Volume 9, Issue 1 http://www.houstonisd.org/valleywestes October 2014 Valley West Elemenary 10707 S. Gessner Houston, TX 77071 713-773-6151 If you would like the monthly newsletter emailed to you, please email Mrs. Arnold to be added to the list. earnold1@houstonisd.org ********************************************************************************************** Valley West Open House Our Open House was on October 16, 2014. The reason we have open house, is for the parents or guardians to meet your teachers, and understand what your teacher s goals, and find out further information important information. The teachers also tell the parents how well the students are performing in their class so far. Parents or guardians can ask questions about their lesson plans. Open House also lets you know more about field trips or upcoming events. They also help you learn about the PTO and raising money by having fundraisers. Open House gives you the opportunity to know your ancillary and main subject teachers. The parents and guardians also got to meet our hard-working principal, Ms. Little. By Allison Jok
Mr. Jones Assistant Principal Mr. Jones is our assistant principal. Have you met our new assistant principal? Mr. Jones has never been an assistant principal, but he has been a Tittle1 Coordinator, so this is somewhat new to him, so take it easy on him. The school he had worked at was Patti Welder Middle School in Victoria, Texas. Mr. Jones graduated from the University of San Antonio. He has an amazing personality and we are so lucky that we have an amazing assistant principal. By Allison Jok Ms. Pérez Assistant Principal Ms. Pérez is an assistant principal at my school. She isn t just a principal she also helps for the dances that we have at our school. Ms. Pérez is also in charge of the decorations. She does a good job at everything she does. She is really good at organizing things. One time the rodeo people came she did an awesome job. She is a really awesome principal/decorator. She has helped the school get better organized. She is an awesome person. The elementary school she went to was Lamar in Kingsville, Texas. The middle school she attended was Memorial, and her high school was HM King high school. The College Ms. Perez went to was A & M College. The first school she worked at was Gabriela Mistral CEC. Ms. Perez has been working at Valley West elementary for 2 years. She has been working for 10 years. She was born in Manora, Mexico. Her favorite food is Mexican food but her favorite is Milanesa erez. Her favorite animal is a pig. Her favorite movie is Gone in 60 Seconds. Ms. Perez favorite song is called Love song. Her favorite color is hot pink and red, and one of her favorite sports is cheerleading. Ms. Perez is not married or have kids. Ms. Perez has 2 dogs, Louie and Fend, they are both Westies. She likes to walk her dogs and go shopping.her favorite vacation was when she went to Los Cabos. She has no sisters but she has 1 brother. When she was little her sports were gymnastics, soccer, softball, and cheerleading. Ms. Perez is very athletic. She is very nice and sweet. Ms. Pérez is the bomb and she is one of a kind. Whenever you see her she makes your heart glow. She is an angel that came from heaven. A lot of people love her because of her beauty, smartness, and kindness. She is very caring and that is why I love her. Ms. Pérez is someone who should be everyone s friend because she won t let you down and if you feel sad and she makes it go away just using her heart. By Emily Zelaya
Congratulations to the Valley West Cheer Team Emily Zelaya Jasmyne Mumphrey Belen Montano Mariam Kamara Dayianna Paige Christal Thompson Divine Ware Omoningho Ekoh Kertera Walden Nyah Lashley La Deja Smith Sidonye Winbush Shania Joseph Myree Martin Rayanna Thomas Victoria Afolabi Sallie Bedll Kamryn Nguyen Makaihlah Edwards Jenifer Solis Aaliyah Brown Nya Freeney Bre-anna Smith Kaylie Castrol Iyanna Maxey Valley West Pep Squad Stephanie Leon Egypt Mitchell Janyriah Williams Joy Ajaegba Young Foote Brianna Torres Briana Olvera Nataly Velasquez Candace Obi Alona Hall Ms. Rudolph Cheer Coach Interview In this article, we shall be asking Ms. Rudolph, the magnet coordinator at Valley West Elementary a few questions about the cheerleader team. The first question I asked her was, What do you like about coaching the cheerleader team? and she replied, I li ke working together with the girls, and seeing them getting involved with a physical sport, and most of all, cheering for our Manatee Basketball team. The second question I asked Ms. Rudolph was, Overall, how did they act at the first cheerleading and pe p squad tryouts? and Ms. Rudolph replied to me, The first tryouts were very exciting for me and the other coaches, and all of the candidates had great energy and great amounts of Manatee spirit! Third and finally, I asked Ms. Rudolph, How do they perfo rm? and Ms. Rudolph replied, All of our cheerleaders did very excellent, but it was a very hard time narrowing them down, but still, I think we ll have a great cheerleader and pep squad for the 2014 and the 2015 semester. By: Ashton Macklin
