October is shaping up to be such a fun and exciting month in English Language Arts! Our 5th and 6th graders have been working diligently on their Wordly Wise Vocabulary Lessons and Weekly Spelling Tests, continuing to build their vocabulary and strengthen their language skills.

Meanwhile, our 7th and 8th graders have been hard at work creating their Pumpkin Patch stories. On October 30th, they will have the wonderful opportunity to share their stories with our Pre-K and Kindergarten students. Each student will dress up as the main character from his or her story and bring that character to life by painting it on a pumpkin. I know the younger students will love seeing the creativity and imagination our older students have put into their stories!

We are also looking forward to our Fall Festival on October 17th. Our 7th graders have a GREAT booth up their sleeves, and we cannot wait to show it off to all of the festival-goers!

Later in the month, our 5th and 6th graders will dive into the short story Hope I Don’t See a Ghost, while our 7th and 8th graders will read The Landlady. There will be plenty of opportunities for reading, writing, creativity, and a little Halloween fun along the way!

I am so looking forward to all that October has in store. The pumpkins, stories, festivals, and cooler weather make this such a special time of year. The cooler weather is just a big plus!

It has been a busy and productive few weeks in English Language Arts! My students have been working diligently on spelling, vocabulary, Wordly Wise, reading, and even their first short essay of the year. I am so proud of the effort I am seeing from them each day!

We recently watched the Pixar short film Piper, which gave us a fun opportunity to practice our writing and comprehension skills. After watching the film, students were asked to explain two specific examples of how Piper overcame her fear of the ocean. This was a great first opportunity for students to practice supporting their ideas with specific details from a story rather than simply retelling what happened.

In Wordly Wise, we have been learning some new and bigger vocabulary words! The students have worked hard to understand definitions, synonyms, antonyms, and how to use these words in context. Overall, they did a great job on their Wordly Wise test, and I am very proud of the progress they are making.

We are also continuing to read our novels and dive deeper into character development, important events, and critical thinking. As we move further into our books, students are learning to look beyond what happens in a story and think about why characters make certain choices, how they change, and what lessons they can take away from the story.

Coming up, we will begin working on parts of speech, which will help strengthen our understanding of grammar and sentence structure.

Overall, I am very proud of my students and all the hard work they have been putting into ELA. I have also truly enjoyed getting to know them more personally and watching their individual personalities and strengths shine through in the classroom. It has been a wonderful start to the year!

Thank you, as always, for all that you do to support your students and their learning!

What a great start to the year! I want to take a moment to brag on my students because I am seeing progress all around! Each week, they learn, grow, and become more confident in their ELA skills, and it has been so fun to watch.

One area where we are making great strides is spelling. Each week, students learn new spelling words that challenge them to expand their vocabulary and strengthen their understanding of English. I love seeing them work hard and practice!

We have also officially started the Wordly Wise vocabulary curriculum, and your students are working hard to succeed with this new material. Wordly Wise is about so much more than simply memorizing definitions. Students are learning new vocabulary words, discovering their meanings, identifying synonyms and antonyms, and learning how to apply these words in real-life situations.

They also work with short reading passages to practice reading comprehension and critical thinking. After reading, students answer short-answer questions that require them to think carefully about what they have read and explain their answers. These are important skills that will keep growing throughout the year!

I am incredibly proud of the effort I am seeing from my students. They are learning to challenge themselves, work through difficult material, and keep going even when something doesn't come easily.

Our middle school English Language Arts students have had a busy and exciting start to the year! We’ve been building our writing skills through our “Dear Me” Letters, where students wrote thoughtful letters to their future selves. We’ve also been strengthening our understanding of sentence structure and working hard to become more confident spellers.

One of our biggest focuses has been spelling! Students have been learning strategies to tackle challenging words, recognize patterns, and become more careful and confident writers.

And now, the exciting part—we have officially started our first novels! Students are diving into new stories, meeting new characters, and making predictions.

It’s been a wonderful beginning to the year, and I can’t wait to see how much our students grow as readers, writers, and communicators!

By Susie Rogers, 5th-8th, ELA

As the school year winds down, the campus of St. James have been filled with more than just lessons and assignments; they have been filled with moments that remind us what makes our school so special.

We had the incredible opportunity to hear from Lee Sanders, author of Under the Light of Fireflies, where students were inspired by the writing process and his vision.

My homeroom class and I enjoyed lunch off-campus, where the conversations were filled with laughter, stories, and middle-school energy. Of course, we had to end it with a sweet Dairy Queen treat.

Adding to the excitement, my sweet and beloved eighth-grade girls decided to “flock” and toilet paper my yard in a late-night surprise attack— proof that some of the best memories come wrapped in a little harmless mischief!

This month also brought meaningful traditions such as the final eighth-grade chapel (and mine, as well,) which was a heartfelt time of reflection, gratitude, and tears.

And finally, we had the honor of recognizing this year’s National Junior Honor society inductees, celebrating students who exemplify scholarship, leadership, character, and service.

If this month proved anything, it is that St. James is not simply a place where students come to learn facts and take tests. It is a place were lifelong memories are made, friendships are strengthened, traditions are cherished, and students are shaped into remarkable young people. At St. James, education goes beyond academics; it is an experience, and what a remarkable one it has been.