Author: MARION Petruff

This year the Westgate Adopt-A-Class program led the county in classroom donations. More than $2,450.00 was donated to various classrooms.  The teachers would like to thank our parent community for their generosity. Special thanks goes to teacher Dawn Mealing and SAC member Dana Stonelake for working so hard to spread the word about this wonderful program.

Alex Lemonade Stand Foundation Fundraiser Students at West Gate K-8 raised over $1000 dollars for the Alex Lemonade Stand Foundation. ALSF is a childhood cancer foundation which raises money for childhood cancer research and families. All donations were made in memory of our 3rd grade student Julian Fraga who passed away in February.

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Ms. Schumacher’s 2nd graders at West Gate K-8 rang in the Chinese New Year with their new lanterns. They spent the day learning about China’s culture and customs. They were excited to get their hands on the Chinese alphabet to write to their friends and to decorate their lanterns. They also incorporated math, too! By using rulers, they were able to measure one inch borders around their paper (to know where not to cut!).

Each year, all of the Westgate K-8 students line the sides of the parking lot to enjoy the Westgate marching band, the 8th grade carolers and of course, Santa. It is Westgate’s favorite holiday tradition.

Mozart Sobrinho stopped by his former school, West Gate K8, to perform a benefit concert for autism. Students in grades 3 through 8 were treated to a half hour concert which included his song “Stay with You” inspired by his former teacher and her autistic daughter. His performance allowed West Gate to raise over $500.00. The monies raised will help sponsor the April 11th, 2015 Walk for Autism Speaks.

Mrs. Kawa, a retired 2nd grade teacher, volunteers each week for Ms. Schumacher’s class. She is reading one of her favorite read a-louds, Charlotte’s Way by E.B  White. The students look forward to her visits each week with excitement, and can’t wait to work with her during small groups. Mrs. Kawa works with all students to deepen their knowledge on the targeted skill for the unit. she also does reteach and enrichment groups.

Second graders from West Gate K-8 had a great day at the Brevard Zoo. Ms. Schumacher’s students got up close and personal with giraffes. They fed them and had their own personal trainer educate them about these wonderful creatures. The students spent the rest of the day exploring different habitats and the wonderful exhibits. Pictured left to right, Arianna Saitta, Jasmine Rivas, Tori Roe and Macy Ernst.

The kindergarten and first grade students at Westgate, completed their studies of Argentina and Mexico with a school wide parade. Each of the grades at Westgate has been involved with cultural studies of  various Hispanic nations to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month. Zachary Hunt- Bianco (center) and all his friends from Ms. Bean’s kindergarten class, marched through Westgate wearing their Argentina Flag costumes.    

Riverside Children’s Theater On the Go came to West Gate K-8 to perform for First Grade.  Students were enthralled with The Tale of Peter Rabbit.  Students enjoyed watching the singing, tap dancing, fun, and adventure in this classic tale. The first graders loved the characters and the humor throughout the show. Students compared the play to the original Book written by Beatrix Potter and wrote opinion papers explaining which version of the story they liked best. Riverside Children’s Theater did a fabulous job! The First Graders at West Gate K-8 hope to see them again soon.  

On Tuesday, October 7, 2014 West Gate K-8 held their first “Million Father March” in conjunction with the SLC School Board initiative. The Million Father March is a national event that promotes a father’s active involvement in the education of their children. West Gate’s event was held in the gym and had over 300 participants. 170 dads signed a contract vowing to be more involved in their children’s lives. The dads were invited to participate in some of West Gates most exciting Physical Education activities. Each dad had a task sheet that included cup stacking, hula hooping, basketball, volleyball, table … Read More

West Gate K8’s second annual Community Walk for Autism Speaks was a huge success! Over 1,500 community members came out to bring awareness to a condition that affects 1 in 62 children. The event featured West Gate’s former student Mozart Sobrinho performing his song, “Stay with You.” The family fun walk also included bounce houses, DJ Calvo, face painting, information on services for people with autism, and more. Five other schools formed teams to participate in the walk and West Gate alone collected over $1010.00.  Along with the St. Lucie County Firefighters, West Gate’s walk for Autism Speaks raised $18, … Read More

Students in Christopher Calvo’s third grade class at WestGate K8 School have been studying the history of Costa Rica for Hispanic Heritage Month. The students’ main focus was the volcanoes of Costa Rica.  Students created volcanoes constructed using cardboard and plastic water bottles, covered with paper mache and painted. Pictured, standing from right, are Assistant Superintendent Dr. Mark Rendell, WestGate Principal Robert Cranmer, and Mr. Calvo with students watching in awe as the six volcanoes were erupted in the hallway.

Second graders in Kelsey Schumacher’s class explored apples using the scientific method. As scientists, they posed several questions and generated a hypothesis. After gathering the necessary materials, they went to work in the classroom and the science lab to find out if their work supported their hypothesis. After the investigations were over, the students wrote conclusions and shared their findings with each other. Students in Janet Brewi’s middle school science classes then interviewed the younger scientists about their work.

Wadson Charmant, Owen Morgan, and Dylan Torello in Mrs. Moreira’s 8th grade reading class at Westgate K-8 are involved in an active game of $1,000,000 Pyramid. Some friendly competition  makes learning challenging vocabulary words more fun!

Ms. Jessica Berggren’s first grade class is participating in an alphabet exchange with 25 schools from around the country. The class was given the letter E. They read the book Elmer. Then they decorated the letter E to look like Elmer the elephant. The letters were mailed to other  schools and  the class has received a few returned letters already. The students can’t wait to receive even more “letters” from all around the country.

West Gate K-8 sponsored the first Autism Walk on the Treasure Coast, Saturday April 27th in Tradition Square. The walk was held to increase public awareness of the needs of autistic children and to raise money for autism research. It was a huge sucess, with over 450 people attending the walk. Over 40 community agencies and local businesses supported and contributed to the walk. Thanks to all the walkers and sponsers, $31,000 dollars was raised for Autism Speaks.

On Friday, March 1st, West Gate K-8 welcomed Ms. Alicia Kohanski as  guest reader for our annual celebration of Read Across America. Ms. Kohanski is a Children’s Program Specialist with the St. Lucie County Library System. Her programs are literacy based and include the use of books, stories, music, flannel boards, puppets and props. During two exciting 45 minute performances, Ms. Kohanski thoroughly engaged students in all of West Gate’s first grade classes. West Gate would like to thank Ms. Kohanski and the St. Lucie County Library system for sharing our love of reading.

WestGate K8 School “Autism Speaks” walking team co-captains Jessica McLaughlin, right, and Valentina Whyte were recently presented with a $500 check from Nate Rivaldo representing the Port St. Lucie chapter of The Sons of Italy. Whyte, who is a behavior tech in one of WestGate’s autism units, said the donation will help reach the $2000 goal set for the year. The generosity of the members of The Sons of Italy is greatly appreciated.

Kelly Koenke, representing the orthodontic offices of Dr. Lee Leglar, recently surprised WestGate K8 fifth grade teacher Yanet Garcia with an Apple I-pad. Fifth grade WestGate students and teachers attended the Education Day events at the Mets Stadium on May 16th, and teachers put their names in a drawing for the IPad, and Ms. Garcia was the lucky winner of the raffle sponsered by Dr. Leglar. Ms. Koenke and Ms. Danny Ormstom also surprised Ms. Garcia’s students with pizza and soda. A sincere thank you to Dr. Leglar for supporting St. Lucie Schools. Pictured are Ms. Koenke, left, and Ms. Garcia.