A (Sweet) Step Ahead!

This week, students enjoyed a delicious treat for Ms. Meadows’s “Step Ahead” reward. Middle school students who raised at least one letter grade on their report cards were invited to enjoy a Krispy Kreme. Incentives and rewards like special all A’s field trips, cookie cake, and other privileges are given throughout the year. Learning resources like free tutoring and the library’s Writing Center give students the support they need to improve and maintain their grades. Yummy donuts help incentive students, too! Is there anything better than a fresh, hot glazed donut? Well done, middle school!

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Love is All You Need

Somebody loves me, I wonder who. Somebody loves me, could it be you?

Last week, our PreK4 students performed “Love is All You Need,” a collection of songs curated by our elementary music teacher, Mr. Will Reese. Every elementary grade performs a special program once per year. Students learn public speaking skills, stage presence, and gain confidence when they are in the spotlight! Love is in the air in PreK4!

Photos by Esther Malmberg

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Middle School Art

Middle school visual art students created work using marker and acrylic paint.

All About Bears- digital books

Last week, two second graders took home the first and second place prizes in the Multimedia Presentation category of STJ’s inaugural Young Trojans Tech Fair. Students used an app called Book Creator to develop presentations about bears. The content was published within a digital environment by combining text, images and audio to create a digital book. They used digital tools within the app to design the pages, type and format the text, and import images they saved from other books they used for research. They also added images they drew using drawing tools within the app. You’ll notice the students recorded their own voices narrating their digital books. Check it out!

Dance, dance!

Which dance moves will reign supreme? The floss, gangham, high kick, splits? Sixth graders in Mr. Tuner’s robotics elective battled it out in a virtual dance contest. Using computer coding, students customized a performance of their choice. Different characters, backgrounds, music, and special effects could be selected using code. Computer science and robotics are fun and interactive ways for students to learn science and math skills- may the best dance win!

by: Norah Buckner

by: Molly Kate Garrett

by: Charleigh-Kate Harper

Vocabulary Pictionary

This week in vocabulary class, middle school students were assigned a word. and instructed to draw a picture that represents the word. Can you guess the missing word?

All middle school students, grades 6-8, take vocabulary class as on of the eight daily classes. The vocabulary course expands a student’s knowledge of words with a study of definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, antonyms, and spelling. Proper usage of the words and application in sentences is emphasized as well. Students also increase their vocabulary by reading a teacher-approved book each quarter.

Middle School vocabulary pictionary

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Faculty Spotlight: Mrs. Debbie Moncrief

I teach: 7th Grade Advanced Pre-Algebra and Pre-Algebra

I've Taught for: Total of 35 years. (12 at STJ)

Hometown: Montgomery, AL

High school: Hooper Academy

College/Degree: Masters in Mathematics Education and Bachelors in Mathematics and Speech Communications and Theater Arts

STJ Extracurricular: I work with the Middle School Competition Math Team

Favorite Book: "To Kill a Mockingbird"

Favorite Movie: Forrest Gump

Favorite Food: Steak

Married to: Dale Moncrief

Children: Danny (Sarah) Moncrief and Dean (Erika) Moncrief . I also have 3 grandchildren: Dixon Moncrief, Darby Lynn Moncrief, and Kate Moncrief

Church: Hope Hull United Methodist Church

Fun Fact: I have been a puppet at my church for over 32 years.  My puppet persona is Smiley Sunshine.  

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The Best Part of Me

Fifth graders practiced writing descriptive paragraphs in English class. Students practiced skills of paragraph writing: topic sentence, body, and closing sentence. Each student chose his or her favorite body part to describe- we love their creativity and positive body image.

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Spreading Christmas Cheer

The Saint James School AP Art students volunteered their time to paint windows for Chick-fil-a Eastchase for the Christmas season. On December 6th, 2020 the students traveled to the restaurant to help spread colorful joy to the customers and passers-by.

“The STJ AP Art students were given another opportunity to bring holiday cheer. We created many different Christmas themed paintings like a reindeer, snow globe, the grinch, etc. It was fun being able to create artwork as a class outside of school at a local business.”

— Sydney Eng

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Faculty Spotlight: Mrs. Joyce Haven

I teach: 2nd grade

I've Taught for: at Saint James for 22 years.

Hometown: small community in NC about 10 miles from Pinehurst

High school: Hoke County High School

College/Degree: Methodist College in Fayetteville, NC: BA in Early Childhood Education

Favorite Book: Mitford series

Favorite Food: lots of things---but I really like sweets!

Married to: Scott Haven

Children: Brian and David -both STJ graduates

Church: First United Methodist Church

Fun Fact: I Love spending time at Lake Martin and Disney World!