This year, first and sixth grade have partnered with Cornerstone Retirement Community for our community service outreach. At St. James we put a high value on community service. We teach our students, the youngest class of three year olds to the eighth graders, that it is important to be involved and give back to the community. Each grade level reaches out to a local organization and has multiple projects with them throughout the year. Sometimes it’s collecting needed supplies or raising money, but primarily we focus on giving the gift of time. In the past, pre-Covid, first grade would partner with a retirement home or nursing home. We’ve read to the residents and often sing songs around various holidays. This year we are able to be fully back and active like before. First and sixth grade visited Cornerstone and painted rocks with the residents. It was so special to see these young student not only working together, but with an elderly person too. I told first grade that our goal was to bring joy to other’s lives and brighten their day. It was a great experience for everyone involved. We are looking forward to the next community service project.

Things are well underway in first grade. This year the class and I have made our own class mission statement. I am looking forward to see the positive impact this has on the class.

The class has been studying Matter in science since school started. Observable properties of matter has been discussed and we had a Cracker Lab. Another topic we learned about was the stages of matter and what better way to learn about matter than with coke floats! The children were able to see, smell, and taste science in action with the gas, liquid, and solid layers of the coke float. I reinforce the stages of matter, the class investigated three balloons: one filled with air, another filled water, and the other filled with frozen water. The class had fun checking out the stages of matter and we were able to describe the observable properties too!

In social studies first grade has started the early world civilizations unit. The first focus point is on the Mesopotamia. The 6th grade class is studying ziggurats. Mrs. Kandice and I took this opportunity to have the students share their learning. First grade traveled to middle school to listen to, and work with, the 6th graders on a joint history activity. The older students on campus are strong role models for the younger ones. The older students are often mentoring and working with the younger students. It’s a fantastic chance to be a positive leader.

Math Bingo is a fun way to practice number sense! We finished a lesson early and dove into a game of bingo. They did so great staying focused and counting all of the various ways you can show a number.

First Grade is back in action with a new group of students and I already know that it’s going to be a phenomenal year! Walking into First Grade can give some students the jitters. To help ease the transition and calm back to school nerves, the class had Jitter Juice. This sweet drink, along with the short poem, allows the students to be silly and talk about how they are feeling. After Jitter Juice we tied in a mini math lesson involving tallying and greater than/less than.

The school routine takes a little bit of time to get used to after the summer break. These kids jumped right back into the groove and have been working so hard since our return. They’ve written to 100-120 and have been practicing reading independently and to a partner. In science we had Cracker Lab where the students had to use observable properties to describe the matter (the various crackers). In history we’ve started the stories about Early World Civilization and it was fun to outline the Euphrates and Tigris rivers with bright colors.

This group is fun and I am so ready to have a great year teaching and learning with them!

Last week the kindergarten classes came over to visit and see what it was like in first grade. My first graders did a fantastic job of being leaders and coaches. They were so kind to their kindergarten partner and taught them several games that we play and how we rotate and behave in stations. It was exciting for me to see my future students. It was a great opportunity for kindergartners to make a connection with a student that will be in lower school with them next year. This is one of aspects I love about St. James. The older students mentoring the younger students, even if there isn’t a huge age gap in between.

Field day was a huge success! I know all of the students loved beginning the morning with class relay races and spending the rest of the time working through all of the fun stations Coach Nicole set up all around campus.

It has been a remarkable year full of growth and fun times learning. I’m so excited to watch these kids grow and continue to be the awesome humans they are!

An integral component in St. James culture is teaching kindness. Several times a week the trash is collected by waste management. Every single time the driver obliges the children and honks the horn in response to their arm pumping. To show our appreciation kindergarten-4th grade students signed a thank you poster and gave him cookies in the shape of his truck and smiley faces. The drivers kindness regularly brightens the students’ day. Hopefully we were able to brighten his day too.