Gala Matters
HMDCS
Holland Marsh District Christian School • Tel. (905) 775-3701 • Fax. (905) 775-2395
www.hmdcs.ca
[email protected]
volume 20, issue 22
Mission: The mission of HMDCS is to equip students to positively impact society through a Christ-centred education in a supportive and dedicated community.
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Vision: As a vibrant, connected partner in our community, HMDCS integrates 21 century learning skills, resources and strategies to engage students in a Christcentred education.
Calendar – February 9, 2015
Wed. Feb. 11
Thurs. Feb. 12
Fri. Feb. 13
Mon. Feb. 16
Tues. Feb. 17
Wed. Feb. 18
Thurs. Feb. 19
Fri. Feb. 20
Sat. Feb. 28
Hotdog Lunch
Kindergarten Information Evening ~ 7:00 pm
Guilds Grades 6-8 ~ 2 pm
PA Day ~ No Classes
Family Day ~ No Classes
HMDCS 72nd Birthday Winter Carnival
Popcorn Snack
Basketball Tournament ~ Oakville & Woodbridge
Toronto North Basketball Tournament ~ Barrie
Pizza Lunch
Gala Dinner
Gala is Saturday, February 28, 2015!
Last week, the Gala committee called every family in the school. Thank you to those of you who have already bought your
tickets or are sending in your information to purchase tickets this week. We appreciate your support of HMDCS! If you
said “No thanks” to the committee member who called you, we’d like you to consider ways you can still support the Gala.
1. I have another commitment that evening.
We understand, sometimes two great events happen on the same evening! If you are unable to attend, please
consider purchasing tickets anyway. We will be happy to find people to fill the seats who will gladly bid on auction
items. Just tell Mrs. Kralt when you order the tickets and we will take care of it!
2. It's not in the budget.
Consider using your points/rewards from Air Miles, etc. to get an item for the auction.
3. I don't have any connections to get any auction item.
No problem, buy T.R.I.P. gift cards and donate them and we will purchase items for the silent auction with them.
4. I don’t think Gala is my thing.
Buy a few tickets and come anyway! Even better, buy more tickets and bring a few friends. People suppose that
because it’s a more formal evening that they won’t like it. There is a lot of laughter and fun. Try it! We know that
you’ll have a great time!
If everyone works together, we will reach our goal! Thank you for your support!
From the Principal’s Desk
How Majestic is Your Name! Abba Father
The Parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-24) paints an incredible picture of a father’s love and forgiveness to a lost son. Jesus told
this story so that people through the ages could connect the vast love of a heavenly Father to children who are in need of
forgiveness. This is our Father who welcomes prodigals home and brings them into his family as his own beloved children. As God’s
children we should resemble our Father, growing to be more like him each day. It’s a blessing that teachers can walk together with
children at HMDCS as everyone is on a journey to be more like their Father.
Snow Days/Bus Cancellations – School will remain open if buses are cancelled
Please note the following changes:
• If York Region buses are cancelled then all the buses are cancelled, but the school will remain open.
• If the South Zone or all zones in Simcoe County are cancelled, then bus 4 and Simcoe stops on bus 3 will be cancelled, but
the York region stops and buses will be running and the school will remain open.
• If all buses are cancelled, hot lunches for that day will be postponed and everyone who comes to school will need to
bring a lunch.
It’s really important that the phone chain works for everyone and that the right information gets passed on to an adult in the
household. Thank you for working together to get the right information passed on.
Kindergarten Information Evening
On Wednesday, February 11 at 7:00, HMDCS will be hosting a Kindergarten Information Evening and we’d like everyone to invite
friends who might be interested in attending. There will be childcare available. We’d especially appreciate if current kindergarten
parents could attend with their friends who have kindergarten-aged children to provide testimonials of the quality and blessing the
kindergarten program has been to their children. Word of mouth is the best way to fill the classrooms at the new school! Please let
Mrs. Robinson or Miss Bokma know who you’re planning to bring with you.
Before and After School Care – Please let us know if you may be interested!
We know that more and more parents are looking for childcare before and after school, so we’re looking to update and provide this
service in the coming school year. Having this program available will also be attractive to potential families. We would appreciate
as much input from our current families as possible so we’re asking you to let the office know if you’re interested in participating
and how often you might participate. Times would be 7:30 to 8:30 am and from 3:30 to 6:00 pm.
Thrift Shop Update!
The Thrift Shop Board, under the leadership of Maria Wilcox, is moving forward with a location in Bradford. Things are falling into place
and they have felt God’s hand of blessing through this whole process. As there is a large storage area at the location, they are hoping to
be able to accept donations in two weeks. Some renovations need to be done when many helping hands will be needed, but they are on
track for an April opening!
General News & Information
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How Majestic is your Name!” Psalm 8
The Boys' and Girls' Basketball teams are in need of drivers for two tournaments. 1) The Toronto South tournament is being hosted at
two different locations - the Girls play in Oakville at JKCS, and the Boys play at Toronto District Christian High - on February 18. 2) Our
Toronto North tournament is at Timothy Christian School, in Barrie, on February 19. Are you available as a driver? Please contact Mr.
Geertsema if you are. Thank-you!
Guilds 2015 finishes up this week Thursday for students in grades 6, 7 and 8. A big THANK YOU to Mrs. Reist, Mr. Sparrow, Mrs. Vander
Kooij and Mr.Groombridge, Mrs. Fraser, Mr. Geertsema, Miss Bokma and Mrs. Brickell who led their guild each week. It was great to see
the students painting, playing music, building a diorama, making paper creations, playing chess, and cooking and eating healthy snacks!