The Hispanic Heritage Program The Hispanic heritage program was held on the 29 th of September, 2014 at Valley West Elementary School. The Monday performance is for the whole school and on Tuesday for parents. We celebrated 15 different countries of Hispanic culture. Students will present show cases, performances and singing. People of all ages can c ome. The program is coordinated by Ms. L. Perez. This Hispanic heritage program was great, we hope you were there. By Victor Ushi Mrs. Morah 4 th Grade Teacher Mrs. Morah is a teacher new here at Valley West Elementary. She is a math teacher for 4 th grade classes. She also loves science. In my opinion, Mrs. Morah is a teacher that is a hard-working woman. She is willing to teach her kids no matter what it takes so they will always graduate from college. She wants her kids to know that everybody in the world is a star. Everybody can do it; you just have to keep trying. All you people can do it trust me on that one!!! By Ndeye Ndiaye
Ms. Bell I interviewed Ms. Bell a new teaching assistant at Valley West elementary school. She would prefer to be a full time teacher but loves her current position because she gets to meet all the kids. Ms. Bell s ultimate goal in life is to be a college basketball coach and to own a hair salon. Ms. Bell would also really like to manage all athletic sports like soccer, football, volleyball, and maybe hockey. Most importantly, she likes to be a good mom. Ms. Bell s favorite food is Florentine pasta with spinach. She isn t a fan of video games and doesn t really know how to play them but when she was younger she used to play Super Mario brothers. Ms. Bell s favorite African American is her mom and her favorite movie is Love and Basketball. Ms. Bell s favorite song is Anita Baker s No Tears. She also likes songs by Adele. Ms. Bell s favorite actress is Halle Berry, although I think she was only good in the X-Men movies. Ms. Bell must not be scared of a lot of things because she likes the Texas Rangers and Six Flags. Sadly to say, Ms. Bell doesn t ride rides anymore because of her stomach gets upset. Ms. Bell s one and only favorite drink is PowerAde zero. Ms. Bell s favorite kind of car is an Audi. This is Ms. Bell s first year here so she hasn t made a lot of friends but knows a lot of the teachers here. I m sure a lot of people like dancing to Zydeco Tada and everyone likes the little bird in Looney tunes, TWEETY BIRD as Ms. Bell does. Ms. Bell s favorite saying is SHOOT FOR THE MOON AIM FOR THE STARS. Basically it tells people shoot for the stars and always push yourself to go far in life. That s good advice. By Sahji Sheppard Congratulations to the Valley West Newsletter Staff for 2014-2015 Xavier Macias, Ndeye Ndiaye, Emily Zelaya, Tavion Haynes, Cheala Freeman-Coleman, Rosalie Faulkner, Allison Jok, Sah ji Sheppard, Ashton Macklin, Chuby Madu, Victor Ushi Not pictured: Damien Shaw and Gloria Padilla
Valley West Elementary 10707 S. Gessner Houston, Texas 77071 Phone (713-773-6151), Fax (713-773-6156) Sandra Little, Principal Title 1 School Parental Involvement Policy Valley West Elementary School believes that parental involvement is a vital step in reaching the instructional objectives of our students. A home/school cooperative system will help each student arrive at his academic potential as well as develop responsibility and self-discipline. This combined effort of home and school assists the student in extending learning beyond the classroom and in improving classroom achievement. A. POLICY INVOLVEMENT Our school holds an Open House with in the first two weeks of September each school year during which we review with parents Title 1 School requirements and the school s Parent Involvement Policy. Additionally, the principal updates parents an on school test data, adequate yearly progress status, and facilitates a review of the school s improvement plan. At Open House parents are provided the opportunity to formally visit their child s classroom to become better informed about grade level expectation and their student s academic progress. Parents are invited to participate in Parents Test Prep Night, during which they are given an overview of the test their children will take and will take a sample test. This is done to expose parents to the type of testing their child encounters. Due to the varying schedules of our school family, effort will be made to provide training opportunities to parents via links on our school website making information accessible twenty four hours a day. Parents will be invited to participate in a parent-teacher conference at least twice a year to discuss their child s progress. Teachers may receive parents in the morning, during the school day and/or after school to accommodate as many parents as possible. Our schools annually invite parents to participate in review and revision meetings and are encouraged to examine and discuss our School Improvement Plan and