Junior Room Fieldtrip

Last Monday the Junior Room students went on a special fieldtrip to their teacher’s house. They ate lunch together and then watched and interesting movie about Canada.

Primary Students go to the Creek

The Primary Class enjoyed walking to the creek last week. The students skipped stones and found pretty rocks. A very enjoyable trip all around!

 

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

Playschool

A fresh start for our new friends. The sensory table stands ready and waiting for the new playschool students.

Classroom Sneak Peeks

It is almost that time again! The school is abuzz with activity. Classrooms are being prepared for students, library books are being sorted and shelved, kitchen being put back together, the driveway is being finished- so much activity! 

 

With the new year come a few exciting classroom changes. I know as a student my favourite part of the first day of school was seeing the classroom. So to add to the excitement of returning back to school, I have snuck a few sneak peak pictures of the classrooms. I hope you all enjoy them and we look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday!

 

Junior Room

 

Kindergarten

 

Senior Room

 

Primary Room

 

Playschool

 

Library/French Room

Happy Canada Day!

June Highlights

It is Monday and I feel like I should be rushing to get the Monday Memo done for this week, packing it full of all the interesting events that the students will be participating in for the coming weeks, but (a little, but not too) sadly school is done for summer vacation so I am blogging instead.

It is always fun to look back on some of the highlights of this year. My personal favourite was having the opportunity to work with the kids while filming the end of school video that was shown at the school closing ceremony. For those of you who didn’t get a chance to see the videos that were a tribute to our graduates (teachers and students) and our whole school, they will be included in the performance dvd that is mailed out to families later in the summer. The kids were troopers while filming and made Sandy (our director) and I smile with their dance moves and gymnastic prowess. Who knew we had such a talented bunch!

The school closing ceremonies were also very enjoyable. We had a worship service for the students and their parents. Then we honoured our graduate and heard a touching speech from the graduate’s mother. We said good bye to Mrs. Williams who has been part of the staff and Olivet School family for many years and wished her all the best.  

At Olivet we also give out awards to students who go the extra mile. This year the faculty was proud to give out four Kathleen McClure Fountain Memorial Awards! They were awarded for demonstrating a sincere and dedicated effort in music, for contribution to the life of the school through consistent friendliness and helpfulness towards others (from the teachers to the smallest play schooler), for contribution to the life of the school through a consistently positive attitude and diligence through all activities and for academic excellence through receiving an academic average above 87% over the course of this school year.

After the service all the students collected on the lawn for a picnic and the homeroom teachers gave out the individual student awards. Again this is yet another part of the school closing that I greatly enjoy. Each student from Kindergarten to Grade 6 is given a special award that applies just to them that highlights the very special element that they bring to the class. The whole school gets to hear and celebrate in each individual’s accomplishments.

All in all I would say that this year was a great success and I am already looking forward to seeing what next year brings! Have a great summer vacation! 
 

School's Out!

Have a great summer vacation! School resumes on September 2.

Dinosaurs

Last week the Kindergarten students learned about dinosaurs! The students had the opportunity to be archeologists and carefully chip the dinosaurs out of the ice using a hammer and pick. The students made a mural of giant dinosaur footprints that was hung on the wall by their class for all to see. Each Kindergartener painted their dinosaur footprint however he or she liked. Dinosaur puzzles were done on the floor of the classroom. Kindergarteners went on a fieldtrip to the nearby creek to hunt for fossils and then came back and made some of their own by making impressions on play dough!

This week the students will move from learning about dinosaur bones to learning about human bones as they begin their unit on healthy bodies.

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

Happy Victoria Day

The Month of May

The month of May has been a delightfully busy one here at Olivet School! With 2 spring concerts, a handful of fieldtrips, Mississauga Marathon 2k run and even our first ever 2^nd Hand Sale!

This year we purposefully have separated the younger and older students’ musical performances. Last year this was done for us by an unfortunate power outage during the concert which forced us to postpone the older student’s portion of the concert (as it required a/v support). It worked out so well in the end that we decided to plan it that way this year.

We have already had the Playschool and Kindergartener’s concert, at the beginning of this month, and it was lovely. As always hearing the songs of little children is beautiful and uplifting (not to mention cute and sometimes even a little silly). I think my absolute favourite part of the younger student’s concerts is when they wave to their moms and dads! You can just see the absolute delight they have of being on stage to impress their parents. Many of their songs involved hand actions and even some dancing that were very enjoyable.

Later this month we will have the musical “Rock Solid” put on by the older students. All families and friends are welcome to attend. I always enjoy the older students’ portion of the concert. They have the opportunity to really shine! Many of our students (especially some of the quieter ones you wouldn’t expect) rise to the challenge of singing a solo or taking on a larger speaking or acting role in these performance. All friends and family are welcome to see their performance Friday, May 30, at 6:30 in the downstairs hall.

