Merry Christmas!

 

Over the last 2,000 years so many things have become associated with Christmas that we can experience information overload. Do we think about the star, or the angels, or the shepherds, or the wise men, or Christmas lights, or gifts to be exchanged with friends and family, or Santa Claus... I think you can see where I’m going with this. There are lots of symbols that, each in their own way, have become a part of the Christmas celebration.

It might be valuable to take a moment to carefully and thoughtfully read this verse from the gospel of Luke: "For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11)

When the angels said that the Lord was "Born today" it meant both that this was something that was taking place at that very moment and the shepherds should hurry to see and that He is born today – every day – when we stop to reflect on His miraculous birth.

And we need to remember that this was not just any child, but "A Saviour." Again, not just for those people in that time, but for us, today, for if we open our hearts and minds to the things that He taught, our lives will be changed for the better, forever.

Rev. James P. Cooper

Pastor, Olivet Church

 

For more information about Olivet School, please visit our website www.olivetschool.ca.  

Playschool Christmas Activities

The Playschool class is getting excited about Christmas! The classroom is buzzing with Christmas activities.

These two friends are balancing Christmas ornaments.

This friend is organizing the animals visiting baby Jesus in the stable.

This friend is placing dots in the letter "J" activity sheet. "J" is for Jesus.

These friends are making special angel decorations for their Christmas trees at home. The students got to pick out the colour ribbon they wanted and string on the beads for the angel's head and halo.

 

 

 

 This friend is painting with Christmas coloured paint.

This friend is painting with a pine and cedar boughs. 

Scented play dough is fun to play with. The students use cookie cutters to make Christmas imprints on the dough.

This friend is using Christmas coloured beads to thread a bracelet.

 This friend is playing with the cloth nativity set.

For more information about Olivet School, please visit our website www.olivetschool.ca.

Decorating for Christmas

 

The senior students have been decorating the classroom. They made a long chain with one Christmas word on each band. The bright colours and words are a pleasant reminder to the students that Christmas is coming.

Science Class

The children in the junior room are creating plasticine boats to see if they can build one to float so well that it holds lots of pennies. One of the boats held 47 pennies before the gravity force was greater than the buoyancy force. 

World Sledge Hockey Challenge







Last Thursday the Grades 3 through 6 went to the MasterCard Centre to watch the World Sledge Hockey Challenge semifianal game between Russia and USA. It was a great experience for our students to see how people with tremendous challenges are able with amazing effort to overcome them. These teams will travel on to Sochi to participate in the Paralympic games this winter.



The Students waiting for the game to begin.

The puck is dropped to begin the game.

 

The students watching the action.

The Russian team defending their net.

 

The player of the game is announced for each of the teams and awarded by the paramedics.

 

 

For more information about Olivet School please visit www.OlivetSchool.ca.

Decorating Boxes

The students brought in boxes, the other week, and had a great time imagining all the different things they could be or do with the boxes. There were many boats, castles, mountains and towers. Now the Playschoolers have decorated the boxes. Take a look at what they have made!

 This friend is playing with another friend's princess box.



This is a horse! Notice the four legs.

 

These friends are still decorating their boxes. I wonder what they will be!

 

Look how detailed the decorations are on these two friends' boxes!

This is a castle!

Look at the wings on that plane!

Take a look at the princess castle!

The students did a great job decorating their boxes! I look forward to seeing their next project.

Open House this Week

This week we have our open house and it has me thinking about when I first started at Olivet
as a student. I toured the school with my parents and got excited as I imagined myself in one of the desks. Then the  long wait for September to finally come so I could be at school. It did eventually come.

I used to be a shy child so the small class sizes were a perfect fit for me. It enabled me to make friends a lot faster and not get lost in the crowd. Every teacher (even the ones who did not teach me) knew my name and I felt comfortable going to if I needed help. My home room teachers knew my strengths and weaknesses and were very good about encouraging me to do my best.

My favourite class was definitely music! Every year all the students would look forward to Spring Concert and the musical that would be the center point of the evening. Now we also have the French Show to look forward to as well as classroom productions that parents are invited to through the year.

I hope you take an opportunity to take a peek around the school and see why they love it here too!

Lindsay Mueller
Administrative Assistant and Alumna
Olivet School

For more information about Olivet School's Open House, please visit our webpage at http://olivetschool.ca/admissions/open-house/.

Remembrance Day

No reasonable person seeks warfare.  On the other hand, while evil remains in the world, there will be people who try to take lives, property, or freedom from others.  Defending one's home, or one's homeland from such an assault is sometimes necessary, and those of us who live in freedom and prosperity need to remember from time to time that our freedom and prosperity came at a high price.  It is appropriate, therefore, that we take some time every year to honour the memory of those who put down the tools of their daily work for a time and served the cause of freedom.

The book True Christian Religion puts it this way:  “That one's country should be loved, not as one loves himself, but more than himself, is a law inscribed on the human heart; from which has come the well-known principle, which every true man endorses, that if the country is threatened with ruin from an enemy or any other source, it is noble to die for it, and glorious for a soldier to shed his blood for it.  This is said because so great should be one's love for it.  It should be known that those who love their country and render good service to it from good will, after death love the Lord's kingdom, for then that is their country; and those who love the Lord's kingdom love the Lord Himself, because the Lord is the all in all things of His kingdom” (TCR414). 

 

 Today is Remembrance Day.  We invite you to reflect on the blessings we have in Canada and think about those people who bravely fought to make it possible for us – and many others – to enjoy those blessings.

 

Rev. James P. Cooper

Pastor, Olivet Church

 

For more information about Olivet School please visit our website www.olivetschool.ca.

Halloween in the Playschool class

The Playschool class is celebrating the spooky season of Halloween!

This Playschool friend is visiting the pumpkin patch.

Playing in the bog water table is fun, especially if you catch a frog!

These playschool friends are hammering  golf tees into pumpkins.

Squeezing paint, makes these pumpkins look pretty.

 

The haunted house-box is fun to colour in!

This friend found a worm in the rice table, eeks!

While sifting through the sand she found spiders, flies, and mice, oh my!

Painting bats is very fun indeed.

This friend is beading a very festive bracelet.

The I-Spy Halloween puzzle is challenging, but not too hard for this Playschool friend.

 

For more information about Olivet School please visit our website www.olivetschool.ca.