Month: November 2012

ATT was recognized at the November 13, 2012, St. Lucie County School Board meeting for its “It Can Wait” project, an awareness campaign to educate and inform teenagers about the dangers of texting while driving. The national campaign made a stop at Treasure Coast High School (TCHS) recently, with a simulated experience for young drivers what can happen in the split second of texting on a cell phone while operating a vehicle. Pictured, from left, are Assistant Superintendent Dr. Mark Rendell, who shephered the project in the district, Catherine McKenzie of ATT, School Board chairman Carol Hilson, TCHS principal Densire … Read More

The Make a Teacher a Classroom Hero program sponsored by “Little Debbie” was held during the month of August 2012. The area distributor who had the top sales total for the month would choose their favorite K-12 teacher to be a Classroom Hero and award that teacher with a $300.00 Visa gift card to use for their classroom supplies. Andy McNally, a local “Little Debbie” snack distributor, won the contest and picked Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition because the school is in the area that he delivers to. He contacted the school and wanted to pick a teacher that … Read More

Students in Andrea Logue’s fifth grade science class at White City Elementary completed a real-world engineering project based on the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) initiative. Students were “NASA engineers” for the day and competed against other engineering teams to design and build a lunar habitat model using only straws, masking tape, aluminum foil, and plastic wrap.  Each model needed to be airtight, have an airlock, and a renewable energy source. Pictured, from left, are Brecia Trejo, Torris Henderson, and Dazia Fernandez.

Third, fourth and fifth grade students at Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition investigated, examined and studied various artists and their work.  After creating their own original works of art based on the artist they researched, students digitized their work and then used Adobe Photoshop to enhance their images. The work was framed and hung in the newest gallery at the school.

Fairlawn Elementary School teacher Shirley Helton was recently presented with the 2012 “Excellence in Teaching History Award” for the state of Florida. This prestigious award is presented by the Florida Council for the Social Studies to recognize a teacher who encourages an appreciation and respect for history, involves students in the historical process, and evidences mastery of the subject matter. Congratulations to Ms. Helton for earning this distinction.

St. Bernadette Church in St. Lucie West supported a Project Children’s Literacy book drive to allow Garden City Early Learning Academy students to take a few books home with them during their Thanksgiving break. Father Victor Ulto and the church’s Stewardship Committee sponsored Project Children’s Literacy, and 15 stewards and literacy committee members regularly enjoy working with students at Garden City during their literacy block. Pictured, from left, are literacy Coach Lexi Laoutas, principal Traci Wilke, with stewards and volunteers George Lambert, Marilyn Faria, and Cilla Vitagliano, with St. Lucie Public Schools Early Childhood coordinator Mary Huffstetter. Seated is steward … Read More

An exciting enrichment reading group activity was held in the Media Center at Mariposa Elementary. Third grade students assigned to Charlotte Pennington enjoyed reading a folktale titled “The Paper Crane” by Molly Bang. While reading the story, the students were encouraged to use various reading strategies taught by Charlotte Pennington:  phonics, word decoding, clarifying, story mapping, predicting, questioning and summarizing.  The story taught the students about the nature of gift giving and caring for others that are less fortune then themselves. As an activity, the students learned how to fold their very own origami cup following Mrs. Pennington’s directions.  Before the students returned to … Read More

At Southport Middle School, students in Jessica Allen’s seventh grade science class from the Panthers team work with students from the Hornets team. The students had the opportunity to see the different types of volcanic eruptions with different types of sodas (regular and diet) and mentos. The students estimated the distance of the height of the eruption after putting the mentos into the soda bottle and graphed the results to determine the reaction of each type of soda.

In light of the recent presidential election, students in Caryol Hallahan’s second grade class at Windmill Point Elemnentary researched information about many of the prominent symbols of freedom and democracy. Students learned about the Statue of Liberty, the AmericanfFlag, the White House, and the bald eagle, among other symbols. Pictured here, students share a presentation for parents that they wrote and created based on their research.

