Sunday, August 28, 2016

News from Mrs. Graves

Upcoming This Week

MONDAY, 8/29  BLUE
Volleyball Parent Meeting, 5:30 p.m.

TUESDAY, 8/30  GREEN

WEDNESDAY, 8/31  BLUE

THURSDAY, 9/1  GREEN
PTO Meeting, MPR, 5:30 p.m
Open House, 6:00 p.m.

FRIDAY, 9/2  CHARGER
1st Day Paperwork Free Dress

MONDAY, 9/5
Labor Day Holiday - No School



**REVISED DATE**
THURSDAY, 9/8 
Middle School Transition with Ms. Clower, 6th gr Parents, 6:30 p.m.


Open House, Thursday, September 1st
Thursday Night teachers will be ready to greet our parents to give an overview of their class and the curriculum for this school year.  Students will bring home a copy of their schedule for parents on Wednesday afternoon for parents to use on Thursday, September 1st. Parents will follow the Charger Day schedule and visit all eight classes.

5:30 p.m. PTO Meeting w/Mrs. Graves, MPR
6:00 - 6:15  1st Period
6:19 - 6:29  2nd Period
6:33 - 6:43  3rd Period
6:47 - 6:57  4th Period
7:01 - 7:11  5th Period
7:15 - 7:25  6th Period
7:29 - 7:39  7th Period
7:43 - 7:53  8th Period


Meet the PTO

Grab an early parking spot before OPEN HOUSE and head into the MPR. Meet some of our PTO Board members and event chairs. Find out more about all our efforts and get involved at POMS.  We need you!

Changes to Grading Policy
On Thursday night you will learn more about our grading policies, but I would like to feature some of the primary tenets here and tell you more about how we got to this point.

Last year our SDMC began a study of grading practices, researching for best practices, studying HISD Board policy on grades and evaluating current policies used at Pin Oak.  We based our discussion around four primary ideas related to grading - timeliness, fairness, accuracy and specificity.  In other words, grades should reflect how well a child has mastered a particular concept, should not be influenced by behaviors rather than mastery of the subject, and students should know relatively quickly how they did.   

As we evaluated our practices, we have made a few changes that you should be aware of as we move into this school year.  The biggest change to our grading policy is an emphasis on grades demonstrating how well a child knows the material.  We are limiting penalties to the grade for behaviors such as turning in work late, using pencil instead of pen, forgetting to write their name, etc.  Behaviors will now be reflected in the conduct grade and work habits, instead of in the numerical grade, thereby making it a truer reflection of mastery. These policies have been agreed upon within each of our departments and will be discussed at Open House. 

The other major change is the expectation that work will be graded within one week of the due date.  Some teachers will return work in class for students to review and turn back in, while others will distribute the work to go home. Teachers who do not send graded work home will have the work available for parents to review at school, and grades will be posted in Gradespeed.  Your child's teacher will discuss the policy during Open House. 

1st Day Paperwork Free Dress
Beginning Tuesday, students will be able to pick up their wristband for Free Dress on Friday in their House Office.  The House Clerk will have a list of all students qualifying for the Free Dress.  Students who turned in their first day paperwork last Tuesday are eligible for the Free Dress.  Free dress guidelines are in the planner.  Please review those with your child before Friday.  Students must have the wristband or they will be required to be in uniform.




Sunday, August 21, 2016

News from Mrs Graves

Welcome to the 2016-17 school year!  

MONDAY, 8/22  CHARGER
NEW**  First bell rings at 8:00 a.m. and tardy bell at 8:07 a.m.
First Day Parent Coffee, Library, 8:15 a.m.
Football Begins, Daily 3:30-5:45 p.m. (7th and 8th grade only)

TUESDAY, 8/23  GREEN
Volleyball Interest Meeting, DLL, 7:30 a.m.
Volleyball Interest Meeting, Gym, 3:45 p.m.
Athletic Physicals $15 (cash only), Dance Room, 3:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, 8/24  BLUE
Volleyball Try-outs, Gym, 6:00-7:30 a.m.

THURSDAY, 8/25  GREEN
Volleyball Try-outs, Gym, 6:00-7:30 a.m.

FRIDAY, 8/26  BLUE
Volleyball Try-outs, Gym, 6:00-7:30 a.m.
6th Grade Mixer, Cafeteria, 6:00-8:00 p.m.



First Day Information
Students are supervised for early drop off as early as 7:15 a.m.  Students arriving early will be sent to the Gym or MPR to wait until the first bell rings.  

Students will find their assigned first day homeroom using the alpha lists posted throughout the school.  Your child will receive a new copy of their schedule at that time, as well as their ID badge if they attended Charger Camp.  

At approximately 8:15, we will begin a Charger day schedule and students will attend all 8 periods on their schedule.  Students will eat lunch according to their grade level unless they are assigned a mixed grade class during 5th or 6th period.  This is very unlikely since there are very few classes during these periods that are mixed grade level classes.

During 8th period, students will receive the "First Day Packet" that includes important paperwork that should be completed by parents and returned on Tuesday.  Please set aside some time Monday evening to complete the paperwork.  Due to a delay in printing, the lunch application is not included in the packet.  We will send that form separately.  

Morning Drop-off Procedures
Parents have two options for dropping off in the morning.  For families coming eastbound on Glenmont from 610, please use drop-off location one, in green below.  For those families coming westbound on Glenmont from Newcastle should use drop-off location two in the HCC parking lot, in yellow below.  Please do not drop off your child on Avenue B or along the curb on Glenmont.  





HISD Transportation Information from Mr. Berry
If you did not receive a post card or a phone call from HISD Transportation telling you which route and stop your child is assigned to, that means your child will need a pink bus pass from Pin Oak in order to ride the bus this year.  Bus routes and stops are updated every year, so passes from previous years are not valid.  If your child had a pass last year it will need to be replaced.

HISD Transportation has a list of stops and routes that serve Pin Oak.  Here is a link: http://www.houstonisd.org/Page/69921 (select “Pin Oak” as your campus and click “submit”)

After reviewing the stops, please email Mr. Berry at jberry4@houstonisd.org: in the email tell him your child’s name and the bus stop they’d like.  Their pink bus pass will be delivered to them in class.


PTO School Store 
The school store will be open for business at 11:45AM - 1:45PM on Monday, August 22nd. We will not be open in the morning for the first day of school.  The School Store operates at 100% by parent volunteers.  These parents will be bringing their own children to school on the first day.  Starting Tuesday, August 23rd the store will be open daily during the following time periods:

7:45AM - 8:15AM
11:45AM - 1:45PM
(closed during school wide testing and early dismissal days)

First Day of School Parent Coffee
Please join us for coffee and breakfast bites at 8:15 a.m. in the Library.  Hosted but the PTO Hospitality committee.

Save the Date
6th grade parent talk on Middle School Transition
Thursday, September 8th at 6: 00 p.m.
POMS MPR