Author: LYNNE Gruszka

Northport K-8 School has declared a champion in the annual Spelling Bee!  Thirty students from grades four through eight participated in a 14- round spelling bee recently with seventh grade Northstar student, Jared Diago, spelling the word microphone correctly to win first place.  Second place winner was Kadisha D’Silva and third place was Koral Saarinen.  Students brought one student guest from their class to witness the exposition and many parents were present to urge on their students to spelling victory.  Jared Diago, pictured in the top row, last student on the right, will continue on to the district Spelling Bee next month.

Northport K8 School Northstar seventh grade instructor Mala Woessner and third grade instructor Glenda Taylor combined forces to teach a common Learning Goal.  Seventh grade students taught basic research skills using selected websites to guide third grade partners and to complete a display board for the school’s Multicultural Festival.  Students used research techniques to organize, compile and summarize information using a common format and showcased information about Germany.  Students pictured, from left, are Okyiah Mclean, Jailene Ventura, James Mikovsky and Marissa Maffucci.

Northport K-8 administration, instructors, students and staff are proud to showcase our Congressional District 16 Project Citizen first place winners. Students researched, wrote letters, listened to speakers and wrote an action plan to get students energized and incorporate more heartily in a student driven school health plan. The theme of the project is “Put Down the Fork and Pick Up the Pace!” Pictured from left are Sabrina Wing, Northport Project Citizen instructor, Mary Ellsworth, Gabrielle Mejia, Cameron Templeton, Myles Jackson, Director of District Project Citizen, Tim Norfleet and St. Lucie County School Board Chairman Carol Hilson.

Northport K-8 third graders in Tiffany Tredor, John Fallon, Diana Lankow, Linda Beidler, Melanie Polascak, Glenda Taylor and Janine Wiecks classes celebrated literacy,  as well as Positive Behavioral Support or PBS, through team building activities recently.  Students paid Northport SAIL Notes to choose from sharing cookies and milk with their stuffed animals while listening to traditional fairy tales, watching a movie while munching popcorn, listening to German folktales and creating a mask to represent the character, playing a board game or attending a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party from the tale Alice In Wonderland. Pictured is a sampling of third graders who … Read More

Northport K-8 students in Carissa Provencher’s fourth grade class received donations from the City of Port St. Lucie and Waste Pro USA to beautify the school area.  Students and their teacher planted Sabal Palm trees near the school parking lot and bike rack to provide shade and make the curb side appeal more inviting.  Students learned all about the importance of trees and the environment in classroom lessons, then applied that knowledge in an outdoor atmosphere.  Ms. Provencher scaffolded information using students’ prior knowlege and built on that information using real life lessons.

Northport K-8 School is pleased to promote Excellence in Education by showcasing role models who promote a positive learning environment and display the camaraderie of a vital and dynamic school.  Northport’s Teacher of the Year is Mala Woessner, who reflects the best attributes of a well rounded teacher.  First Year Teacher of the Year is Dulce Castro, who teaches first grade.  Lorena Paez Ampuero, second grade teacher, is Minority Educator of the Year and media clerk Pam Crum has been named the School Related Employee of the Year. Pictured are Ms. Woessner, right, and Ms. Crum.

Northport K-8 lower school teachers and students showcased their love of literacy and participated in the state wide reading initiative, Celebrate Literacy, by marching in a literacy Character Day parade.  Students dressed in book character costume, carried their books and walked with parents around the school to promote the pure joy of reading.  The positive interaction between classes, teachers and parade watchers provided a great opportunity for students to see just how much they are cared for and to view the connections between books and good fun!  Pictured are third graders from Diana Lankow’s class promoting popular book character Judy … Read More

Northport K8  lower school students Marion Barrios, Bridgeth Molina, Ashley Rivage, Breanna Nevarez and Katlyn Cortez display qualities of achievement and perfect attendance in the Northport K-8 Imagine Learning Lab under the direction of instructor Mary Toto and assistant Marion Morales.  The needs of English Language Learners are addressed with gravity at Northport K-8 School and  achievements are celebrated.

Northport K-8 School is proud and pleased to represent the very best of Dr. Martin Luther King’s message of peace and unity.  Special thanks must go to the school’s MLK committee who designed and decorated the float, to the school administration who supported the endeavor and marched along with the school, the teachers, staff and students who marched with the group.  Northport is pleased to accept the first place honor for overall best K-8 school category.  Northport K-8 truly admires Dr. Martin Luther King as the “Drum Major for Peace” that he is and his inspiration of Remember, Celebrate and … Read More

Northport K-8 third grade students in Linda Beidler, John Fallon, Tiffany Tredor, Diana Lankow, Glenda Taylor, Melanie Polascak , Becky Reuther and Janine Wiecks classes received a special visit from sheriff’s deputy Boger and his K9 partner Molly recently.  Third graders read an informational text about police dogs and then learned first hand how deputies locate drugs.  Molly is a seven year old canine and is an aggressive finder.  When Molly sniffs drugs, she paws, claws and becomes excited to reveal the hidden contraband.  The community lesson was an extension of previously learned knowledge utilizing complex text and was an … Read More

