White City Elementary School’s JBN Society (“Just Be Nice”) spread some happiness a little further down the street recently. JBN’s seven members and two chaperones took a walking field trip from White City’s campus about a half-mile down Oleander Avenue to Divine Senior Care, an assisted living facility that is set up like a cozy home for its nine residents. The students spent about an hour with their new friends, learning about their families, hometowns, and memories from elementary school years ago. Beatriz Ortega, a fifth grader at White City Elementary and one of the founding members of the JBN Society, chatted … Read More

Fairlawn Elementary competed in the regional Odyssey of the Mind competition recently in Palm Beach County.  Four teams, which included 28 Fairlawn Elementary students, competed in four different problems.  Odyssey of the Mind challenges students to write a play, design costumes, props and sets, and perform the play to an audience of judges.  Then, they are evaluated based on the creativity and quality of their performance.  While all the teams performed well, Fairlawn’s “To Be or Not To Be” team placed first and will be heading to the state competition in Orlando, and, in a separate problem, Fairlawn’s “Weird Science” team placed second.

As a part of their study of how magnets can be used to move objects without touching them, Jennifer Ingersoll’s second grade students at Fairlawn Elementary School designed, constructed, and raced magnetically powered boats.   After studying the effects of magnets on different materials, the students were asked to draw and label a boat design that could be pulled with a magnetic wand.  Then, the students were provided building materials and were able to test their designs by participating in boat races with their fellow students.

Two students in the Health Occupations program at Port St. Lucie High School won first place in the team event of Career Health Display at the recent regional SkillsUSA competition. Pictured are Kathy Cher-Aime, left, and Faneshka Charite. They will go on the state competition the end of March in Jacksonville.  

Thirty-three St. Lucie West Centennial High School HOSA competitors attended the recent 2012 Region IX Winter Leadership Conference, where several students were recognized with a medal or a ribbon. Congratulations go to: Michael Riley, first place in Dental Spelling; Dru’ Curtis, second place in Medical Terminology;  Lisa Pressendo, second place in Medical Assisting; Iris Santa Cruz, fourth place in Healthy Lifestyles; Mary Hartley, fifth place in Home Health Aide; Katie Roge, Recognition Category for Chapter Newsletter; and Courtney Powell, Recognition Category for Outstanding HOSA Chapter. Students placing first, second or third,or in a Recognition Category, will advance onto the state competition to … Read More

Students in Leigh Bretherick’s fifth grade class at St. Lucie Elementary have been working on precise measurement and accurate note taking while conducting science experiments.  Pictured, from left, Michael Swartz, Pedro Escobedo and Hakem Jean-Baptiste use a trundle wheel to measure the distance a javelin was thrown.

White City Elementary students enjoyed a recent schoolwide PBS activity. Students earn ROARing Riches whenever they demonstrate our schoolwide expectations: Respectful to Others, Always safe, and Responsible. For a cost of 10 ROARing Riches per cookie, students were able to choose from a variety of toppings to decorate their cookies including icing, M&Ms, cinnamon red hots, and hearts. What a “sweet” way to celebrate excellent behavior!

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.

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.

Students in Julia Melville’s second grade class at F.K. Sweet Elementary have been studying different types of landforms and bodies of water in Social Studies.  Pictured, from left, Yasmine Joseph-Beausejour, Armani Richardson, Emma Brosnihan, and Megan Kriska are building models of landforms, using salt dough, and then painting the landforms and bodies of water. Students were excited to be able to use the knowledge they had gained, to represent the landforms in a physical state.

St. Lucie Elementary sponsored an ELL Parent Council Workshop and family spaghetti dinner.  Parents and students participated in “make and take” activities in reading, writing, and math.  Fifth grade student Kaylee Cendejas, pictured at left, is working on a project as teachers Leigh Bretherick and Theresa Brown, and Kaylee’s sister Stacy, watch her progress.

Morningside Elementary fourth grade students enjoy a presentation using puppets of prehistoric animals provided by Florida Industrial and Phosphate Research Institute. Along with their presentation they had the opportunity to interact with learning & development facilitator Indria Sukhraj from the institute.

Pictured, from left, are Morningside Elementary School fourth grade students Alexa Portillo, Kate Cook, Serra Aims and Jaquelin Cruz engaging in activities preparing for FCAT writing. Students had the opportunity to engage in various activities led by Deb Hitsman related to FCAT writing.

Morningside Elementary School students in Rose Pazos’ fifth grade class have been maintaining a garden they planted with coaching from science teacher Mar Lou Jennings. The garden includes a sensory area, a flower area, and a vegetable area. The vegetables include broccoli, mustards, tomatoes, turnips, eggplant, bell peppers, brussel sprouts, and purple and green cabbage.  

Allapattah Flats middle grades students recently held first-ever student-led conferences in their reading classes.  These conferences provided an opportunity for the students to reflect upon their successes during the year and show their data binders, which included their tests scores and academic work with their parents.  This was a positive opportunity for the students to emphasize their strengths, acknowledge their challenges, and with their parents’ support, plan their approach for the next semester. Students did a great job communicating with their families about their education and goals. Pictured is seventh grade Student Antonio Riberal discussing his reading progress throughout the year with … Read More

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.

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.          

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.