Port St. Lucie High School junior Jonathan Lane won first place in the documentary portion of the school-based History Fair. Lane’s documentary titled “Building St. Lucie County’s Future” featured interviews with St. Lucie County School District leaders, l including Superintendent Mike Lannon and Associate Superintendent Dr. Owen Roberts. Pictured is Superintendent Lannon addressing students during the event.
Fifth grade Francis K. Sweet Elementary School student Rida Ahmed emerged as the champion speller for the second consecutive year in the 2012 St. Lucie County Spelling Bee, winning on the word bromeliad. Second place went to Northport K8 School seventh grade student Jared Diago, and in third place was fourth grade WestGate K8 School student Sreya Banik. Ten students will move on to regional competition next month. Congratulations to all 32 winners who participated. Pictured, from left, are third place Sreya Banik, champion Rida Ahmed, and second place Jared Diago.
Northport K-8 Girls Treble Chorus performed recently at the District 13 Florida Vocal Association adjudicated festival or Music Performance Assessments for Chorus. The all-girl middle grades choir achieved an overall Superior rating. The chorus performed a German song titled, “Bist Du Bie Mir” as well as a spiritual song, “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel.” Students also performed sight reading materials. Bravo to Northport K-8 choir director Shirley Lyons. Pictured with the girls and Mrs. Lyons is Northport K-8 principal Glenn Rustay.
Lawnwood Elementary School recently held a Spelling Bee celebration breakfast for all of Lawnwood’s spelling bee participants. Students enjoyed pancakes flipped by Principal D’Jion Jackson, plus bacon, fresh fruit, and orange juice served by literary coach Kirstie Lickliter and assistant principal Kim Cain. Students pictured, from left, are Kaitlyn Gonzalez, Daisy Vicencio, Nadia Dimitroff, Lesly Gamez, and Liza Hicks.
Northport K-8 media specialist and group facilitator Lynne Gruszka, along with assistant principal Benigna Montenegro, Coordinator of Learning Communities, are pleased with the progress of the Reading Learning Community that is occurring in the school’s Media Center. Teachers are utilizing the book, “Teach With Your Strengths, How Great Teachers Inspire Their Students” written by Rosanne Liesveld and Jo Ann Miller as a scaffold to professional conversation and camaraderie. Teachers in the group are learning to recognize the similarities of all great teachers and how to capitalize on their specific teaching talents as well as how to better develop individual strengths. Teachers who
teach with their strengths are turning out well educated students regardless of socio economic status. Teachers are studying about Donald Clifton, PhD., who is the creator of Strengths Based Psychology and the creator of the Clifton
Strengths Finder test. Pictured, back row from left, Leigh Woltjen, Lorri Lamm, Glenda Taylor, Penny Arbuckle, Marquita Battles, Laura Woodworth, Mala Woessner, and Melody Nieves. Pictured front row, from left, are Caroly Mann Lurry, Denise Fields, Barbara Greenwood, Pam Mishler and Nancy Yost. Also part of the community not pictured is Kathy White.
Northport K-8 fifth graders in Judy Fowler’s class have partnered with the St. Lucie County 4H Extension to plant and harvest a thriving and well loved winter garden. The entire class planted, checked temperatures , humidity and rain
gauges as well as kept daily log books on plant growth and development. Students harvested red tomatoes, bell peppers, red cabbage, collards, kohlrabi, mustard and strawberries. Students also presented projects including shadow
boxes, board presentations and written reports. The class garden project will be on display at the St. Lucie County Fair. The garden is a prime example of engaging students in cognitively complex tasks and enjoying the end product.
Pictured, from left, are Enzo Ampuero, Melissa Royo, Kylee Cicio, Dominique Sthilaire, Ellie O’Connor, Lindsay Sullivan and Alexis Rosamond.
F.K. Sweet fourth grade students enjoyed a gorgeous Saturday in St. Augustine to relive and experience history. The day included Castillo de San Marcos, Spanish Hospital, free time on St. George Street, an hour trolley ride through the historic district, and the Old Florida Museum. The students were also treated to a reenactment of a canon fired by the “Spanish”.
The faculty and staff of F.K. Sweet Elementary recently recognized their honored employees, including School Related Employee of the Year David Morales, Teacher of the Year Michelle O’Keefe, and Distinguished Minority Educator of the Year Belinda Buckley at a before school ceremony recently. All of the “stars” also received gifts and plaques.
The fifth grade members of the F.K. Sweet Elementary camera crew meet each morning in the media center to produce and facilitate the morning announcements and news. Crew members are recommended by their teachers based on citizenship and academics. If a scheduled presenter is absent, they are also always ready and able to take their spot to ensure that the daily news goes on without a hitch.
