Category Archives: Elementary Schools

Millionaire Club Spotlight: What Are You Reading This Summer?

Browning ES librarian Danielle Norris reads The One and Only Ivan, written by Katherine Applegate and illustrated by Castelao.

Browning ES librarian Danielle Norris reads The One and Only Ivan, written by Katherine Applegate and illustrated by Castelao.

HISD’s Millionaire Club is a literacy initiative designed to encourage students to read for pleasure during the summer months. Each week, we’ll catch up with one HISD librarian to find out what’s on his or her reading list. This week, we spoke with Danielle Norris, a librarian at Browning Elementary School.

So, what are you reading right now?

Right now, I’m reading all of the Bluebonnet Books (recently released titles written by American citizens).

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North Forest Families Encouraged to Register for Summer School

Classes to be offered at four campuses in the North Forest community

The Houston Independent School District will offer summer school instruction for students in the North Forest community from July 8 through August 1 at the following schools: Shadydale and Hilliard elementary schools, Forest Brook Middle School, and North Forest High School.

HISD is sending notification letters this week to the households of students who should attend summer school.  The summer school session is intended for students who need to retake portions of the STAAR exam, students who have not met grade-level promotion standards, high school students who need to retake STAAR end-of-course exams, high school students in need of course credit recovery, certain English language learners, and certain students receiving special education services.

Classes will be held Monday through Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.  Transportation will be provided at eight different locations within the North Forest community.  For more information on bus pickup sites, call 713-613-3040.

Deadline to register for summer school is July 11.  Parents can visit their neighborhood schools to register for summer school or register online at www.houstonisd.org/nfsummer.

Principals Using Dashboard to Drive Decision Making

Much like a winning race-car driver, a successful school principal needs access to data so that he or she can tune, tweak, and make improvements. In a well-designed car, drivers can find most of the data they need by looking at the dashboard. Now HISD principals have their own dashboard to drive decision making on their campus. It’s called Analytics for Education (A4E).

“Not only is A4E saving our principals time, but it is helping them to be more efficient,” said Betty Garcia from HISD’s Information Technology Department. “Principals can go to their dashboard, grab the information they need quickly, make informed decisions, and then communicate it with their staff as they take the next step.”

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Lovett ES Teacher Traveling to Iceland to Study Volcanic Effects on People, Earth

Rhonda Goldmann of Lovett Elementary

Rhonda Goldmann of Lovett Elementary does the "Division Dance" with her students as part of her summer school math instruction.

Those traveling in Europe a little more than three years ago may have bad memories of an Icelandic volcano causing them to be stuck in airports waiting for volcanic ash to clear the skies, but Lovett Elementary School science teacher Rhonda Goldmann has some hope for a repeat performance later this summer.

Goldmann will travel to Iceland to observe active volcanoes in the hopes of learning more about their positive and negative effects to bring back new lessons for students.

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Principals selected, changes proposed for North Forest schools

As the State of Texas moves forward with its order to close North Forest ISD and annex the area into the Houston Independent School District, HISD is making plans to change the purpose of some NFISD buildings and selecting staff for NFISD schools.

In addition, the district plans to recommend attendance zones for the North Forest area to meet the needs of transferred students, and make modest changes to HISD school attendance zones for areas adjoining the North Forest boundary later this summer. Pursuant to the order issued by Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams, these changes will take effect on July 1, 2013.
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Hundreds volunteer at schools for Deloitte’s annual ‘Impact Day’

Class may be out for the summer, but three Houston ISD schools kept their doors open on Friday, June 7, 2013, as roughly 300 Deloitte employees poured in to beautify the campuses as part of the company’s annual ‘Impact Day’ service project. The Deloitte volunteers divided themselves between Wharton Elementary, Hamilton Middle, and Reagan High School and spent the day providing both aesthetic and functional improvements to the schools.

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Teachers’ pens hit paper as Summer Writing Institute begins

Instructor Edward Wilson uses a nursery rhyme to explain the basics of writing at the Summer Writing Institute. (Houston Independent School District)

Instructor Edward Wilson uses a nursery rhyme to explain the basics of writing at the Summer Writing Institute.

Even though classes for students ended last Thursday, some teachers were on the other side of the desk this week as they began work on their own lessons during Houston ISD’s Summer Writing Institute.

More than 230 educators began learning the ins-and-outs of writing, including assessment, instruction, development and theory in one of the four 12-day training sessions this summer. The Institute is the first of its kind for the district as it continues its effort to increase teacher development.

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Golfcrest Elementary students try new fruits, vegetables at school festival

Students handle a large papaya.

Students handle a large papaya.

While an apple a day may keep the doctor away, HISD’s Food Services department is hoping to get students to eat a few more than just a single piece of fruit.

Students at Golfcrest Elementary finished off a 3-week long nutritional curriculum with a taste-testing session held last week. The International Fruit and Veggie Festival allowed students to learn about food items with which they might not be familiar.

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Books Between Kids promotes reading, peer-to-peer philanthropy

Books Between Kids founders Amy Barnes & Sandra Ahlhorn with students from Kashmere Gardens ES

More than 12,000 HISD students will be starting off their summer vacation right—with an armload of books to take home, enjoy, and keep—thanks to two book-loving ladies and the non-profit they created last year to support literacy.

“Building home libraries, one summer at a time,” is the slogan of Books Between Kids, which Sandra Ahlhorn and Amy Barnes cofounded in 2012, and that is precisely what the longtime friends (and parents of HISD students) intend to do.

“What really provoked me was an op-ed piece I read in the newspaper that children were living in homes with no books,” explained Barnes. “And ‘no’ means ‘none.’ We both grew up in book-loving homes, so that just didn’t seem possible. Then Sandra heard a talk given by (HISD Superintendent) Terry Grier about the summer slide, and we both thought, ‘You know, we can do something about this.’”

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