Gaines Academy students recognized for academic growth

Samuel Gaines Academy offers an after school tutoring program called A+ Tutor U.  Participating students were recognized with medallions and gift cards for the academic growth they have made in the program throughout the year. Pictured, top row from left, are Matt Roy, Yohan Purkiss, Jesus Cuevas, Kemmy Brianvil, and teacher Kimberly Masters.  Bottom row, from left, are Jesicca Pena-Altamirano, Tomarrow Flucker, and Tom Flucker.

Gaines Academy kindergartners make and fly kites

Gaines Academy kindergartners, from left, Mauricio Murillo-Rojo,  Angel Raya, and Roberto Luna Jr. from Tracy Davis’ class were full of excitement flying their paper-bag kites. The students made the kites during a writing assignment where they had to write step by step directions on how to make a paper-bag kite.

Gaines Academy installs tables outside for positive environment for students

Gaines Academy recently intalled new picnic tables outside the gym to help promote a positive school environment.  Some of Kimberly Masters’ third grade students were the first to take advantage of using these tables while enjoying their lunch. Pictured, left side front to back, are Fernanda Carrasco, Daisy Guzman-Esquivel, and Gabriela Armendariz. Right side, front to back, are Lopez Bourjolly, Edwin Lozano, Kaitlyn Logan, Kimberly Masters.

Gaines Academy fourth graders share projects with other students

Students in Andrea Blackburn’s fourth grade class at Samuel Gaines Academy presented Black History Projects to students in K-5 grades.  The students had all of February to study their subject and create their project.  They became experts in who they studied and were able to present to anyone that came by to check them out.  All that participated in the Black History Fair were very impressed by the amount of knowledge the students had about the person they studied.  Parents enjoyed coming the night before to review their child’s projects as well. Pictured are Isaiah Davis, Gilberto Barron, Edwin Tinoco, and Yohan Purkiss.

First grade students enjoy Green Eggs and Ham at Gaines Academy

First grade students in Jacqueline Harris’ class celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday. The students enjoyed a read aloud of Green Eggs and Ham followed by a surprise breakfast of which they were all eager to consume. Later on they made hats depicting the character Cat in the Hat using his hat and created “at” word family words which were displayed on the their hats. Pictured, from left, are George Gervin, Dontavius Tindall, Valentina Damian, Cedtearia Hayes, Eliette Jean, Tom Flucker, Richelle Williams, and Leslie Bonilla.

Gaines Academy seventh graders learn “language” program

Enthusiastic seventh grade students in Beth Torresson’s reading class at Samuel Gaines Academy have diligently been working hard in the “Language” reading program. This 90 minute direct instruction is given on a daily basis. The “Language” program is a comprehensive literacy curriculum. The students work on a variety of concepts each day, including grammar and usage, listening and reading comprehension, speaking and writing, phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition, spelling,  vocabulary and morphology. All of these concepts will enhance their skills to become better readers and to understand the structure of the English language more proficiently.

Gaines Academy girls basketball team A goes undefeated

Gaines Academy K8 Girls A Basketball team beat West Gate K8 Girls B team with a score of 29 to 12, going undefeated in the regular season. Savannah Houle and Michaela Kelly were the high scorers with 13 points and 9 points, respectively. Pictured, top row from left, are Antonnette Boothe, Savannah Houle, Tashonna Deval, Breanna Williams, and Stephane Destile. Bottom row, from left, are Duvy Hurtado, Sharmane Saunders, Michaela Kelly, and Cherise Johnson.

Gaines Academy students learn forts can be fun for reading

During a writing lesson, second grade teacher Mikki Greer from Gaines Academy became aware that some of the students had never made a fort out of blankets.  The next day the class looked at pictures of different types of forts and even created a few of their own. The forts were used for quiet reading during 100 Book Challenge. The students reading in their fort, from left, are Anthony Aguiniga, Jesus Andrade, and Jason Jacques.

Gaines Academy recognizes spelling bee winners

Congratulations to the Samuel Gaines Academy spelling bee winners. Pictured, from left, is third place winner, sixth grade student Marisol Aguilar, second place winner, eighth grade student Destiny Gamble, Principal Carolyn Wilkens, and first place winner, seventh grade student Jeremiah Flores.

Schools superintendent visits Gaines Academy

Samuel S. Gaines Academy fourth grade teacher Barbara Bennett asked Superintendent Michael Lannon and other prominent local residents to come in and read to the fourth graders to celebrate Black History Month.  Pictured is Mr. Lannon reading the book Follow the Drinking Gourd and talked about Black History Month.  Students  gathered in the hallway to listen to his story.

