Author: LYNNE Gruszka

Northport K-8 students were honored recently at the Port St. Lucie Elks Lodge No. 2658 for excellence in writing. The Elks offered St. Lucie County students the opportunity to respond to an essay contest entitled “What Veterans Day Means To Me!” Northport students, their parents and families, and media specialist Lynne Gruszka, were treated to a wonderful dinner, honored with six cash prizes of $100 and $50 for all winners, and beautiful plaques inscribed with each student’s name. The students were thrilled with the opportunity to experience writing with feedback and reward from community members. Northport thanks the Elks Lodge … Read More

Northport K-8 School Media Center and Big Brothers, Big Sisters (BBBS) of St. Lucie County, in conjunction with the AmeriCorps tutoring program, joined forces to bring a terrific community celebration of Read Across America and the birthday of Dr. Seuss to the students of Northport K-8 School recently. Special guests from across the county were warmly welcomed for a huge breakfast and then were escorted across the campus to K-5 classrooms by student ambassadors. Students and teachers were overwhelmed by the display of love, care and concern for education by arriving guests. Special thanks to Olivia Watkins, Mayor Joanne Faiella, … Read More

The Northport Northstar team that includes Gifted and Enrichment courses for targeted students has opened wide the doors on new technology at the school. The Northport K-8 School middle grades Northstar students, under the direction of instructor and “Project Lead The Way” specialist Christine Santos- Nurse compiled the school’s first ever STEaM Starbots team. The robotics team recently won an award and special competition in Bradenton, Fl at the VEX IQ Add It Up competitions. Parents and students were thrilled to make the encouraging and positive announcement and are thrilled with the implementation of this program to build the school’s … Read More

Northport K-8 students are very familiar with veterans and the US military because many have grown up seeing men and women in uniform at the school. Northport has built an excellent program called “Veterans In Education” partnership. Veterans visit Northport regularly imparting information and drawing respect from the students. When the opportunity was presented by Superintendent Genelle Yost for students to enter a writing contest offered by the Port St. Lucie Elks Lodge #2658, Northport teacher leaders jumped on the idea. The topic, “What Does Veterans Day Mean To Me?” fit right into the schema of Northport’s overarching themes of … Read More

After rigorous, intensive work and deep critical thinking, Northport K-8 School students celebrated a third place win at the St. Lucie School District Project Citizen showcase. Students from Mary Ellsworth’s seventh grade Civics class prepared their project very competitively. The project is titled “What is the Cost of Ruining Your Child’s Education?” The topic centered around the issue of education and budget cuts and how the cuts have affected the purchase of textbooks for many classrooms. The students will have their board and binder displayed in Tallahassee at the Capitol Building! Students at Northport, a Title I school, hold true … Read More

Northport K-8 School recently celebrated Black History month with a wonderful program that included guest speaker Dr. Dwight Dawkins, who encouraged students to do their best and to have high aspirations. Port St. Lucie High School Jaguar Battalion led the program with an honor guard, and Northport choral students from all grade levels sang the “National Anthem,” “Elijah,” and “Tribute to Martin Luther King.” Students also listened to a Black History moment on the morning announcements showcasing contributions of Black Americans. The school cafeteria, along with culinary program students under the direction of instructor Rachel Ellsworth, offered a tempting Southern … Read More

Northport K-8 eighth grade students received special guests in classrooms recently as two cadets from the Port St. Lucie High School Jaguar Battalion under the direction of Major U.S. (Retired) Richard Thompson, visited and imparted great information about available JROTC programs. Cadets Auger and Ryun talked about building leadership skills and the camaraderie that is attained when joining a JROTC Unit. Cadets spoke about after school teams including, drill, orienteering, raiders training and marksmanship teams and told the students that the after school and weekend activities are the best part of the program. The cadets encouraged the eighth graders to … Read More

Northport K-8 sixth grade students in Georgia Stone’s World History classes took learning about Egyptian studies to the next level recently as students learned how the Nile River shaped Egypt. Students marveled at the fact that the ancient Egyptians valued the afterlife so highly and that every aspect of their lives on Earth was a road map for their afterlife. Students learned that burial tombs were placed on the west side of the Nile River, which was called the “Land of the Dead.” Following in-depth studies and intensive research about Egyptian culture, students created a burial chamber or tomb of … Read More

Northport K-8 seventh grade students are busily preparing their Project Citizen presentations. After a semester of research, phone calls, letters and policy studies, students in Mary Ellsworth, Christopher Prusa and Angel Bracero’s civics classes are fine tuning and refining their presentations. Students selected topics of interest to help raise awareness about hot button issues and learned how to become change agents to help make what seems to be impossible become the possible. Some of the topics selected by students are sidewalks in Port St. Lucie, school dress code, school budgets and textbooks, animal shelters and the issue of stray animals, … Read More

Northport K-8 School kindergartners in Shana Cicio, Kara McNair, Nancy Yost, Melody Nieves and Tiffany Tredor’s classes celebrated being 100 days smarter recently by giving a big “Hip Hip Hooray!” to a “One Hundred Days” celebration. Students and teachers collaborated by reading the book “100 Day Worries” by Margery Cuyler. Students also made “100 Day trail mix” with 100 ingredients, counting by tens. Students practiced counting to one hundred and reading and writing one hundred words. Kindergarten teacher Tiffany Tredor thrilled the students by dressing up as a 100-year-old woman. By the end of the day, every kindergartner was absolutely … Read More

