The past several weeks the weather has produced some beautiful spring days. One of these amazing weather days was on Earth Day, so very fitting. One of the activities the class did was take a nature walk scavenger hunt around campus. The children enjoyed this so much. Getting to investigate and closely look for items on the list made them giddy. Being with nature brings out the natural scientist in children. Hearing all of the facts they know about insects and weather warms my heart, you can see their passion and excitement when they are connecting other experiences they’ve had in nature with this one.

We were able to take a field trip! I feel so blessed that my class was able to go to Historic Washington State Park near Hope, AR. We were outside the entire time and had a lovely picnic. This year was understandably different, we weren’t able to go inside the building for tours. However, we made the most of it and read the information that was available. I saw, and took many pictures with, the largest magnolia tree in the state! There was also the moon tree. When it was just a seed it orbited the moon and then was planted in Washington, AR. The class thought that was pretty cool! It was so comforting to do something fun and safe while off-campus. It was a great way to slide into the last month of school. It’s hard to believe my precious first graders are about to be second graders! Soaking up all of my time with them.

Claire

One of the joys of working at a Christian school is that we can dive into the true meaning of the holidays. It is so meaningful to teach about Jesus’ death and resurrection. To help teach the class, I used resurrection eggs. Many of the students were familiar with these and were able to review the story of Jesus dying on the cross and the events that lead up to that with me. I think it is important to teach children that the reason for Easter is Jesus choosing to die on the cross for our sins and coming back to life to fulfill God’s Word. The class enjoyed painting beautiful crosses and a yummy snack.

Every year the first through eighth-grade students take part in the Spring Musical. This year the first and second graders were Oompa Loompas. All of them agreed that the music was fun to learn, they were all nervous but had fun, and none of them liked the wigs! It was a big production and the students knocked it out of the park!! The spring musical not only allows the student's musical talents to shine but also how responsible and hardworking they are. They needed to wear shields to be safe, but the shields didn’t take anything away from the musical. I can’t wait to see what next year's musical will be! 

Time is winding down this school year. To help learn about telling time the class made their own clock! It helped reinforce which hand is the minute hand and hour hand, that we can count by fives to know how many minutes have passed, and that when the minute hand is on the six you can say half-past or thirty. This group of students has always been interested in telling time and they enjoyed making their clocks and using them for several lessons.

Mrs. Gordon

St. Patrick’s day was this week. To celebrate, the students drew shamrocks. They listened while I gave them step-by-step directions to draw the shamrocks. Once the children finish their shamrocks, they painted them green. Before the shamrock art project, we discussed and learned information about St. Patrick. One thing that we discovered is that St. Patrick used the shamrock to teach others about the Holy Trinity. The Shamrock is the national flower of Ireland, and they grow in abundance there. So it’s not surprising that St. Patrick had access to the flower and it was a great tool in his endeavor to teach others about Christianity. The children enjoyed drawing, painting, and learning about shamrocks. 

We ended the week with math games and reading! The National Junior Honor Society and the math club visited first grade for some mentoring and fun learning. Such a great way to wrap up the week! I love that we can safely partner up with the middle school students for learning opportunities. 

Mrs. Gordon

First grade has just wrapped up a fun project - Animal Cereal Boxes. To begin the project the children randomly choose a piece of paper with an animal written on it. All of the animals are from our current language arts unit. I sent home an animal fact sheet for the children to complete as research homework with their parents. Once the sheet is returned and the child brings an empty cereal box back to class, it is 100% their own project. Each child has to wrap their box in construction paper, neatly copy the research information onto the project paper, draw a realistic picture of the animal in its habitat, create and illustrate the cereal name and artwork, as well as describe characteristics of the animal on both sides of the box. It is a lot of work and the children dedicated a lot of time to compose the final product. These projects are special because they capture the children’s personalities, it is evident in the finished project. After all of the work: coloring, cutting, writing, reading, researching, memorizing, and gluing, the children have to stand in front of the class and present their projects. The children did an outstanding job teaching the class about their animals. I could not be more proud of each of the first graders and the tremendous amount of work they put forth.

—Mrs. Gordon

First grade is a busy place! Last week, the middle school Math Club visited first grade to play math bingo. The children, young and old, had so much fun practicing addition and subtraction in the form of a game. It is so beneficial for everyone involved. My students love anything that requires the “big” kids and it gives those older students the chance to show leadership, patience, and their own math skills. This experience gave my children some extra motivation to practice math. In my experience, first graders, and all children, love to play games and get very excited when they are able to excel and win. This activity was a win for everyone!

When I began teaching first grade I wanted to start a new tradition with Valentine’s Day. Instead of having the students make boxes or bags with hearts and stickers, I choose to have every student write a compliment on one another’s bags. Even though it can be difficult to read their sweet handwriting, the look on their faces when they see all of the kind statements from their classmates is so heartwarming. This is great because it encourages the children to think about others and focus on kindness. 

 Typically, tomorrow would be Grandparents’ Day at St. James Day School. As with everything this year, covid has altered plans. Even though the beloved tradition couldn’t take place in the traditional way, the children still learned and recorded their song, made keepsakes to send to their grandparents, and participated in some of the fun Grandparents' Day activities. We are all looking to the future with the hope to have these fun traditions back on campus. Right now, the priority is safety to all. 

Have a wonderful winter break!

Mrs. Gordon