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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-12-08, Page 7THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2011. PAGE 7. Continued from page 3 downstairs for their time of fellowship. The scripture lesson was from Mark 13: 32-37. Rev. Clark’s message to the adults was “Christmas Programs Series: A Christmas Carol.” The Christmas story formed the Christmas Classics but there is no mention of Jesus in most of the classics. Hearing the Christmas story is often like living beside a train track. Through the years we have heard the story so often that we really don’t hear it. The scriptures tell us that we must look for signs like the new growth in the spring. In the time that Mark writes about his people were under the Roman rulers. The Jewish people looked back at generations before to give them hope that things would be right again. People in power often abuse the people without the power. In the story “A Christmas Carol” Scrooge realizes that he must change before it is too late for him. We watched a small version of the Spirit of Christmas showing Scrooge the way to change his life around. Jesus helps us to care and have compassion for others. He helps us change our ways to the future. The choir sang the anthem, “Angels We Have Heard on High.” The offering was received followed by the offering hymn, the offertory prayer, the prayers for the world, silent prayer and the singing of The Lord’s Prayer. The last hymn, “May the God of Hope” was followed by the commissioning, the benediction and the singing of the first verse of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” Everyone was invited for coffee and a time of fellowship. Christmas origin story repeated into background noise Three Little Pigs teaches results of sloppy work ethicBy Courtney BachertDecember got off to a great startand all Blyth Public School studentsare excited for the upcoming Christmas concert! Classes are continuing with their practices and making sure everything is “Practically Perfect”. The kindergarten classes were so excited for this week because the calendar switched from November to December and they are counting down the days until the Christmas concert and until Santa slides down their chimneys. They talked about taking down all their Autumn decor and replacing it with sparkly, seasonal Christmas decorations. The junior class has been busy, working hard on improving their skills on printing their names correctly and independently, tracing and forming the vertical letters of the alphabet and cutting and pasting. They are also refining theirabilities to locate and colour itemsexactly the same, despite manyadded features and minor technical differences. The senior class concentrated on the letter P this week and made a lot of text-to-self connections around the fairytale, “The Three Little Pigs”. They classified their school work into four categories of success criteria – straw work (messy, hurried and unlabelled), stick work (starts out well but soon gets sloppy and disorganized), brick work (neat, organized, colourful and labelled) and mansion work (detailed, multicoloured, full of effort and well labelled). The students will strive to improve and “bump up their seatwork” in the near future through greater concentration, effort and conferences with their teachers. The Grade 1/2 class has investigated the virtue of couragethrough their read-alouds anddiscussions. As a culminatingactivity, the students talked about what makes a hero and then put their ideas into print. Mrs. Roe was proud of their responses because topping the lists are the dads, the moms and the grandparents who received the best compliments. In math, they are going to explore the strand of geometry as they work with two and three-dimensional shapes to construct Christmas symbols and decorations. They have also already began their preparations for the Christmas season and they had a great time with their interview with Denny Scott from The Citizen. Make sure to watch for their comments in an upcoming Christmas feature. By Phaedra Scott The Grade 7/8 class have been working on a presentation since anti- bullying week, which was a couple weeks ago, and their hard work definitely paid off. On Nov. 30, the Grade 7/8 students did an amazinganti-bullying presentation. They gota standing ovation and treasuredstickers from the principal. Each year, Free The Children (Me to We umbrella group) organizes a Vow of Silence to give a voice to the voiceless. This year students who would like to participate in the Vow of Silence have to raise at least $20 worth of sponsorships and will take the vow on Friday, Dec. 9. Their goal is to be silent from the bell that begins the school day to the bell that ends it. All money raised will be added to our Kids Giving Water well fund to help us build a clean water well in Kenya. If $200 is raised, the Magnificent Mr. Brown will take the vow during the time he is in our school on Dec. 9. If $300 is raised the Dynamic Duo, Decker and Armstrong, will take the vow for the day with the students. If $400 is raised we will silence the Gregarious Gagne. If $500 is raised we will silence the Mighty McDowell. Ms Badham willbe acting as a judge and will collectfines from talking teachers.By Hunter Dale This week in the Grade 4/5 class they have been learning a lot. In language they are working on identifying the non-fiction text features and how they help them understand what they read. Then in math they are looking at addition strategies and they are splitting bananas to practise addition. In art they will be creating a Christmas diorama of Santa’s house/home. That sounds fun. And if you want to see what they are doing you can check out their classroom wiki at heatherdecker.pbworks.com which has lots of useful strategies for all subject areas. On Friday, Grades 1-6 went to see “The Best Present Of All” at the Blyth Festival. All students had a great time and enjoyed the performance very much. MPP Thompson tries to save jail Lisa Thompson, Huron-Bruce MPP tabled her first motion in the Ontario Legislature as the new MPP for Huron-Bruce, in an effort to save the Walkerton Jail on Nov. 30. Thompson’s motion, intended to bring light to impending closure of the Walkerton Jail, was tabled to pressure the McGuinty Liberals to back down on the scheduled closure this weekend. Thompson’s motion states that local community stakeholders must be consulted before any provincially owned or leased institution can be closed. Last week, Thompson asked the Minister to commit to postponing the closure of the Walkerton and Owen Sound jails until the promised local community stakeholder consultations have been completed and the cost-benefit analysis has been released to the community. The Minister said point blank that the McGuinty Liberals would not postpone the closure. “We have to try every possible angle to get the McGuinty Liberals to see that closing this jail without the input of the community is wrong.” Rural Ontario is already facing economic instability and now this Liberal government will not commit to keeping local jobs. It’s very disappointing that rural Ontario doesn’t seem to matter to the McGuinty Liberals.” The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services slated the jail for closure on Dec. 4 without completing the local community stakeholder consultations that were promised when the closure was announced earlier this year. Additionally, the cost-benefit analysis that states the closure makes economic sense has not been released. Thompson assumes that, as is the case with the Sarnia Jail, no cost-benefit analysis was done prior to announcing the closure. “Listening to the needs and concerns of the community are important and it appears as though the Liberal government is prepared to forge ahead with this ill-advised plan without engaging those who will be impacted most by this closure,” said Thompson. “If the Liberals don’t have a last minute change of heart, this Saturday will be a sad day for Walkerton and its residents, and yet another hit to the rural Ontario economy.” See photos from the Brussels Santa Claus Parade on our website at www.northhuron.on.caDynamic duo Andy Lubbers, president of the Blyth Legion, right, and Rick McBurney, Training and Organizational Development Chair, left, presented awards to students who excelled in the annual Remembrance Day Poster, Poem and Essay contests at Blyth Public School. Two of the students who won awards were Brett Fleming who placed second in the Junior Colour Poster contest, front left, and Logan Chalmers who took first place in the Junior Poetry contest. (Denny Scott photo)