Poetry Cafe is a fun way for students to showcase their creativity in 3rd grade here at St. James! The Poetry Café is valuable because it developes a love for poetry, of course, but it also strengthens their own writing, teaches them how to learn more deeply, and helps them develop public speaking and performance skills, all of which will serve them for the rest of their lives.

We spent the first 2 weeks studying poetry and learning literary elements.  My students were introduced to a lot of new vocabulary including: rhythmic pattern, rhyme, alliteration, imagery, and many more poetic words.  We spent each day during reading studying a certain element, and then in writing, trying it out.  Each student wrote a poem in the following formats: Cinquain, Acrostic, Shape, 5 senses, and Limerick.

We kept all of our poems in a Poetry Folder. This morning we invited our parents to join our performance in a Poetry Cafe style. The beatnik culture inspired us to transform our classroom and dress as if we were actually in an open mic night of a coffee shop! These 3rd graders read poems they have written over the past few weeks and it was such a special event!

It’s a new school year and how I love seeing all the smiles and hearing about summer adventures!

Although most general rules and procedures apply, 3rd grade offers more academic independence through the usage of Chromebooks. Student have learned how to:

• Navigate Google Classroom

• Bookmark academic websites including, Keyboarding Without Tears, Code-spark & Quizlet, which is used to study weekly spelling and vocabulary.

  Students especially love to study for vocabulary tests through Quizlet Live, which is a live challenge among the class. This method of studying supports communication skills as well as vocab knowledge. (Pictured below)

3rd graders have studied the location of the 7 continents and 5 Oceans (yes, the Southern Ocean is identified as our 5th ocean) as well as cardinal directions. They are able to read a map using a compass rose. Many Geographic and scientific terms were introduced: magnetic field, repel and attract, and Northern & Southern Hemisphere, etc.

We concluded the week with a Science Investigation, “How does a compass work?”, and “How can we make a survival compass in dire need?”. All you need is a steel sewing needle, a magnet, a small piece of Styrofoam (or leaf if you’re out and about in the woods), and water. After magnetizing the needle, place it on a floating device of choice, and our Earth’s gravitational pull will spin the needle to point to the North. This hands-on lesson is way cool even for adults😉

Our weekly story, The Origami Master, gave us an opportunity to locate Japan on the map and learn about the earliest form of Japanese art. So we took the challenge and created an origami bird. Being an Origami Master isn’t as easy as we thought, but with patience, good listening skills and a good attitude, everyone accomplished the goal! 😬

Multiplication is always a hot Math topic in 3rd grade! We spent some time reviewing 2nd grade skills and then jumped right into Module 1 of our Math curriculum, Properties of Multiplication & Division with units of 2-5, and 10. Below are just a few documented pictures of our daily hands-on lessons of arrays.

Wow-e-wow! 1st-8th graders here at St. James Day School work hard learning songs, lead lines, designing the set and practicing from August until showtime! This year our students put on a fabulous show! 3rd graders were in almost every other scene singing and dancing! Our music teacher, Mrs. Wright and her right hand woman, Ms. Denise made all of our dreams come true and brought a seamless production to life for our school families and community! THANK YOU Pleasant Grove Theater department for allowing us to use your facility and helping our cast members with anything that needed assistance!

3rd graders were chosen to entertain as Safari animals! They did amazing with cues, timing, smiling and most importantly HAVING FUN!

Each year our school holds a Gala which is an opportunity for our families to come together for an event of fellowship and bidding! This event is sponsored by many many businesses, families and organizations. The live auction consists of class items either donated or hand made. This year the 3rd grade class used their prior knowledge and skills to create string art that reflected our Spring Musical! We strung 2 pieces and created beautiful art for our auction items. Pictured below: Lion & Giraffe Safari String Art

Our class chose to collect quarters for the non-profit organization, Fearfully & Wonderfully Made. This local ministry helps families of NICU babies by providing blessing bags with many items included such as: diapers, devotional book, restaurant gift cards, blankets, $5 roll of quarters, and most importantly love & prayer. One of our hospitals received funding to purchase NICU cameras so that families can now watch their infant 24/7 with an app on their phones!

This year we collected close to $2,000! Each grade level competed to see who could bring the most coins in dollar amounts. This coin challenge also provides 3rd graders daily opportunities to count money using the hands-on approach! This community service project cultivates what we strive to teach here at St. James. Other than academics of course, our school stands on biblical principles to take care of each other.