Parent Involvement Policy. The school s PAC committee continually reviews school policy in an organized, ongoing, and timely way. An organized PTO has been established in our school to create a forum for parental input and involvement. Our PTO affiliation connects our school to parental involvement resources at the state and national level. Valley West Elementary School communicates regularly with parents: regarding the state s curricular and assessment expectations, school wide requirements in relation to the delivery of instruction, the techniques utilized to evaluate student work, and individual classroom rituals and routines pertinent to the academic success of our students. We use a variety of communicative techniques including but not limited to School Calendars, Monthly Newsletters, School Community Projects, Title 1 Parent Awareness Workshop, Seasonal Celebration, Contest, School Open House, Title 1 School Policy, Title 1 Compact, Parents Volunteers, PTO Meetings, School Website, Communication Folders, Parent Link (phone call system), Progress Report, Report Cards, and Parent/Teacher Conferences, to encourage parent participation and deliver important information in hopes of creating productive dialogue between home and school concerning improved student achievement.
B. SHARED RESPONSIBILITIES FOR HIGH STUDENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT Student education is not only the responsibility of the teacher, but also of the parent and child. For this reason, a Parent-Teacher-Student Compact has been developed and is utilized in our school. This document serves as an agreement between all parties that they will adhere to duties and responsibilities which ensure student success. It is reviewed and signed by the teacher and used in student and parent conferences to remind each participant of their responsibilities. These compacts are also used to motivate students and parents to become more involved in the educational process and to let parents know that they are equal partners in their child s learning. C. BUILDING CAPACITY FOR INVOLVEMENT To ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership between the school, parents, and the community with the goal of improving student academic achievement, Valley West Elementary will do the following: 1. shall provide assistance to the parents in understanding such topics as the state s academic content standards and the state student academic achievement standards, state and local academic assessments. Our school will provide for this provision as stated in the Policy Involvement and Shared Responsibilities for High Student Achievement sections of this document. 2. shall provide materials and training to assist parents working with their children to improve their children s achievement, such as literacy training. 3. shall educate teachers, pupil services personnel, and other staff, with the assistance of parents, in how to reach out to communicate with and work with parents as equal partners, implement and coordinate parent programs, and build ties between parents and the school; Faculty and staff members will be cognizant of educational research on parent involvement. Parental input will be solicited throughout the year in meetings, through surveys and during one-on-one conferences. Information derived will be utilized by the school s Administrative Team to strengthen the tie between school and home for the purpose of increasing student achievement. Over the course of the year the Title 1 Coordinator and the PAC committee will take the lead in providing a multitude of opportunities for parents to become involved in our school. 4. shall ensure that information related to school and parent programs, meetings and other activities is sent to the parents of participating children in a format and, to extent practicable, in a language parents can understand. Valley West Elementary has made it a practice to send home school correspondences in English and Spanish to ensure all information related to our school is understandable. D. PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT REQUIREMENTS Parents of all students, regardless of English proficiency, mobility or disability, are considered to be an important part of our learning community. All parents are afforded the opportunity to be involved in their child s school environment. For this reason, if a special need is identified, that would help a parent to more fully understand the educational process and the academic progress of his/her child, assistance will be provided to that parent. This type of support comes in the form of interpreted school documents in a parent s primary language, having an interpreter on hand to translate important information at school wide meetings and events, working with an interpreter to provide translation in parent/teacher conferences, making available parent resource in our library that are in English and Spanish, participating in faculty and staff training to better understand the culture of the students served.
