The Saint James School HSA is sponsoring a fun event for the kids to play and moms to socialize over February Vacation at Jumpin Jonnies (234 Talcottville Road, Vernon).  Join your Saint James friends on Wednesday, February 17 from 10am – noon for two hours of private bouncing just for SJS families.  The cost is $12.00/child and includes a slice of Pizza and Juice or Water.  In addition, 25% of all proceeds will be donated to the school!  Please click HERE for the informational flyer and HERE to download a copy of the waiver.

Today, the 1st graders had a special math lesson involving Valentine “conversation hearts” candy.  Students had to sort their hearts into colors and then count the totals.  They then had a worksheet where they had to add select colors together and come up with the total.  Students also graphed their results and took turns reading some of the sayings on their conversation hearts.  The students had such a fun time with this great Valentine’s math lesson! (click pictures to enlarge)

To immerse their students in an important aspect of early American History, today the 5th Grade teachers transformed one of their classrooms into an emigrant ship for a day. This unique learning experience was designed to help students appreciate the hardships that our forefathers experienced as they set sail for the “new world.”

The morning began with students arriving for school in period clothes and hauling all the supplies they would need for their adventure. This included food, water, blankets, pillows, and period-appropriate entertainment. Since all items brought to the “ship” had to coincide with items available in the early 1600s through late 1800s, students, like emigrants before them, were forced to wait in a long line while bag checkers went through their belongings and cleared them for departure.

Upon boarding, students were asked to sign the ship’s manifest (the “Saint James School Compact”) and were given their passenger papers (classwork). Next, they settled their belongings in the tight sleeping quarters – one space being designated for boys and a separate space for girls.  After everyone was on board, the classroom door was shut and all 50 students settled in for their day “at sea”.

Although the fifth grade teachers did remain in the classroom, the students (led by their two designated captains) were solely responsible for completing their work, maintaining a peaceful ship, and working as a team to overcome challenges.  Two “ministers” on the ship ensured that hourly prayers were said. When rations started to dwindle, students took turns fishing out the window.

Students encountered storms and other challenges during their day at sea.  As the school day came to a close, “land” was sighted and preparations for debarking began.  Students will be writing about their experiences in a journal when they come back from vacation.  Below is a video of the first prayer session  (check out the British accents these students adopted for the day!) and pictures of the kids (click pictures to enlarge).

Ship Day Video

>REMINDER: Auction Items are due TOMORROW. RSVPS are due by February 29th.

Several weeks ago, a few parents and students volunteered to travel to Prospect, Connecticut to record commercials/testimonials on behalf of Saint James School for the Archdiocese of Hartford’s radio station WJMJ.  Many thanks to Brian Nyberg and his daughter Kaitlyn and Kathy Reilly and her boys Michael and Will for volunteering to record testimonials (Unfortunately, Kathy was unable to record due to a backlog).  All recorded spots are currently playing on WJMJ (88.9 FM – Hartford; 93.1 FM – Hamden; 107.1 FM – New Haven; 91.1 Fairfield).

Please note, all commercials/testimonials were written by the parents and students themselves.  A huge thank you to these parents and students for their time and commitment to our school!

St James – Manchester – Will

St James – Manchester – Kaitlyn

St James – Manchester – Michael

St James – Manchester – Brian