McReynolds Middle School teacher Vanessa Saldana says it’s critical for teachers to be sure to “Check for Understanding” throughout lessons so she can identify trouble spots immediately. That’s one of the stories highlighted in the July 18 edition of Community eNews.
Other stories highlighted in eNews include:
Rather than spending all their time biking, playing, or soaking up the sun, some HISD students are taking advantage of an opportunity to advance their education over the summer months.
In addition to the standard summer school offerings designed to help students catch up or pass the STAAR exam, many campuses offer enhanced education options, such as Advanced Placement assistance, accelerated math courses, college entrance exam preparation, STEM courses, or others to help kids get ahead.
Selected projects include construction manager at risk services for four high schools
Administrators are recommending that the HISD Board of Education authorize the district to negotiate contracts with three firms to provide construction manager at risk (CMAR) services on selected 2012 bond projects.
Reagan High School and Hogg Middle School are the two latest HISD campuses to receive official authorization to operate as International Baccalaureate World Schools. The announcement, which came on July 5, creates the first continuous IB feeder pattern in the historic Heights neighborhood. Students now can begin the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) at Harvard Elementary and then progress to Hogg Middle School and Reagan High School for the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP).
Students work on a project at the SEEK program at Young Women's College Preparatory Academy
About 300 elementary students from across the Houston area spent the last few weeks learning how to build renewable energy-based vehicles as part of a concerted effort to increase the number of minority engineers in the future.
The students were part of the Summer Engineering Experience for Kids (SEEK) camp at the Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy, which was organized by the National Society of Black Engineers, with support from Shell and the University of Houston.
Joseph Townsend, Tyler Townsend (mentor), Jeremiah Miller, Joshua Benton, Brooke Welch, Amanda Edwards, Andrew Kain, Alyssa Murrell, NayJeah Pridgen, and Sean Russell.
Waltrip High School’s robotics team competed in two international events this summer and came home with three awards.
The team won the gROVer award at the International M.A.T.E. Underwater ROV Competition in Federal Way, Wash. That award is given to a team that demonstrates kindness, courtesy, professionalism, and assists other teams, providing technical and moral support. Team member Sean Russell received the engineering evaluation MVP award.
Superintendent of Schools Terry Grier recently told the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) about HISD’s First Class Breakfast Program, and how it is improving the district’s attendance rates.
“Kids that are not hungry, they behave better and there’s no question that they also learn at a higher level,” Grier said.
Atherton Elementary, seen in its early stages of construction, is scheduled to open for students in August.
All schools under HISD’s $1.89 billion 2012 bond program will be built with the same consistency and quality thanks to the district’s Construction and Design Guidelines, created to give architects and designers requirements for their work on bond campuses.
“It’s a guide for the architects to give them the minimum things we expect in the design of the buildings,” said Dan Bankhead, HISD’s General Manager of Facilities Design.
Recent graduates from HISD’s Bellaire, Carnegie Vanguard, and DeBakey high schools, along with the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, were named National Merit Scholarship winners in the third and final round of announcements on July 15.
HISD’s Millionaire Club is a literacy initiative designed to encourage students to read for pleasure during the summer months. Each week, we’ll catch up with one HISD librarian to find out what’s on his or her reading list. This week, we spoke with Pat Johnson, a librarian at Stevenson Middle School.
So, what are you reading right now?
I’m reading all the books from the “Name That Book” contest to get clues.