Category Archives: Elementary Schools

HISD announces partnership with Kennedy Center to expand student access to the arts

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Thursday that the Houston Independent School District together with the City of Houston would serve as the 19th site for their national arts education program.

The Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child program will take existing resources from HISD, local arts organizations, the City of Houston, and the Kennedy Center and combine them to increase arts opportunities and provide high-quality arts education for 7,000 students at 11 schools.

The schools include Atherton, Benbrook, Eliot, Hartsfield, Hines-Caldwell, Kashmere Gardens, Memorial, Mitchell, Scarborough, and Whittier elementary schools, and Hamilton Middle School. Additional schools are expected to be added in the coming years. Continue reading →

Transportation: What you need to know for the 2015-2016 school year

As the first day of school quickly approaches on Monday, HISD Transportation is gearing up for another safe and smooth ride to kick off the start of the school year.

HISD Transportation employees are available in the department's customer call center to answer any bus route question.

HISD Transportation employees are available in the department’s customer call center to answer any bus route questions.

Parents should receive a postcard in the mail and at least two telephone calls with their children’s bus route information.

For a quicker response, a customer call center has been set up again this year to answer any bus route questions. Parents and schools can now call 713-613-3040 between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. for assistance with transportation-related issues. The call center will remain open for at least 30 days. Spanish translators also will be available to assist.

For information about eligibility for transportation and bus stops, contact your child’s school or go here.

Reliant gets HISD students off to a great start

Students at the Bellfort Early Childhood Center not only met their teachers this week, they also received school supply packs from Reliant, an NRG company. Reliant employees distributed 400 back-to-school supply packs during the school’s Pre-K Open House on Aug. 18.

“It’s really great that Reliant is making this donation to our Bellfort family, because it helps to ease the financial burden of our parents a little,” said Bellfort Early Childhood Center Principal Cheryl Lewis. “It shows our parents that the community members care about their child’s education.”

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Reliant is helping students from 39 HISD schools get off to a great start for the 2015–2016 school year, with a $16,780 donation that will provide 4,000 K–12 students with the supplies they need for the first day of classes. In addition to early childhood centers and K–8 schools, some high schools will also receive supplies. The kits are grade-specific and include items such as notebooks, pencils, pens, folders, crayons, and erasers. Continue reading →

HISD kicks off 2015-2016 school year with emphasis on producing global graduates

The Houston Independent School District will begin the 2015-2016 academic year on Monday with the opening of the nation’s first public Arabic language immersion school, significantly expanded dual language opportunities and a continued shift to digital learning.

The Arabic Immersion Magnet School (AIMS) is among 283 HISD campuses that will throw open their doors on Monday and welcome back nearly 215,000 students from across the district. Bus drivers will begin transporting nearly 34,000 students to and from school, and cafeteria workers will begin cooking the 288,000 meals that they serve each day. Continue reading →

Preparing today’s high school graduates for the future

HISD recognizes the need to instill in students the skills they will need to be successful after high school, in college, or the workplace, and to compete in today’s global economy. In this month’s edition of Up Close, HISD Board of Education President Rhonda Skillern-Jones discusses the skills and characteristics of the Global Graduate with HISD Secondary Curriculum and Development Officer Annie Wolfe, Davis High School Principal Julissa Alcantar-Martinez, Chief Elementary Curriculum and Development Officer Lance Menster, and Shadydale Elementary School Principal Tammie Daily.

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“HISD engaged industry leaders, educators, university professors, community leaders, parents, and students to determine what knowledge, skills, and dispositions are critically important to have in place when a child graduates from HISD,” explained Menster. “Interestingly, they all focused on the six characteristics that form HISD’s Global Graduate profile.” Continue reading →

Twenty-nine HISD schools awarded by TEA for top performance in 2014-2015

Campuses receive every distinction designation available from the state.

Twenty-nine schools from across the Houston Independent School District earned the maximum number of distinction designations from the state for their top performance throughout the 2014-2015 school year.

The campuses – 17 elementary schools, six middle schools and six high schools – earned every distinction designation awarded by the Texas Education Agency. Schools are eligible for distinctions if they are rated as having “Met Standard” — the highest rating under the state accountability system — and meet various other performance standards.

Continue reading →

2015 Green Schools Challenge winners announced

The 2015 Green Schools competition has concluded, and HISD’s Energy & Sustainability Department is pleased to announce the winners of the Green Schools Challenge.

Mistral Early Childhood Center, Baylor College of Medicine Academy, McGowen Elementary, Piney Point Elementary, Seguin Elementary, and Garden Oaks Elementary all placed in the contest. As part of the competition, 28 schools pledged to take energy saving actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help protect the environment for future generations. Schools also were encouraged to become a registered Eco-School through the National Wildlife Federation.

Continue reading →

HISD earns “Met Standard” rating from state for the 2014-2015 school year

Almost 80 percent of HISD campuses also receive “Met Standard” designation.

The Houston Independent School District earned an overall “Met Standard” rating, according to 2015 state accountability data released Friday by the Texas Education Agency.

The district received the rating — the highest offered under the state’s current accountability system — despite increasing performance targets on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, test.

Continue reading →

Summer STEM Institute helps teachers infuse learning with fun

More than five dozen HISD science, technology, engineering, and math teachers took part in a summer institute recently that was designed to help boost students’ math and science scores by incorporating more fun into their lessons.

The educators came from 23 HISD elementary and middle schools that received part of a TIF4 STEM grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant also provides resources such as equipment and technology, and participating teachers will receive additional training opportunities throughout the school year and share what they have learned with other faculty members at their campuses.

Continue reading →

Teachers aim to instill love of reading in students

About 1,000 new and veteran teachers attended HISD’s ongoing teacher professional development recently, which included a heavy dose of Literacy By 3 training.

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The sessions were designed to help teachers learn effective methods and classroom management techniques that lead to students reading on level by the third grade.

Charity Smith, a manager for elementary literacy training development, said the training ultimately benefits students by creating teachers who can implement hands-on learning in the classroom and provide critical-thinking exercises, all of which help build Global Graduates. Continue reading →