Author: Nancy Spooner

Over the past few months, Samuel S. Gaines Academy of Emerging Technologies was part of the district wide GEER Reading after school tutoring program. This program supported over 40 of our students on Monday-Friday afternoons. Our highly effective teachers: Ms. Brooks, Ms. M. Matos, Ms. Cordero, Ms. Young, Ms. Luna, Ms. Capre, Ms. Moore, Ms. Gleason, Ms. A, Matos, and Ms. Paul all supported our students at their individual reading levels and provided differentiated instruction with small class sizes. All students made significant gains with their reading development. Parents have even shared how much their children’s confidence in their reading … Read More

Samuel S. Gaines Academy of Emerging Technologies has been awarded a UBTECH Early Innovator Grant! SGAET is the first and only school  in Florida to be awarded an Early Innovator Grant, and just 23 schools across the nation received the award. UBTECH Education is a division of UBTECH—a global leader in intelligent, humanoid robots for consumers, business, and industry. Now, students will have the opportunity to work with UBTECH Robotics UKITs to practice engineering, coding, and apply their understanding of science and mathematics to create fully functioning robots. The students’ robots will be used to complete tasks in simulated real … Read More

On September 27th, SGA had a wonderful time celebrating fathers and caring adults who change the lives of our students everyday.  The morning started with an instrumental interlude by SGA music teacher Mr. Pena and students along with photo booth opportunities.  After a brief presentation and breakfast, the fathers and caring adults were eager to pledge to be more involved in their children’s education.

Attend Samuel Gaines Academy’s Fourth Annual Winter Games on Thursday, February 23rd from 5:30-7:00. Bring your family. The first 100 Colts will receive a goodie bag full of supplies. Play games to win prizes and cheer your Jedi teachers on to win a Pod Party.

Gaines Academy Pre-K through 1st grade students had a great time celebrating 100 days of getting smarter.    

In the course of just one day, we can find many things to be thankful for…if we only take the time. The students and staff in Mrs. Hill’s ASD room at Samuel Gaines Academy have adopted and set aside the month of November to display an attitude of gratitude. To show their thankfulness, the students (under the artistic direction of Ms. Pattie Morse) created a wall of gratitude which is on display outside their classroom. The wall is adorned with “Give Thanks” wreaths and a hand-made patchwork quilt depicting what the students are thankful for.

On Saturday, November 5th, Gaines Academy AVID students went to the Amway Center, where they spent the day hearing speakers who participated in the AVID program through high school and how AVID prepared them for college and their current roles with the Orlando Magic. In addition to these speakers, co-founder and Magic Executive Pat Williams took the time to speak and answer questions for the students. After which, they participated in a college fair in the arena, and were able to talk to and ask questions of representatives from 16 different Florida schools, including Steston, Full Sail, FAMU, UF and … Read More

7th grade students at Samuel Gaines have started a recycling program. While conducting Project Citizen research, students discovered that Samuel Gaines did not have a recycling program and realized the effects on the environment.  Through the help of 7th and 8th grade teachers, they were able to start a recycling program partnering with Fort Pierce Recycling. Every Thursday students pick up recycling items from teachers classroom. Currently the program only accepts paper, but students hope to expand to all recyclable items. In just the first few weeks of the program, the students were able to fill four recycling bins full … Read More

During Spring Break, thirty Home Depot employees and volunteers enhanced the Samuel S. Gaines Academy campus with a Kids at Hope Garden. Volunteers installed an irrigation system, built plant boxes and fences, transplanted trees, and beautified the garden area with new sod and mulch. This garden will be a school-wide, student-managed initiative to learn how to plant, grow, and maintain a variety of crops. The SGA Kids at Hope Committee, in partnership with the St. Lucie Education Foundation Inc., applied for and was awarded a grant from The Home Depot Foundation to fund construction of this vegetable and herb garden. … Read More

Gaines Academy Vice Principal Alex “Batman” Oge exciting the 5th grade students about the science expo and plans to make them Super Hero Scientists. For the next four weeks the students will have guest scientists conducting hands-on experiments and all fifth grade students will attend a science resource class each day. Gaines Academy is Powered Up about science!

Rebecca and Cody Mott from the Inwater Research group conducted a Treasured Turtles program with Gaines Academy 6th grade science classes. The program engaged, educated, and stimulated the students into thinking about the world of marine science and ocean conservation. The students especially enjoyed the hands-on artifacts and specimens.

Mrs. Ebersole’s 4th grade and Mrs. Eaker’s Kindergarten class met for the first time to introduce themselves to their new buddies. Students were given puzzle pieces that led them to their buddy when they found the match.  They then exchanged notes and got to know each other. Students from both classes are looking forward to their weekly reading time together.