St. James Middle School

Today we are celebrating students who have completed all topics with 100% mastery in ALEKS. Aleks is a self-paced math program that supplements classroom instruction by catering instruction to each student's individual learning needs. We are proud of these ALEKS ALL-STARS!

Thank you to the high school FFA for coming over and speaking to our Exploring Agriculture students! We appreciate your time to discuss all of the opportunities that FFA has for these students when they go to high school! It's important to find an organization and to be engaged within that community to make it grow, and these partnerships help students do just that.

Students engaged in an interactive activity lead by Prevention Consultants of Missouri that focused on building strong communities. Students shared what makes them feel belonging as well as what they could do to make sure others feel like they belong. It is so important to teach our young people to be accepting of others and how to help those who do not have a sense of belonging.

Future Focused in Careers Class! Students have been preparing for their future and learning about job skills needed for the career field. So far they have practiced skills of problem-solving, teamwork, and collaboration. Today they put their skills to the test to complete a challenge! They worked together to effectively pass the tin can around the circle, only using their feet, without dropping it.

Thank you, Mrs. Doddema, for attending Advocacy Day for school counselors in Jefferson City this week. She spent the day advocating for education and school counseling with several legislatures. She and Sarah Kaelin from Rolla High School respresented the South Central Region and spoke directly with Representative Tara Peters and Justin Brown.

Engaged Citizenship at work!

We are celebrating today! We recognized Tailor for being the first 8th grader to not only finish all topics in the 8th grade ALEKS program, but to complete it at 100%! What a feat! Tailor is future focused and motivated to move on to Algebra 1!

Voice and choice are paramount to student engagement! When students have a say in their own learning, they take ownership, and that is always a goal in middle school. 💪 ☕️📚Mrs. Waldmann and Mrs. Siders designed a choice novel study unit and created a "Starbooks" book tasting event so students could research and "taste" several books before choosing one. Over the next several weeks, they will read independently and conference as small groups with each student having a weekly "job," or concept/standard to analyze. Critical thinking 🧠, effective communication🗣, engaged citizenship🤝...this unit has it all!

We were excited to announce the nominees and winners of the Fort Leonardwood Army Values Leadership Award yesterday! SELFLESS SERVICE Cason Smith, recipient Will DeLuca, nominee Adeline Bahr, nominee HONOR Adeline Bahr, recipient Rem Cantrell, nominee Gavin Gray, nominee Harrison Gardner, nominee

Thank you to everyone who made last night's 8th grade boys basketball parent recognition night a success!

On Friday, we were able to recognize and celebrate our students who had perfect attendance for 1st semester!

The critical thinking did not stop before Christmas break! Mrs. Stack designed a lesson to preview math skills students would be learning when they returned in January. Students figured percentages of ingredients to make trail mix, and they enjoyed a sweet treat while computing their recipe. The best part was making real connections to how this math is essential in real-world scenarios...not just in math class!

St. James R-1 School District will be closed on Tuesday, December 2, 2025, due to unsafe road conditions. This will be a traditional snow day and no AMI work is required. Stay safe, Tigers!

It's dance time! Student Council is hosting a winter dance on December 10th. Save the date!

We are future focused! All 8th grade students got to attend a tour of RTI/RTC today to see the career pathways they could study in high school or after graduation.

Middle School Agriculture class is been busy lately! Look at all of the amazing opportunities they've had the last few weeks:
--Members of the HS Ag department visited with MS Ag classes to talk about what to expect when they come to the high school and what opportunities are available to them.
--MS Ag students successfully hatched baby chicks in the classroom and have learned about the incubation process and proper care of baby chicks. They got to go outside for the first time this week!
--MS Ag students took their plant unit to the next level with creating a marketing plan for their vegetable. They created a brand, logo, product label, and pitch to present to their target audience.

THIS is real-world learning in action!

Our 7th grade students enjoyed STEM Day at Missouri S&T last week! It was a great day of learning!

Congratulations to our October Students of the Month for the trait of Creativity: Cass, Caoimhe, and Neva!

Our "Free Little Library" is up and running! Students and families are encouraged to take a peak. See a book you want? Take it! Mrs. Siders' Advisory kids will be keeping it stocked with great reads. Thanks to the Siders family for constructing the new box!

MIDDLE SCHOOL BOIL ORDER ADVISORY

The middle school is part of the city boil order until further notice due to the water main break that happened Friday morning,
Parents/Guardians - Please send your students to school with a full water bottle during the boil order.
The district will ensure our building has drinking water until the boil order is lifted.

This only affects the middle school.

Eighth grade science students are working on being able to define the relationship between mass, speed, and energy. They spent the day working collaborative to test weights and gather data so they could plot trends and explain those relationships. How fun is this? When we create opportunities for students to think critically, we put them on the road to deep and transfer learning that will last a lifetime.