Field Day Rescheduled

The weather for Friday still has a high probability of rain, so Field Day has been rescheduled to next Thursday, June 15th and will be for grades 1-7 only (as school will have already ended for Pre-K and K students).

Where:  St. James School Playground and Fields

Lunch:   No lunch is served (as it is a half day). Watermelon will be provided.

Wear:  SJS Gym Shorts, Gym sneakers, and any T-shirt in the color designated for the grade.  Don’t forget to apply SUNSCREEN (hope we need it)!

T-Shirt Colors

1st                     Purple (or something close…this is a tough color)

2nd                    Blue

3rd                    Green

4th                    Yellow

5th                    Orange

6th                    Red

7th                    Tie dye or navy

Teachers         Pink          

5th Grade Board Games

For their last book report of the year, the 5th grade classes have been working in small groups to create a board game based on the book that they read.  Their instructions for this project included creating a game board that depicted the setting of the story, game pieces that would represent the characters, and a game ending that would coincide with the conclusion of the book.  The rest was up to the students’ imagination.

Yesterday, the 4th grade classes came up to the 5th grade classrooms to play the various games with their creators.  Kudos to all our 5th grade students on the tremendous job they did with this assignment! (click images to enlarge)

 

5th Grade Wins JV Soccer Championship

Congratulations to the SJS 5th grade soccer team on winning the JV Championship this past weekend!

The 5th grade coaches sent in the following information the wished to share: Both the semi-final and championship games were decided on penalty kicks, making it a day of overwhelming emotions for the kids.  Our team was down 2-0 in the first game and the kids showed such resilience and grace under pressure, coming back with 3 unanswered goals before ending the game in a tie. Brady Pagani was the MVP of the tournament by far with a tremendous effort in goal. He stopped some amazing shots and kept the team alive during both the penalty kicks.  Sarah Christina scored the game winning goal in the championship.

There was a lot of fear of elimination with each kick followed by extreme happiness when a kick was stopped by Brady or a goal was scored by SJS.  Mr. Roy, Mr. Blackwell, Mr. Herr, and Mr. McMullen (the team’s coaches) said that, despite emotions running high, the kids showed great sportsmanship and respect for the opposing teams.  This was something the team has been working on improving this year, after some incidents earlier in the season, and the coaches stressed they were very proud of how the kids conducted themselves on Saturday.

One player, Peter Famiglietti, really stood out in the final game. Before Peter took his penalty kick he went up and shook hands with the goalie from the other team – a mutual sign of respect. After Peter scored his goal our kids were jumping with celebration behind him. Instead of running back into the arms of his teammates, Peter went back up to the goalie and shook his hand again. The goalies have the world on their shoulders in this moment. They feel the game is won or lost by their ability to make a save. The goalie was visibly upset and Peter knew the feeling and wanted to show him support. Although Peter was extremely excited he knew this was just a game and that goalie needed some support.

The coaches and administration wish to thank the parents for their support throughout the season.  Below is a team picture sent in by Mrs. Italia.

Book/Art Club Pics

Below please find some pictures from the last Book/Art Club, sent in by Mrs. Carpenter. The group read NEMO: Fish School, then made a clown fish sculpture & a fish ???? painting.  Mrs. Carpenter and Mrs. Sabatella are looking forward to running this fun group again next year, and thank all the parents for their support!

New Principal Announcement Letter

Please read the attached letter from Father Cavanaugh

New Principal Announcement Letter

SJS Summer Camp 2017 Pictures

The 2017 Saint James School Summer Camp was a hit!  A huge THANK YOU to Ms. Jean for all her efforts organizing and running this great program.  Also, special thanks to all the SJS teachers and staff who helped out during the six-week program.

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow
This slideshow shows pictures from all 6 weeks of camp

 

1st Grade Butterflies

After saying a prayer for safe travels, SJS 1st graders released their butterflies into the wild on Friday afternoon. The 1st grade students have watched these classroom pets go from caterpillars to chrysalises to butterflies as part of their science studies, journaling the their observations throughout the transformation.  Next, the students will be writing stories about where they think the butterflies have traveled to and what they would do while there.  Here are some pictures from the butterfly release on Friday (click pictures to enlarge).

 

Congratulations SJS Class of 2017!!

Congratulations to the Saint James School Class of 2017!  Below are a few pictures taken today – our 8th graders’ last day as Saint James students.  Many of these boys and girls have been a part of our school since they were three, four, or five years old.  They have grown up before our eyes and we could not be more proud of all their accomplishments!

We wish the Class of 2017 much success as they move into the next phase of their academic careers and we look forward to hearing about all of their achievements in high school and the years beyond.  Please join us in prayer that God continue to grace each of them with His love and guidance throughout the years to come (click pictures to enlarge).

Click here for a video of the Class of 2017 Clap Out

Attention – St. James Altar servers

The deadline for responding to the Lake Compounce trip is Tomorrow, FRIDAY, JUNE 2nd.  Please respond YES or NO to Fathercarlson@stjamesmanchester.org by the end of day tomorrow.

Staff Appreciation Luncheon

The Saint James Staff sends a huge Thank You to all the parents that donated towards, and/or helped out with, the staff appreciation luncheon yesterday!  The donations were extremely generous, and provided the staff with an absolutely delicious (catered) luncheon featuring some awesome raffle prizes, silly games (with candy!), treats in the staff lounge all week long, beautiful flower center pieces, specially made SJS bookmarks and frames for the super fun pictures that Erin Daley took during the event.  In addition, there was also a surprise gift for the teachers to let them know that they are, “hands down, the best around.”

We also wanted to thank the numerous parent volunteers who took time out of their day to cover the classrooms so all of the staff could attend luncheon, and to those that helped out in the cafeteria before, during, and after the luncheon event.  And, of course, a huge thank you to the event chair, Amy Santangelo, who organized/oversaw the  luncheon event and staff appreciation week treats.

Here are a few fun pictures from yesterday’s luncheon: