Author: LAUREN MONROE

The National Energy Education Development (NEED) project congratulated Morningside Elementary for an outstanding energy education project and selected our school as the Florida School of the Year. The mission of the NEED project is to promote an energy conscious and educated society by creating networks of students, teachers, educators, and business, government, and community leaders to design and deliver objective, multi-sided energy education programs. Fifth graders completed a project that included learning and teaching others about the science of energy. Students hosted an energy expo at the Earth Day festival at the Oxbow center last weekend.

Morningside Elementary School fifth-grader Amelia Sides has always loved art, and now her art will be displayed on ART (Area Regional Transit)! Amelia’s watercolor painting, “River”, was chosen to adorn a new public transit bus or van in St. Lucie County. She attended a reception at the Civic Center on March 24th where her art was unveiled to the public. Be on the lookout for Amelia’s art moving around the county on a bus!

Morningside Elementary Primary Odyssey of the Mind team built 3 vehicles and created a performance that solved a problem. They made their own set, costumes, and props. On February 12th, they competed in the Regional Competition and were awarded first place and will be heading to States in March! Huge Congratulations to Coach Mrs. LaChance and all our performers- Brody Diaz, Alex LaChance, Jayda Matthews, Benicio Tedesco, Devyn Tran, Pearl Wilks, and Ruby Wilks! We are so proud of you!

Students in Mrs. Eibl’s second grade finished up their Antarctica Unit with presentations of animals that frequently visit Antarctica. After researching, they created a habitat and shared it with their classmates.  

Students in Mrs. McKenna’s 1st grade class took part in a study of Frida Kahlo for Hispanic Heritage Month. After learning about Frida Kahlo’s inspirational story, students designed and created their own paintbrushes and completed self-portraits.

Students in Mrs. Eibl’s second grade class read THE MOST MAGNIFICENT THING this week in class. It’s about a girl who has a plan to build something but she can’t get it just right! She overcomes obstacles and manages her emotions in order to finally build The Most Magnificent Thing. Students had fun planning, designing, and building their own projects!

Students in Mrs. McKenna’s class put their research and writing skills to the test. Their research began by brainstorming different animals that can be found in the ocean. Each student was able to choose the ocean animal that sparked their interest most. They spent many days gathering research on their animal through books, websites and videos. After many rough drafts, the final drafts were written and illustrations were drawn. The outcome – THEY ARE PUBLISHED AUTHORS!!!

Morningside elementary continues to allow creative expression in the classroom! Students in Mrs. Moore’s third grade class are reading the book “Out of my Mind” where the main character Melody sees color when she hears music. After the Reading FSA, students were allowed to spread out on the floor and colored to the sound of fast and slow music by classical composers. Then the students explored the way different materials resists the crayon. They spoke about how they felt about the activity and how art sometimes helps get our feelings out especially when we feel stressed. Then students cut their … Read More

Mornings are fun when they begin with STEM learning! In our literature text that we have been reading, Wonder, the main character turned in a project based on pyramids. Today, we identified the different parts of a pyramid and then began constructing different types of pyramids. We tested our pyramids for strength and identified the patterns in the shapes, faces, edges and vertices.

Fifth Grade students in Coach McKenna and Coach Sides’ MTSS group participated in a fun and engaging coordinate graphing activity on Friday in the PE area. Students had to pick a cone and name the coordinates. Once they lifted the cones, students either found prizes or a chance to roll the exercise cube.

Third grade students at Morningside Elementary participated in researching the life and art of abstract artists such as Pablo Picasso during their enrichment MTSS. They were able to identify how the illustrations and art enhanced the mood of the stories they were reading. Then, they replicated one of Picasso’s famous works called “The Three Musicians”. Students created collages by layering geometric shapes, construction paper cutouts, paint and other materials to create these eye catching masterpieces.  

Mrs. Moore’s and Mrs. Eibl’s second and third grade classes got together to research and then recreate the Macy’s Day Parade. Students enjoyed writing the script, searching for pictures that represent their favorite parts of the holiday tradition and then starring in and editing their creation.  Video Presentation  

Morningside Elementary fourth grade team in collaboration with Keep Port St. Lucie Beautiful taught students about the importance of recycling through a novel study unit. KPSLB donated 100 copies of “Garbage Island” by Fred Koehler. Students read all 39 thrilling chapters packed with action and impressive vocabulary. To reward their hard work, the fourth grade teachers reverse tie-dyed recycling T-shirts. To add to the fun, students and teachers participated in a recycled headwear competition, in which the students were able to creatively represent the perils of not taking care of our earth. The unit of study culminated with a virtual … Read More

First grade students in Mrs. McKenna’s class celebrated Hispanic Heritage month with research projects and some very special presentations.  Students presented their findings through posters, books, powerpoints, artwork and performances.

Students and staff at Morningside Elementary dressed in “glow” from head to toe and participated in a variety of activities on Glow Day in order to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters through the Bowl for Kid’s Sake Fundraiser.  Students raised over$700.    

Students in Mrs. Eibl and Mrs. Moore’s class joined a Teams virtual call with a third grade class in Washington state. Both classes read “A Fine, Fine School” and participated in a chat with each other about the similarities and differences among our schools and classrooms. What a great experience for our Blue Jays!  

Students and teachers at Morningside Elementary School are actively engaging in Social Emotional Learning both live and virtually. Students are participating in Sanford Harmony lessons, Circles, and Meet Ups.  They have set Harmony Goals for their individual classrooms and are creating unique greetings and responses to emotions.  Blue Jays are creating safe, healing and relationship-centered environments and we are so proud of all their hard work as we begin this new school year!

Congratulations to Coach Sides and Coach McKenna for being awarded the American Heart Association’s Kids Heart Challenge Grant! This grant will provide health equipment and resources for our Morningside staff and students.