Temples and Community Service

It’s October and you know what that means — first grade Temple Projects!! In social studies the class is learning about early American civilizations. The focus of the study is on Mayan, Aztec, and Inca civilizations. While some of the rituals of these cultures are for mature audiences, we discuss the importance of families and the different contributions they’ve made to our society. Each year the students, with their parent(s), gather on campus and build a model of a Mayan temple. This hands on learning experience is aimed to reinforce the students understanding of what the temples looked like as well as the purpose for the temples. It gives the students an opportunity to teach their parents about a different culture and have a shared learning experience together. Thankfully the weather was beautiful and the projects turned out awesome!

Community service is an important component of St. James. We teach our students to respect and care about the community. Each class on campus, from the youngest 3 year olds to the 8th graders, is responsible for at least two community service projects each school year. These projects range from collecting pet food for the animal shelter, to collecting change for the Be the Light program in town, to supporting local law enforcement, to reading and singing to residents at area nursing homes, to collecting toys to support Toys for Tots. This year, first and second grade are working together to support and help a community that is even closer to us, St. James! We’ve taken on the task to serve our school. Several times throughout the year we will walk around campus and pick up litter and check on other ways we can serve the school to keep it beautiful and safe. Being so close to State Line Ave a lot of trash gets blown onto our campus. Critters like to dig in the playground trash cans and cause a mess too. We are charged with keeping an eye out to ensure the campus is in the best condition. One gorgeous afternoon the first and second graders gloves up and picked up 5 bags of trash! The best part was how excited the students were to pickup the trash that was making campus look gross and hurting the Earth.