DUE TO SNOWY ROADS AND AN ONGOING SNOW SQUALL WARNING FOR OUR REGION, WOODSTOCK CHRISTIAN SCHOOL BUSES ARE CANCELLED FOR THE DAY. THE SCHOOL IS CLOSED.

    Friday was a quiet day at Woodstock Christian School. It was a day for teachers to reflect on the previous nights' discussions, to re- evaluate and to focus on next steps for many of their students.
    Last Wednesday and Thursday night the school was bustling with activity. Parents zig -zagged through the halls, past the various book fair vendors, stopping to chat with other parents whom they haven't seen for a while, and browsing their children's work in the halls. Parent Teacher Interviews …a time for parents and teachers and students to connect and learn from each other. It was a time to pray together for each other, celebrate achievements, to take leadership by many of our older students through their student led conferences and to strengthen the partnerships between home and school. It was a time to applaud and put hands up in the air, cry and laugh, talk and listen, focus on strengths and weakness, a time to once again acknowledge our mission as parents and teachers. It was a time for students, parents and teachers to stand united in our knowledge that our God is above all, through all and in all.  Praise God for the Woodstock Christian School community!
                            Linda Westerveld

In honour of Reading and of the Book Fair being offered this week, I am sharing an article Posted Oct 24, 2016 / by Robert Bruinsma in By the Way, published in the Christian Courier. Dr. Bruinsma has a doctorate in reading education.

Being able to read is a great gift from God. … Reading has many uses, not the least of which is being able to access the Bible, God’s love letter to us. Then there is the immense enjoyment and enlightenment that comes from reading non-biblical literature. Finally, there is the usefulness of being able to read more functional print such as reports, memos, manuals, recipes, medicine bottles and road signs. Parents understand the importance of reading. “What can I do to help my child be a better reader?” was one of the most frequent questions I heard during my long career as a teacher and reading educator. My answer? “Read with each of your children for 15 minutes each day.” That’s it.

“That’s it?” many ask. “Surely there’s more to it than that!”

“Nope. That’s it.”

… Find a quiet spot and take an unhurried and uninterrupted 15 minutes each day with your children, preferably one-on-one, and share a good book (or even a not so good book if your child isn’t interested in the classics). Read to your child and talk about what you’ve read. Have the child read a few words or sentences, or just point at a familiar letter or a picture that goes with what you’ve read. Make this a special time so that reading becomes associated with your love for each other. For what a child (or any one of us) experiences as a loving, enjoyable, special time is the greatest motivator for wanting to continue with that activity, whatever it is.”

Canadian literacy expert, Dr. Frank Smith, has said that learning any worthwhile skill is largely a function of the company we keep, whether that’s learning to play hockey, fly fish, bake a cake or read. Our children emulate those whom they love and respect, both real and virtual people.

…. Having your kids seeing you read often and avidly, will be a great incentive for them to be like you and become readers too. 

Does this sound too easy? Well, it’s not. Finding 15 dedicated minutes a day of reading time with each of your kids is probably one of the hardest things you can do. It’s hard to make this much unhurried, dedicated time available in the midst of a busy life of work, household chores, errands, meetings, phone calls, emails, Facebook, Twitter, dog walking, nose wiping, homework helping, TV watching and all the other seemingly endless things that take our attention as parents.

Your kids’ teachers will do many wonderful things at school to help them unlock the intricate code of written language. The best thing you can do is read with each of them 15 minutes per day.

