HISD is well represented in Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” this holiday season. Many students are performing in the Houston Ballet’s popular production. The children have been rehearsing since October 10 to be party children and clowns. There are eight casts of children, so they don’t have to appear in every performance. Two middle school students are performing with the Houston Repertoire Ballet (HRB) as well.
A recently retired teacher from The Rice School has been selected as the 2015 Texas Association for Bilingual Education Secondary Teacher of the Year.
Tanya Thompson, who retired in May after more than three decades with HISD, was selected because of her teaching philosophy, which uses personalized learning to cater to the learning style of each student. Continue reading
Guests at HISD’s 2015 State of the Schools luncheon got a side order of entertainment with their meal. Westside High School’s Wind Ensemble of 35 students provided music throughout the program under the guiding hand of Conductor Joey Brunson, and students from 19 HISD elementary schools sang the national anthem.
The robotics club at the newly-renamed Mickey Leland College Preparatory Academy for Young Men is hosting a VEX robotics tournament on Saturday, Nov. 15, at Space Center Houston (1601 NASA Parkway, 77058). Now in its third year, the Knights of Engineering Robotics Club at the all-boys academy is inviting families from throughout HISD to attend the tournament, which is expected to last most of the day.
Students at The Rice School took time out on Memorial Day to honor the men and women who have sacrificed their lives for our security and freedom.
The students watched a video reflection about our military and then joined together to make a human flag. They said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the national anthem.
Students also wrote letters of tribute to send to families of veterans.
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.
Lockhart Elementary's "Name That Book" team
Six second-graders from Lockhart Elementary School brought home the gold in the HISD K-2 “Name That Book” contest in their second year of competition. Students received medals and certificates for their win.
The annual K-2 competition prepares younger students for upper-level competition, which includes all grade levels and continues through April 17. Each school can enter only one team.
“Name That Book” is an HISD reading incentive program that encourages teamwork and ongoing reading, which is critically important in meeting HISD literacy goals.
“Literacy is a cornerstone issue for HISD,” said district Superintendent Terry Grier in his 2014 State of the Schools address. More specifically, that means that getting every HISD student to read on grade level by third grade is a major priority for the district.
HISD Food Services served Dr. Seuss-themed menu items, including Cat in the Hat Flap-tastic pancakes and Lorax broccoli trees.
Some of the activities at schools included:
If students learn best by doing, 120 eighth-graders from The Rice School gained valuable knowledge that may influence their future career choices. On Sept. 20, they experienced a hands-on day filled with competitive, educational activities promoting awareness of and interest in careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).