Principals get personalized dose of holiday cheer at monthly meeting

Students and staff at each campus create gift baskets for campus leaders in thanks

When HISD principals walked into their monthly meeting at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center on Dec. 3, they discovered a wonderland of gift baskets, glittering bows, and even original works of art.

The colorful and festive treats were assembled on the sly by students and staff members from each school as a gesture of thanks for all their campus leaders do, and the prevailing reaction among the principals was speechlessness.

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Central Office department dedicates time to volunteer for Read Houston Read

The ELA secondary team was recognized by Superintendent Grier at the December Central office meeting. (Houston Independent School District)

The ELA secondary team was recognized by Superintendent Grier at the December Central office meeting. (Houston Independent School District)

Community members, parents, and former HISD students have signed up to read to a first-grader through HISD’s Read Houston Read campaign. Now HISD employees are also volunteering to read to a student, and one central office department is leading the charge.  Continue reading →

Elementary students take art ‘on the road’ to promote fine arts magnet program

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The lobby of Spring Hill Suites by Marriott will be transformed into an art gallery from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 4, thanks to the creativity of 30 Crespo Elementary School students.The event will help raise public awareness of HISD’s outstanding magnet programs, and Crespo is honored to represent the fine arts programs in particular.

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High school students lead STEM lesson for elementary, middle students

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Booker T. Washington High School teacher Dr. Nghia Le and his students recently led hands-on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) activities for students and parents at Garden Oaks Montessori.

Students collaborated in their efforts to design the perfect landing vehicle for their precious cargo – an egg. Students worked together in small groups and learned that sometimes failure is part of the process for scientists who learn from practice in order to perfect a design.  Continue reading →

Students investigate juvenile crime scene for geographic information systems presentation

Students at the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice collected data and created maps during an investigation of juvenile crimes committed in the Houston metropolitan area for a presentation at Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Day in the City of Houston.

Students from HSLECJ and Houston Academy for International Studies in addition to Lee, Waltrip, and Wheatley high schools participated in the grassroots effort on Nov. 21 at Texas Southern University to learn about geography and the uses of GIS in society. HSLECJ students were the only group to make a GIS presentation at the event. Continue reading →

Latino Police Officers Association shares bounty with needy children

NLPOA_440x230Thanksgiving came a little earlier than usual for a dozen needy HISD students this year, but they were still delighted to receive free turkey dinners with all the trimmings from local members of the National Latino Peace Officers Association (NLPOA).

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HISD, Neil Bush encourage Houstonians to give back by reading to students

Community asked to spend at least 30 minutes a week reading to a child

HISD and the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation encouraged Houstonians to volunteer for the Read Houston Read literacy program in honor of ‘Giving Tuesday’ — a day specifically established to celebrate generosity and give back.

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Hour of Code registration pays off with $10,000 prize for one school

Kolter ES one of 51 campuses across the country to win in random drawingStudents work on a worldwide computer security legal hacking challenge at Clifton Middle School, November 6, 2014. (Houston ISD/Dave Einsel)

Kolter Elementary School is the lucky school from Texas to win $10,000 worth of laptops for registering to participate in the Hour of Code, through which millions of students will spend at least one hour learning about computer science next week.

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