Tag Archives: Atherton ES

Atherton ES wins music scholarship from gospel association

Students at HISD’s Atherton Elementary School students will soon have more reasons to toot their own horns, after the Gospel Music Heritage Month Foundation (GMHMF) awarded that campus a $750 scholarship to support its fine arts programs.

Dr. Albert Lemons, who serves as Atherton’s principal, accepted the award on behalf of his school on Sept. 14, during the GMHMF’s annual show at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

“I’m very seldom speechless,” said Dr. Lemons. “But this came as a complete surprise. Every year, I work backstage at this event, helping the artists, making sure they have refreshments, and getting other people who don’t belong back there out. This year, nobody was saying anything, but they treated me like a guest and seated me in the front row. I thought, ‘Well, I guess they just want me to rest. And for the first time, I’ll get to see the show.’ But near the end of the last number, they sent someone out to say they needed me, and that’s when Sheila Jackson Lee told me my school was being honored.” Continue reading →

Lockwood-area schools receive thousands of dollars in community grants

Comerica Bank awarded a total of $20,000 in community grants to five HISD schools in the Lockwood area to commemorate the bank’s 20th year of operation in Houston’s culturally rich Fifth Ward.

Pugh Elementary School was the big winner, with $10,000 for its proposal to put a tablet in every one of its classrooms. Wheatley High School received the second-place award of $4,000 and plans to invest in spirit incentives, as well as instructional improvements. McReynolds Middle School also took home $2,500, while Atherton Elementary School won $2,000, and N. Q. Henderson Elementary School won $1,500. The grants were awarded to these schools because they are located near a newly constructed Lockwood Banking Center.

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Fifth-graders learning the difference between texting, every day, and academic language

ALIAS vocabulary program helping students build literacy skills, understand the concept of ‘code-switching’

For students to be successful in the Digital Age, they must learn to distinguish between the abbreviated syntax they use in texting, the casual way they speak to their friends in person, and the more formal style of communication called for when writing school essays or drafting a business memo.

Fifth-graders at more than three dozen HISD elementary schools will soon be making those distinctions while building their academic vocabulary this year, thanks to a partnership the district forged with two educators from Harvard University. Continue reading →

Atherton drumline, cheering squad performing at national conference

atherton_drumlineThe Atherton Elementary School drumline and cheerleaders are taking their award-winning and upbeat percussion and dance routine on the road for the first time.

Thirty-two fourth- and fifth-grade students in the drumline and cheerleading program headed to Palm Springs, Calif., on Tuesday morning to perform at a national after-school conference called the Best of Out-of-School Time (BOOST) Conference. This is the group’s first time performing out of state, and the students are scheduled to perform Wednesday through Friday at the conference for about 2,000 attendees at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

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Investigation into testing irregularities at Atherton Elementary School complete

Evidence implicates three teachers in testing improprieties

Independent investigators hired by the Houston Independent School District have released a report outlining their findings regarding charges against test administrators at Charles Atherton Elementary School who have been under investigation.  The report implicates three Atherton teachers of testing improprieties on the spring 2013 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR).

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Don’t miss the MLK Jr. Oratory Competition finals on Jan. 17

If you’ve never seen the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Oratory Competition sponsored by Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP in Houston, you’re in for a treat.

Every year since 1996, fourth- and fifth-graders from two dozen HISD schools have competed in this annual contest, which challenges students to write and present a short original speech on a subject related to the slain civil rights leader. The topic this year is, “If Dr. King were speaking at a March on Washington today, what would he say?”

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2007 and 2012 Bond Programs Progressing Within Budget and on Schedule

The HISD Board of Education held a workshop on Sept. 19 to receive progress updates on the district’s capital building programs, which are progressing within budget and on schedule.

As the Houston Independent School District moves forward with planning for the 2012 bond program to renovate, build or replace 40 schools, work is underway to finish all the projects in the 2007 bond program by the end of 2014.

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Houston News Media Report Positive Feedback from HISD Parents, Students, Staff, and Community

The Houston Independent School District’s handling of the annexation of North Forest community schools earned accolades on Monday’s first day of school, according to news reports. HISD’s newest magnet schools and neighborhood elementary schools also created positive buzz.

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Media Tour of New HISD School

Atherton Elementary is one of two new HISD schools opening Monday

HISD officials will lead the news media on a tour of one of the district’s two new elementary schools for the 2013-2014 school year. Atherton Elementary, in Houston’s historic Fifth Ward, is an 86,000-square-foot school built with funds from the voter-approved 2007 bond program. It was built to Green Building standards and features modern science labs, and a fine arts wing with a dance studio, band and choir room, and a theater arts room. 

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