Gaines Academy soccer team wins district

The Gaines Academy soccer team went undefeated and won the district tournament. Jesus Gil and Isaac Pierre led the team with five goals each. Samuel Gaines Academy soccer team, back row from left, John Davino, Rodrigo Vega, Daniel Perez, Jose Garcia, Javier Gasca, Pablo Luna, Luis Nava-Esquivel, Manuel Esquivel, German Torres,  and Alex Cruz. Front row, from left, Erick Diaz, Xochitl Barrios, Jesus Gil, Jeremiah Flores, David Osorio, Christian Hernandez, Gustavo Salgado, and goalie Macolister Bispo in front.

Gaines Academy AVID students learn teambuilding

AVID students from sixth, seventh, and eighth grades at Samuel S. Gaines spent a day at Broward College’s Tigertail Lakes activity center. Students participated in high ropes course, low ropes course, and teambuilding activities throughout the course of the day. The trip was designed to strengthen collaborative and critical thinking skills within grade levels. The students learned many valuable skills that will be used in the classroom setting, including positive team interactions, and had a great time challenging both their minds and bodies on the course. Pictured from left are seventh grade students Loudridge Josue, Shirley Armendariz, Rodrigo Vega-Duran, Karla Ortiz-Duran, Jasper Magnuson … Read More

Gaines Academy students study biomes

Fifth grade students at Gaines Academy have worked really hard constructing amazing ecosystems. They were studying biomes and plant/animal adaptations.  Pictured with a diorama of the Savannas are Ydori Torres and Rossmirline Feneliace from Chrystal Bonowicz’ class.

Gaines Academy celebrates special day

Gaines Academy kindergarten and pre kindergarten students enjoyed many activities for the 100th day of school, including making hats and glasses.  Pictured as very old ladies are pre-K teacher Cindy Hedrick and paraprofessional Catherine Mills.

Gaines Academy families enjoy reading together

Thank you to the families and staff that participated in the Samuel Gaines Academy Literacy Night, parents learned about the 100 book challenge while the students picked out a book to read to their parents and also choose a book to take home to keep. The evening ended with a spaghetti dinner and door prizes.  Pictured is first grader Anthonia Hudson excitedly reading to her mother Lorraine Robinson while her brother, kindergartner Anthony Hudson II looks through his book.  

Gaines Academy students host and present civics projects

Juding and ceremonies for Project Citizen, 2012, at Sam Gaines Academy was held recently.  As the hostesses, students and staff members were extra excited to impress the judges and community.  After several weeks and months of grueling work, it was finally time for students to present their projects. There were three groups from Gaines Academy — one group was from Mary Gokcen’s seventh grade civics class, in which students created a project that focused on the problem of bullying.  The other two groups presented their projects on FCAT.  The first group was from John Davino’s first period civics class, and included, pictured from left, … Read More

Samuel Gaines Academy students teach writing to parents

The giant banner hanging from the auditoria walls with a smile greeted, “Welcome to Family Writing Night and Thanks for Joining SGA as we FLEE into Writing.”  Kristen Register (AVID teacher and coordinator), her AVID team, Matthew Roy (7th Grade Language Arts teacher and Department Chair), SGA teachers and staff hosted Family Writing Night.  In this school wide celebration of writing, seven AVID students from Katie Ludwig’s 7th grade, Language Arts class played the role of “writing teacher.”  Leonor Barron, Kayla Conaway, Neillande Francois, Aleshia Johnson, Loudrige Josue, Minnie Murray, and Edith Raya confidently taught and modeled how to use FLEE Maps to … Read More

Gaines Academy families enjoy writing night

 There was a lot of learning about writing skills during the Family Writing Night recently at Sam Gaines Academy K8 School, which included a chicken dinner and ending with a door prize drawing. Pictured is seventh grader Alexis Langel and her father holding the door prize they won.

Gaines Academy students awarded Take Stock scholarships

Take Stock in Children scholarships are awarded to middle grades students after a selection process through the Indian River State College Education Foundation. The recipients will receive mentoring throughout high school, and then will have all four years of college tuition paid!  There were hundreds of applications, and only 10 students were selected county-wide.  Please join in congratulating German Torres from Sam Gaines Academy as a winner, and Cinthya Talbott as an alternate.