Category Archives: Elementary Schools

Whidby ES baton-twirlers headed to state finals after first-place finish in Corpus

Baton-twirling’s heyday may be about 60 years behind it, but a group of 14 girls from HISD’s Whidby Elementary School is bringing back that lost art with an amazing run for the national title next month.

The Whidby team, which just ended its very first year under the guidance of teacher Crystal Evans, is already headed to the state finals in Dallas at the end of June, after earning the first-place prize and the highest possible ranking (a “one”) at a regional competition of the National Baton Twirling Association in Corpus Christi. Continue reading →

School tours give principals a look inside successful Guided Reading programs

Figuring out how to do something for the first time can be tricky, but having an expert on hand to show you the ropes can make it a lot easier. That’s why HISD has asked the principals of eight elementary schools with effective Guided Reading programs in place to offer tours to other campus leaders.

Guided Reading is a critical piece of the district’s Literacy By 3 initiative, which aims to have all elementary students reading at or above grade level by the end of grade 3. A big part of its successful implementation will depend upon the creation of both individual classroom libraries and a central storage area for Guided Reading materials that all teachers can use as a resource. Continue reading →

Browning, Pugh students get an extra dose of literacy through Deloitte’s IMPACT Day

Two HISD elementary schools got “taken over” by tax, audit, advisory, and consulting professionals from a firm in downtown Houston on June 6, when representatives from Deloitte traded their suits and briefcases for T-shirts, sensible shoes, and a custom curriculum dedicated to literacy.

Deloitte employees came to Pugh and Browning elementary schools that day as a part of the company’s 15^th annual IMPACT Day of community service, which usually benefits other HISD campuses with whom Deloitte has on-going partnerships.
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Board of Education to consider naming new elementary school after former governor

School being built under 2012 bond program would be named Mark White Elementary

The HISD Board of Education will consider Thursday naming a new elementary school being built in the West Houston area after former Texas Gov. Mark W. White Jr., who served in office from 1983 to 1987. Continue reading →

HISD librarians code for literacy at ‘hackathon’

HISD librarians are participating in a new twist on the usual computer codefest this Saturday, from 12-7 p.m. when they take part in a “literacy hackathon” at the Houston Public Library.

At least six librarians, representing Lovett ES, Colter ES, Bonner ES, Scroggins ES, Johnston Middle School and the Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion School, have signed up to participate in Literacy Hack – a free, collaborative event where designers, writers, educators, software developers and other citizens work together on projects to help the literacy community. The event is sponsored by the Houston Center for Literacy.
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Cutting-edge technology energizes Herrera ES students about learning

HISD’s PowerUp initiative is already transforming the way teachers are deliver instruction and students learn through the mass distribution of laptops, but other types of cutting-edge technology are also making a big impression on district campuses.

Students at HISD’s Herrera Elementary School, for instance, have been “making” the most of a new three-dimensional (3-D) printer the school purchased this year, using it to explore lessons in science, music, and art.
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Castro’s Kids donates 7,200 books to HISD two elementary schools

Jason Castro is usually knowing for his catching prowess on the baseball diamond, but on May 29, he was delivering a pitch.

The professional athlete was at Scroggins Elementary School last Thursday to persuade young learners to continue reading for pleasure over the summer months, and to improve their chances of doing that, he helped distribute some of the 7,200 books he and his wife had donated to two HISD campuses. The books were divided between Scroggins and MacGregor elementary schools, and students at each campus got to select up to five books to take home and keep.

A hundred lucky families also got to attend the Houston Astros’ evening game against the Baltimore Orioles. The donation was coordinated through the literacy foundation the couple started, called Castro’s Kids.

Schools already gearing up for fall with ‘guided reading leveled bookrooms’

The summer break has just barely begun, but faculty and staff members at hundreds of schools around the Houston Independent School District are already getting a head start on the coming school year by setting up something called “leveled bookrooms” on their campuses.

The bookrooms are being stocked with some of the more than $8.5 million worth of reading materials the district purchased from Scholastic, Inc. with approval from the Board of Education. They are sorted by reading level and contain multiple copies of more than 5,000 titles in a wide variety of text types, themes, genres, topics, and content areas. The bookrooms will serve as an integral part of the Literacy By 3 (LX3) initiative by providing materials for teachers to use in guided reading exercises. The goal of LX3 to have all third-grade students reading at or above grade level by the end of the third grade.

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Helms ES fourth-grader earns perfect math score on STAAR exam

Natalie Nichols

Natalie Nichols has seen a lot of tragedy in her short life. Given up for adoption by her dying mother when she was just four years old, she lost both her mother and her younger sister in Guatemala before being adopted by a couple from the U.S.

Assimilating to life in a foreign country is a formidable task on its own, but that hasn’t stopped the plucky Helms Elementary fourth-grader from taking on additional challenges. Natalie wants to excel academically as well—and now, she has done so—earning a perfect score on the math portion of the recent STAAR exam.