Category Archives: Elementary Schools

Bonham ES students get free books from Books Between Kids

Every student at Bonham Elementary has books to read over the summer thanks to Books Between Kids. The organization stopped by the school on Monday to give each child six books.

“One of the things that’s great about distributing the books this time of year is that the kids get excited about reading,” said Sandra Alhorn, co-founder of Books Between Kids. “They’re done with testing, they’re pretty much done with school, they get their books to take home. All of a sudden they’re excited and can’t wait to go read.”
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Lessons learned after 177 Days: Celebrate triumphs and make plans to improve

Natalie Nelson, Michael Bennett, Brandi Latimer, Mariela Niland, Shelbi Craig

Last fall, we asked five first-year teachers to share their experiences with us through a blog called 177 Days, and over the past year, our bloggers have learned a number of valuable lessons, such as the importance of having a back-up plan (Natalie Nelson), the discovery that little things can make a big difference (Shelbi Craig), how meeting with parents can improve both their own and their students’ performance (Michael Bennett), why setting behavioral expectations early is so critical to success (Brandi Latimer), and even the importance of staying well-nourished during the day (Mariela Niland).

Now the regular academic year is coming to a close, so we asked our bloggers to share some parting words with us before they cleaned out their desks and closed up their classrooms for the summer.
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First Book helps Neff ES students start personal libraries

Students at Neff Elementary got a special surprise on Tuesday. First Book donated more than 5,000 books for students to take home and start their personal library.

“If they don’t become better readers during the summer, they will start back at a negative situation because they will have lost the ability, the concentration, the confidence that they are good readers,” said Sheila Long Armstrong, greater Houston chair of First Book, which teams up with the Disney/ABC Television Group and its owned-and-operated Houston TV station, ABC-13 (KTRK), for the program.
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HISD announces Nurses of the Year for 2014

A commitment to making every student feel valued and a refusal to limit care to an eight-hour work day have garnered two HISD nurses the district’s highest honors for medical professionals in a school setting.

Lashawnda Harris, who serves at Lyons Elementary School, and Karen Adams, who serves at Sharpstown International School (SIS), have been named HISD’s Elementary and Secondary Nurses of the Year (respectively) for 2014.

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FotoFest program helps students improve literacy skills

Students at eight Houston ISD schools have been improving their literacy skills through a program created by FotoFest, and you have a chance to check out their work.

Literacy Through Photography utilizes photography as a tool to develop basic learning skills, particularly writing and critical thinking, for students in grades 3-12. It includes a curriculum aligned to state standards, professional development for teachers, and artist-educator residency programs for students in both in-school and after-school environments.

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School at St. George Place is HISD’s newest IB school

The School at St. George Place has received official authorization to operate as an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School. This authorization brings the district total to 14 IB campuses.

“The last few years have been an incredible journey and it wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing students and staff at the School at St. George Place,” said Adam Stephens, the school’s former principal and the district’s current assistant superintendent for Linked Learning. “The IB Primary Years Programme has already proven to a great addition to the campus and I cannot wait to see what happens over the next few years as the students move through the IB Middle Years Programme at Grady and the Diploma Programme at Lamar.”

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Astros, Bank of Texas help make over Sinclair ES library

Sinclair Elementary has big dreams for its library, and they’re getting closer to making them come true thanks to generous donations from the Houston Astros and Bank of Texas.

Sinclair’s library was originally stocked with second-hand furniture from other schools, and more than 40 years later students are using that same furniture. The school has launched a “Love Our Library” campaign to replace shelving, computer desks, tables, chairs, and more.

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12 schools compete in All-Earth EcoBot Challenge

A dozen Houston ISD schools took part on the All-Earth EcoBot Challenge at Reliant Center last weekend, which allowed students in grades 5-8 to show off their engineering skills.

Teams of four students designed, built, and programmed autonomous robots. The teams then used their robots to complete a series of missions that connect to the commercial and industrial future of energy exploration, transportation, technological innovation, medical research, and environmental sustainability.

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Ready, set, Name That Book!

From “Go, Dog, Go” for pre-K and kindergartners to “Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick” for 12th-graders, the reading lists for the 2014-2015 Name That Book competition are online — just in time for leisurely summer reading.

There’s an added incentive to tackle the lists now: Books read from the Name That Book selections will count toward HISD students’ summer reading program goals, and if they’re checked out from a local public library, toward the library’s summer reading program levels.

The Name That Book competition is sponsored each spring by HISD’s Department of Library Services. It’s a program designed to familiarize students with classic literature as well as contemporary, award-winning books across a variety of genres. Teams of students are asked questions about books in their reading level that will test their comprehension of characters and plotlines.

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Mayor: Read during summer to continue sharpening skills

Houston Mayor Annise Parker stopped by Blackshear Elementary on Monday to encourage students to keep reading over the summer.

“I happen to think the No. 1 reason to like to read is because it’s fun,” Parker said. “You can read about different places. You can read about things that are completely imaginary.”

Parker said teachers can tell which students read over the summer and which ones didn’t because reading skills tend to fall back when children don’t read.

Officials from Houston ISD and the Houston Public Library told students, many sporting Cat in the Hat hats, about their summer reading programs. Students can participate in both programs without having to read separate books — and can gain separate sets of incentives.

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