After reading “Curious George Makes Pancakes” by Margret and H.A. Rey, students in Morgan Haupt’s kindergarten class at F.K. Sweet Elementary School made pancakes for themselves. The students loved learning and seeing first-hand how pancakes are made. From left, Skylar Monroe, Jacire Johnson-Bell, and Kalia Alexander helped measure the ingredients for the pancakes.

Students in Donna Hellums’ first grade class at Frances K. Sweet Elementary School celebrated the 100th day of school with a day full of fun and engaging activities. Pictured, from the left, are Kanye Whitehead, Kaliyana Limear, Regina Macias, and Nathan Kline proudly showing off the tower they made with 100 cups.

Third and fourth grade students in gifted programs at F.K. Sweet Elementary School culminated a unit on the Middle Ages with a Medieval Feast. Students made surcoats, worn by knights, and baked trenchers (bread plates) to eat from. During the unit, students modeled castles, created a Coat of Arms, learned the art of illumination, and experimented with catapults. Pictured, from left, are D’Marvelous Reid, Joshua Caldwell, Quinlen Meservey, and Cameron Dodd.

Fourth grade students Kayla Ceasar, left, and William Nelson in Nardi Routten’s class at Frances K. Sweet Elementary School became scientists last week as they explored ice balloons. Students used their observation skills to explore the surface of ice balloons after salt and food coloring were added.They then wrote down questions their observations inspired. Questions were sorted and new investigations were designed to answer some of those questions.

 Students at F.K. Sweet Elementary that have read a total of 10 Florida Sunshine Books were recently treated to an ice cream sundae party by Jeannie DuPell, media specialist. The goal is to read all 15 books by the end of spring.

Jackie Foster, the school nurse at F.K. Sweet Elementary, is a very popular person on campus with every student. Sometimes children have been known to fake an illness so they can go hang out with her for a visit. To show their appreciation and gratitude for doing such an outstanding job all year, third grade students made thank you cards and posted them outside the clinic so everyone could read and enjoy them during Nurses’ Appreciation Week.  Olivia Sperber and Will Nelson are pictured with Ms. Foster saying thanks after putting up their cards.

What an accomplishment for fifth grade F.K. Sweet Elementary student, Jerry Miles Johnson III, in winning first place for four years in a row at the Martin Luther King Oratorical Contest recently held at Ft. Pierce Central High School. Jerry’s strong oratory focused on this year’s theme, Remember, Celebrate, and Take Action.

Elia McDonald, in Laura Glennon’s third grade class at F.K. Sweet Elementary, is the class winner for his prize cabbage. His information and cabbage picture will be submitted to Bonnie Plants, in Union Springs, Alabama. Elia’s cabbage will be judged on the cabbage head size, overall appearance, and weight.  There will be a $1,000 scholarship awarded to each state winner. The contest is sponsored by Bonnie Plants and the Department of Agriculture. Gook luck, Elia with your four pound cabbage.

  The Student Council officers and classroom representatives were all on hand to assist with students having their pictures taken with Santa at the recent Saturday morning breakfast at F.K. Sweet Elementary. The breakfast was organized by sponsor Michelle Adrian, and enjoyed by many families.

On the January Professional Development Day, the staff at F.K. Sweet Elementary had a Marzano training on several of the design questions featured in his book. Teachers worked in groups to share activities that could be used as part of an effective classroom. Sharing their presentation, from left, are Jody Horton, Dorain Newbern, and Deanna Scotto.

  For Music in our Schools Month, I would like to introduce you to F.K. Sweet’s “Blues Brothers Team!” For our Musical Color Wars theme, our Administration and Front Office Staff paid tribute to the Blues Brothers!

The students in Celeste Hartsfield’s second grade class at F.K. Sweet Magnet School are learning about different shapes and their attributes, as well as how to make patterns with the shapes. Students had a great time making their own hats by using shapes and making them into patterns. Pictured, from left, are Aamar Black and Alexander Ramos.

Students in Mrs. Julia Melville’s second grade class have been studying the human body. As a culminating activity to this unit, students created a model of the human skeleton, identifying the bones and their basic functions in relation to the human body. Pictured are Fayth Coley, Carsen Reis, Kanosha Hartwell, and Jonah Dicuia with their skeletons.

The students in Mrs. Traci Lott’s second grade class had a great time reading literature and informational stories about spiders. Students were able to compare and contrast the most important ideas from the two texts on the same topic. At the end of their book study, the students enjoyed making their own “spider treats!” Pictured here from left to right are Ashley Suazo, Josh Banate, Lani’ Chambers, and Heather Wallman.

F.K. Sweet 2nd graders in Mrs. Lott’s class enjoyed learning about the solar eclipse and loved making models to represent what was happening to the Sun, Moon, and Earth during the eclipse.

Nicholas Sparkman and Mike Harris, students in Rachel Luhta’s F. K. Sweet Elementary class, take turns pumping water at the Gardner House.  The house is located on the grounds of the St. Lucie Historical Museum in Fort Pierce.  F.K.Sweet second graders recently took a field trip to the museum in order to learn more about local area history.  

In Mrs. Kasey Ascani’s second grade class, students have been participating in a unit about “Who We Are As Americans.”  Students have learned about Native Americans and their contributions to our nation. In this activity, the class had to write three facts about Native Americans on each of their feathers and glue them to a head band they designed with symbols from that time period. Pictured, from left to right: Arrianne Reif, Matthew Ham, Dylan Gould, Ireland Wagerer,  Addison Burgess

Students in Mrs. Stacey Johnson’s Second Grade Enrichment group created a class diorama of the layers of the Tropical Rain Forest. Students each contributed two animals with fact cards to the class project. Pictured from the left are Arianne Reif, Addison Burgess, and Dylan Gould.

Second grade students at F. K. Sweet Elementary participated in a presentation by Captain Citrus hosted by the Florida Department of Citrus. Students were taught about the health benefits of Florida citrus, and had a question and answer session with a local citrus grower. Students learned how citrus fruit goes from the tree to the store and their juice glasses. All the children got to sample Florida citrus fruits and Florida orange juice. After the presentation, students had their picture taken with Captain Citrus.