Lower School Candle Light

December 15, 2022

This time of year is always busy, but memorable! We began the month preparing our hearts for the celebration of our Savior’s birth, as we all know as Christmas. Our daily devotions consisted of scripture leading to the birth of Jesus. In addition, students in 1st - 8th grade, performed Candle Light services @St. James Church Texarkana. This beautiful and traditional service always sets the tone for the real reason we celebrate Christmas! You can view the Lower School Candle Light service (1st -4th grade) here: https://youtu.be/lVO8HkFc6ZM

Parent Gifts 🎁

Over a span of 2 weeks, students worked diligently to create their parents gifts. This is my all time favorite DIY gift! Christmas Tree Nail Art! Students sanded their board, hammered nails using a tree template, then strung shades of green yarn in a variety of patterns.

Thank you Ben Mayo, with Mayo furniture for donating the boards and Ms. Denise for safely teaching the students carpenter skills!!

**Party Time**

December 16, 2022

Last but not least, a Christmas party took place to conclude our festivities together! We even had a surprise visitor, The Grinch!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Book Character Day

October 31, 2022

Thanksgiving Program

November 18, 2022

This year we were thrilled to invite parents on campus again! Each class performed a skit, song, or song. And following tradition, the students concluded with sharing what they are thankful for!

Veterans Day

November 11, 2022

3rd graders studied the history of our American flag and the meaning behind the lyrics of, “The Star Spangled Banner”.

Our students dedicated Chapel on this day to honor of the men and women who have and currently are sacrificing their lives for our freedom.

Field trip to Shreveport Aquarium

November 16, 2022

The aquarium combines age appropriate STEM based hands-on learning with educational talks and up close animal encounters! During our interactive visit, students gained a deeper understanding and appreciation of the earth's oceans and the creatures that inhabit them. Our class specifically learned about Axolotls and we were gifted a cute stuffed axolotl that has become our classroom “pet”!

We also learned how to make shark treats! This activity was a “favorite part of the trip” for many!

Beginning day 1, 3rd graders are exposed to multiplication. Arrays, equal groups, factors, and products are just a few vocabulary words they hear frequently. Hands on learning in math is a great visual for the students to understand the concept.

---

Save Pythias!

In our Open Court reading text, we read “Damon & Pythias”, a Greek legend set on the island of Sicily. The story represents what true friendship means. This gave me an opportunity to throw in a fun STEM investigation, Save Pythias! This activity included building community, engineering design, and Greek legends! Based off of the popular Save Fred activity, this includes a fun twist.

Poetry Cafe is underway!

A tradition every 3rd grader looks forward to is, Poetry Cafe! Within a 3 week study of poetry, students not only read and learn many poetic devices, but write a few poems, too! Last week we read poetry outside a few days while the weather was cool. It’s so nice to escape the classroom from time to time!☺️

We will host a Poetry presentation next week for our parents. We plan to record it and upload to our St. James YouTube channel.

WHAT MAKES AN OBJECT FLOAT?

Investigation 1: Does an orange sink or float? How does peeling an orange effect it’s density? Using the scientific method, students made a hypothesis, Measured, and collected data during this investigation! You can imagine the sweet citrus aroma that filled our classroom!!

Investigation 2: Don’t sink the boat challenge!

Adding coins to the boats increased the density of the boat. When the density of the coins and boat is greater than the water, the boat sinks. Students added as many pennies as they could before their boat sank! One student counted 28 pennies!