Northport K-8 instructors are pleased to begin literary instruction in a new and fresh arena for 2012.  Northport teachers Jennifer Babcock Carey and Deb Mock completed a grant to begin work on a literacy plaza, an outdoor classroom setting for Northport K-8 School.  Instructor Valerie Niewieroski began work hand painting the four seasons display which will include literary quotes to inspire young students to read.  The literacy plaza will be completed on January 21 and an Open House will be held on Friday, January 27, 2012. Pictured from left are instructors, Juliette Thelusma, Jill Staggs, Jennifer Gomez, Carissa Provencher, Valerie … Read More

Northport K-8  middle grades science instructor and science fair program leader, Dr. Laura Woodworth, escorted groups of students through the school science fair exhibits recently.  The exhibits are a culmination of the school based science fair programming.  The program is an authentic assessment of classroom learning and an excellent demonstration of student knowledge of science in action.  Dr. Woodworth monitored student learning using critique charts and journaling as students considered how graphs were utilized to reveal trends in data, how to identify variables in experiments, and made suggestions for possible improvements in student research and how to better the experiment … Read More

Northport K-8 third graders welcomed representatives of  Treasure Coast Wildlife Sanctuary into their outdoor classroom area to learn all about saving wildlife.  Students were introduced to several types of owls including One Feather, a great horned owl. Students learned that One Feather was stolen from his nest in Ocala National forest in Florida 33 years ago.  One Feather was only a few days old when he was taken so he never properly imprinted or learned how to be a great horned owl.  He could never survive in the wilderness on his own.  Students learned that owls see in black and … Read More

Northport K-8 fourth graders in Juliette Thelusma’s class participated in a group science fair project called Pop Rock Science.  Students learned the meaning of the words purpose, hypothesis, data, constant variable, results, conclusion and research.  Students and instructor then applied the knowledge gained to a fun and informational science fair project.  After understanding the meaning of scientific terms, students put pop rocks in balloons and attached them to soda bottles.  The pop rocks were allowed to fall into the soda and students watched as carbon dioxide was released.  The conclusion was reached that the Pepsi brand contained more carbon dioxide than … Read More

Kindergartners in Northport K-8 RTI classes are learning all about holidays around the world.  Students and instructors  cooked and experienced the many flavorful foods that different cultures enjoy.  Students made and enjoyed latkes for Hannakkuh, cheese Quesadillas for Las Posades, mini pizzas for La Bafona and delightfully hand decorated sugar cookies to celebrate Christmas.  Kindergarten students appreciated cooking around the world and can support why each selected their favorite cultural food dish.  Pictured are teachers Staci Saunders and Chelse Goergen with several kindergartners.

Northport K-8 students welcomed two St. Lucie County School Board members recently to discuss the school boards views on the issue of homelessness in St. Lucie County.  The students heard much information about the issue for their seventh grade required Project Citizen research class.  Pictured is school board vice chairman Debbie Hawley, who along with board member Troy Ingersoll visited Karen Nystrom’s class on separate occasions to discuss what the school board can do for homeless families with children attending the school system.  The board can make arrangements to transport the children from temporary housing to the home school, can assist … Read More

Northport K-8 kindergartners in Staci Saunders’ and Chelse Goergen’s classes celebrated Gingerbread Man Day recently by decorating gingerbread men using foam shapes and sequins, made word family gingerbread houses, counted one to 20 using gingerbread shapes, graphed the number of cookies decorated, estimated numbers of cookies and made a variety of patterns using the gingerbread shapes. Students also joyfully decorated gingerbread tree ornaments using glitter and glue.  The activities supported many daily lessons and justified vital classroom information while valuing student interests and community spirit.  Pictured is Mrs. Saunders with several of her students.

Northport K-8 Northstar students in grades six, seven and eight under the direction of instructor Kathy White celebrated November as National Novel Writing Month.  The project involves amateur and professional writers from all over the world.  The Young Writer’s program allows students to choose their own word goal.  Mrs. White’s Gifted and Enriched students wrote from a range of 2500 to well over 4000 words.  Eighty five percent of the team succeeded or surpassed their word goals with eighth grader, Emily Royo, exceeding her word count by 10,000 words for a total of 14,987 words published.  Students used all aspects … Read More

Northport K-8 seventh grade students in Karen Nystrom’s civics classes welcomed St. Lucie County Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky recently to help delve further into the issue of homelessness in St. Lucie County.  After an extended amount of project research, Mr. Dzadovsky focused the students on resources available in the county for people who are dealing with homelessness.  The commissioner directed students to the Community Services Department and gave the class the direct telephone number to reach assistance.  He discussed grant programs, provided information about calling 211 to help solve immediate issues as well as information about how the county extends help to … Read More

Northport K-8 third graders in Melanie Polascak’s class wrote letters to veterans to commemorate Veteran’s Day.  The teacher and students discussed bravery, Americanism, patriotism and the love of America. After the class discussions, Ms. Polascak and her students decided to extend their efforts and work with the Red Cross Holiday Mail For Heroes program and get the students’ messages to the men and women who are hospitalized or on the front lines in the U.S. military.  The students’ writing included description, use of effective words, good mechanics and punctuation, as well as heart for the holiday season.