April 11 is Love My School Day, when schools across the country are asked to flood social media with the reasons why their campus is a great place for students and staff. HISD schools answered in a big way, sharing photos, video, and comments about why they are proud of their school community.
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Category Archives: Elementary Schools
HISD Police Department hosting third annual art contest
Grab your markers, crayons, and No. 2 pencils, because registration is now open for the HISD Police Department’s third annual art contest in honor of Police Appreciation Week.
Aspiring artists in the fifth grade are free to use any type of material to showcase their inner Picasso in this year’s contest. Artwork can be submitted by individual HISD students or on behalf of an entire HISD classroom.
Designed to recognize Police Appreciation Week, which kicks off on May 15, the contest aims to help students visualize the work performed by police officers and, perhaps, go on to choose a career in law enforcement.
Patterson ES students learn from Houston Symphony musicians
Patterson Dual Language Literature Magnet school second-graders recently interacted and learned from “Community Embedded Musicians” with the Houston Symphony.
The CEMs visited the students during their ancillary time and helped them forge new connections between music and the art of storytelling and drama both before and after an in-school concert and a field trip to Jones Hall to see the whole symphony. Continue reading
Milestone ceremonies planned this week for Codwell ES, Sterling Aviation HS
The South Area feeder pattern on Friday will host milestone celebrations at Codwell Elementary School and Sterling Aviation High School to showcase improvements and investments in South Area schools.
The event will begin with a groundbreaking ceremony at Codwell Elementary, which is receiving a $12.5 million renovation that will allow it to reopen to students. The event will conclude at Sterling Aviation High School, which will celebrate its new 237,000-square-foot facility, which was constructed as part of the voter-approved 2012 Bond Program.
Garden Oaks Montessori gathers for groundbreaking
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Despite a stormy forecast, the weather cleared up just long enough Friday morning for the Garden Oaks Montessori community to officially celebrate the start of construction on their new addition and renovations.
The suddenly sunny skies matched the mood of hundreds of students, staff, and community members who took part in the groundbreaking ceremony.
“We have some sunlight, so let’s make the most of this beautiful moment in time,” Principal Lindsey Pollock said as she kicked off the celebration, which included student performances and a recitation of the Garden Oaks Creed.
HISD elementary students’ poetry, artwork featured in Houston Symphony production
Poetry and artwork created by second grade students from Patterson Elementary School will be featured in the Houston Symphony’s Carnival of the Animals jazz production Saturday at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts.
With guidance from the Houston Symphony, the students wrote poetry based on the movement of each animal featured in the show and their personal interpretation of the music. To complement their poetry, the students also created visual art, which will be on display in the Jones Hall lobby on Saturday and Sunday.
Patterson, a dual language literature magnet school, was selected for the Houston Symphony’s School Residency program, designed to provide music education experiences for second-graders while exploring connections between music and literacy. As part of the program, the school receives two pre-concert classroom visits and one post-concert visit led by the Houston Symphony community-embedded musicians.
The program also is part of the district’s fine arts initiative to ensure students in the Chavez High School feeder pattern have the opportunity to continue learning about art, drama, and music from elementary through high school.
The Carnival of the Animals production is scheduled for 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 18 at Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana St.
HISD names Lyons ES, West Briar MS administrators as 2017 Principals of the Year
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Houston Independent School District Superintendent Richard Carranza, along with school board members, made surprise visits to Lyons Elementary School and West Briar Middle School on Thursday to name the district’s top campus leaders of the school year.
Lyons Elementary School Principal Cecilia Gonzales was named HISD’s Elementary Principal of the Year, while West Briar Middle School Principal Keeley Simpson was selected as HISD’s Secondary Principal of the Year. Both winners will advance to the state’s regional principal of the year competition.
“I am so proud of our principals and the incredible work they do each and every day to ensure the success of their campus, students and teachers,” Carranza said. “The level of student achievement at these schools did not happen by accident.” Continue reading
Honor African-Americans during Black History Month by learning about HISD’s namesake elementary schools
HISD is celebrating Black History Month by exploring the many schools named for distinguished African-Americans in our community. The district has more than 30 schools that recognized the contributions of African-American leaders ranging from renowned educators to legislators to community leaders. The first week’s story will focus on early childhood centers and elementary schools. Next week, the series will continue with middle schools, and the third week will be high schools, charter schools, and alternative schools. Continue reading
New literacy initiatives put more books into the hands of HISD students
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Two new literacy initiatives – a literacy bus and “My Home Library”– were unveiled by HISD on Tuesday, Jan. 17 with the goal of closing the literacy gap for economically disadvantage children in the district.
The Astros Foundation, Philips 66, and HISD are partnering to send the “Literacy Bus” on the road to distribute age-appropriate books to children in grades K-5 at various city-owned baseball and softball parks renovated by the Astros Foundation as part of its Community Leaders Program. These parks are located within HISD boundaries and serve more than 1,200 Houston-area children each year. The Literacy Bus is a mobile interactive bus that will encourage family reading in Houston-area communities.
HISD moves away from high-stakes testing in student grade-level promotion decisions
Board also approves 2017-2018 calendar that gives students and staff a full week off for Thanksgiving
The Houston ISD Board of Education voted Thursday to join with other school districts that only use students’ scores on high-stakes standardized tests for grade-level promotion decisions when doing so is required by Texas law. The decision is effective immediately for the 2016-2017 school year and beyond.
Texas law requires students to pass the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) in math and reading in grades five and eight. The state also mandates that high school students pass STAAR end-of-course exams. Because this is state law, HISD students will still be required to pass these STAAR exams.