JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<ul id="sortable1" class="connectedSortable">
<li class="ui-state-default">Item 1</li>
<li class="ui-state-default">Item 2</li>
<li class="ui-state-default">Item 3</li>
<li class="ui-state-default">Item 4</li>
<li class="ui-state-default">Item 5</li>
</ul>

JavaScript

var lis = $("#sortable1").children();
var array = new Array();
for(i=0; i<lis.length; i++) {
    array.push($(lis[i]).text());
}
alert(array);