Valley West Elementary SCHOOL PARENT COMPACT The Valley West Elementary school, and the parents of the students participating in activities, services, and programs funded by Title 1, Part A of the Elementary Act, agree that this compact outlines how parents, school staff, and the students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement and the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership that will help children achieve the State s high standards. This school-parent compact is in effect during school year 2014-2015. School Responsibilities The Valley West Elementary School will: 1. Provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables the participating children to meet the State s Student academic achievement standards as follows: Teachers will have weekly grade level meeting Weekly and Bi-weekly assessments Weekly objectives for each grade level Provide homework assignments to students Provide necessary assistance to parents so that they can help with assignments Encourage students and parents by providing information about student progress Use special activities in the classroom to make learning enjoyable 2. Hold parent-teacher conferences to discuss individual child s achievement. Parent-Teacher conferences will be held before the 4 th week of the 1 st nine weeks, and before the 2 nd week of the last nine weeks. Parents are able to schedule a conference during the teacher s planning time throughout the year. 3. Provide parents with frequent reports on their children s progress. Specifically, the school will provide reports as follows: A folder will go every Tuesday with the child s academic progress and conduct grades Progress report will be sent home on the fifth week of every nine weeks Teachers will schedule conferences as needed for at risk students 4. Provide parents with reasonable access to staff. Specifically, staff will be Available for consultation with parents as follows: Before school (7:15 7:45) Schedule an appointment during the teacher s planning time Schedule an appointment after the school day has ended 5. Provide parents opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child s class, and to observe classroom activities, as follows: Volunteer to help in the classroom Volunteer to chaperone on field trips Assist with class and school wide presentation Volunteer to read with and\or to the students Volunteer to provide general classroom assistance
Parent Responsibilities We, as parents, will support our children s learning in the following ways: See that my child is punctual and attends school regularly Support the school in its efforts to maintain proper discipline Establish a time for homework and review it regularly Stay aware of what my child is learning Provide a library card for my child Monitoring the amount of television that my child watch Promoting positive use of my child s extracurricular time Staying informed about my child s education and communication with the school by promptly reading all notices from the school district either received by my child or by mail and responding, as appropriate
Valley West Elementary ESCUELA PADRES COMPACTO La escuela elemental Valley West, y los padres de los estudiantes participantes en actividades, servicios y programas que reciben fondos de Titulo 1, de la parte A del Acta de Escuelas Elementales, acuerdan que este Compato enumera como los padres, personal de la escuela y los estudiantes compartirán las responsabilidades para mejorar el aprovechamiento académico de los estudiantes y los medios por los cuales la escuela y los padres construirán y desarrollarán una sociedad que ayude a los estudiantes a logar los altos estándares estatales. El compacto de escuela-padres esta en efecto durante el año escolar 2014-2015 Responsabilidades de la escuela La escuela elemental Valley West: 1. Proveerá un currículo de alta calidad e instrucción en un ambiente de apoyo y efectivo que conduzca la participación de los niños para que logren los altos estándares académicos estatales como sigue: Los maestros conducirán reuniones de nivel semanalmente Evaluaciones semanales y cada dos semanas Objetivos semanales para grado Proveer tarea a los estudiantes Proveer la asistencia necesaria a los padres para que a su vez puedan a ayudar a sus hijos con las tareas Estimular a los estudiantes y padres proveyendo información sobre su progreso Usar actividades especiales en el salón de clase para hacer el aprendizaje más agradable 2. Realizar conferencias de maestro-padre para discutir el aprovechamiento individual de los estudiantes, las que se efectuaran en la cuarta semana del primer periodo de nueve semanas y antes de la segunda semana en el último periodo de nueve semanas. Los padres podrán concertar una cita durante el periodo de planificación del maestro/a durante todo el año.
