Author: Toni Soloperto

Students in Colleen Wilson’s sixth grade science class at Forest Grove Middle worked on a class science project, “Can you protect a falling egg?” Students created “protectors” for their eggs out of different materials with the goal of dropping an egg from the second story balcony and ensuring that the egg arrived on the ground unharmed. Pictured are Guadaloupe Rubio, left, and Marissa Garcia.

Students in Charlene Carter’s reading classes at Forest Grove Middle School got to know each other recently using a series of activities meant to gather information about classmates as well as build knowledge of thinking maps, note taking techniques, Kagan structures, and cloze sentence templates. Pictured, from left, are Cicilio Ramirez and Enoc Lopez.

Olga Drucker, a Holocaust Kindertransport child (http://www.kindertransport.org/), visited with Ilyssa Greene’s sixth grade language arts students. Mrs. Drucker read excerpts from Kindertransport (http://us.macmillan.com/kindertransport/OlgaDrucker), her autobiography, which is a children’s book that covers her six years in England and reunion with her parents in 1945. She spoke with students about the impact separation and reunification had on her and her family. She also impressed upon students the importance of never allowing another Holocaust to become part of their history. Kindertransport rescued thousands of German and European Jews by sending Jewish children to live abroad with families who were often not Jewish. … Read More

Over 700 Forest Grove students performed a lab in which they extracted DNA from a fresh strawberry during their science class. Sixth graders learned about cells and cell theory. In seventh grade, their knowledge expanded through studying how DNA determines the genetic structure of an organism and makes each individual unique. Eighth graders continued to expand this concept by concentrating on the way that cells and DNA contribute to body systems, photosynthesis, and cellular respiration. Following this hands on activity in a wet lab setting, students could not only see, but hold and stretch the strawberries’ DNA to see the … Read More

The following Bulldogs are to be congratulated for being reading leaders this 2012 school year! These students traveled to the Barnes & Noble Bookseller in Jensen Beach. In order to be invited, students either were top Reading Counts point earners for their grade, or participated as a panelist for their grade in the March Battle of the Books event. Students were Christen Bailey, Sydney Rankin, Hannah Catlett, Geneva Deckert, Genesis Gibson, Derrick Davis, Jessica Hoyt, Zach Roach, Alton Mills, Mark Marin, Hikaru Kurasawa, Lyzberthe Chery, Ilee Fagarass, Ashley Dorvilias, Abigail Peterson, Jada Williams, Noah Dale, Fredline Beauge, Kerry Oreo, Kyle … Read More

Eighth graders in Janet Clayman’s culinary careers class at Forest Grove Middle School recently attended a career exploration field trip to Indian River State College Culinary Institute at the Mueller Campus in Vero Beach. Lisa Lamarre, Academic Coordinator and Chef Deborah Midkiff lead a discussion on eating nutritiously by making informed food choices. The students participated in adding condiments to a salad in which they had to figure the total number of calories. Malik Thompson was awarded an apron for calculating the correct number of calories. The IRSC culinary students prepared and served a healthy lunch. The students were given … Read More

Sixth grade students, pictured from left, Genesis Gibson, Derrick Davis, Jessica Hoyt, Zach Roach, and Christen Bailey listen intently to the Battle of the Books question for their team. The annual Battle of the Books contest matches a student team against a faculty team to answer comprehension questions. This year, the sixth and eighth grade student teams won their battle, while the seventh grade faculty team won their battle. This event coordinates literature study among the reading classes, and creates a positive school-wide literacy culture.

Students in Andrea Anicito’s seventh grade science classes at Forest Grove Middle School were given a visual scenario in which they were presented with a parent’s genetic information. Students then had to create a punnett square to determine the probability of the offspring’s traits. The final part of the project was to build a “spud”. Because there were traits that showed other than 100% probability, the offspring all looked a little different, just like siblings. Together, the class created a potato head family.

Forest Grove Middle school students recently spent a week “Shining a Light on Reading” in celebration of literacy. The soft lamplight provided great atmosphere for reading their favorite books.  From left, students Elijah VanDenHam, Kevin Duan and Joseph Serafini from Charlene Carter’s reading class are engrossed in reading their books by lamplight.

All Forest Grove Middle School students competed in the second annual Forest  Grove Metric Olympics. Students traveled through a series of eight stations that aimed to give them hands-on experience in estimating and measuring mass, volume, distance and time using the Metric System. This activity allowed students to manipulate math and science in a fun, competitive setting. Pictured, from left, Harry Jeune, Ja’Harold Wright, Linto Stil, Antonio Presley, Etienne Desir and Donald Gibson.