“Grandparents & Special Friends Day” is such a special tradition we continue to hold on campus each year! This is a morning full of laughter, hugs, refreshments, and performances. Our students PreK-8th grade invited their loved ones to Chapel, followed by grade performances that showcased educational stage presence. This year, our class recited the books of the Bible in chronological order. We have taken a few minutes after our daily devotion, since the 1st day of school, to learn this. You may watch the performance below!

After Chapel and performances, we invited our Grandparents to our classroom to share what we’re currently learning and give them a sweet gift! Alcohol ink coasters were so much fun to design and made beautiful keepsakes for their loved ones!!

Our 1st Annual Thanksgiving “I Am Thankful For Float Parade” was a hit! Students designed mobile floats representing what they are thankful for and showcased them to parents. From sports, music, and Jesus, the variety and creativeness was such a joy to watch!

Poetry Cafe is a fun way for students to showcase their creativity in 3rd grade here at St. James! The Poetry Café is valuable because it developes a love for poetry, of course, but it also strengthens their own writing, teaches them how to learn more deeply, and helps them develop public speaking and performance skills, all of which will serve them for the rest of their lives.

We spent the first 2 weeks studying poetry and learning literary elements.  My students were introduced to a lot of new vocabulary including: rhythmic pattern, rhyme, alliteration, imagery, and many more poetic words.  We spent each day during reading studying a certain element, and then in writing, trying it out.  Each student wrote a poem in the following formats: Cinquain, Acrostic, Shape, 5 senses, and Limerick.

We kept all of our poems in a Poetry Folder. This morning we invited our parents to join our performance in a Poetry Cafe style. The beatnik culture inspired us to transform our classroom and dress as if we were actually in an open mic night of a coffee shop! These 3rd graders read poems they have written over the past few weeks and it was such a special event!

It’s a new school year and how I love seeing all the smiles and hearing about summer adventures!

Although most general rules and procedures apply, 3rd grade offers more academic independence through the usage of Chromebooks. Student have learned how to:

• Navigate Google Classroom

• Bookmark academic websites including, Keyboarding Without Tears, Code-spark & Quizlet, which is used to study weekly spelling and vocabulary.

  Students especially love to study for vocabulary tests through Quizlet Live, which is a live challenge among the class. This method of studying supports communication skills as well as vocab knowledge. (Pictured below)

3rd graders have studied the location of the 7 continents and 5 Oceans (yes, the Southern Ocean is identified as our 5th ocean) as well as cardinal directions. They are able to read a map using a compass rose. Many Geographic and scientific terms were introduced: magnetic field, repel and attract, and Northern & Southern Hemisphere, etc.

We concluded the week with a Science Investigation, “How does a compass work?”, and “How can we make a survival compass in dire need?”. All you need is a steel sewing needle, a magnet, a small piece of Styrofoam (or leaf if you’re out and about in the woods), and water. After magnetizing the needle, place it on a floating device of choice, and our Earth’s gravitational pull will spin the needle to point to the North. This hands-on lesson is way cool even for adults😉

Our weekly story, The Origami Master, gave us an opportunity to locate Japan on the map and learn about the earliest form of Japanese art. So we took the challenge and created an origami bird. Being an Origami Master isn’t as easy as we thought, but with patience, good listening skills and a good attitude, everyone accomplished the goal! 😬

Multiplication is always a hot Math topic in 3rd grade! We spent some time reviewing 2nd grade skills and then jumped right into Module 1 of our Math curriculum, Properties of Multiplication & Division with units of 2-5, and 10. Below are just a few documented pictures of our daily hands-on lessons of arrays.