3. Proveer a los padres con reportes frecuentes sobre el progreso de sus hijos. Específicamente, la escuela proveerá reportes como sigue: Será enviado un expediente todos los martes que contenga el progreso del estudiante y la calificación de conducta Un reporte de progreso será enviado en la quinta semana de cada periodo de nueve semanas Los maestros concertaran citas con los padres según las necesidades de los estudiantes que estén en peligro 4. Proveer a los padres con acceso razonable al personal de la escuela. Específicamente, el personal estará disponible para consulta con los padres como sigue: Antes de clases (7:15 7:45 Cita concertada durante el tiempo de planificación del maestro Cita concertada para después de las horas de clase 5. Proveer a los padres oportunidades de firmarse como voluntarios y participar en las clases de sus hijos y observar las actividades diarias de la clase como sigue: Voluntario para ayudar en el salón de clase Voluntario para acompañar en un viaje escolar Ayudar con presentaciones de la clase y de la escuela Ayudar para leer con a leerle a los estudiantes Voluntario para proveer ayuda general en el salón de clase Respondabilidades de los padres Nosotros, los padres de familia, apoyaremos a nuestros niños en su aprendizaje como sigue: Ver que mi hijo sea puntual y asista a la escuela regularmente Apoyar a la escuela en sus esfuerzos para mantener una disciplina apropiada Establecer un tiempo para tares y revisarla regularmente Estar al tanto de lo que mi hijo está aprendiendo Monitorear la cantidad de tiempo que mi hijo ve televisión Promover positivamente el uso del tiempo extracurricular Mantenerme informado sobre la educación de mi hijo y comunicarme con la escuela leyendo prontamente todos los avisos que la escuela y del distrito que reciba ya sea entregados por mi hijo/a o enviado por correo, y responder apropiadamente
Valley West Elementary 10707 S. Gessner Houston, Texas 77071 Teléfono (713-773-6151) Fax (713-773-6156) Política de Participación de Capitulo I de Padres Valley West Elementry School considera que la participación de los padres es un paso vital para lograr los objetivos de instrucción de nuestros estudiantes. Un sistema cooperativo entre el hogar y escuela ayudará a cada estudiante a lograr a alcanzar su potencial académico, así como el desarrollo de la responsabilidad y la autodisciplina. Este combinado esfuerzo de la casa y la escuela ayuda al estudiante a ampliar el aprendizaje más allá del salón de clases y en mejorar los logros del aula. A. POLÍTICA DE PARTICIPACION Nuestra escuela lleva a cabo una Casa Abierta en las dos primeras semanas de septiembre de cada año escolar durante el cual se revisan conjuntamente con los padres los requisitos del Título I de la escuela y Política de Participación de los Padres de la escuela. Además, las actualizaciones principales a los padres de la información sobre las pruebas escolares, estado de progreso anual adecuado y se facilita una revisión del plan de mejora de la escuela. En Casa Abierta los padres tienen la oportunidad de visitar oficialmente el aula de su hijo para estar mejor informados acerca de las expectativas de nivel de grado y el progreso académico de sus hijos. Los padres están invitados a participar en la noche de preparación del Examen de Padres, durante la cual se les da un repaso general de las pruebas que sus niños tendrán que tomar y tendrán la oportunidad de tomar una prueba de muestra. Esto se hace para exponer a los padres con el tipo de prueba que se les administrarán a sus hijos. Debido a los diferentes horarios de nuestra familia de la escuela, se hará lo posible para proporcionar oportunidades de información a los padres a través de los enlaces en nuestro sitio de Internet de la escuela haciendo la información accesible las veinticuatro horas del día. Los padres estarán invitados a participar en una conferencia de padre-maestro por lo menos dos veces al año para discutir el progreso de su hijo. Los maestros pueden recibir a los padres en la mañana, durante el día escolar y/o después de clases, para atender a tantos padres como sea posible. Nuestras escuelas cada año invitan a los padres a participar en las reuniones para revisar, examinar y discutir nuestro Plan de Mejoramiento