Changes... Last week in Grade One-A, we completed at Dot Collage inspired by the book "The Dot" by Peter H. Reynolds. We each drew and coloured a different sized dot and added it to the bulletin board at the back of the class. We added more and more dots until the whole board was filled. We learned that dots can come in all shapes and sizes. God has made us unique and we are His masterpieces! We learned that we can change the size of the dot and it changes how it will look in the collage. We also discovered that when we put the same coloured dots together, they made an amazing display. Change can be a good thing as we learn something that we never knew before. It always surprises me how quickly the weather can change. Take this weekend, for example - flip flops and sunglasses on Friday, then blustery and wet on Saturday and the first snowfall on Sunday. How can this be? Weather is unpredictable and unstable, at times. Even the best weather people cannot predict what turn the weather will take. Life is a lot like that, too. We cannot predict what the future holds. We cannot even predict what tomorrow will bring. But, we have this hope: the God of our Today, is also God of our Tomorrow. He is the constant in the midst of our life's calm moments and in the storms. I am ever thankful for this blessing! May this bring you comfort as we begin this new week knowing that God is over all, through all, and in all. K. VanderPloeg

Volunteers and support staff are very busy today preparing for the WINTERFEST auction. Though today is warm and sunny, winter is on its way. Get a jump on Christmas preparations and gift giving and enjoy fellowship with our WCS community.

Bus #25 on Route 3 is not running this morning. Please bring your child(ren) to school. The bus running from WCS to LDCSS is running as usual.

Last Friday, our 8th grade class led the Remembrance chapel for our students and guests. The assembly was the end product of their Remembrance Project whose driving question was: "How can we create a Remembrance Day chapel for our school community?" The kick-off event for this project-learning experience was the Sacrifice Object Lesson as described here by the students:     On October 24th, after we came in from recess, the Grade 8 class was expecting to have our typical afternoon of Language Arts.  However, we were instructed to go outside and gather at one end of the small soccer field.  Once we were all together outside, Mr. Schaafsma asked for two volunteers who would be willing to sacrifice their safety on behalf of our class.  The two brave volunteers who stepped up to sacrifice themselves for us were Amy and Ryan.  Mr. Schaafsma then informed us that we were standing in the midst of an imaginary forest fire, each of us had imaginary broken limbs and were unable to escape from the fire.  Our two heroes were instructed to carry each of us one by one, over to the forest fire evacuation zone.  They were instructed to do this quickly because the fire was spreading rapidly.  So, with great courage Amy and Ryan carried each one of us to safety in the forest fire evacuation zone. This deed was an act of sacrifice on the part of our heroes, Amy and Ryan. Sacrifice can be defined as the offering of oneself to serve a higher purpose. This means people must give up things for the greater good of society.  As a class we have learned about sacrifice and this chapel is our way of providing a place for our school to reflect on sacrifice as it relates to all those men and women who have given their lives in war as a sacrifice for our freedom.

Students included prayer, readings, drama, song, video, and a connection to the book that they are studying in literature. We as Christian community understand sacrifice, too, in the context of God's grace and Jesus suffering and death on our behalf. Thank you students for creating and sharing a meaningful chapel.

    Last Friday, our 8th grade class led the Remembrance chapel for our students and guests. The assembly was the end product of their Remembrance Project whose driving question was: "How can we create a Remembrance Day chapel for our school community?" The kick-off event for this project-learning experience was the Sacrifice Object Lesson as described here by the students:
On October 24th, after we came in from recess, the Grade 8 class was expecting to have our typical afternoon of Language Arts. However, we were instructed to go outside and gather at one end of the small soccer field. Once we were all together outside, Mr. Schaafsma asked for two volunteers who would be willing to sacrifice their safety on behalf of our class. The two brave volunteers who stepped up to sacrifice themselves for us were Amy and Ryan. Mr. Schaafsma then informed us that we were standing in the midst of an imaginary forest fire, each of us had imaginary broken limbs and were unable to escape from the fire. Our two heroes were instructed to carry each of us one by one, over to the forest fire evacuation zone. They were instructed to do this quickly because the fire was spreading rapidly. So, with great courage Amy and Ryan carried each one of us to safety in the forest fire evacuation zone. This deed was an act of sacrifice on the part of our heroes, Amy and Ryan. Sacrifice can be defined as the offering of oneself to serve a higher purpose. This means people must give up things for the greater good of society. As a class we have learned about sacrifice and this chapel is our way of providing a place for our school to reflect on sacrifice as it relates to all those men and women who have given their lives in war as a sacrifice for our freedom.
    Students included prayer, readings, drama, song, video, and a connection to the book that they are studying in literature. We as Christian community understand sacrifice, too, in the context of God's grace and Jesus suffering and death on our behalf. Thank you students for creating and sharing a meaningful chapel.

