Author: MARY ROTI

SKWK8 STEAM Sharks shook hands mechanically with the hands they built. Students learned about the design challenge and terminology to flex their construction muscles. They analyzed their hands, joints, and fingers and designed prototypes to accomplish two tasks. First, they had to grab an object and move it to a target, next they had to flex and extend the fingers to push an object to the target. Students timed each other rolling the object and then compared results to find the fastest and slowest times. Students walked through the design process, anticipating potential cons of their design so they could … Read More

Mrs. Cothern’s second-grade class was proudly promoting Red Ribbon Week! Every year, from October 23-31, more than 80 million people – both kids and adults – show their support for a healthy, drug-free life by wearing or displaying the red ribbon. Red Ribbon Week is a great reminder of why living a drug-free life is important. It’s a chance for parents, teachers, and communities to unite and reinforce the drug-free messages they share with kids all year. The eight-day celebration is an annual way to show that we won’t accept drugs in our schools, workplaces, or communities.

Students in Ms. Harris’s class learned about the advantages of Capitalism and the free market over other economic systems using an interactive simulator activity. Students compare various aspects of capitalism, socialism, and communism, allowing students to experience how different economic models function.  

Thank you to our National Junior Honor Society and Yearbook members for bringing a little Halloween fun to our day! Members came to school early today to add some interactive sidewalk chalk fun to our hallways! It was great to see our students and adults doing hopscotch down the hallway and on their way to and from class!

Mrs. Boham’s STEAM class designed and built a piece of furniture that would hold 2-5 lbs. Middle school STEAM students in Mrs. Boham‘s class learned about cardboard, its history, and recycling it to build a piece of furniture that would hold a 2-5 lb. weight.  Researching the concept of cardboard furniture, asking questions like who the demographic would be for this product and what are the multiple uses this furniture could provide? Students examined assembly and attachment techniques as well as the strengths and weaknesses of their materials. Using the design process, students collaborated to share their individual concepts, and then they … Read More

Shark Nation’s Annual Vocabulary Parade was Jawsome! Kindergarten and First-grade students were given a vocabulary word and were thoroughly excited to dress up and embody their word!   

Third-grade students in Mrs. D’Andrea’s gifted class were exposed to a step-by-step hands-on tutorial for the functions of PowerPoint. Students are able to use these skills in current and future project-based learnings!

Our October PBIS Event was a slam dunk! SLWK8 students were excited and thoroughly enjoyed the Cen10 Coed Basketball game. Shark Nation would like to thank and shoutout St. Lucie West Centennial High School and their amazing basketball players and cheerleaders!

Students from Mrs. Schettini’s 3rd-grade math class identified lines of symmetry in various figures. One strategy they utilized was using a mirror to ensure that they were seeing “mirror images ” on the other side. It was a fun way to practice a new skill!  

A sweet and engaging math adventure with our Candy Corn Marshmallow activity! Ms. Quiles’s third graders explored geometric reasoning by using colorful candy corn and marshmallows to create points, lines, line segments, and rays. Through hands-on building and problem-solving, students strengthen their understanding of geometry in a fun, interactive way. Make learning math a treat!

Mrs. Boham’s STEM students used their creativity, math, art, entrepreneurship, and cooperation skills to design sweet new candy bars! Middle school STEM students in Mrs. Boham’s class showed off their sweet tooth design skills to create innovative candy bars. Working as cooperative groups they used pros & cons to pick the groups best idea to develop into a new product on the market. They sourced nutrition facts for ingredients, researched the market for eye catching wrapper designs, flavors, and prices. They found their audience demographic, tagline, and name through discussion and collaboration. Culminating in group presentations of their new sweet … Read More

In honor of Hispanic Hertiage Month, elementary art students in Ms. Nedrow’s class learned about Miami based Artist Romero Britto. Britto is a Brazilian artist, painter, and sculptor. He infused elements of cubism, pop art, serigraphy and graffiti. His patterns are filled with bold patterns that express hope, dreams and happiness! They chose from 3 different Britto templates and filled them with bright colors and fun patterns. Elementary also learned about texture by creating cute monsters using crayon rubbing techniques.

Fifth graders in Ms. Kalio’s class worked collaboratively to complete a science experiment about the Water Cycle! Students started by making predictions as to how water from the ocean becomes rain over land. They created a landscape model out of clay and poured water over the model. They covered their container with plastic wrap and secured it with a rubber band. It was placed in a sunny spot and students observed how water moved throughout the landscape. After, students analyzed and recorded their data!  

Fifth graders in Mrs. Portee’s class are sensational with strategies! Students competed in groups to solve multi-digit multiplication equations using various methods such as Area Model, Partial Product, and Traditional.  

Third graders in Ms. Paries’ class are focused on figurative language! Students worked in collaborative groups to identify similes within the text and on task cards.   

In Mrs. Quiles’ 3rd grade class, students transformed into “Math Doctors” to explore the distributive property through a fun and interactive activity. By “performing surgery” on numbers, they learned how to decompose multiplication facts into simpler parts to solve!    

Third graders enjoyed a guest speaker from the UF/4-H program that enriched our Animal Adaptations unit. They discovered how great horned owls use their feathers for camouflage, vertebrate animals, and how turtle shells offer protection. The presentation also covered how predators have developed specific traits for survival. This engaging session helped students understand the various ways animals adapt to thrive in their environments!

Students in Mr. Hammond’s 6th-8th grade Gifted Math classes were asked to design a bridge that could support itself over 10 inches. The surprise was that these mountains had landslides, so rocks were dropped on their bridge to test the strength. Each group was assigned a role of site manager, designer, and two builders. After their construction and before the test, students watched the Tacoma Bridge video to show what happens when engineering goes wrong.  Students had fun testing their engineering skills and being taught a real-world application of mathematics!

Second grade students in Mrs. Barthell’s class started their day with a nutritious and mathematical breakfast of champions! Students used their favorite cereals to make arrays. They completed the arrays based off of repeated addition and multiplication equations.

Gifted students in Mrs. D’Andrea’s class read the difference of how the brain works versus machines. Groups made the connection to how we can solve a problem in different ways and get the same results! The groups were given 4 multiplication equations and needed to show 2 different methods to solve each problem. Before collaboration happened, students came up with examples independently. Students were able to refer back to their Interactive Notebooks and Class Anchor Charts to review previously taught methods. After, students came together to share, discuss, and create examples for each equation. Each group accurately demonstrated how to … Read More