Author: PAMELA POST

Students Carlie Frizzle, left, and Elizabeth Stone in Todd Hibbard’s Advanced World History Class at Southern Oaks Middle School, sang the lyrics to the song “Walk Like an Egyptian” during a unit on Egyptian culture. The students found that the lyrics from the song use several of the key terms and phrases from their unit of study. The song allowed the students to infuse Social Studies with the musical arts, as well as language arts. Though not required to have a costume, these students “walked like an Egyptian,” going the extra mile to make the presentation even more special!

As part of Southern Oaks Middle Schools’ recent Holidays Around the World celebration, students in Todd Hibbard’s sixth grade Social Studies classes stepped into the holiday spirit (and the icing) by making 72 gingerbread houses to commemorate holiday traditions in Germany. Students in sixth, seventh and eighth grade all enjoyed the sample of gingerbread houses as part of the day long festivities. Other countries represented with facts and food were Italy, Africa, Mexico, Israel, Great Britian and, of course, the United States of America. Pictured are some of the gingerbread houses on display.

Students in Kevin McInerney’s sixth grade class at Southern Oaks joined over 15 million students across the country and the world, to learn the rudimentary structure and syntax of computer coding in the recent national “Hour of Code” initiative. With backing from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and scores of other donors, and with instruction by contributors from Chris Bosh to Mark Zuckerberg, code.org had a goal of having 10 million students begin to learn computer programming. Students used a drag-and-drop style interface to program their own version of an “Angry Birds” game. Pictured are students working on the project.

Students in Todd Hibbard’s sixth grade class at Southern Oaks Middle School recently completed their extra credit Sumerian clay tablets. Students submitted over 80 tablets. Pictured, from left, are Bernardo Desir, Dominic Adams, Logan Feldherr, Caden Ayers and John Lamplough, who are just a few of the students whose tablets are on display. Sumerian clay tablets were written in cuneiform and were used to keep track of records and trade many centuries ago. Cuneiform uses wedge shaped symbols to represent objects. Students get really involved when they get to mix art with history.  

Southern Oaks Middle School faculty and staff raised $546 for the Treasure Coast Food Bank, which will provide 3,822 meals across the Treasure Coast this Thanksgiving. The campaign was led by seventh grade science teacher Maureen Davis. Pictured is Assistant Principal Mary Beth Forsyth as she presents the monies raised to a Treasure Coast Food Bank representative.

Representatives from Florida Institute of Technology’s Lunabotics team recently visited Southern Oaks Middle School to meet with the students whose team took fifth place last spring among 50 international teams competing in the fourth annual NASA Lunabotics Mining competition. The team came to Southern Oaks and put on three presentations: the first session involved dissecting an edible asteroid, where students looked at all the layers and were then able to eat it; next session, students were given characteristics of  a creature and based on those characteristics they then had to draw what it looked like; and last, students were shown the robot that was used … Read More

Pictured from left, Southern Oaks Middle School students Anthony Cannon, Mackenzie Troha, Gianna Gutierrez, Isabellah Hariharan and Eric Bejarano in Maureen Davis’s science classes are using their math, language and science skills in a lab project making toothpaste. The students create, color, flavor, and name their product, and create a jingle or slogan and prepare a short commercial to sell their product. Each member of the group was responsible for one of the tasks to be completed and they must collaboratively agree on each step. Several district representatives were on hand to observe and learn.

Southern Oaks Middle School recently hosted a Parent Night for sixth grade families. Parents were given a passport and traveled to six different information sessions, with topics including classroom routines, expectations, note-taking, staying organized and a preview of the tablets that sixth grade students will be receiving. Parents enjoyed the night and found the information sessions to be very helpful. Pictured speaking with parents is language arts teacher Steve Barrish.

St. Lucie County Circuit Court Judge Dan Vaughn recently visited Southern Oaks Middle School. Seventh grade students have been learning about the three branches of government in their civics classes this year. Judge Vaughn spoke with the students about what it means to him to be a judge, and the education needed to become one. The students were eager to ask Judge Vaughn questions about the judicial branch of the government and how it works. Judge Vaughn explained to the students about the history of the robe, which seemed to be a big cause for questions. He also discussed courtroom … Read More

Southern Oaks Middle School students students were mesmerized by the seriousness of tobacco use and what it can do to your body and brain in a recent presentation. Students were shown half of a human brain and a monkey brain from a tobacco user. The presenter was a former employee of the tobacco industry who shared many funny stories which kept the students interested, and have not stopped talking about it.

Nearly 400 turned out for Southern Oaks Middle School’s second annual Family Science Night recently. Students and parents alike participated in many hands-on science activities prepared by the Southern Oaks faculty. One of the big crowd pleasers was the STEM l, where parents and students were able to see the hydroponic plants and the rockets that were built. Students from Fort Pierce Central High School’s culinary arts program provided some delicious cookies and performed a demostration, and students from Central’s automotive, biology, and HOSA programs also shared their experiences. Students from Fort Pierce Westwood High School shared information about the Marine Oceanographic … Read More

Over the next couple of months, Southern Oaks Middle School teachers Jose Rivero and Lauren Kappler are planning to take students on an exciting virtual journey to the moon and Mars. Students will be doing project based STEM activities twice a week that will lead up to learning about how one day life can possibly be sustained on Mars. Mr. Rivero states that students will be learning and talking about everthing from different thrust structures, manned space flight vehicles, what it’s like to live in space, robotics and will learn how to produce food in order to survive long periods … Read More

Pictured are Carolina Ponce, left, and Gaby Almendarez were the first students at Southern Oaks Middle School this year to win a prize for participating in lunch time book buddies. Reading teacher JoAnn Conard’s fourth period class came to the media center three weeks ago and selected books to read with a partner. The students could read at home or during silent reading time at school. After the students read a chapter, they would meet at lunch time with their partner and discuss the chapter. Students are encouraged to talk about connections they have with the story, characters, likes and dislikes, etc.  … Read More

Sixth grade students at Southern Oaks Middle School have been coming to the media center for an orientation and a scavenger hunt using the Dewey Decimal System.  After a brief orientation, the students were instructed on how to use the Dewey Decimal System to find non-fiction books. Students were placed on teams of two and given three slips of paper with types of books written on them, such as basketball, poetry, or cooking. When media specialist Cathy Odom and clerk Kim Johnson gave the signal, the students moved through the library to find their books. When the students found a book, they … Read More