                            C. Verbeek

    Last week, the Sr. Choir performed two beautiful songs at our bi-annual membership meeting. A HUGE thank you goes to the Sr. Choir, Mrs. Martin and Mrs. Clifford for their hard work in preparing. The song that has stuck with me the most however, is "In Flanders Field". With Remembrance Day quickly approaching, we are preparing our hearts and minds to say "Thank You" to all those who served and continue to serve so that we can live a life of peace. Our thanks and prayers continue to go with them daily, as well as their families, as they sacrifice many things so that we do not need to live in fear. This Friday, we spend time remembering and honouring them with our Remembrance Chapel as well as a moment of silence. I encourage you to join us to remember them, as our Grade 8 class leads us in our chapel at 8:30 Friday morning.
                                E. Schuster

        In Flanders fields the poppies blow
        Between the crosses, row on row,
        That mark our place: and in the sky
        The larks still bravely singing fly
        Scarce heard amid the guns below.
        We are the dead: Short days ago,
        We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
        Loved and were loved: and now we lie
        In Flanders fields!
        Take up our quarrel with the foe
        To you, from failing hands, we throw
        The torch: be yours to hold it high
        If ye break faith with us who die,
        We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
        In Flanders fields            ~ Lt. Cl. John McCrae; May 3, 1915

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today the grade 1 class combined to learn all about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and to complete a challenge. We talked a lot about failures and how that was the starting point to success. We learned about famous inventors who tried and failed many times before creating the things that we know. We also learned about the different things that Scientists, Technicians, Engineers and Mathematicians all design and build. 

Today, students were given a gummy worm named Fred, a peach ring life jacket, a cup for the boat, and 4 paperclips. They were to get the life jacket out from under the capsized boat and onto Fred without using their hands. The only tools they had were the paper clips. 

Could you do it? 

                                 

This past week, our staff attended the Edifide (Educators’) Convention

 at Redeemer University College in Ancaster. As the convention theme was​Leading with Love, the speakers challenged us as educators to think about what love looks like in our classrooms and in our schools. How do our practices, procedures, and routines provide a safe and loving environment in which our students can learn and thrive? What are we doing to build school culture? How are we meeting and supporting student needs? All valuable questions as we navigate this school year.

One of the highlights of the convention is the praise and worship time. With effective leadership by the praise team, Redeemer’s 900+ seat auditorium resounded with the sound of keyboard, stringed instruments, percussion, and voices. The convention theme song still echoes in my head: “At your name, creation sings your story…your people will cry out. Lord of all the earth, we shout your name, filling up the skies with endless praise, Yahweh, Yahweh, we love to shout your name, oh Lord.” It is a beautiful thing to be in community, acknowledging God as Lord, bringing him praise and glory, and affirming our need for his direction in our lives.

Thankfulness "It is not happy people who are thankful; It is thankful people who are happy." - Unknown Each morning in grade two we start the day with an opening circle. This gives each student a chance to begin the day with their voices being heard. My favourite question to ask my students is, "What are you thankful for?" This past week one student said, "Miss Kiers we have done this question before." To which I answered something similar to the above quote, because I truly believe that thankfulness increases our happiness. Each time I have asked this question, I have gotten wonderful responses - it is like a circle of prayer to God for the things we are grateful to Him for. Students have answered with the common but beautiful response of family and friends, to more specific things found in God's creation, specific family moments, or learning at school. One thing that I am constantly awed by and thankful for is family, and I don't mean just my immediate family, I mean the family that I experience at Woodstock Christian through the staff that I work with, the parents who come by the school, and of course the students that make up the family within our grade two classroom! I am so very thankful for these families because those who make up each one has made this past year something that was possible. I am so grateful that God created families and that he made humans to live in relationship, for they are truly a blessing. S. Kiers