After weeks of research and debate about the candidates, the students in Pam Bryant’s fourth grade class at Windmill Point Elementary School voted for President. Students enjoyed learning about the voting process, the terminology, and the significance of elections in our country. With this experience happening only every four years, it was an excellent teachable moment about history. The students really enjoyed learning about the voting process and all that it entails and are looking forward to the day that they will get to cast their votes.

The Port St. Lucie High School JROTC Raider team recently competed in the District Raider meet. Forty-five teams with eight cadets per team from 16 schools competed in five physical and academic events. The raiders’ male A-Team placed second overall in the 3-mile run with a time of 19:26. Mixed team placed second overall in the cross country rescue course. c/CPT Devynn Rhodes placed third overall in the individual female P.T. test with a total of 51 push-ups and 86 sit-ups. Congratulations to all of the Jaguar Battalion Raiders for competing in the Area III Raider Meet and thanks to … Read More

Northport K-8 School welcomed 23 local veterans into classrooms recently to listen to stories about their military careers, wars served, medals won and battles lost. Students asked an abundance of questions and were thrilled to be educated with primary source information. Students in Sandra Tyndale’s seventh grade class served as ambassadors to walk the veterans to classrooms and introduced the honored guests. Veterans were welcomed in the Media Center by principal Glenn Rustay and media specialist Lynne Gruszka. The importance of veterans’ service to America could not have been stressed enough as eighth grader Moriah Weir welcomed each veteran and Grace Buzziz, eighth grader … Read More

The book fair at Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition is in full swing and is an all-star event. Parents and students throughout the school are purchasing books and enjoying the display of all the choices of books. Books can also be ordered online from Scholastic. Pictured are Liani Rivera, left, younger sister of first grade Palm Pointe student Ariana Rivera as they shop at the book fair.

Students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade at Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition experienced the voting process by participating in a mock election for the President of the United States. Students read non-partial literature and reviewed real ballots before voting.  The simulated election connected students to current events and deepened their knowledge of the patriotic process. Pictured casting their votes are third graders Dustin Condra, left, and Sebastian Rodriguez.

Eighth grade students in Maurizio Apostolico’s Broadcast Communications class at Palm Pointe Educational Research @ Tradition are busy creating videos and taping segments on the Positive Behavior Support (PBS) program. Their videos are showing ways to earn rocket fuel at Palm Pointe and ways not to earn rocket fuel. Pictured, from left, are Annabelle Buttimer and Daniela Chavez working the cameras and Jessica Fouts and Serena Williams seated are acting out the scene.

The Fort Pierce Central Army JROTC Cadets conducted a fundraiserrecently, called Celebrity Server!  The event was hosted at a local restaurant by the cadets from Fort Pierce Central High school. The event was to raise money for their program to be able to provide local needy families with complete Thanksgiving meal basket. The cadets asked their family, friends, and teachers to join in and buy tickets to participate in the event. The cadets help serve guests drinks, and helped clean up with the employees throughout the evening and after completion of the event.  The cadets successfully raised enough money to provide at … Read More

On election day, Rivers Edge Elementary students in third through fifth grade cast their vote for President at precinct 0381 in the school’s computer labs. Students were successful in predicting Barack Obama as the winner based on their votes.

The Port Saint Lucie High School Jaguar Battalion recently participated in an orienteering team competition where they took second place. After the competition, the cadets headed to a camp out where they climbed up a 74 foot high canopy walkway.

Kindergartners in Melanie Francisco’s class at F. K. Sweet Elementary School have been anyalyzing two and three-dimensional shapes to name parts and describe their attributes. Pictured, from left, are Elliott Gardner, La Teya Weathers, Quiana Lundy, and Dennis Scott found shapes as the class created a classifying map.

Allapattah Flats’ PTO put on its annual pumpkin patch this year. Teachers and classes created pumpkins to show off their artistic talents. They highlighted some of the current trends and favorite books in their creative pumpkin presentations. Pictured are Moby from Brainpop, a few “Angry Birds”, Dr. Suess’ beloved Thing 1 and Thing 2  as well as a pumpkin with “A bad case of the stripes” from David Shannon’s book about a girl who gets a little bit too worried about what everyone else thinks.  Students and teachers alike had a great time decorating their fall pumpkins and displaying them in Allapattah’s annual … Read More