Congrats SJS XC & The Week Ahead

Congratulations to our Saint James School Cross Country team on another great performance at this weekend’s Harry Geraghty Cross Country Invitational.  Leading the pack for the boys was Evan Ansaldi (8th) followed closely by Erik Ansaldi (10th).  Bradley Bushnell also scored in the top 25 and Jameson Fisher came in 34th.  The boys team took home 4 medals and a 2nd place trophy.

For the girls, Maya Fisher came in 4th overall, followed by Sarah Christina in 15th, Sammy Creamer in 22nd, and Cora Tierney in 36th.  The girls took home 3 medals and wold have earned a 2nd place trophy if they had had the required 5+ runners competing this weekend (unfortunately due to conflicts, a couple of girls were unable to attend).

 

XC Schedule For This Week
This week there will be no after-school practices this week as runners will be competing on both Tuesday and Thursday.  (Please remember tomorrow we don’t have school but our runners will still be competing).  Parents are responsible for transporting runners to and from all meets.

Tuesday (October 1):
Vernon Center Middle School (vs. VCMS)
777 Hartford Turnpike, Vernon, CT 06066
Arrive at 3:30pm to walk the course and stretch
Race begins at 4:00pm

Thursday (October 3):
Nevers Park (vs. Timothy Edwards and Sage Park)
150 Nevers Road, South Windsor, CT 06074
Arrive at 3:00pm
Race begins at 3:45pm

Book & Art Club

 

Mrs. Carpenter and Mrs. Rafferty have announced our first Book & Art Club of the new school year for 1st and 2nd grade will be held on Tuesday, October 29th.  If your child is interested in participating, please return the permission slip below by October 2nd (please note, space is limited and spots will be filled on a first come, first serve basis).

October 2019 Book & Art Club Permission Slip Grades 1&2

Book & Art Club for grades 3 and 4 will start in November. Dates will be announced shortly.

 

1st Grade Science

Our 1st graders completed their science lesson on apples (seeds/roots/trees) today by making applesauce to share.  This also ties in with their recent science lessons on the 5 senses, as they talked about taste, touch, smell, and sight with respect to apples.

Pre-K Fun!

Writing fall words, making cinnamon stick birthday cake in the sensory table, building TALL structures, and celebrating September birthdays!  It’s been a great week in Pre-K!

Book Fair Update

Thank you to all our families who purchased books at our Scholastic Book Fair!  So far we have earned approximately $4,500 in book credits that will be used to purchase new books for our school library and classroom libraries!  (total sales of over $9,000!!)

If there are still purchases you wish to make, our ONLINE book fair will run through 9/28: https://shop.scholastic.com/parent-ecommerce/parent-store-2.html?fairId=3978858.  Saint James School will receive 25% of all online purchases.

All books ordered online will be shipped directly to your home and any book-only orders of $25 or more will ship for free.

Also, congratulations to all our Golden Ticket winners, including these three below, who had the opportunity to pick out a free book this morning! And, to 4th grade for winning the Dress Down Day (date will be announced by the teachers).

And, of course, a very special thank you to our amazing book-fair coordinators: Alicia Poth, Heather Meyer, and Mary-Cristin King, and to all the parent volunteers who helped throughout the past week.  This is such a special event for our school and we are very grateful for all the time and effort you put into making it run so smoothly!

Congratulations to Father Cavanaugh & Our 2019 HOPES Award Winners

Last night, leaders and volunteers from across the Archdiocese of Hartford came together at the 2019 HOPES Awards dinner, to recognize selected volunteers who support our students, teachers, and faculty in making Catholic schools, like SJS, such exceptional institutions.

We are very excited to announce, at last night’s event, our Pastor, Father Cavanaugh, was presented with the 2019-2020 Distinguished Catholic Elementary School Pastor of the Year award!  For those of us that work with Father Cavanaugh, this award comes as no surprise.  He is exceptionally passionate about Catholic education and we are truly blessed with his unyielding support when it comes to making Saint James School an wonderful place for our students to grow and learn.

Also recognized last night were some amazing Saint James School volunteers:  Mrs. Carol O’Neill, who has been a volunteer at our school for 43 years; Mrs. Jennifer O’Neill, who instituted and continues to spearhead our Cross Country Program; and Mrs. Alicia Poth, who served as our school’s HSA President for many years (as well as starting and running our STEM club for younger students).

Please join us in congratulating all our award winners next time you see them!

Fall Into Reading Contest (Grades K-5)

Cross Country Wins Tri-Meet

2019 Scholastic Book Fair

Several of our classes had a chance to visit the Scholastic Book Fair today! Here are a few pictures of the students making their wish lists.

Wish list items can be purchased during school hours tomorrow or Wednesday. Please remember the eWallet option allows your children to purchase books without having to carry money to school (use this link to set up your student).

Book Buddies

Since it was too nice to stay indoors for book buddies on Friday, our 1st and 4th graders enjoyed some outdoor time getting to know each other.