Weekly Message - January 8

As the administrator of Community Christian School, one of my roles is ensure that the mission, vision and values of the school are being achieved; therefore, I keep my eyes and ears open so that I can find evidence that we are achieving our goals. 

I came across these two pictures that I have added to my message because they resonated very strongly with me.  These pictures were taken several days before the Christmas break.  

It is a picture of a student from Grade 3/4 working with a JK/SK student.  Those two classes joined together for the afternoon to make gingerbread houses.  While the activity may seem like just a fun time, I believe strongly that the picture proves that a lot more is going on that meets our goals as a school.  Our vision states that we desire “to ignite a zeal for Christian education” The students in that classroom we actively engaged in the learning process.  I imagine that these two students are dealing with the problem of creating a stable structure.  They are interacting with their given materials and discovering the created properties of those materials.  Together they are problem solving and in the end they have achieved their goals. Together, they created some beautiful, strong and delicious.  What better way to be engaged in learning.

Also one of our core values is “Belonging”.  It is our desire is to have our children and students accepted as children of God and to be recognized as His image bearers; therefore, they are loved and nurtured.  Having two students working side by side, helps to reinforce this goal.  It helps to break down the artificial barriers that schools create between ages.  By working with others of various ages, we begin to understand and accept each other.  As we know each other better, we appreciate the gifts that everyone has been given and also we begin to serve one another when we are weak or need assistance. 

I praise God that Community Christian School is a loving and nurturing place.  Please continue to pray that our students and teachers may feel that sense of belonging and demonstrate a zeal for discovering God’s creation through Christian education.

Pre-Christmas Activities

Hot Lunch served in the gym.  There were students from a variety of Grades sitting at each table.  This was a great way to get to know someone else a little bit better.  The food was great as well.  Thanks to the moms who prepared the food.

Instead of receiving gifts for her birthday, one student asked for donations to be made to a student from Adoration Christian School in Haiti.  The money was used for tuition.  What a way to bless someone else.

JK/SK and Grade 3/4 joined together to create gingerbread house.  A wonderful shared learning experience that was also delicious.

Nativity Day - The students dressed up as a nativity character or animal.  Unfortunately the camera froze a couple of times and the photos from a few classes were not saved.

Student Council designed and led a number of Christmas themed activities.

ABC's of Christmas

Christmas Memory

Untangle the Christmas Lights

Grade 1/2 - Mystery Sight Words

As the students painted the light bulb, a new sight word would appear.  This is a great example of a very creative and engaging learning activity.

The Grade 1/2 class spent some time outside of the classroom sharing their reading skills with a group of seniors.

It Has Been Too Long

It has been too long since my last update on this blog.  Report cards are a busy time for teachers and a school and while I was changing the structure of our report cards, writing report cards, reading all the reports and preparing individual files for the teachers, this blog suffered.  I hope it does not occur in the future because there are always exciting things happening at the school.  Here are a few highlights from the past few weeks.

When I took over the writing responsibilities of the blog from Paul Markus, the first entries dealt with the renovations to the school.  This week Yvonne, our Administrative Assistant, and I moved into the new space.  I thank everyone who helped to make this possible.  I love my new office.

                                                     Yvonne working in her new office

One of the goals of Christian education is to prepare children for a life of servanthood and assisting others.  this year one of our teachers, Carol Vanderstoep, is on a leave of absence and is spending time in Haiti.  While she is there, Carol connected with Adoration Christian School and through her connection, our Students Council is sponsoring a young girl named Ruth.  This sponsorship is helping with the tuition that Ruth's family needed to pay for her to attend school.  We were very happy that our Students Council took on this act of serving; however, the act of serving went one step further.  One student, Meagan, had a birthday party and instead of receiving gifts she encouraged her guest to make a donation to help Ruth as well.  Her guests responded with kindness and generosity. The girls raised $146 to help another child receive the same benefit of Christian education that they receive here at CCS.  Thanks girls.

One of the values that we have here at CCS is belonging.  Belonging to a community takes intention actions.  Yesterday, we shared a communal meal of meatballs, potatoes, corn, and applesauce.  The students ate in groups at tables set up in the gym.  The beautiful thing about the meal was that students were not seated by grades, but they were sitting in mixed age and gender groups.  This was a great way to encourage the growth of community and it was a blessing.

Last week, our volleyball teams wrapped up their seasons with tournaments in Burlington and Dundas.  The girls had a successful day winning 6 out of 8 games.  The boys had a tougher day when you look at competition results, but the coach reported that they vastly better than the first tournament that they played in.  Growth and learning are the most important goals in school, so both teams can say they had successful seasons.

Colour Week

This past week was a very colourful week.  Student's Council organized a fun-filled week that involved the students dressing up in a different colour each day.  In addition to dressing up, students were encouraged to bring in a food item that matched the colour of the day.  These food items are going to be donated to the local food bank.  In total 341 items were collected and donated.

Also, we have some photos from last week's volleyball clinic.  The Grade 7 and 8 students plus four boys from Grade 6 went to Woodland Christian High School in order to learn new skills and participate in an informal tournament with other Christian elementary schools.  It was a very successful day.

This past Tuesday was also Remembrance Day.  While we have no photos, it was an important day.  In the morning we had an assembly at 11:00 with all of the students and in the afternoon, Grades 5-8 went to the local cenotaph to watch the ceremony there. Three students participated in the ceremony.  Nicole read "In Flanders Fields" and Cody and Daniel laid a wreath on behalf of Community Christian School.

Here are the photos documenting this past week.  I hope you have a blessed week.

Monday

Tuesday - Remembrance Day - Red was selected to symbolize this day.

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Students Council with the collected food organized by colour.

Volleyball Clinic