Students in St. Lucie County schools have been learning about bullying in their classrooms. At FK Sweet Elementary, Joe the Biker talked with students at a recent assembly on how to recognize bullying  and strategies for dealing with this type of behavior. The children listened intently as Joe talked about his elementary experiences of being bullied.  Pictured, DeEra Nelson and Elijah Major both feel better equiped to handle any bullying incidents that might arise in the future.

Remember, Celebrate, and Take Action was the theme of the recent Martin Luther King parade. Second place winner in the elementary division from F.K. Sweet Elementary captured all three aspects perfectly with remembering  Dr. King’s speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial, while children celebrate by joining hands and uniting in order to take action. Pictured, art teacher Carey Schott and her committee worked tirelessly to create this year’s beautiful float.

In celebration of Arbor Day, Mariposa Elementary School fourth graders were foresters for a day. The students were able to plant the state tree, Sabal Palm,  around the school grounds in hopes to bring awareness of the importance of plants and trees in our environment.  At the end of the day, each student was able to take home a Sabal Palm of their very own to plant in their yards.

Students in Nardi Routten’s fourth grade class at F.K. Sweet Elementary recently wrote a children’s book as part of their Disney Planet Challenge.  This book is about two sea turtles — Bianca and Timmy — and their journey to their ocean home.  They face many dangers as they strive to reach the ocean waters.  Published via DiggyPod, students are selling these books for $6.00 each.   Proceeds from the sale of these books will be donated to the Mosquito Control and Marine and Coastal Management Services to help fund their projects with sea turtles.  Pictured from left are Melanie Page, Jacob Corman, Lauren … Read More

Bayshore Elementary School is proud to announce its school spelling bee winners for the 2011 – 2012 school year.  The first place winner was Skylar Collins, left, from Leigh Grippe’s third grade class, second place winner was Brianna Creary, center,  from Jennifer Glidden’s third grade class, and the third place winner was Aisha  Jean Baptiste, right,  from Joanne Smith’s third grade class.

Look who stopped by — it’s Mary Poppins! Actually, Beverly Buehrig, second grade teacher at WestGate K8 joins some other book characters in her class.  WestGate students were recently invited to come to school dressed as their favorite book character as the kick-off activity for Literacy Week . Pictured with Ms. Buehrig are, fr0m left, Julian Guerro, Nicolas Tavares, Caleb Gross, Justin Padilla, Alex Daniels,  Noami Osceola and Nathen Rodriguez.

Northport K-8 students in Carissa Provencher’s fourth grade class received donations from the City of Port St. Lucie and Waste Pro USA to beautify the school area.  Students and their teacher planted Sabal Palm trees near the school parking lot and bike rack to provide shade and make the curb side appeal more inviting.  Students learned all about the importance of trees and the environment in classroom lessons, then applied that knowledge in an outdoor atmosphere.  Ms. Provencher scaffolded information using students’ prior knowlege and built on that information using real life lessons.

Southport Middle School recently held its annual Science Expo in the school’s media center.  Over 80 student projects were on display with 10 being chosen to represent Southport at the istrict level science fair February 7, 2012.  The event was attended by School Board vice chairman Debbie Hawley, District Science K-12 Curriculum Specialist Steven Shotola, as well many students and faculty members.  Pictured is eighth grade student Kaylee Tolliver with her project titled, “Which brand of toothpaste makes a Kool-Aid stained marble appear whiter?” along with science teacher Kelly Lunt.

Forest Grove Middle School reading coach Melodee Hickman has created an anti-bullying unit in her reading classes. The seventh grade class created Thinking Maps on a variety of topics and skills about bullying, including comparing and contrasting, classification, description and higher level thinking questions. Pictured are students signing a pledge to support a bully free zone. Students will also soon begin a Random Acts of Kindness unit, which will include an interactive PowerPoint slide show, an anticipation guide, Kagan strategies, higher level thinking skills and most important, will lead into the book The Bystander to be read by all seventh grade … Read More

Northport K-8 School is pleased to promote Excellence in Education by showcasing role models who promote a positive learning environment and display the camaraderie of a vital and dynamic school.  Northport’s Teacher of the Year is Mala Woessner, who reflects the best attributes of a well rounded teacher.  First Year Teacher of the Year is Dulce Castro, who teaches first grade.  Lorena Paez Ampuero, second grade teacher, is Minority Educator of the Year and media clerk Pam Crum has been named the School Related Employee of the Year. Pictured are Ms. Woessner, right, and Ms. Crum.

Northport K-8 lower school teachers and students showcased their love of literacy and participated in the state wide reading initiative, Celebrate Literacy, by marching in a literacy Character Day parade.  Students dressed in book character costume, carried their books and walked with parents around the school to promote the pure joy of reading.  The positive interaction between classes, teachers and parade watchers provided a great opportunity for students to see just how much they are cared for and to view the connections between books and good fun!  Pictured are third graders from Diana Lankow’s class promoting popular book character Judy … Read More

The parade float team at WestGate K8 School is proud to accept awards for their second place entry in the Martin Luther King, Jr., parade January 16, 2012. Accepting the award for art direction are Cat Palmer, Marcia Aquino, and Wendy Stewart.  Accepting for set direction are  Christopher Calvo, Arthur Kitchen, Jonathan Dodson, Easter Weathers, Minnie  Spivey, Carla Manning,  Rose Wong,  Sean McInerney, Anita Downing,  Kristine Bowman, and Shequita Merelus. A special thanks goes to Steve Ragland and the amazing WestGate marching band for their musical support.  

Northport K8  lower school students Marion Barrios, Bridgeth Molina, Ashley Rivage, Breanna Nevarez and Katlyn Cortez display qualities of achievement and perfect attendance in the Northport K-8 Imagine Learning Lab under the direction of instructor Mary Toto and assistant Marion Morales.  The needs of English Language Learners are addressed with gravity at Northport K-8 School and  achievements are celebrated.

Eighth grade students from Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition pose for a photo during Kindness Week after placing first and second place in the Martin Luther King Jr. Oratorical Contest in their division.  Manisha Hussman, left, won first place and Jonathan Auguste won second place.  They wrote their speeches about “Universal Brotherhood” and presented them recently at Ft. Pierce Central with other schools from the district. Awesome job Rockets!

Students and staff at Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition participated in a school-wide event during Kindness Week as part of the Martin Luther King, Jr., celebration activities.  Everyone wore stickers to promote kindness and were given red ribbons to pass forward to someone showing an act of kindness.  It was a great week with these acts and the school has pledged to continue this all through the school year.  Great job Rockets! Pictured, front row from left, are Lubens Odias, Roger Boulay and Mitchell Ohlrich.  Back row, from left, are Jennifer Talles, Angella Robinson and Marcy Deweese.  

Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition is proud to recognize this year’s winners in the school’s Spelling Bee for fourth and fifth graders.  Pictured from left are Sidney Scalletti, first place; Miles Garriques, third place; and Alex Gust, second place.  Great job Rockets!

 Third grade students Ricardo Garcia, Da’Shawn West, and Kyara Johnson from Cheryl Salerno’s class at Sam Gaines Academy believe in teamwork in the media center while searching for books on the computer.

 There was a lot of learning about writing skills during the Family Writing Night recently at Sam Gaines Academy K8 School, which included a chicken dinner and ending with a door prize drawing. Pictured is seventh grader Alexis Langel and her father holding the door prize they won.

Take Stock in Children scholarships are awarded to middle grades students after a selection process through the Indian River State College Education Foundation. The recipients will receive mentoring throughout high school, and then will have all four years of college tuition paid!  There were hundreds of applications, and only 10 students were selected county-wide.  Please join in congratulating German Torres from Sam Gaines Academy as a winner, and Cinthya Talbott as an alternate.  

Northport K-8 School is proud and pleased to represent the very best of Dr. Martin Luther King’s message of peace and unity.  Special thanks must go to the school’s MLK committee who designed and decorated the float, to the school administration who supported the endeavor and marched along with the school, the teachers, staff and students who marched with the group.  Northport is pleased to accept the first place honor for overall best K-8 school category.  Northport K-8 truly admires Dr. Martin Luther King as the “Drum Major for Peace” that he is and his inspiration of Remember, Celebrate and … Read More