ACCS NEWSLETTER
November 2016
I'm not sure why we are here?
.
Every once in a while I find myself asking that question. I'm not just talking about being in Alliston, or
even Ontario. Why are we on earth? When we begin to reflect on that, we can look at it in many different ways. I'd like to look at it through the eyes of what we have been studying in some of our classrooms.
In grade 5/6 we are studying about “Space”. The heavens and the earth, the stars and the planets,
and so much more. To begin that study we focused on the idea of what a light year is. And many of us
know that it involves both time and distance. A light year is how far light travels in one year. We then
looked at how far apart the planets are and had to admit that the beauty of God's creation found
throughout His universe leaves us wondering about its vastness.
That brought me to thinking about a book that I've been reading lately which talks about the many
ways that people look at the book of Revelation. The end of times for some is now a very timely topic
because of what we see going on around us throughout the world. Many, I'm sure, are hoping that the
end will come quickly. Yet, as we reflect on the ages, and our grade 7/8 class did so this week with their
Roman Times evening, we can see that throughout history there have been many times that people
would have hoped for Christ's return.
Both units give our students a chance to reflect on what it means to love God and what it means to
be His child. The vastness of creation makes us feel small yet so important. In a universe so big why
would God worry about me? The second unit about the Roman Empire reminds us to question and understand how each culture responds to and either promotes or rejects God. We live in a time, right here
in Ontario that should make us worry, what is our culture promoting?
We hope to celebrate Christmas very soon. We will sing about the birth of our Lord and Saviour. We
look forward to that. As part of our local celebrations we were able to be part of the Alliston Christmas/
Santa Claus parade. The theme of our float was that Christ was the reason for the season. We won a
prize for best traditional float. In some ways that reminded us that Christmas has taken on a different
meaning for many people.
Why are we here? Hopefully we would all agree that God wants us to stand up for Him, that we are
to promote love for Him and for our neighbour, and therefore make every day one with purpose. Do we
worry about the future, eternity? We can reflect on it but not at the expense of wasting the time given to
us.
Mr. Bronsema
Principal
In This Issue
* 3/4
Tone Chimes and the Body of Christ
* JK SK Winter Wonder Land
* 5/6
Student Work Centers
* Gr 1/2 Science Class and activities
* 7/8
Roman Empire Exhibit
Grade 1 / 2
Kindergarten
There has been lots of activity in the Primary Class this month. The students were
part of the Remembrance Day Assembly
and sang a hymn about Peace. They have
also been busy practicing for an upcoming
Community Concert on December 3rd at
Knox Church. We were also part of the
float the school put in the Alliston Santa
Claus Parade. We welcomed Rebekah a
new student to our class. In Science
class we have been learning about Solids,
Liquids and Gases. We have learned
about the properties of a liquid, and have
done several fun experiments. We will
continue our investigations of solids and
gases in the coming weeks. Christmas is
always an exciting time in the Primary
Class. Stay tuned for event highlights and
pictures next month.
Recently our Kindergarten students drew and cut out their own
evergreen tress. They ‘dressed’
them in pretty white cotton balls,
silver sparkles and white paint. We
have been learning about transportation, types, uses, safety and
travel history. Our transportation
booklet was a great easy reader
for us to read together. Students
are getting excited for Christmas
as we practice our songs for the
concert. Thank-you to our special
parents, Sally Milley and Erin
Leung, for giving classroom assistance each week. May your Christmas be filled with wonder and awe
as you celebrate Jesus’ birth!
Miss Hayes
Mrs. Burling
Grade 3 / 4
Tone Chimes and the Body of Christ
The grade 3/4 class has been practicing some Christmas Carols on the tone chimes. Each student plays just one (or maybe
two) notes, but when we each play our own notes at the right
time, we make beautiful music together. Playing tone chimes
is a lot like the Body of Christ as Paul describes it in I Corinthians 12. As we've been practicing, some student have felt that
their notes were not as important as others since they only get
played two or three times in the song. But when we are missing even those "unimportant" notes, the melody is not as clear
or beautiful. It's the same way with the Body of Christ. God
has given us different gifts and when we all do the things He
calls us to do, the whole group functions better. Even the
"small"
parts have
an important
role.
Mrs. Span
We've enjoyed many donations, good
sales and continued support from a number of
dedicated volunteers. The workload is increasing and we definitely
need to find some more dedicated
volunteers. It is an enjoyable experience, satisfying to know that you
are both offering a service to the
local community and at the same
time supporting ACCS. Give us a
call at the store or the school.
