Month: September 2012

Recently St. Lucie County bus drivers, along with the Garden City Early Learning Academy staff, reviewed the Bus Safety procedures with students. The students learned how to sit properly on the bus, back to back, bottom to bottom, and feet on floor. Other safety procedures were also reviewed. Students were given the opportunity to practice evacuating the bus in case of emergency. Time and safety were noted during this activity. Pictured exiting the bus is first grade student Darious Acrey with the assistance of Nuran Onal and Joann Brown.

What great fun was had by students, teachers and parents of Mosaic Digital Academy at its first Fall Meet-Up! Mosaic Digital Academy’s K-6 virtual students, parents, siblings, teachers, and staff met for an afternoon treat at Tutti Fruiti and then enjoyed a little frisbee and kite flying with other students in the virtual school program. Parents had a nice opportunity to connect with other “Learning Coaches”, too! A repeat performance is expected soon.

Students and staff at Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition recently enjoyed wearing their favorite team jerseys, an annual fundraising event. Everyone donated $1.00 to help support Big Brothers, Big Sisters’ annual Bowl for Kid’s Sake. Students and staff look forward to helping out this organization every year. 

Southport Middle School eighth grade students are engaged in many exciting activities across the curriculum. History and Language Arts teachers Nancy Filippini and Maureen Dakin are collaborating to assist students in drafting their DAR essays due in October. This year”s topic is to support Forgotten Patriots of the American Revolution. Students in Karen Allen’s science classes are diving into scientific method and inquiry, and students are actively investigating topics of interest, while Julie Lecluse and Lauie Barnard engage students with finding slopes, intercepts, and variation in math classes. Pictured, from left, are Aileen Vasquez, Morgan Ochwat, Nicole DiPietro, and Viviana Torres.

Mariposa Elementary School’s new “Butterfly Band”, under the direction of Mary McCartney, is starting the year off learning new instruments. Fourth and fifth grade band students at Mariposa Elementary are learning to play the tone chimes as a part of this new instrumental group. They are also playing the Orff xylophones, recorders, drums, ukeleles and the steel drums.

Northport K-8 students in Susan Matteson’s eighth grade critical thinking class are selecting books to prepare to demonstrate enthusiastic reading with an engaging and lively pace with Lorri Lamm’s second graders. Students will pair together to read and enjoy new books. The brand new books are a product of the media center’s partnership with the Northport K-8 School PTO. The books were purchased through a community book fair called Titlewish. Titlewish is an online zone offered through Follett Book Company. The Titlewish program allows the parents, grandparents and community members to purchase library ready books. The Northport PTO donated $1,500 for exciting, new … Read More

Staff from Northport K8 School participated in the Bowl for Kids Sake event at Superplay recently. Team members got their teeshirts, picked out bowling balls, teamed up and continued to enjoy a wonderful evening filled with cameraderie. The Northport team was recognized for the largest donation in their time slot. One of the main missions of the teachers and staff of the school is to promote positive interactions among colleagues and to participate in community action initiatives with the betterment of students and community building always uppermost in mind.  The Big Brothers, Big Sisters Bowl For Kids Sake event is yet … Read More

Fifth grade teacher Michelle Powers and fourth grade teacher Jade Joie from Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition were recently awarded a grant to fund a mathematics program. Explore Learning Reflex is an award –winning game-based system that enables students of all abilities to develop instant, effortless recall of math facts in all four operations.  Reflex’s highly adaptive technology provides each student with an optimized path from the initial acquisition of new facts through to full automaticity. Pictured are Ms. Joie, left, and Ms. Powers.

The bus drivers that service Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition were recognized for all that they do for our students at a recent breakfast. Volunteer and PTO member Pam Molner made a spectacular breakfast for everyone with eggs, bacon, sausage, crepes with fresh strawberries, home fries, fruit cups and other scrumptious food.  A PowerPoint presentation by Dean Estrada and Dean Pierre focused on bus data for the last few years, safety, student conduct and positive reinforcement. It was a great opportunity to visit and get to know the bus drivers that come to Palm Pointe.