Northport K-8 Media Center is busy promoting books, programs and initiatives, but the one most special to media specialist Lynne Gruszka and principal Glenn Rustay is the “Building American Pride, One Flag At A Time” program. The program was kick started immediately following the Northport annual 9/11 Remembrance program in September. Guest speaker, retired New York City Detective and 9/11 First Responder Albert Hickey, spoke to the students about his experiences and noted that few homes had American flags waving on his drive to the school. Many students expressed that they would like an American flag flying from their homes … Read More

Northport K-8 School has been buzzing with super spellers recently as 35 students in grades four through eight practiced using flashcards, spelling buddies and parent support to help make the annual Northport Spelling Bee a phenomenal success. Parents, fellow students and staff cheered as the school based winner was announced on the afternoon announcements. The spelling bee went eight intense, very professional rounds. The winner of the bee is Ashley Quijada, a seventh grade Northstar student. Ashley will participate in the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee held at the Port St. Lucie Civic Center on Saturday, March 8, 2014 at 9:00 … Read More

Northport K-8 School was delighted to host retired United States Navy Lt. Commander Jerry Padrta recently as a guest speaker for students in Nick Carey, Georgia Stone, Carla Caldwell, Mindi Slater and Tracey Healy’s fifth and middle grades classes. LCDR Padrta spoke to the students about his upbringing as a child in Northern Minnesota, the hardships and the driving cold weather. He spoke about his school and college experience and perhaps most intriguing to the students and teachers, his naval career spent in a submarine. Padrta gave an eye opening talk about the history of the submarine. The first sub … Read More

Northport K-8 students, parents, teachers and staff joined hundreds of other Florida schools to celebrate literacy this year during “Celebrate Literacy Week, Florida!” The week of January 13 through 17, 2014 was themed “Reading Accelerates Success!” The week long celebration at Northport K-8 School included fun and intriguing activities that helped students connect with all kinds of careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The activities helped celebrate the success that Northport has accomplished. Some of the activities included “Get Caught Reading” tickets for prize drawings, Title Mash boards where students decorated their favorite book title, “Chew and Read” activities, … Read More

A number of Northport K-8 School administrators, teachers, students and parents supported the community and the St. Lucie School District by marching and riding in a float during the annual Martin Luther King, Jr., parade in Ft. Pierce recently. The Northport community was glad to help promote the theme “Continuing the Vision Through Education and Advocacy” and encouraged the community to remember Dr. King’s dream. The Northport K-8 School middle grades band, under the direction of instructor Brian Hoce, marched in the parade and played the song “Stand By Me,” originally performed by Ben E. King. Northport third grade student … Read More

Northport K-8 middle grades students made great strides in research techniques and effectively followed the scientific method as the school-based Science Fair came to a conclusion. Sixty-two students whose projects were evaluated as “highly effective” were selected to display their projects in the Northport Media Center. A wide array of projects were on display covering multiple categories such as botany, earth science, chemistry, physics and astronomy and medicine and health. First and second place winners in each category will represent Northport K-8 School as delegates to the Regional Science Fair to be held on February 13, 2014 at the Kight … Read More

Northport K-8 School is celebrating right along with schools, clubs and businesses across the nation this month in honoring January as National Mentors Month. The motto for this special month nationwide is “Be Someone Who Matters to Someone Who Matters!” At Northport K-8 School, a St. Lucie County “Kids At Hope” school, there is plenty to be thankful for during National Mentors Month. Several teachers have taken on the role of reading mentor, holding reading groups around the school on a regular basis, and the community organization Big Brothers, Big Sisters of St. Lucie County has taken a firm foothold … Read More

Northport K-8 students in Tracey Healy’s fifth grade class went back into time to enjoy a breakfast that would be relished during the American Revolution. Students mixed fresh popcorn with a drizzle of honey and some dried fruit served with milk to experience a touch of realism from the time period. The class participated in a DBQ, or Document Based Question, session that revolved around Colonial America and the Revolutionary War. Students participated in an in-depth study of Valley Forge and interpreted diary entries and excerpts from Thomas Payne’s book, “Common Sense!” Pictured, from left, are Adam Kirschenhofer, Sebastian Palomino, … Read More

Northport K-8 School is extremely proud and honored to assist Big Brothers, Big Sisters of St. Lucie County begin the celebration of National Mentoring Month. Northport has an extensive and strong partnership with the organization and encourages the strong bonds and connections that can lift students to a higher level in both literacy and citizenship. Northport currently welcomes six Big Brothers, Big Sisters mentors along with case manager, Lauren Fowler, into the school to assist and support students with behavior skills and strategies. The school also has three AmeriCorps tutors who fall under the Big Brothers, Big Sisters umbrella, including … Read More

Northport K-8 School Neon Navigators, a team of fun-loving, running enthusiasts, got together for a special 5K run called Color Vibe held recently at the Saint Lucie County fairgrounds. The colleagues and some of their children came together to run for charity and to simply have a wonderful time role modeling good health habits and the joy of completing the walk/run together. Pictured, from left, are former Northport instructor Liz Devereaux, Mary Ellsworth, Chris Prusa, Shana and Chris Cicio and their children, Principal Glenn Rustay, as well as Christine Santos Nurse, Nick and Jennifer Carey and their children.