Mariposa Elementary School recently hosted a Family Math Night, where parents learned ways to help their children with homework, math games and activities the family could do at home together. This sort of family participation has been shown to increase a child’s confidence in his or her ability to do math, as well as teach students and parents to value mathematics. Parents learned how to identify opportunities for reinforcing mathematics skills at home by talking about how they use math at work or at home, by involving their children in tasks that require computing, measuring, estimating, building, problem solving and reasoning, and by looking for activities that require their children to use mathematical skills, such as building scale models, cooking, planning trips, and playing logic games. Parents met and interacted with administrators, teachers across the grade levels and the math coach to obtain valuable information about the mathematics curriculum and enjoy a pasta dinner and door prizes. Special thanks to Dr. Peter Zsiga from Indian River State College, the PTO, Jonathan Almedia for posing with his math cards, and the Mariposa Elementary teachers who created many fun and engaging activities designed to promote student achievement.
Having already qualified through regional events held earlier this month, a goup of 21 Allied Health students from Port St. Lucie, St. Lucie West Centennial, Fort Pierce Central and Fort Pierce Westwood high schools and their instructors head to the Florida Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) State Championships to be held March 30-April 1, 2012. Meanwhile 46 additional students from Fort Pierce Central, St. Lucie West Centennial, and Treasure Coast high schools will travel to several technical centers in Polk and Orange Counties soon to participate in many other Region III SkillsUSA technical and leadership competitions. Criminal Justice students from Treasure Coast and Fort Pierce Central high schools will also compete locally in SkillsUSA Crime Scene Investigation and Criminal Justice contests. Gold and silver medalists from all of these events will qualify to participate in the Florida SkillsUSA Championships to be held April 29-May 2, 2012. Pictured is the HOSA team from Fort Pierce Westwood High and their instructor Cindy Kreis. Front row, from left, Stephanie Honeycutt, Chelsea Coggins, Coraima Gomez, Tiffany Harry, Ms. Kreis, and Jasmine Loussant. Back row, from left, Unity Wiggins, State Finalist Everett Ramos, Shavela Vaughn, Maeonna Wright, Hannah Bauer, State Finalist Dustin Tuckett, Sabrina Cuker, Nicole Bohaboj, Jonathan Barrow, State Finalist Tiffany Stonesifer, and Kristen Brunson.
Port St. Lucie High School recently hosted the Region III Skills USA carpentry competition, in which three students from Port St. Lucie High School took top honors. Cody Gosa won first place, Diamond Salazar finished second, and Christian Nowacki completed the sweep for the Jaguars with a third place finish. Cody, who is a senior, will represent the region at the state competition next month. Skills USA is a national nonprofit organization serving teachers and high school and college students who are preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations, including health occupations. Pictured is automotive technology teacher Bob Rosbury who also serves as a SkillsUSA state advisor trainer, with Cody Gosa, Diamond Salazer and Christian Nowacki.
Southport Middle School student Hannah Spurr heads to state competition in the local DAR American History Essay Contest and the Good Citizen Award contest sponsored by the Cora Stickney Harper branch of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. A celebratory tea was held at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Parish Hall in Ft. Pierce. Pictured are Spurr and other local winners from Southport Middle School with St. Lucie Public Schools’ K-12 Social Studies Curriculum Supervisor Tim Norfleet and Karen Evans, representatives from the Cora Stickney Harper branch. From left are Tim Norfleet, Karen Evans, Hannah Spurr, Sydney Starnes, Lisa Guan and Adriana Garcia.
F.K. Sweet Elementary is very fortunate to have former teacher Tom Filipkowski return to volunteer his time in continuing the ever popular Chess Club on Thursday mornings. The Chess Club has always been a favorite with intermediate students. Not only are the skills of the game and high level thinking covered, but the love of the game and sportsmanship is also stressed.
Northport K-8 Northstar team prepared a special celebration for the school’s younger students recently. Students made Mardi Gras masks and mini floats using materials brought in from home and marched in a Mardi gras parade. The band students on the team led the festivities with their own rendition of “When the Saints Go Marching In!” Students threw beads and candies to the young onlookers. The activities planned by the team instructors throughout the day led to an effective lesson about Mardi Gras and promoted positive interactions among students and teachers. Pictured is student Sabrina Wing.
Pictured from left, third grade students Mariana Trujillo-Naranjo, Lauren Bishop, Connor Cook and Gabriel Vernon work hard on preparing their representation of St. Lucie County 100 years from now. All Allapattah Flats third graders enjoyed imagining the community 100 years from today, they read books and watched a video of other predictions before coming up with their own ideas of future communication, transportation, shelter and even food. Their projects are displayed at the St. Lucie County Fair.
Third graders at Allapattah Flats have been studying plant and animal life cycles in science class. On a recent field trip, students had the opportunity to visit the Savannas Preserve Park. Students went netting in the water to search for and observe various living organisms. Students were also introduced to some unique plant life and taught about what the early settlers of this area used these plants for in their everyday lives. Pictured is Connor Cook from Randi Pierson’s class eagerly investigating his net in the hope of finding some living organisms.