Month: April 2012

Students from Leigh Bretherick’s fifth grade class at St. Lucie Elementary School recognized Earth Day by making bird feeders using recycled milk cartons.  Displaying their creations, from left, are Maria Ramirez, Hakem Jean-Baptiste, Blanca Escobar, Cecilio Ramirez, and Salvador Leon.

Students in third through eighth grades at Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition recently voted for their favorite Sunshine State Book.  Students in Jade Joie’s fifth grade class are pictured as they go in to vote. Pictured are volunteers from the National Junior Honor Society, from left, Rebecca Mitchell, media specialist Elsie Garber, Estella Mejia and Coral Bailey.

Students in Desiree Miller’s first grade class at Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition explored the St. Lucie lagoon with the Manatee Center.  The students captured many different fish and other sea animals in the estuary using nets.  After collecting the different things they found, the students sorted them before releasing them back into the river.  It was a great learning experience and a fun day for all!  Pictured are students, from left, Sabrina Fontanez, Jasmine Chuong, Kiera Murray and a staff member from the Manatee Center helping them.

Carmello Williams and Dominique Thomas welcomed Letycia Holley to Cindy Hedrick’s VPK class at Samuel Gaines Academy. The three students were playing in the dramatic play center imagining the future when they came up with these unusual, but flattering outfits.

Northport K-8 School was pleased to present the Holocaust program Living Voices recently to all sixth graders at the school.  The Living Voices program is an interactive program that incorporates Holocaust history, the story of the Frank family and video and audio presentation to engage  students in realistic history about the Diary of Anne Frank.  The story enhancement of the program was told from the point of view of a young girl living through the Holocaust who was friends with the Franks.  The program supports Holocaust education in our school and deepens and enriches student information about the Holocaust.  Pictured … Read More

Students from Shannon Sivalls’ second grade class at Windmill Point Elementary created a special habitat and observed the life cycle of their butterfly.  The photo shows them gathering together to release the butterfly to nature!

Bayshore Elementary School fourth graders spend time with their reading buddies to improve reading fluency.  Every Friday the students from Shannon McCoy’s fourth grade class read with Jeanne Comperchio’s kindergartners.  Pictured is Grayson Waugh, left, reading with his reading buddy Jackson Young .

Students in Carol Galloway’s second grade class at Bayshore Elementary have been learning about capacity.  Students practiced measuring the volume of objects in cups, pints, quarts and gallons.  Pictured are Aiden Partridge, left, and Xavier Melendez who were engaged in the hands-on activity.  

The St. Lucie School District is pleased to announce its new full time public virtual school option for the 2012-13 school year. Introducing, Mosaic Digital Academy, offering many benefits to the community, such as:  A full time K-12 public virtual school program leading to a high school diploma Accredited courses aligned to state and national standards Local teachers and staff providing more individualized support Face-to-face tutoring opportunities School clubs and social activities in our area Dual enrollment opportunities for high school students Graduation ceremony for seniors School Advisory Council and much more Mosaic Digital Academy’s coordinator, Jeanne Ziemba (pictured on the right), … Read More

Fifth grade students from Allapattah Flats K-8 learn about the solar system while visiting Indian River State College’s planetarium. Students created Thinking Maps to organize and explore information they gained at the planetarium about the planets in the solar system. Pictured are Brenton Palmer, left, and Arturo Mojica from Janessa Harden’s class.

Celebrated Broadway, television and movie musical director and producer Michael Rafter has been working with the performing arts department and student thespians at Fort Pierce Central High School, sharing his experience, insight and strategies with the students necessary to produce a successful show, from selecting the script to closing the final curtain.  He will continue to collaborate with FPCHS in future drama productions. Rafter has worked extensively on Broadway supervising the music for Jersey Boys, The Sound of Music, The King & I, and Thoroughly Modern Millie.  He conducted Gypsy both on Broadway starring Tyne Daly, as well as the TV movie … Read More

Several third grade students at Mariposa Elementary recently were treated to a special lunch with their teachers, Michele Graci and Susan New. The students had to read six or more of Florida’s Sunshine State Readers’ books to be invited to the event. Two of the students, Emmanuella Coupet and Geovanny Reyes, actually read all 15 which is quite an accomplishment. The students who were invited voted on what they wanted to have for lunch.  During lunch,  students were awarded certificates stating their accomplishments along with a small gift. Pictured, from left, are Emmanuella Coupet, Kailey Ouellette, Eve Cantrell, Ronald Marquez, Lawrence … Read More

