SCHOOL BOARD BULLETIN

+ Pint-sized pioneers
Fifth-graders at Temple Beth Sholom School experienced life as pioneers Tuesday, April 16, after studying and learning about pioneers. Under the guidance of social studies teacher Leslie Ruben and horticultural teacher Andrew Noune, students built an outdoor fire and cooked foods that were popular with pioneers.

+ Community cleanup
Sarasota Bay Watch volunteers and students from Pine View School for the Gifted kayaked to the Jim Neville Preserve April 13, to clean the island of trash and debris. Students and volunteers collected approximately 400 pounds of trash. Silent Sports and Economy Tackle donated the kayaks the group used to paddle out to the island.

+ Little Einsteins
Ashton Elementary second-grade classes met Thursday, April 18, to present their individual science experiments. Students practiced the experiments at home and documented their findings. Classmates asked the student scientists questions about their findings and wrote each one a letter explaining what they learned and liked about their experiments.

The experiments included vinegar and baking soda projects, in which one student blew up a bag and another blew up a balloon. Students discussed air pressure, lung function, how sound travels, plant life, the way light moves through water and milk, and how to change sound pitches in glass.

+ Painting positivity
Fruitville Elementary School collaborated with YEA Arts and the Ringling College of Art and Design to design and create a 150-foot metamorphosis butterfly mural. Students with autism spent a semester getting to know gifted fifth-grade Fruitville students and spent the next semester painting the mural together. Ringling students came up with the design for the mural. The school unveiled the “Embracing our Differences”-themed mural April 10.