Michele Rawson has been selected as is the new principal at Mark Twain Elementary. Rawson began her career in Fort Bend ISD, where she taught at the elementary level for a total of ten years. Fifteen years ago, Rawson joined HISD at Mark Twain Elementary. She taught fourth grade for six years and was also the GT coordinator. She has been the Assistant Principal at Mark Twain for the past 8 years.
Continue readingTake the Stage is a brand-new Houston-based performing-arts TV show for kids debuting on Saturday, May 30—and a student from HISD’s very own Twain Elementary School holds one of the lead roles.
Payne Houck (left) in character on the show
Payne Houck, a second-grader, plays “Sawyer,” a high-spirited student with big dreams in an afterschool performing-arts class. In the show’s first episode, viewers take a ride inside Sawyer’s colorful imagination, where they see his fantasy of becoming an on-air talk-show host/comedian.
Attending a dual-language school has really paid off for one group of third-graders at Twain Elementary School.
Francisco Martinez’s Spanish immersion class at Twain has been named a national winner in the DreamBox Learning Math Challenge, a competition that requires students in grades K–8 to solve various math problems in Spanish. Continue reading
Four hundred forty-four elementary students spent their Saturday at Welch Middle School for the first competition of the 2014-2015 UIL Academics season.
Students from Condit, Cornelius, DeChaumes, Highland Heights, Horn, Law, Twain, Piney Point, and Windsor Village elementary schools, along with Energized for Excellence Academy, competed.
Horn Elementary claimed first place in sweepstakes. DeChaumes Elementary won second place in sweepstakes, and Twain Elementary took home third place.
Here are the individual results: Continue reading
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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
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
This is the sixth in a series of stories counting down to the start of school, spotlighting what is new in HISD in the coming year.
When the school bells sound Monday in HISD, 14 additional elementary campuses will be conducting classes in two languages, as the district expands its successful dual-language program to a total of 32 schools.
The structure offers foreign language immersion for English-speaking students and a bilingual program for Spanish speakers.
The expansion process started a year ago, when all HISD elementary schools were invited to apply for the successful program. Those chosen have spent months preparing. HISD has a six-year plan to turn at least half its elementary campuses into dual-language schools by 2020. Continue reading
Seven Houston ISD Odyssey of the Mind teams advanced to the world finals after the state competition on Saturday.
Odyssey of the Mind teaches students how to solve problems creatively as a group with up to seven members.
Six Houston ISD schools have Odyssey of the Mind teams that advanced to the world finals after the state competition on Saturday.
Odyssey of the Mind teaches students how to solve problems creatively as a group with up to seven members.
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.