…city, movie set, rodeo, basketball court, hospital, human body, car, library, nuclear power plant, fitness gym, concert, and even a prison! Who knew you could compare tiny cells to all of these things? The seventh graders were assigned either a plant or animal cell before brainstorming how the functions of the organelles were analogous to something of their choosing. Once the brainstorming phase was completed, they created poster boards to illustrate their analogies and presented them in front of their peers. What a fun way to learn the functions of a cell!

By Kandice Kimmel, Latin & History, 5th-8th

The sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students have been working hard in preparation for the National Latin Exam. We kicked off our seventh grade Latin class with a friendly Roman numeral challenge. Roman numerals are important in Latin and history, and we still see this ancient numerical system that uses Latin letters to represent numbers today! Roman numerals often denote book chapters, are seen on clock faces, movie credits for copywrite dates, names, and in major sporting events such as the Super Bowl and Olympics.

By Susie Rogers,

5th-8th, ELA

Chocolate cake and Pepsi for breakfast? Why not? It is the perfect combination to celebrate the completion of our novel study of The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. In this classic tale of growing up and trying to find your place in the world, brothers live without parents, so cake for breakfast it is! After they read the novel, students were required to create a Bloom Ball, which is based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Each side represented knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, evaluation, and creation levels. This provided a powerful framework for engaging with The Outsiders on multiple cognitive levels. We concluded our novel study by watching the movie and enjoying cake and Pepsi! This immersive approach makes The Outsiders more than just a story; it becomes a shared moment of reflection and celebration.

By Susie Rogers, ELA, 5th-8th

Every year St. James holds its fundraising Gala where we come together with our families, staff, and friends for a night of wonderful food, upbeat music, and one-of-a-kind auction items. Each class contributes an auction item to help raise money for daily operations for the school and teacher salaries. This year my 7th grade class voted to make a spectacular hand-painted wind chime for a lucky someone who has the highest bid! Today we began the process by using sharpies, rubbing alcohol, Q-tips, and droppers. Students chose their favorite colors and blended them to make the perfect colorful disk. There are a couple more steps to complete before the final reveal, so stay tuned!

The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark. Michelangelo

This inspirational quote is a driving force of many of the projects for our students, and the Renaissance Research project In Mrs. Kandice’s history class was no exception. Each student had to choose a pivotal figure during the Renaissance time period, research the history, the life, and the accomplishments of each person. They then had to create a collage and present their project to the class. They learned about famous playwrights, artists, inventors, and rulers such as Galileo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, William Shakespeare, Gutenberg, Copernicus, and Queen Elizabeth I.