Science Fair 2015
Science Fair 2015 is a fast approaching. All students are expected to attend the evening of celebration on March 3 as the projects will be
on display for all to see. It is important for the students to complete their projects by themselves with lots of parental encouragement
and teacher guidance along the way. Students should be working on their abstracts which are due on the 12th of February. If you still
need a display board, we have a few left. Please see your teacher to purchase yours.
Give opportunities:
1. HMDCS Recitation fest on February 27 is in need of judges. The top students from grade 4-8 will be reciting pieces of literature, poems,
narration or Bible passages. There is a judging form that will be used to determine the top participants from grades 4-6 and 7-8. Please
let me know if you are able to help us out from 8:45-10:30. [email protected]
2. Science Fair on March 3 is in need of several judges to go through the projects and interview the students. There is a judging form to
use and you will be working with a specific grade's projects that are on display in the gymnasium that day. This is an all-day commitment
with snacks and lunch provided. Please let me know if you are available to help us out for the day. [email protected]
Music Festival dates
The National Festival in Collingwood will be held on Wed. March 4 for the grade 8’s only. The North Toronto Music Festival will be held at
Holland Marsh on Tues May 5 for grades 7 and 8.
Classroom News
JK/SK – I am looking forward to meeting some future HMDCS Kindergarten students at the information evening on Wednesday night at
7:00 p.m. Please invite anyone who might be interested in learning about our program at HMDCS! (This replaces our Kindergarten
orientation that has taken place in June.) An email was sent home last week regarding our activities with valentines and the number
100. This week we will be talking about the sound of the letter O, opposites and reading Wherever You Are by Mem Fox. It is lovely book
that helps us recognize the similarities and differences we have with people around the world. ~ Mrs. Robinson
Grade 1/2A – This will be a short week jam packed with lots of activities. Today is day #97 of being in grade 1&2 together. In our Spelling
and Phonics work grade 1 will be working on adding the suffix -ing to short vowel words, while in grade2, we will be adding the –dge/ge
sound to the end of words. These spelling patterns will be tested on Thursday. On Tuesday, Aaron P and Jackson will be doing their read
aloud presentations in the library. Also on Tuesday afternoon, we’ll have a fire safety presentation. On Thursday our class is celebrating
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both the 100 Day of school as well as Valentine’s Day. A list of our classmates’ names and a Ziploc bag to fill with 100 items went home
last week to help you prepare. Our collections of 1oo things ties in nicely with our Math unit on Data Management, so it will be important
to have a collection that we can collect data on. In Bible we’ve begun our unit on Solomon’s peaceful reign, and have one of Solomon’s
wise sayings to memorize for Thursday. Learning about the different continents around the world has been fun. Each of my grade 2
students is going to choose an animal to represent each of the seven continents to do a little project on. Look for a separate note with
details this week. ~ Mrs. McKinley
Grade 2B/3 – A modified version of the “Wright” Newsletter for Grade 2/3 is coming home today with all the information you need to
know about the coming week. Scholastic book orders for February are due on Wednesday. We are looking forward to learning about many
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different countries in God’s incredible world. We will be celebrating both Valentine’s Day and the 100 day of school on Thursday. Have a
great week! ~ Mrs. Wright
Grade 4/5A – Happy Monday! This week we will study Unit 19 words in Spelling. Due to the short week our test will be on Thursday. We
continue to work on memorizing our Recitation piece as well as the books of the Bible. Both grades begin a new unit in Math on Data
Management this week. Please bring in a magazine and/or a newspaper by next Tuesday the 17th for our Media studies. Thank you. Have a
great week! ~ Mrs. Pranger
Grade 5B/6 –Welcome to a short, but busy week! Thanks to all the parents who volunteered to drive for our class trip on Wednesday. I
have emailed out some specifics to those of you who will be coming with us for the day. Please let me know if you did not receive it. The
students will need a bag lunch for the day with a snack and a drink and be dressed to spend some time outside during our lunch break.
Since it is a short week, we will be having our Spelling test on Thursday. The activities on spellingcity.com are to be completed by then as
well. We will spend some time on Tuesday working on our abstracts for Science Fair which will be due on Thursday. ~ Mrs. Schenk
Grade 7 –Welcome back from a snowy weekend. Although it is a four-day week there are many items on the agenda. Students who have
not yet received approval to submit their rough copy research report will be working on them throughout this week. Those who have
submitted their rough drafts are asked to come to the writing period on Wednesday with their recitations to continue their memorization.
The official due date for rough copies is February 17th. Students will also be having their Bible test for the current unit on February 17th.
Recitation presentations will take place on the 18th, 19th & 20th of February. Students are asked to be prepared to present on any of
those days unless they are participating in the basketball tournaments. Our regular Spelling test will take place on Friday. Looking forward
to a great week with everyone! "You will never influence the world by trying to be like it" - Author Unknown ~ Mrs. Brickell
Grade 8 – Our Math Unit 6 test is on Thursday. In Geography, we'll be conducting review of our unit on the Deciduous Forest Biome and
our unit test is on Wednesday. In Spelling, we will continue with Lesson 27 and have our Spelling quiz on Friday. In Language Power,
Lessons 50-54 are due on Friday. Students will need to practice their recitations throughout the next two weeks. Students need to
monitor their progress in the coming weeks to ensure that they get their science fair project completed. There will be a test this Thursday
in French covering all the material from Unit 3. ~ Mr. Geertsema