Students in Diane Eibl’s Kindergarten class at Morningside Elementary were visited by two firefighters this week. Firefighters Wayne and Dan, from Station 17, came in to teach students about fire safety. The students were reminded to STOP, DROP and ROLL, DON’T HIDE, GO OUTSIDE, FALL AND CRAWL. They were given the homework to make sure each has a family fire escape plan. The children enjoyed the visit, especially the part when they got to put on the turnout gear!

Port Saint Lucie High School held its annual senior pinning recently at the Port St. Lucie Civic Center. The Jaguar Battalion presented the colors as part of the opening ceremony. The Color Guard displayed a wonderful presentation of the colors. C/CSM Cruz led the Color Guard presenting the national flag, C/SSG Pollino presented the state flag, and C/CPT Benagh and C/PFC Renderos stood as the guards. principal Bridgette Hargadine spoke eloqently to the seniors to remember for their last year at the school. Congratulations to all the senior Jaguars of 2013 that were pinned at the ceremony. Pictured is the … Read More

The three top school fundraising teams for the Big Brothers, Big Sisters (BBBS) “Bowl for Kids Sake” event were recognized at the October 23, 2012, St. Lucie County School Board meeting. The popular event is held every year, where teams raise funds to support BBBS mentoring programs. Pictured, from left with the trophies, are first place assistant principal Maria Noya from WestGate K8, second place assistant principal Linda Menekheim from Floresta Elementary, and Christy Nuccio from F. K. Sweet Elementary School.

Kindergartners in Kristin Griffin’s class at Frances K. Sweet Elementary School practiced sorting and classifying leaves. After finding that the leaves could be sorted in a couple of different ways, the students were then asked to sort and classify in their favorite way, color, size, or shape. Jayna Baptiste, left, picked color and Cedric Garvin, Jr. picked shape.

After reading the story of the week, “David’s Drawings”, students in Melanie Francisco’s kindergarten class created their own class drawing like David’s.  Kenna Reichard, left, and La Teya Weathers added details to help create a one of a kind masterpiece.

Students in Dorian Newbern’s first grade class at Frances K. Sweet Elementary are learning about place value. From left, pictured are Katelyn Foster, Kanari’l Tolbert, and Ethan Belulovich working together to make numbers using ones and 10s blocks. Later on in the lesson, the students were able to compare their numbers by using the blocks as a reference.

Northport K-8 School community “walked the walk” and “talked the talk” recently at the school’s second annual Unity Day. Students made posters, banners, flags and signs and walked a route marked by the physical education instructors to offer support and to empower students against the harmful effects of bullying. Third grade teachers Melanie Polascak and Diana Lankow appeared on the morning announcements with important messages about bullying, teen girls painted their pinkie fingers blue in unity against girl bullies, classes watched clips about bullying and important lessons filtered the school classrooms about bullying. Several parents came to join their own children … Read More

Garden City Early Learning Academy (GCELA) students in grades Pre-K through two recently experienced live theatre through a new program developed by Riverside Children’s Theatre. The program is called “Theatre on the Go” and is designed to take live theatre to the schools in the area. The performance of “Scrambled Stories”, adapted by Kevin Qullinan and Angelo Cerniglia, were favorite stories that were cracked, broken and scrambled by the silly Professor Scattergood. The students participated by helping unscramble “Goldilocks”, “The Ugly Duckling”, and “The Three Little Pigs”. Students had to help get them back to where they belong through audience participation. The students have … Read More

Teachers Abigail Prager, left, and Erin Bunnell of Parkway Elementary School model analyzing an historical primary source document in order to answer the document-based question (DBQ), “Early Jamestown: Why Did So Many Colonists Die?” They were among a group of 36 teachers trained on October 15 in the Common Core-aligned literacy strategies used throughout the DBQ Project method. With this method, students analyze and corroborate information from multiple documents to write an evidence-based argumentative essay. This method shows great promise for integrating literacy skills with content knowledge. The four schools participating in the pilot are Dan McCarty School, Lakewood Park, … Read More

The Bluebird Educational Productions (BEP) organization which supports music education and appreciation in St. Lucie Public Schools recently received an anonymous donation from a local patron so that a deserving student could have a instrument of their own to pursue their love of music and perform in their school’s band and music programs. Cole Maxwell of Lincoln Park Academy was selected to receive a new alto saxophone courtesy of the donation. BEP, which sponsors music appreciation and performances in St. Lucie Public Schools, is currently promoting its Recycling in the Key of E program, which puts refurbished musical instruments in … Read More

The annual Planting Day at Rivers Edge Elementary School always refreshes the campus with new seasonal beauty. Students in Lorraine Bernard’s fourth grade class Jamar Gullett, Emily Plank, Paige Parrett and Sofietta Perfetti work at planting flowers and mulching their classroom garden just outside their door. Thanks go to the students and volunteers for making the campus a more welcoming place to be.

