation to receive a poppy on Tuesday morning.
Progress reports are being generated, proofed, and sweated over! We are doing our utmost to give a clear picture of the educational progress of these wonderful covenant children. These reports help shape the course of the year and are written for the express purpose of helping form and shape these young members! They will go home on Friday.
Miss Vis will celebrate her birthday on Wednesday. We’re thankful for the work that she does here and pray that God will continue to guide and sustain her in the upcoming year.
A final note – our swag shop has been updated with one new logo – one that works better on the darker colours. If you’re looking for that nice gift for someone – why not check it out here!
I believe that is all for the week. May God bless you all with a refreshing, and spiritually uplifting weekend!
JVI
Calendar
Monday – Tripleball practice
Tuesday – Remembrance Assembly @10:30 – Grades 5 – 8 to Cenotaph @10:45
Wednesday – Skating k@12:15, gr 8 @1:15, Mrs. Vis’ Birthday, Triple Ball Exhibition Games with ACRES
Thursday – Ed Comm Meeting
Friday – Progress Reports go home
Hello readers! At JCCS we are excited to be jumping into our Book Month for November. We are hopeful that students will use this time to be immersed in books and find joy in reading. We would love your support to foster this joy! Are you a parent, volunteer, grandparent or friend? Have a great book to share? Then you’re just the person we need! We are looking for volunteer mystery readers. That’s right, MYSTERY! The classes won’t know who will be joining them until you show up! If you need a book suggestion, we are happy to help with that, too. Please contact one of the teachers below to pick a time slot on Tuesday, November 25 to surprise a class with some reading fun.
Kristen Oosterhoff ( kristen.oosterhoff@johncalvinschool.com )
Beth Stel ( beth.stel@johncalvinschool.com )
Classroom News
Kindergarten
The month of November is reading month at school and we are looking forward to all the fun reading activities this month. We encourage you to read 15 minutes daily with your child and return the signed reading calendar as we are tracking it at school. In our Bible stories, we heard about Joseph and his colourful coat and his two dreams. Ask your child if they can remember what Joseph’s dreams were about. As the weather is getting colder and wetter, please send in extra socks and pants for your child (if you haven’t already done so). We will be going skating on Nov. 12 at 12:15. We would love to have some parents join us to help with tying laces and skating. A reminder that there will be a Remembrance Day assembly on Tuesday at 10:30. Have a great weekend. DV/MV
Grade 1
The children are thoroughly enjoying our stories about Maria in church history! We’ve been learning both why we worship and how we worship. Rev. R. den Hollander kindly took us on a tour of the Smithville church to help consolidate what we’ve learned so far. Thank you so much, Reverend, for showing us the many rooms—and especially the special room where Maria thought the Ark was! In CKLA, we have begun reading our very first stories! The children are so excited to find and read them—it is wonderful to see their eagerness and joy for reading. In math, we are learning about fact families—ask your child to tell you more about them! To commemorate Remembrance Day, we also created a beautiful art project.
Grade 2
Greetings once again from Grade 2! We sure had a lot of fun skating on Wednesday and a special thanks to our bus driver and all the parents and grandparents who came out to help us tie our skates – we really appreciate it! Students are also reading lots of books and steadily adding red leaves to the tree in the front entry – pop by if you have a chance to check it out.
We are still busy investigating the 6 simple machines in science and made a beautiful red poppy from tissue paper in art class. Looking ahead to next week, there is an assembly to commemorate Remembrance Day on Tuesday, November 11th, starting at 10:30. As always, parents and grandparents are welcome to join us. Wishing you a good weekend and a blessed Sunday! Until next time, MB/LS/BS
Grade 3
Hello November!
November is going to be our BOOK MONTH! Please check your child’s agenda for more information. Let’s read, grade three!!!!!
We are finishing our Bible unit with a test on Tuesday. Please take the time to study the notes. We saw how the LORD kept His covenant with Abraham and Isaac. On Wednesday, we enjoyed some skating time at the rink. Thanks to all the parents who came out to join us and the bus driver for bringing us to and fro safely. In our Science unit we are exploring forces and motion. Ask your child to name some of the forces we face every day. This will be the last week for Miss Vanleeuwen in Grade 3B. We are thankful for the things she has taught us over the past few weeks and we wish her the Lord’s blessings as she heads back to school at the teacher’s college.
Psalm 39:1
Text: Genesis 49:10 (two weeks)
See your child’s agenda for the spelling words.