Northport K-8 students in grades four through eight who have been identified as reaching Adequate Yearly Progress or AYP were invited to participate in a celebration at the school recently. Students were able to dunk principal Glenn Rustay in the dunk tank, enjoyed a variety of inflatable activities like bounce house and slides and also played kick ball, hoola hoops and jump rope. Students enjoyed drinks and ice cones provided by the Northport K-8 PTO. AYP is determined by looking at student FCAT data in reading and math. 67% of students made learning gains in reading and 62% of the … Read More

Students in Thomas Carr’s eighth grade science classes at Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition recently had a competition for “Boats in the Moat”. The objective was for students to design and construct a boat which when set afloat in a moat 10 feet long will travel (powered solely by a three speed fan) the entire length of the moat in the shortest period of time. This lesson taught them about the scientific method and variables. During the competition each team was allowed to enter up to three different designs for their boats and each boat was given three trial … Read More

Windmill Point Elementary students in Patricia Reardon’s third grade class are engaged in working on reading fluency and vocabulary during their reading station. Working together provides students the opportunity to draw on each others’ strengths, fostering confidence as students collaborate. Pictured, from left, are Kaden Stratton, Harold Velasquez, Iyana Dominguez, and Daejsha Jackson.

Northport K-8 students in Rose Rumer’s K-5 Autism classes have been working diligently for over a year to put together a fabulous work of art! The piece, depicting Egyptian pyramids and a panorama of stars, was created using sand, water and glue. Palm trees made of layer upon layer of tissue paper frame the bottom of the art.  The piece and many others like it will be on display at the Disability History and Awareness Expo on Saturday, September 29 at Indian River State College from 8:15 am until 12:20 pm.  The Expo is an opportunity for the community to learn about … Read More

Students in Maria Nunez’s fourth grade class at Mariposa Elementary School were organized in a cooperative reading group with Kagan structures. There are four to five students in a group and each student has a specific job. One student will read aloud while the others read silently. When the page is read, each student has a task following a pyramid in the middle that says what that job is. Someone will summarize, then another student will predict, and the last student will connect the story to their lives, another book or a movie. After one round, the pyramid is turned … Read More

Garden City Early Learning Academy held its Character Bee of the Month Celebration for Citizenship recently. This event was not only a time to recognize students for being responsible citizens, but was also an excellent opportunity for parents to be involved in a “hands-on” activity with their child. The activity included tracing their child’s hand, discussing and writing the ways that their child had made good choices to become a great citizen. Several students shared what they do to be good citizens. The students were honored with a certificate and pencil. Pictured is Yeraldy Salgado and her mother Liliana Perez working on … Read More

Over 90 cadets from the Fort Pierce Central High School JROTC cadets recently conducted a beach cleanup day at Pepper Park in Fort Pierce. Their mission was to clean up the environment to help the community. After accomplishing their goal, the cadets enjoyed a picnic to enjoy the rest of the day after a morning of hard work. Photo by Cadet Ted Rudzinski, article written by Cadet Veronica Acevedo.

The Palm Point Educational Research School at Tradition Rocket Jazz Band was recently invited to play at the St. Lucie West Elks Lodge during a luncheon held in honor of the visiting state president of The Elks Association. Palm Point Principal Debra Snyder and assistant principal Latricia Thompson joined members of the community as guests at the special event. The band consists of current and former students who now play in local high school bands. The musical selections consisted of jazz, blues,swing,funk and rock selections. After the performance, the president presented a $500 donation to the Rocket Jazz Band. Pictured … Read More

Students in Tekia Montgomery’s first grade through fifth grade classes at Allapattah Flats K8 School have been learning how to create different animal faces using Origami, the Japanese art form of folding paper. Students read about and saw examples of things such as animals, puppets, masks and geometric shapes, then took on the challenge of creating their own. They created a variety of shapes and added their own flair by drawing on faces and detail. Students were engaged, excited, and had a lot of fun creating these animal faces and working as a team at all grade levels! Pictured are … Read More

Students in reading classes at Allapattah Flats K-8 have been working diligently on setting personal and academic goals for the school year. Students will focus on specific reading comprehension skills and track their progress towards mastering those strategies on a weekly basis.  In November, they will participate in student led conferencing where they will share their progress towards their goals with parents, guardians and teachers. Pictured, from left, are Santiago Torres, Gianni Lancaster and Victoria Joseph working together to set personal and academic goals.

Pictured are Carolina Ponce, left, and Gaby Almendarez were the first students at Southern Oaks Middle School this year to win a prize for participating in lunch time book buddies. Reading teacher JoAnn Conard’s fourth period class came to the media center three weeks ago and selected books to read with a partner. The students could read at home or during silent reading time at school. After the students read a chapter, they would meet at lunch time with their partner and discuss the chapter. Students are encouraged to talk about connections they have with the story, characters, likes and dislikes, etc.  … Read More