STAR Designation Reflects Students’ Focus, Teachers’ Contributions

Congratulations to Jackson Academy’s 2021 STAR students, Isabelle Lee and Priya Ray! Each STAR student selects a STAR Teacher, recognizing those individuals who have contributed to their scholastic achievements and personal development. Priya designated former JA foreign language teacher Judy McKeigney as STAR teacher. Isabelle selected chemistry teacher Richard West as her STAR teacher.

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JA Families Enjoy Rare Mississippi Snow Day

Monday morning, Jackson Academy families awoke to snow on the ground and enjoyed the day off from school to play in the snow. The school’s administration announced Sunday that school would be closed Monday as a winter storm blanketed parts of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, and, most importantly, Mississippi, in snow.

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Nine JA Musicians Combine Talents with Others at MAIS Band Clinic

The Mississippi Association of Independent Schools held the annual concert band clinic Thursday and Friday in an abbreviated fashion. Jackson Academy musicians were among those who auditioned via recordings to perform with musicians from other independent schools. MAIS limited the clinic to 50 students this year. Students from eight schools earned spots. In a socially distanced setting at Hinds Community College, nine students represented JA, most holding first or second chair positions.

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Third and Fourth Grade Gratitude Project Warms Hearts Throughout Campus

On Thankful Thursday, third and fourth graders reflect on the people and things they feel grateful for. They write their thoughts in gratitude journals, and on some Thursdays, they write their thoughts in letters to the people they are thankful for. “Ms. Love has started doing Thankful Thursday each week during her morning message to the Lower School,” Fourth Grade Teacher Abbie Cox explained. “In conjunction with this, many teachers have discussed being thankful more in depth on Thursdays in their morning meeting. Now more than ever, it is so important to recognize the many blessings we have been given.”

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Fourth Grade Math Curriculum Measures ‘Just Right’

Yesterday, JA fourth graders looked at their math classrooms from a new perspective. Rulers in hand, they searched out items to measure, learning the length of desks, books, and even floor tiles as they studied measurement.

At JA, our fourth graders do math a little differently. Around 2005, Head of the Lower School Sarah Love heard of another school that had started dividing boys and girls into same-sex classes for mathematics. Love began doing research on her own and implemented gender-based math classes in 2006.

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Making the Day Merry

JA brightens up the season each year with a “Merry JA Christmas Carpool,” this year held Thursday, December 10. Special friends such as Elsa, Ana, and the Grinch, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Claus, delighted students during their morning arrival.

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