A big thank you goes out to our
parents and students for helping
support local families through My
Sister's Place. We continue to look
for ways to put our words into
practice.
Grade 5 /6
The grade 5/6 class enjoyed working in centres
for the past five weeks.
Students worked with a
different partner each day
and rotated to different
subject-themed centres
with them. The extra
space in our classroom
allowed us to do activity
breaks (push ups, high
knees, stretching and
making pyramids)! We
really enjoyed making kahoots (internet based quiz
games) and using them to
study our classroom material. We have just finished studying the patriarchs (in Bible) and we
are starting an in-depth
look at the leader Moses.
We are also looking at
ways to get our school
involved in helping support the international charity we are learning about
this month- Samaritan's
Purse. We have really enjoyed our Friday afternoon
electives of cartooning
and soap/lotion/lip gloss
Grade 7/8
The entire grade 7/8 class participated well in the volleyball tournament last week. Fabulous energy and effort everyone. Students
participated in another Spirit Day challenge- to dress up in their
favourite Superhero costumes.
'Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend me Your Ears' Our senior
students held their Roman Empire Exhibit on Wednesday Nov 30.
What a fabulous and exciting evening it was. Thank you to the
many visitors we had. A most excellent job grade 7/8- I am so
proud of you all - Mrs. RD*
Many of our students will have a table set up at the Winterfest this
Saturday with their wares. Come and see what these creative entrepreneurial students have made to entice Christmas shoppers.
Life is always exciting around the classroom- come up and visit usyou might just catch us sipping hot cocoa in the lounge...or maybe
not...
Blessings everyone, Mrs. Roberts-Dodd
(pictures on front page)
Dear Members, parents and friends of ACCS.
Many things to be thankful for as we move into the season of
CHRISTmas. Our school continues to be blessed with God shining
His face on His school. Great to see the new front windows which
adds a clean look and better efficiency. Thank you to the donors.
We are blessed with faithful donors and volunteers. It would be
great to think if we could give the school a small face lift to bring it
into current design, this could be as simple as fresh paint.
The Board has been working diligently to stay on top of the business of the school. We have started the process of searching for
another principal working along side Ray Hendriks from OACS.
We currently have a strong leadership team in place so this transition will go smoothly.
The Board will continue to work along side staff and administrative
staff to assist in any of there needs. Nice to be able to spend time
with the team last week discussing the positive things happening
and where we can use some improvements.
Thank you to those involved in the ACCS Christmas parade float.
It was so much fun to be part of this event and what a fantastic
way to let the community know who and what we are.
Praise God for His continued grace and love for ACCS.
God Bless,
ACCS Board
What’s Happening, Upcoming Events, Prayer Corner
This year ACCS we
had a float in the Alliston Santa Claus
Parade. We had 35
students and 15 parents involved. Some
dressed up as Nativity characters or animals
and others walked the
parade route handing
out candy canes and
information flyers about
the school. Everyone
had a great time.
The float won a prize
for “best use of a traditional theme”. We
are already planning
for next year.
The students enjoyed the first snowfall of the season. Everyone was busy making snow forts and
gigantic snowmen.
Volleyball: Our volleyball team
played well at the annual tournament playing some close games
in the morning and winning their
two afternoon matches. As the
day progressed all fourteen players showed that they could play.
Thank you to Mrs. Fenn for helping coach the team this year
ACCS Prayer Corner:
Upcoming Events:
Dec. 3—Winterfest Bazaar at ACCS
Dec. 7th – Chapel with Pastor Roelof
Peereboom, everyone welcome
Dec. 14th—Teachers meeting at 3:00 p.m.
Dec. 21st—Christmas Concert in the gym at
1:30 and 7:30 p.m. everyone welcome
Dec. 22nd—Spirit Day—theme is favourite
pajamas
Dec. 23rd—Christmas Break starts (no school)
Our Students: That they would remember
the reason for the season.
Our Staff: That they have grace, discernment, and wisdom during this busy season.
Our Board: That God fills them with peace
and joy during this Christmas season.
Our Community: That the light of Jesus
would be revealed to them during this season.
Alliston Community Christian School
4428 Adjala-Tecumseth Townline
Alliston, ON L9R 1V4
705-434-2227
General Email: [email protected] Principal: [email protected]
web: www.allistonccs.com