Rivers Edge Elementary hosted an exciting family event recently to put books in to the hands of students, Bingo for Books. Pictured is third grade student Kayla Filippini from Barbara Ditrapani’s with her dad enjoying a robust game of Bingo mixed with science trivia questions. Every student went home a winner!

Fifth grade students at Morningside Elementary School will have the opportunity to learn and apply STEM skills beyond the classroom through an Innovation Generation grant from the Motorola Solutions Foundation, the charitable arm of Motorola Solutions, Inc. The Motorola Solutions Foundation provided $50,000 for a second year to challenge Florida’s district-wide local education foundations to inspire students through projects designed to help them solve real-world problems in science, math, technology and engineering (STEM) areas this school year through a grant to the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations (CFEF). St. Lucie County Education Foundation’s project was one of 10 chosen to … Read More

The Port Saint Lucie High School Jaguar Battalion hosted the annual Treasure Coast Raider Meet at Port Saint Lucie High School recently. Participating schools included Port Saint Lucie High School, Ft. Pierce Central High School, St. Lucie West Centennial High School, Ft. Pierce Westwood High School, Okeechobee High School and Treasure Coast High School. Treasure Coast High School has an Air Force JROTC unit, St. Lucie West Centennial has a Navy unit, and the remainder are Army JROTC units. The Jaguar battallion won first place overal, Treasure Coast High School won second place overall, and a tie for third place … Read More

Manatee Academy K8 School media specialist and St. Lucie County Reading Council president Debbie Remington LOVES books, especially when students read books. This affection prompted Ms. Remington to volunteer to serve as the Florida Director of the Young Adult Choices, a division of the International Reading Association which will enable her to bring to St. Lucie County Schools over 5,000 recently released books for grades 7-12 over the next three years! That’s about $90,000.00 worth of books that will be going on library shelves in four different schools: Northport K-8, Dan McCarty School, Treasure Coast High School and Manatee Academy. “All summer … Read More

Students at Frances K. Sweet Elementary School are raising funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society throughout the month of October. All of the donated change goes towards research in treating and finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma in children. Students in Julia Melville’s second grade class have contributed over $100 in the first week. Students are truly proud of their efforts and are excited to be part of a great cause! Pictured, from left, are Desirae Knight, Jayden Zamplione, Madison Davis, Jayden Ligonde, Quinn Stephenson, and Ansel Espinal.

The (J)aguar (A)thletes (G)etting (S)tronger, or JAGS, donated money, time, enthusiasm, and support for breast cancer research at the recent Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk, held at the Port St. Lucie Civc Center. Port St. Lucie High School had representation from basketball, cheerleading, football, golf, soccer, and volleyball, along with teachers, clerical staff, and family members and friends of the Jaguar Nation.

Northport K-8 first grade students in Rachel Ellsworth, Laura Poveromo, Pam Mishler, Dulce Olivera, Michelle McCloskey and Christine Santos-Nurse’s classes received a very special visit from Smoky the Bear and Forest Ranger Bolduc recently to talk about the dangers of forest fires. The rangers read a special story about Smokey the Bear, showed the students the equipment and clothing worn by the rangers during a forest fire and even brought  their heavy equipment for students to peruse in the front of the school. Rangers talked about who to call if a student sees smoke, what to do if matches are found and … Read More

First graders in Kathleen Saunders’ class at White City Elementary celebrated success by being inducted into the Captains’ Club. These hard working students have already mastered the first grade words required for the year. Each student received a captain’s hat and is already working on a new goal. Pictured, from left, are Denise Negrete-Gasca, Luz Gahn Torres, Ethan Stabile, Addly Osne, Kiara Melgar and Diamond Torres.

Northport K-8 students in Judy Fowler’s fifth grade class are preparing their annual winter garden this year with the help of a group of interested parents. During the next few months, students will learn to care for their plants by weeding, fertilizing, aerating the soil and spraying for insects. Students will also learn to use various weather instruments such as thermometers, hygrometers and rain guages. Some of the plants students are planting and tending are swiss chard, kohlrabi, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage and strawberries. Students will exhibit their garden journal, their produce and gardening projects at the Saint Lucie County Fair in February. Pictured, from … Read More