Category Archives: District II – Kathy Blueford-Daniels

Washington HS students deliver on prosthetic hand project

A 6-year-old girl from Waller ISD is very close to making a dream of hers come true, thanks to five students at HISD’s Booker T. Washington High School and a 3D printer.

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The high-schoolers used the printer to build a prosthetic arm for Gracie Henderson over the past year, and they presented the completed device to the youngster on Nov. 2.

“We wanted to help her fulfill her dream of picking up an apple,” explained senior Leslie Cosme, who worked on the project. “I was very nervous before she first received the hand, but when I saw her face lite up, it made me really happy.” Continue reading →

Nutrition Services adds more fresh fruits and vegetables to menu

Fresh fruit and vegetables story

DeChaumes Elementary School students enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables at lunch.

USDA’s MyPlate recommends children eat three and a half cups of fruits and vegetables daily, and the fresher they are, the more nutrients they contain. HISD Nutrition Services is offering healthier choices for students by adding more fresh fruits and vegetables to school menus.

“We want to offer more varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables to get the students excited about eating healthy foods at school,” said HISD Dietitian Amanda Oceguera. “It was rewarding to see the students’ positive reactions to our Texas-grown watermelon, and we plan to continue offering more items like it.”

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Academic Parent Teacher Teams (APTT) set the stage for student success

This year, in nearly 200 classrooms at nine HISD elementary schools, parents are experiencing a new kind of parent-teacher conference that gives them the tools both to expand their children’s learning and to monitor their progress.

Schools in their second or third years of implementing the Academy Parent-Teacher Teams (APTT) program are continuing to perfect and expand the new model of meetings to empower parents to help their children learn outside of school.

Eliot, Gallegos, Kennedy, Mitchell, Piney Point, Shadowbriar, and Tijerina elementary schools, as well as Fonwood Early Childhood Center and the Wharton Dual Language Academy, all recently completed their first round of fall APTT meetings.

The model replaces traditional parent-teacher conferences with three 75-minute group meetings involving all parents in the class, and one 30-minute individual session with the student, teacher, and parents. During group meetings, teachers share student performance data and expectations for the class, review skills, and model hands-on activities parents can do at home to help their children master skills. Parents practice the activities at home with their kids over a 60-day period until their next meeting, when they can again review the data and see how their child has progressed. Continue reading →

New schools in North Forest making construction progress

Driving along Mesa Road in the North Forest neighborhood in HISD, steel columns can be seen rising from the sites of North Forest High School and North Forest Early Childhood Center, as both projects have begun vertical construction and are proceeding on schedule.

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DiscoverU expands the number of educational travel opportunities for HISD students

DiscoverU has increased the number of partnerships it has with HISD schools to seven for the current school year, allowing even more students to expand their horizons through foreign travel, college campus residencies, business internships, and more.

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HISD students earn top award for summer rocket launch

This summer, while many high school students were still enjoying their vacation, students from HISD’s Booker T. Washington High School were traveling with their teacher to White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico to attempt to launch a rocket they built as a classroom assignment.

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Only five high schools qualified to travel to WSMR this summer, and this was Washington’s fifth attempt. But for the first time this year, the students’ vehicle successfully left the launch tower — marking only the second time a high school has ever reached that milestone. The students received the SystemsGo Goddard Level Diamond Award for their achievement at a special ceremony held on Oct. 16. Continue reading →

New Jordan HS for Careers to feature modern career labs

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The early designs of a new Barbara Jordan High School for Careers showcase a building that would give students the tools and labs to learn the latest skills for professions as diverse as welding and marketing.

“We want to use all of this building,” Principal Ross McAlpine told a small gathering of parents and alumni Tuesday night. “We don’t want any wasted space. We really need this school to work for the kids.”

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HISD Board of Education to vote on proposed attendance boundary changes

On Thursday, the HISD Board of Education will  vote on a plan to adjust attendance boundaries at 10 elementary schools for the 2016-2017 school year to address classroom overcrowding.

The proposal affects these elementary campuses: Bastian, Hartsfield, Highland Heights, Kelso, Smith, Stevens, Wainwright, Young, Frost, and Law.

Community meetings regarding the proposals took place in October.

Complete details, including maps and frequently asked questions, can be found here.

Class of 1975 plants tree at Forest Brook MS to honor the past, inspire the future

HISD’s Forest Brook campus served as a high school for more than 40 years before it was converted into a middle school in 2013. And on Oct. 16, members of that school’s Class of 1975 came together to plant a magnolia tree on campus in honor of the more than 30 classmates who have passed away since graduation.

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“We’ve lost 33 people since 1975,” said class member and Memorial Ceremony Chair Val Adams. “We picked the magnolia because it doesn’t need a whole lot of water, and they practically live forever. As it grows, it will remain a symbol of strength and history.” Continue reading →

Google Expeditions takes McGowen students on virtual world tour

What if your child could take a guided tour of Machu Picchu, look out over the streets of Barcelona, or dive deep into the ocean to explore a coral reef, and then head home after school all on the same day?

Googe Expeditions 1

That’s the idea behind the Google Expeditions Pioneer Program, which was presented to educators and second-graders at McGowen Elementary School on Thursday, Oct. 8, by representatives from the technology megacompany.

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