Category: School News

Kindergartners at F. K. Sweet Elementary School recently took a field trip to see the Nutcracker Ballet at the Sunrise Theater in downtown Fort Pierce. The Sunrise Theater offered a free field trip for students in St. Lucie County schools. Pictured, from left, are Jeremiah Hill, Skye Graham, Kiera Coburn, and Tylarith Limear from Melanie Francisco’s class were on the edge of their seats waiting for the curtain to open. What an exciting opportunity to get dressed up and go to the theater!

Students at F. K. Sweet Elementary School can take part in an after-school group that uses STEM lessons to increase their critical thinking skills. Pictured are fourth grade student Nestor Damian, left, and third grade student Briana Guerrier show off their space landers. For this activity, the students designed a space lander that would keep an egg safe when landing. They were both happy to report that their eggs survived the landing.

Glitter, glue, and giggles, oh my!  Kindergartners in Melanie Francisco’s class at Frances K. Sweet Elementary School had a great time during a recent Craft Day.  Parents were invited to volunteer with crafts, lunch, and ice cream sundaes.

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.

The Southport Middle School faculty, staff and students recently hosted a mini-art show at a local business partner restaurant. The faculty and families came to enjoy the beautiful works of art from the school’s talented students. The presentation highlighted students’ art work from the first semester art classes. It was also a delightful opportunity for the community to come out and enjoy the wonderful works of art created by Southport students in Katherine Avra’s sixth through eighth grade classes. Pictured are Ms. Avra, left, and student Graciela Pard.

Northport K-8 sixth grade students in Melynda Slater’s Critical Thinking classes have spent the last five weeks honing critical research skills using Environmental Studies as the theme.Students used all aspects of research skills building to construct a superhero who could solve many of the dilemmas facing some of Earth’s most serious concerns. Some of the topics students researched were global warming, oil spills, recycling, water conservation, fossil fuels and rain forest decimation. Each student researched, using the media center, classroom computers and a variety of other materials. Each made a PowerPoint slide show addressing many aspects of each issue, but … Read More

The Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition team recently won the St. Lucie County Middle School volleyball tournament held at Ft. Pierce Central High School. The girls from the “B” division defeated the Southern Oaks Middle School team in the championship Match. The championship match was the best of three, with the Southern Oaks team winning the first game, and Palm Pointe winning the other two matches.  The girls really showed heart, determination and dedication, coming from behind to win the championship. These girls spent many hours practicing before school, getting ready for the tournament — and it really paid off. Pictured, from … Read More

Lakewood Park Elementary students and parents had the opportunity to explore the world of math in real-world situations by attending a family math night at a local grocery store. The students had a taste of reality while walking around the store working out math problems and figuring which food deals were the best economically. After students completed the activity, they received a free homework pass. Parents and guests listened to some holiday music while shopping presented by Angela Moretti’s Lakewood Park Elementary chorus, and parents also had an opportunity to do their grocery shopping and the store manager gave away door prizes. Lakewood Park … Read More

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.

Second grade students at Allapattah Flats K-8 School were treated with a very special guest visitor recently. Former Allapattah Flats principal Patti Heffelfinger visited the school and read the popular holiday story “The Polar Express” to the students. After listening to the story, students completed a project to show the sequence of events that occurred throughout the book. Pictured is Ms. Heffelfinger, right, as she captivates students with her reading.

Third grade students at Allapattah Flats K8 School recently got up close and personal with Florida’s native wildlife and ecosystem on a trip to the 4-H Farm. Students were able to view gardens, rain barrels, and hydroponics. Cows and donkeys were just some of the animals students were able to touch. In the herb garden, students were educated on how herbs are used in cooking as well as being able to smell the various herbs. Pictured are Trey Devercelly, left, and Hannah Hudson.

