VETERANS DAY AND COMMUNITY SERVICE

November and December are two of the busiest month of the school year. There is much to do and not as much time. St. James holds an annual Veterans Chapel to recognize all who have and continue to serve. To honor the veterans that were present, the First Grade recited a poem to show their appreciation for the veterans’ sacrifice. For one of our community service projects, the children reached out to other veterans from our community who are currently living abroad. The children colored pictures and wrote “thank you for your service” on the papers. We, along with second grade, mailed them to local community members who are stationed in Germany.

At St. James we enjoy reaching out to the community and showing our children how important it is to take care of our community. We know it is helpful to instill those leadership skills at a young age. I really reinforce the idea that we do things for others to make them happy, not for our benefit. A recent community service project the kids participated in was making Christmas cards for the residence at Cornerstone Retirement home. We traveled to Cornerstone to pass out the cards and sing Christmas carols to the residents in the memory loss unit and the health care unit. The children were so sweet and compassionate with the elderly people. We will definitely be visiting our friends at Cornerstone again soon.

In science, the class has continued to study weather. Lately the focus has been on wind and noticing changes in the weather. Over several class periods, the class made kites. One beautiful afternoon the children were able to take the kites for a fly. It was so neat to see the children fly their own creations and being able to feel and see the elements of wind that have been discussed in class. They had so much joy and pride as they flew their kites around the soccer field. We are really looking forward to growing plants next semester!

Have a blessed holiday season,

Mrs. Gordon