May has been (and still is) a busy month full of fieldtrips and of course the students love them! Last week the Grades 3 and 4 met up with our sister school (Carmel New Church School, located in Kitchener) at Medieval Times to supplement their medieval studies in history class. They enjoyed watching the tournament and show. The kids even dressed up as lords and ladies from back in the time!

The students in the upper grades still have one or two more fieldtrips this month, which they are sure to enjoy. It is always great to be able to supplement classroom lessons with outside of the classroom experiences.

The Olivet School students took part in the Mississauga Marathon. It is a great opportunity for students to run a 40km marathon! The students run during their action time during the months of April and May to work up to their 38km and then they go and run the last 2km in the Mississauga Marathon and are cheered on by parents and friends. It gives the students a great sense of accomplishment and often the students come in the next day to school proudly wearing their participant medals.

This past weekend we had our first ever parent initiated 2^nd Hand Sale. The volunteers worked hard in the weeks leading up to the sale planning and getting others on board. In the end many of the families of the older children did much to help with the success of the sale. We sold 2^nd Hand items including antiques, there was face painting, $5 grab bags for kids, face reading, a coffee shop and even a gallery showing our students’ art! The sale raised $2,200 for the school and did a great job of promoting the school in the neighbourhood. A great big thanks goes out to our parents for running this fundraiser for the school!

As you can see we have been busy here, at Olivet School! For more information about Olivet School please visit our website at www.OlivetSchool.ca.

Earth Day

Happy Easter

 

Decorating Easter Eggs

The playschool students used shaving cream and food colouring to decorate their Easter eggs in an interesting way.

 

 Food colouring was added to the shaving cream and then the students would mix it together with their fingers and roll their eggs in it to give them an interesting look.

The students especially enjoyed squishing the foam in their fingers.

Take a look at the finished product. The eggs were left with the shaving cream on them overnight. Any mountainous amounts of shaving cream should be wiped off to allow them to dry.

 

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

Palm Sunday

When the Lord was in the world Judea was a province of Rome, and the Jewish people hated being under their rule.  They remembered the good old days when they ruled their own kingdom.  There were prophecies that a Messiah or saviour would someday come that sounded especially sweet while they suffered under the heavy handed rule of Rome.

John the Baptist got a lot of attention when he started baptizing in the Jordan, and he even identified Jesus as the Messiah that the people were waiting for.  But the Lord wanted to show people that, although He was a king, He was a new and different kind of king.  So He got on a donkey, which was the sign of a king (today it would be a big black limo) and rode through the gates into Jerusalem.  The people recognized the symbolism and greeted Him as a king, putting branches and garments on the road (their way of putting out the red carpet).

They expected Him to go to the palace to confront Herod and the Romans.  Instead, to show them where His kingdom really was, He went to the temple where He confronted the moneychangers and forced them out.  By doing so He showed them that He was the king of heaven, not just some little country on earth.  Unfortunately, that was not the kind of king they wanted.

Jim Cooper

Pastor, Olivet Church

 

Easter Week

Easter Week

 

          This is the week where we reflect on the most powerful stories of conflict in Scripture.  In order to be a big hero you need to win a big fight.  It’s our experience in life, and we see it in almost every work of literature.

          What we see in the Easter story is the epic battle between the all loving Creator God against the incredible power of the loves of self and the world. And it seems, for a time that the forces of darkness and pain have won.   Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour (Luke 23:44).

          For a time, both in the stories recorded in the Gospels, and in our own lives in times of temptation and trial, it does seem like the powers of darkness have succeeded in taking away the joy of our lives.  And that’s when we are supposed to remember the next part of the story.  On Easter morning the women found the tomb empty.  Life and joy had won out over darkness and pain.  And we are left with the assurance that if He can win this battle, He has the power to help us win all of ours, if we but ask for His help.

Jim Cooper

Pastor, Olivet Church

 

Playschool Drums

The afternoon playschool students decorated their very own drums and made jingly bell bracelets. Then they listened to a special story in circle with Ms. Williams that told them when to thump their drums and jingle their bells. The students enjoyed he story.

For more information about Olivet School visit www.olivetschool.ca.

Arctic Dioramas

 

The Primary class spent art class applying what they've learned from studying the arctic into lovely dioramas over the past few weeks. First they were each assigned a specific animal to do a report on, and then used paint, clay and other items to create an arctic habitat for their animals. The students went even further to impress by including elements from their Inuit unit from back in January - some of them have Inuit people, modes of transportation, hunting tools and more!

 

To learn more about Olivet School visit www.olivetschool.ca.