A Stage for Little Voices: Our Third Grade Poetry Café 🎤📚

Our third graders transformed their classroom into a special place where creativity, courage, and a love of words took center stage at our beloved annual Poetry Café at St. James Day School!

With a colorful brick backdrop, a microphone ready for our performers, and original poetry artwork displayed throughout the room, our classroom became a cozy little café filled with imagination and inspiration.

To honor the Beatnik culture, students dressed in black shirts and dark pants, with some adding fun accessories to complete their looks. Our little poets stepped up to the microphone and shared their poetry, giving each student a chance to shine and use their voice in a new and exciting way.

One of the most rewarding parts of this experience was watching our students build confidence as they stood before an audience and presented their work. Sharing poetry takes courage, creativity, and practice, and our third graders rose to the occasion beautifully!

Our classroom walls were filled with colorful illustrations and poetry-inspired artwork, showcasing the unique personalities and creative talents of each student. Every piece told a story, and every performance reminded us that words have the power to make us laugh, think, imagine, and connect with one another.

At St. James Day School, we believe learning should be meaningful, memorable, and full of opportunities for students to discover their gifts. Our Poetry Café was a wonderful reminder that even the smallest voices can make a big impact when they are given a stage.

We are so proud of our third-grade poets for their hard work, creativity, and willingness to step outside their comfort zones. These are the moments that make learning special—and memories our students will carry with them long after the last poem is read.

Bravo, third-grade poets! The world is waiting to hear your voices! ❤️🎤✨

“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.”

— Robert Frost

International Dot Day 2026

St. James Lower School celebrated Dot Day!

Framing a student's dot artwork is a classic International Dot Day tradition inspired by the pivotal moment in Peter H. Reynolds' book The Dot, where Vashti’s teacher proudly frames her simple dot in a gold swirly frame to inspire her. 

• First, we read the book, The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds and discussed creativity, bravery, and making your mark.

• Secondly, we made a small mark: The students drew a single dot on a piece of paper.

• Then we Transform It: I encouraged the students to turn their dot into a larger "not-a-dot" masterpiece using markers and/or crayons.

• Finally, I Framed the Masterpiece: We finished drawings inside a gold decorative paper frame to mimic the famous classroom display from the book.

🐸 Life Cycle of a Frog🐸

3 weeks ago, we walked to our campus pond and adopted 8 tadpoles to keep in our classroom as we learned about animal life cycles and metamorphosis. To our surprise, over the weekend, one of the tadpoles transformed into a froglet!! 4 strong legs have appeared from one of the tadpoles! Sadly we said goodbye to 2 tadpoles, but good news…..there are still 6 alive and thriving!

We will check back in, hopefully with 6 adorable little frogs, once the tadpoles complete their life cycle!

Update: Fast forward to this week……one morning we walked in to the classroom, and to our surprise, our cute little froglet made it to the final stage of metamorphosis and we found an adorable tiny frog!! We named him, Kermit!

Then it was time to release him in our school pond. Although for some of us it was difficult to let go of our little amphibian, allowing it to thrive in its natural environment was best!

Live long and prosper, Kermit! 🐸

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

Our Wordly Wise curriculum provides direct academic vocabulary instruction to develop the critical link between vocabulary and reading comprehension.

Last week our class read and studied, Up, Up, and Away, a nonfiction passage that highlights vocabulary and facts about the world's largest balloon event held every October at Balloon Fiesta Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

While learning new vocabulary and reading comprehension strategies, students learned how the local wind patterns, sometimes called the "Albuquerque Box," allow balloonists to navigate and make round-trip flights.

In addition to learning about the Albuquerque balloon festival, we put our creativity to the test and made our own hot air balloons using a paper mach’e mix of flour and water. This art piece will be a keepsake and a memorable time of how learning can be fun!

Community Service Project: Be The Light, Coin Challenge

When we work together toward a goal, we get to celebrate what God can accomplish through us.

With the help of our classmates and teachers, 3rd grade reached $820.96 above our goal of $2,000, which is a grand total of $2,820.96 !!!!!!!

Through this community service project, students had many opportunities for hands-on learning while counting change and bills throughout the week.

Or more info about this local ministry, please visit https://fwmtexarkana.org

https://youtu.be/SsEf0KC375E?feature=shared

And just like that… we’re back! 🎉

Our 3rd grade classroom is officially full of smiling faces, big personalities, lots of questions, and SO much excitement! I couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome my students back for another year of learning and growing. We are especially excited to welcome FOUR new friends to our classroom family! 💙 We are so happy you’re here!

🛍️ A Little Peek Into Our Lives: All About Me Bags! 💙

Day 3 of 3rd Grade was all about getting to know one another! 🥰

One of my favorite back-to-school activities is our “All About Me” Bags! Each student brought in a bag filled with three special items that told us a little something about who they are. It could be something they love, a favorite hobby, something that represents their family, or simply an item that makes them smile!

🔢 Rekenreks + Multiplication = Math Fun!

We jumped right into math by making our very own rekenreks! These colorful little tools are going to become one of our best friends as we explore multiplication, equal groups, and number relationships.

The goal? To build those multiplication facts until they become FLUENT and automatic! 💪

💡 Being the Light in Our Community 💜

Our 3rd graders are learning that being a good friend and a good citizen isn’t just something we talk about—it’s something we DO! 💙

This week, St. James Day School is coming together for a very special community service project: “Be the Light for NICU Awareness.” ✨

From August 31–September 4, each grade level will be collecting change to support local NICU families through Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. Every penny collected will help support families in our community who are walking through the NICU journey and bring a little extra love and encouragement to the tiny fighters and their families. 💜

We have been talking with our students about how even the smallest acts of kindness can make a BIG impact. Sometimes being the light doesn’t mean doing something huge—it can be as simple as sharing what we have, showing compassion, or helping someone who needs a little extra support.

I’m excited to watch our 3rd graders put this lesson into action! 🥰

We’ll be counting our pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters—and, more importantly, learning that generosity has the power to make a difference right here in our own community.

Every penny. Every act of kindness. Every tiny step toward victory. 💜✨

We are so proud to be part of a school family that chooses to BE THE LIGHT! 💡