Northport K-8 School students in Jennifer Gomez’s fourth grade class studied tessallations in math class and processed the new information by making their own tessallations, which are a pattern of shapes that fit together with no spaces and no overlapping.  Students used their textbooks and a book by author and tessallation artist M.C. Escher to comprehend the new information and to design their own tessallations.  Students took squares, drew lines in the squares, used vertical and horizontal lines and cut out the square.  Students then fit the pieces back together, traced more pieces, flipped and slid the pieces to form a … Read More

Northport K-8 School second grade students in Barbara Greenwood’s class used a real cow’s stomach lining called tripe, a cow’s heart and a cow’s kidney to perform inspections and learn new information about the human body. Students examined each body part and determined the functions of each organ.  They understood after the in-depth lesson that the kidney removes the waste products from the body, the heart pumps and has chambers, and that the stomach lining keeps the stomach strong so it doesn’t rupture and  the stomach digests foods. The hands on lesson was a real eye opener for the kids as … Read More

Members of the inaugural chapter of the National French Honor Society in any St. Lucie County public school were inducted recently at Fort Pierce Central High School. Some 13 students with an unweighted GPA of a 3.5 or higher, and enrolled in French III, IV or Advanced Placement, earned the distinction.  Pictured with induction plaques, front row from left, are Schnineline Orelien, Franklin Sanchez, Charline Charlestin, Sarah Jean-Mary, Michael Alexander, Darron Irving, Ameline Limorin, Isabel Lezama, Patrice Bennett and Nancy Luxama. Behind the students are teachers William P. Johnson and Elie Yvrose.  

The Port St. Lucie High School Jaguar Battalion once again displayed its prowess for ceremonial color guard events during a ceremony for the annual Caribbean American Festival held at Sportsman’s Park recently. The festival is a friendly competition between Caribbean-American residents in Port St. Lucie.  The color guard, led by cadet 1st Lieutenant Andrew Miller, consisted of cadet Corporal Robert Hopkins, cadet Corporal Chaz Pollino, and cadet Corporal Tyrone Salazar. The Caribbean American Festival’s participants greatly appreciated the excellent performance by the Color Guard and anticipate next year’s event.

Northport K-8 teachers and students followed the initiative of the St. Lucie County School Board Wellness Manager Carlye Fabrikant and participated in the program “Take A Walking Lunch Instead of a Working Lunch!”  Teachers and students followed the new healthy walking path mapped out at the school on their lunch breaks and planning periods. Participation in wellness activities has increased at the school this year as students, faculty and staff have participated in a variety of walks, runs, healthy eating plans, weight watchers classes and on campus zumba classes.  Pictured on the healthy walk, from left, are Northport K-8 media specialist … Read More

Floresta Elementary School students, from left, Olivia Saurel, Victoria Nunez, and Joshua Perez share their kindergarten writing in the front of Floresta Elementary School. Victoria and Joshua, from Syliva Johnson’s class, wrote about what they want to be when they grow up, and Olivia, from Mary Moore’s class, wrote about why she likes school. The students are making great progress in their writing.

Samuel Gaines Academy recently presented the kindergarten and first grade resource showcase for the month of April. Students demonstrated activities learned in music from Merritt Tilson using different instruments and sang a melody of animal songs.  Megan Schwenger’s computer students displayed on the screens illustrations of the animals they made  using computers.  Patt Reynolds’ first grade media students presented a flannel board story and  puppet show, and kindergartners sang Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Pictured are  Coach Lynn Camarotti’s first grade students recreating the awaking of a butterfly to music using a parachute.

Thanks to all the efforts put into the event by the parent task force, the Southport Middle School Science Curriculum night was a huge success.  The South Florida Science Museum was one of the community participants that evening. Activities included: Goop!- Quick sand, Match Missiles, Screaming Balloons, the science of tie dye and how to make homemade ice cream.  There were erupting earthquakes, kinetic roller coasters, silly putty, science brain teasers and many other fun activities.  Megan Guyer and her “team” put together another remarkable curriculum evening.   The event was a great opportunity for parents and students to be able … Read More