Category Archives: Middle Schools

Batter up! Key MS breaks ground on new, state-of-the-art baseball field

SELF and Fondren foundations bring baseball, unity to school community

When baseball season begins next spring, the students at Francis Scott Key Middle School will be running the bases of their new baseball field. The Stacey and Bo Porter SELF Foundation, in partnership with the Fondren Foundation, are together donating the construction and support for the field.

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“Part of our mission is facility improvements, and this is a step in that direction,” said Bo Porter, chairman of SELF — which stands for Sports, Education, Lifeskills, and Faith.

Continue reading →

The creative side of technology: Chevron program fuels Clifton MS STEM education

Imagination, creativity, problem-solving, and technology joined forces at Clifton Middle School with a generous donation from Chevron and its Fuel Your School program. Chevron donated MaKey MaKeys to Clifton MS and teacher Jawad Tahiri’s engineering and technology classes.

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“At Clifton, we believe that at this age, they should be totally fluent in the language of technology, so we put cutting-edge…latest technology in their hands,” said Tahiri. Continue reading →

Johnston MS dancers to perform at Jones Hall Oct. 10 with MOMIX

Two dozen Johnston Middle School students will be appearing at Jones Hall on Oct. 10 as a part of the MOMIX show scheduled for 7 p.m. that evening.

Over the summer, students Laura Anawaty, Isabella Clasen, and Kira Daniel (all from Johnston Middle School), Destinee Gonzalez (a Johnston alumna now attending Lamar High School), and a group from High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, participated in a choreography residency at the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston, through an arrangement with the prestigious New York-based dance company, Jessica Lang Dance, and the Society for the Performing Arts, Houston.

The students worked directly with Jessica Lang and members of the dance company on choreography and methods of producing interesting movement. The residency culminated in a performance on the Kaplan Theatre stage.

Parents, students explore variety of educational options at School Choice night

Middle school parents learned about more than 40 high school programs their children can choose from at a Parent Information Night organized by the district’s Office of School Choice on Thursday at Burbank Middle School.

“It’s good to see that our students have so many opportunities at HISD,” said Rubin and Laura Precella, who attended the program with their daughter and nephew, both eighth-graders at The Rice School. “We just want to learn more about the different programs so that we can choose one that will help our children make their mark on the world.” Continue reading →

Young scholars rewarded for meeting literacy goals

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Usually, the benefits of reading include a bigger vocabulary, greater word comprehension, and better conversation skills, but dozens of HISD students received a different type of reward recently from two of the district’s community partners for focusing on literacy over the summer.

Most of the students were recognized for participating in the district’s Extended Primary Year program, which was offered at 29 elementary schools.

“The HISD Literacy Team joined forces with Strategic Partnerships and Elves & More to award bicycles to 100 children who met their literacy goals, had excellent attendance and conduct, and exemplified a can-do attitude,” explained Literacy Director Cindy Puryear. “The Literacy Team will partner with Elves & More again this holiday season to reward more that 7,000 scholars for their hard work and determination. One thousand of those will be rewarded for meeting or exceeding their literacy goals.” Continue reading →

New program designed to lower stress, boost focus in classes

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Twelve Houston ISD schools have a new program designed to improve students’ health and reduce their stress.

The program, which is sponsored by the Sonima Foundation, will teach students skills for a healthier lifestyle. Through group discussion, character education, breathing exercises and yoga, students will learn to focus their attention, calm their minds, reduce stress and think before reacting.  Nutrition curriculum will be introduced later in the school year. Continue reading →

Your Voice feedback paves way for school improvement

HISD recently released the results of the 2013-2014 “Your Voice” survey, which gave thousands of students, parents and instructional staff the opportunity to share information on how HISD and individual schools have progressed toward district and campus goals.

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The survey, which was conducted for the second year in a row this past May, measures perceptions of safety, rigor and environment within the district. The survey also allows HISD to better understand the needs of its schools and to foster a culture of community engagement that will help guide future initiatives. Continue reading →

Chess students learn from the (grand)master at Clutch City Checkmate Challenge

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More than two dozen chess club members at the Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan (BCOMA@R) got an opportunity recently that not many can boast of: the chance to play against a living legend in their game of choice.

Olympic and world chess champion Susan Polgar, who was ranked the top chess player in the world as a teenager and became the first woman to earn the title of grandmaster in 1991, came to the school on Sept. 15 to take part in a “blitz”-style chess tournament as part of the Houston Rockets’ Clutch City Checkmate Challenge. Continue reading →

Community partners pitching in to help students start off the new school year right

Thanks to the generosity of Houston-area companies and community organizations, many HISD students have the supplies they need to start the new school year.

For the fourth year in a row, NRG, formerly known as Reliant Energy, helped local students with a donation of more than $20,000 worth of school supplies. NRG executives were on hand at the Martin Luther King Jr. Early Childhood Center the week before school started to personally distribute the school supply packets to students. Four thousand more backpacks that include grade-specific supplies for students in grades K-12, such as crayons, notebooks, pens, paper, or folders, will be distributed to more than 35 HISD schools.

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Surprise! Shearn ES students find new program, meet the superintendent

Shearn Elementary School is one of 14 HISD schools launching the school year today as a dual-language campus, with instruction in both English and Spanish, and students had a special visitor this morning.

Dr. Terry Grier dropped in as the school day began to greet students and parents, and to pump up their enthusiasm for dual-language. “I sure wish we had this when I was in school,” Grier told a trio of fifth-grade school leaders who guided him on a tour of Shearn.

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Marques Foster was delighted to hear about the new program. “I really want to learn Spanish,” she said. “I know it’s important to have more than one language.” Continue reading →