Allapattah Flats K-8 students recently held their own student-led conferences, proudly showing off their work for the first nine weeks of school. During these conferences, students were able to show a parent or staff member their academic performance on things such as their classroom work and grades, benchmark scores, and progress for the first quarter. Students also discussed how they achieved their grades, what grades they plan to get next quarter, and their plan to improve academically. Some 180 parents attended a conference with their students to get more deeply involved and hear from their child about their school progress. Pictured … Read More

Eighth grade students at Allapattah Flats K8 School recently created traditional Thanksgiving native headpieces with a twist with the Kids at Hope philosophy as a twist. After reflecting on the four destinations of Kids at Hope — home and family, community and service, hobbies and recreation, and education and career — students listed what they were hopeful for, and then wrote down one reflection per feather. Pictured are students with their “hopegiving” feathers.

The Port Saint Lucie High School Jaguar Raider Team travelled to camp Ah-Ba-Lu-Fa, to apply their survival skills.

The Performing Arts Department of Southport Middle School recently presented four shows of the Broadway Junior musical, Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland, Jr.” Adapted from Lewis Carroll’s “The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland,” and “Through the Looking Glass,” the story follows Alice as she journeys through the White Rabbit’s hole into a fantasy dream world with many unique characters and exciting adventures. With stunning costumes, beautiful artwork, props, songs, dances, and “Mad-hatter” action, the cast and crew of 89 students rehearsed for weeks to prepare. Many thanks to the volunteer crew of administrators, teachers, parents and high school students from Lincoln Park Academy and … Read More

The Northport K-8 School choral performance held recently in the school courtyard under the moon and stars was a glorious night of engaged students, parents, families and staff enjoying the annual “Winter Concert!” The event was kicked off by the middle grades students singing a stirring rendition of “America the Beautiful.” The students, led by Choral Director James Kirk, then performed a variety of mixed arrangements, interspersing traditional Christmas carols with more contemporary arrangements. Students from both choral groups, as well as the small quartets were outstanding. Elementary students performed like champs, with Christmas jokes told by students mixed with … Read More

Northport K-8 School participated in the St. Lucie County Public Schools Culinary Showcase held recently at the St. Lucie Civic Center in Port St. Lucie. Northport students, Principal Glenn Rustay and the entire school community are extremely proud of Rachel Ellsworth and her culinary team. The Northport team was one of only two middle grades schools that attended the event, and students and instructor were well deserving to showcase their finest cooking samples at the culinary event along with top high school teams. Northport K-8 showcased scrumptious Chocolate Oreo truffles. Pictured is the Northport Culinary team, from left, Zane Daniels, … Read More

St. Lucie West Centennial High School students in Mary Higgins’ and Elizabeth Durkee’s first responder and other medical academy classes participated in the recent Operation Home Run disaster drill. The exercise was held throughout the county at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center, St. Lucie Medical Center, Met Stadium, and the new Martin Memorial Medical Center in Tradition. St. Lucie West Centennial students were located at St. Lucie Medical Center. When the students arrived, the volunteer moulage artists brought real medical scenarios to life. All students did a really good job acting out their parts. Pictured are the students who participated at Tradition Field.

Students in the Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) programs from St. Lucie West Centennial, Treasure Coast, Fort Pierce Central, and Port Saint Lucie high schools recently participated in a statewide student Leadership Development Camp (LDC) held in Central Florida. the theme of the camp was “Learn from the past, prepare for the future.” Student leaders from around Florida gathered to learn more about what it takes to be a leader, participating in workshops and activities that encouraged skills such as good communication, time management, preparing for the future, and empowerment. Participants not only learned how to strengthen leadership skills, … Read More

St. Lucie Public Schools’ Deputy Superintendent Dr. Mark Rendell recently visited Joy West’s first grade class at Oak Hammock K-8 School, having been escorted to the school by storybook character Pete the Cat. Dr. Rendell read Pete the Cat’s groovier than ever cool adaptation of a favorite children’s song, “The Wheels on the Bus.” Students sang along using hand motions making all the different sounds a bus makes as it drives. At the end, Pete left on the bus and it looked like Dr. Rendell was driving! Pictured is Dr. Rendell as he delights students with his reading.