Grade 4
The students were very excited this week to start I love to read month. Eagerly every day they come to the classroom with their reading logs and show their teacher the signed box for 30 minutes of reading. Every day the students are adding leaves to the tree by the front office. It certainly is a colourful tree filled with many dark green leaves – dark green is Grade 4s leaf colour. The students in 4B celebrated Mr. Reinink’s birthday on Friday with comfy clothes and reading for a stuffy for DEAR. Happy birthday Mr. Reinink. Praying that the Lord grants you many more years in His service. Both Grade 4 classes are coming to the end of the Bible unit on David and will start learning about the life of Solomon. The students continue to learn strategies for subtraction and subtracting with zeros has proven to be a little tricky for some students. Next unit the emphasis will be on geometry learning about shapes and angles which should be starting in the next week or so. Students from both classes are encouraged to bring in pictures from magazines or from the internet that will be used in an art lesson on identity. Students will be making portraits of themselves using images/pictures to show who they are without saying who they are. The goal of the art project will be for others to look at the silhouettes and correctly identify the student based on the images/pictures on the silhouette. Thanks for your help with this. Have a great weekend. FR/JB
Grade 5
Another week has flown by in grade five. Students have finished up with their Ancient Rome building projects and presented them to their classes. We are very impressed with the results! Next week will be another busy week. Both classes will be starting a Science unit on Properties of and Changes in Matter. 5A hopes to wrap up the math unit on multiplication next week and will look forward to a unit test the following week. 5B will have a Grammar quiz on Wednesday and a review sheet has been sent out for this. 5B will also have a French quiz on pg 1-12 of the review package on Thursday and will start the first novel study (Call it Courage). We will be heading to the cenotaph on Tuesday. Please ensure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather.
Devotions for next week are as follows:
5A: Gabe (M), Autumn (Tu), Avalon (W), Levi (Th), John Paul (F)
5B: Phoenix (M), Hailey (Tu), Macy (W), Kenzie (Th), Brynlee (F)
Have a great weekend! CDV/KV
Grade 6
Another week has gone by quickly! Daily, the 6A students receive 10 short math questions as their quiz. This is to stay on top of the various things they need to remember. Each day they record the ones they need to study. Friday’s math drill consists of the questions they had wrong during the week. 6B students complete math drills throughout the week as well, which help them to practice, memorize, and master their common math facts.
On Tuesday, the students will be walking to the cenotaph and standing there for the Remembrance Day service. Please dress according to the weather and remember to bring a donation for a poppy.
6A Devotion Schedule: Macrae, Maddison, Waverly, Micah
6B Devotion Schedule: Thomas, Rayna, Abby, Kingston
Grade 7A
This past week we began our Public Speaking unit in L.A. Our first foray had us interviewing a peer and following a speech outline ensuring that we exemplify our neighbour’s uniqueness and God given talents and abilities. The class seems to have a handle on one step algebraic equations as we wrap up the math chapter. We’ll move on to plane geometry next. As we begin our study of the Reformation, it is amazing how the Lord brought about a return to the Truth given that every European power in the sixteenth century was bent on an allegiance to Rome. Enjoy your weekend.
Grade 7B
This past week, 7B has been challenged by numerical and algebraic expressions. With continued practice, they are gaining confidence! These concepts will continue into next week’s math classes. On Tuesday, we plan to walk to the cenotaph for Remembrance Day. Feel free to join us, and please remind students to dress according to the weather. With the reading month activities, it is important for the students to have a book with them. You never know when we’ll have to Drop Everything And Read! Have a great week! RK
Grade 8
It has been another good and busy week in Grade 8! This week was relatively free of extra-curricular activities, with occasional “drop everything and read” time as we begin Book Month. Our teacher candidates have taken on many classroom responsibilities, and they are doing a fantastic job — it’s been nice to observe the class from the back of the room.
Poinsettia order forms are due by next Wednesday, so please make a final push to reach our sales target!
Next week, we are looking forward to skating on Wednesday. All students are expected to wear a helmet on the ice, whether or not they are playing hockey. There may also be another math quiz or test, as well as a Language Arts quiz on Tom Sawyer on Wednesday. In addition, we are continuing to work on professional writing, focusing on the five-paragraph essay, and students should also be prepared for a French quiz on Wednesday.
Have a great weekend!
RT/TB/MVI/CL