BrainPop.com Is HERE

Thanks to our wonderful PTA and the money we raised in our fundraiser, we were able to purchase the website rights for BrainPop.com; Brainpopjr.com and Brainpop in Spanish. Your teachers has the user name and password! Please email your teacher to let her know you are interested in having the username and password at home, so your students can use the site! We are super excited to have it on our campus for the next year! We hope that you will take advantage of the great site for homework, projects and information! Thanks again, PTA. We appreciate you!

One to One

One to One is a philosophy that was started by the leadership team at Horn High School and then has been adopted by all of the schools that "feed" into Horn. 1:1 is a symbol that reminds us of the importance of each person on our campus, be it a student, parent or teacher. 1:1 is about building successful relationships, expecting to be the best, making a difference and valuing everyone! We are doing many things to implement the One to One philosophy on our campus. One of my favorite things is the implementation of the Why Try. The WhyTry Program is a simple, hands-on curriculum which helps youth overcome their challenges and improve outcomes in the areas of truancy, behavior, and academics. WhyTry teaches critical social and emotional principles to youth (K-12) using a series of ten pictures (visual analogies) which each teach a principle, such as resisting peer-pressure, or that decisions have consequences. The visual components are then reinforced by music and physical activities. The major learning styles—visual, auditory, and body-kinesthetic—are all addressed.
Ask your student about the current picture or analogy we are studying. They should be able to tell you all about the Reality Ride, Tearing off your Lables, Defense Mechanisms and Climbing Out.

What Date Do You Want?

TAKS Testing

One more day of this round of testing! Boy are we excited. Our kids have worked so hard and our kids have been really making every effort to do well. Thank you so much for your help and preparation in getting the kids ready! It takes a team to get everyone doing the right thing at the right time! I appreciate the efforts of my teachers and parents!
For those students re-testing in reading (3rd and 5th) we should have results in early May. Fourth grade reading and math, third grade math, and 5th grade science will be back just before school is out. We'll keep you posted!

Swine Flu

Well, there's been alot of talk about this Swine Flu! It has even closed several schools in Texas, including one in our neighboring city - Richardson.
On Monday, the school sent home letters discussing some of the symptoms of the Swine Flu and reminding parents to keep sick kids at home. We also watched a video about the "right" way to cover your cough. If you have questions about the Swine Flu, we encourage you to touch base with our school nurse or your child's physician.
We will encourage hand washing and use of anti-bacterial gels throughout the week. Please keep watching our blog and your child's folder this week for updates as they become available.
One last thing, this week is TAKS testing for third, fourth and fifth grade students. Please make sure your students get a good nights rest, a good breakfast and a lot of love and encouragement from you! We know we will have great results.

Spring Fling Successes

Well, our annual Spring Fling has come and gone. So much time and energy goes into planning that event. This year we were threatened by a poor economy and poor weather and yet everything turned out excellent. This was one of the greatest Spring Flings that we have had, for several reasons.
First off, we made alot more money than we expected. In today's financial crisis, breaking even at an event like the Spring Fling is good. Yet, we even made a profit! Yeah for the PTA!
Secondly and more importantly, we had GREAT help this year. We had so many volunteers that made the evening a success! From setup to bounce house supervision, to Mesquite Police to the clean up, the night was just filled with help! Thanks to ALL those who gave time and effort! It was a great night for our kids!

Up and Running

I've just completed a class through the Mesquite ISD staff development program, that taught me all about our new world wide web and the exciting possibilities it offers to our students. This "new" web is called web 2.0! One of the web 2.0 tools is blogging. So, here I am, vowing to start a school blog! I hope you'll bookmark me, "follow" me, perhaps even RSS me or at least check back every so often! To start with, I've posted a survey on the right hand side of the blog. Take a moment to fill it out! Leave a comment on what you think.. Here's to blogging with you!