Author: CHARLOTTE PENNINGTON

The Mariposa Elementary School band and chorus performed recently at the Children’s Museum of the Treasure Coast. They presented their holiday musical called “Santa Goes Green” with a message of becoming environmentally friendly this holiday season. Pictured is Alex Perry singing a solo with the chorus behind her. The musical was made possible with a generous grant from Florida Power and Light, and the N.E.E.D. organization.

Students in Ashley Thomas’ class at Mariposa Elementary were rewarded with an ice cream party for rocketing into mastering their multiplication facts through the nines. Each day Ms. Thomas quizzed students with 40 multiplication facts until all facts were mastered within a three-minute timeframe. Once students completed the different sets of facts, math coach Theresa MacInnes gave students a four-minute, 80-question facts test to complete. Pictured are Dasha Behrens, Taj Clyde, Khani Ellison, Kayla Green, Carter Heffley, Michael Hunter, Chyna Martinez, Rebecca Mosier, Jessica Sullivan, Anthony Torres, Thomas Duffy, Johann Vianna, Sara Westbrook, Trinity Hardy, and Brooklyn Parks. Other students who … Read More

Students in Maria Nunez’s fourth grade class at Mariposa Elementary have been conducting oxidation experiments for their science Fair project.  The problem statement was, “Which liquids (distilled water, oil, vinegar, alcohol, milk, or soda) causes oxidation to occur the fastest?” Students were enthralled while observing the process and were using the same principles as scientists in the real world. These future scientists had to use critical thinking to determine the reasons why some liquids oxidize more quickly than others. The experimentation will continue just as real scientists conduct experiments at various times to validate their conclusions. Pictured, from left, are Jacob Guerrero, resource … Read More

The students in Elizabeth Forbes’ class at Mariposa Elementary learned about the Pilgrims in the month of November. The students read books and poems that described the Pilgrims’ exciting journey to their new land and wrote about how it would have felt to have been a Pilgrim child. The overwhelming consensus was that they would have missed electricity! Each student told one or more things for which they are thankful  at the end of the activity. Pictured, from left, are Michael Anderson-Cline, Louisa Davila, Angelee Amperez-Jorge and Aiden Busch.

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

Students in Linda Auciello’s kindergarten class at Mariposa Elementary recently enjoyed a hands on math activity that taught them many lessons combined into one. They learned about ordering numbers up through 10, the concept of one more, and counting objects up to 10. Pictured is Shane Lesser counting his sets of blocks. He realized that when you make each set of blocks one more than the previous one then it looks like a set of stairs! Math is so much more fun when you can do it hands on!

Students in Linda Auciello’s kindergarten class at Mariposa Elementary School have been learning about their five senses. The students each had an apple to use to describe their five senses in regards to the apple. How did it feel? What did it look like? How did it taste? How did it sound when they bit into it? and How did the apple smell? The students had so much fun tasting, listening, smelling, feeling and looking at these delicious apples. Pictured are parent volunteer Don Lesser, and apple observers, from left, Luke Duffy, Shane Lesser, Lyndsey Simpson and Noah Erdwein.

Theresa Delancy’s third grade class at Mariposa Elementary School practiced being scientists as they explored scientific tools. The students rotated through six centers using tools like a pan balance, measuring tape, thermometer, graduated cylinder, eye dropper and hand lens. The students worked in small groups and performed an experiment at each of the six centers. They recorded their observations and collected data in their science journals just like real scientists do in the lab. Pictured are Joshua Pierre,left, and Juan Navarro.

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.

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

Students in Maria Nunez’s fourth grade class at Mariposa Elementary did a spectacular experiment recently. Students created Spin-Copters to determine whether the mass of an object would affect how well the copters flew. The students found out that when you add a paper clip to the copter, it would fly a little farther away and spin a little faster on its descent.  However, when you did the same thing with cardstock or heavier paper, the copter did not fly so well because it had too much mass.  The students were engaged in this activity and enjoyed testing the copters further by … Read More

Mariposa’s Open House was quite a success! Students and families met their teachers, received bus numbers, and enjoyed a special PTO Carnival!  The Carnival was provided by the school’s Positive, Passionate, Progressive and Proven PTO partners for all students returning to school.  Students won prizes, threw rings, made baskets, and had such a great time!  School never started off with so much fun! Students were excited to get “back to school” at Mariposa Elementary.

Mariposa Elementary School recently held its annual Reading Night Sleep-Over. It was a literacy-filled night as 32 qualified students watched a stage play (performed by middle-school volunteers), made puppets, and rotated through various story-based activities. The school held monthly literacy sessions for parents and students. Families that attended at least three events throughout the year were invited to the sleep-over. Parents took the night off as students and staff enjoyed Friday night in school. Pictured, from left, are students Talon Bareford, Daniel Lara-Mijares, Heiberto Lara-Mijares, Justin Locklar, Sean Higgins, and Monica Kalina creating puppets for the stage play “Little Red Riding Hood.”

Students Michelle Graci’s language arts classes at Mariposa Elementary have been reading and learning how to write poetry. They all wrote poems to enter the Young Writers of America Contest. The students had a choice of three different topics from which they could choose: WWhat My Family Means to Me”, “The World as I See It”, or “My Wish for the World”. The students read a variety of different poems to develop ideas.  Several students received letters stating that their poems will be published. The students whose poems were chosen were Faith Eizenman from Jennifer Skurnick’s class, Amira Castillo, Tnanazia Young, and … Read More

Students in Maria Nunez’s fourth grade class at Mariposa Elementary are studying magnetism by exploring the properties of various materials that respond to a magnetic field.  As part of their experiment, students were given magnets, a compass, string and paper clips to investigate magnetism. The activity included magnetizing a paperclip by scratching the surface of a magnet, exploring the earth’s magnetic pull by using a compass and watching it point towards the North Pole, then disrupting the needle of the compass by placing a magnet near the device. Students gained insight into what is a magnet and how it works. Pictured are Sasami Bagnall, left, and … Read More

Fourth grades students at Mariposa Elementary school held their yearly Wax Museum for parents and students recently.  The event was held in the fourth grade classrooms. To prepare for this activity, each student researched a famous person and created a costume to portray their character. Students stand as wax figures until a guest comes up to their booth.  Once the visitor is present, the wax figure comes to life and tells a short biography about their life. Pictured in their costumes, from left, are Estefano Livi, Isik Billingslea, Daniel Lincoln, Jacob Mc Crory, Sadia Kouns and Hannah Murphy.    

Fourth grade students at Mariposa Elementary School are preparing for the school’s annual wax museum.  The students are excited and eager to teach other students and visitors about their famous person in history and how that person made a positive impact in our society and the world. Pictured is Estefano Livi poses as Benjamin Franklin.  

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

The students of Mariposa have worked very hard this year to raise money for the American Heart Association in their quest to prevent heart disease.  As a motivation to the students, Principal Craig Logue promised to spend the day on the school’s roof if the school met or exceeded the target for the year.  True to his word, Mr. Logue spent time on the roof greeting students on April 13th. Thanks go to all who donated to the American Heart Association, for Barbara Monaghan and Adriana Roberts for coordinating the event and for Mr. Logue for spending time up on the roof. 

Students in Jeanie Alves first grade class at Mariposa Elementary have been learning about different foods and where they come from, and Ms. Alves’ class selected oranges and picked several from the school garden.  Students learned how to squeeze the oranges to get the juice, which they love!