Escolar y Política de Participación de los Padres. El Comité PAC de la escuela revisa continuamente la política escolar de una manera organizada, continua y oportuna. Una Asociación de Padres ha sido organizada y establecida en nuestra escuela para crear un foro de sugerencias y participación de los padres. Nuestra asociación de PTO conecta nuestra escuela a los recursos de participación de los padres a nivel estatal y nacional. La escuela elemental Valley West se comunica regularmente con los padres: en relación a los requisitos curriculares del estado y las expectativas de evaluación, a través de toda la escuela en relación con las técnicas de la instrucción, utilizados para evaluar el trabajo del estudiante y rituales y rutinas individuales pertinentes para el éxito académico de
nuestros estudiantes. Utilizamos una variedad de técnicas de comunicación, incluyendo pero no limitado al Calendario Escolar, Boletín Mensual, Proyectos de la Comunidad Taller de Título I Compacto para Padres Voluntarios, Celebraciones alusivas a las temporadas, Competencias, Casa Abierta, Política del Capítulo I, Juntas de PTO, Website de la escuela, Carpetas de comunicación, enlace con los padres (sistema de llamadas de teléfono) Reportes de Progreso y Conferencia de Padres / Maestros para fomentar la participación de padres y recibir información importante con la esperanza de crear un diálogo productivo entre el hogar y la escuela para mejorar el rendimiento estudiantil. B. RESPONSABILIDADES COMPARTIDAS PARA UN ALTO LOGRO ACADÉMICO DE LOS ESTUDIANTES. La educación del estudiante no es sólo responsabilidad del docente, sino también de los padres y el niño. Por esta razón, un Pacto de Padres, Maestros y Estudiantes han sido desarrollado y es utilizado en nuestra escuela. Este documento sirve como un acuerdo entre todas las partes que van a adherirse a los deberes y responsabilidades que garanticen éxito estudiantil. Se ha revisado y firmado por el profesor y se utiliza en las conferencias de padres y estudiantes para recordar a cada participante de sus responsabilidades. Estos pactos también se utilizan para motivar a los estudiantes y padres de familia a participar más activamente en el proceso educativo y para que los padres sepan que son socios iguales en el aprendizaje de sus hijos. C. CREACIÓN DE CAPACIDAD PARA LA PARTICIPACIÓN Para asegurar la participación efectiva de los padres y para apoyar una sociedad entre la escuela, los padres y la comunidad, con el objetivo de mejorar los logros académicos de los estudiantes, la Escuela Valley West hará lo siguiente: 1. proporcionará asistencia a los padres en la comprensión de temas, tales como los estándares estatales de contenido académico y los estándares de desempeño académico del estudiante, la evaluación académica estatal y local. Nuestra escuela proporcionará para esta disposición como se indica en la Política de Participación y una responsabilidad compartida para la sección de Alto Rendimiento Estudiantil de este documento. 2. proporcionará materiales y capacitación para ayudar a los padres para que trabajen con sus hijos para mejorar el rendimiento de sus hijos, tales como la alfabetización.. 3. educará a maestros, personal de servicios estudiantiles y demás personal, con la atención a los padres, en la forma de comunicarse y trabajar con los padres como socios, implementar y coordinar programas para padres y construir lazos entre los padres y la escuela, personal docente y administrativo estarán al tanto de la investigación educativa relativa a participación de padres en las escuela. La participación de los padres se solicitará durante todo el año en las reuniones, a través de la encuesta y las conferencias individuales. La información obtenida será utilizada por el equipo de administración de la escuela para fortalecer el vínculo entre la escuela y el hogar con el fin de aumentar el rendimiento estudiantil. En el transcurso del año, el Coordinador de Título I y el comité PAC tomará la iniciativa en la prestación de una multitud de oportunidades para que los padres participen en nuestra escuela. 4. velará por que la información relacionada a los programas escolares y los padres, reuniones y otras actividades se envíe a los padres de los niños participantes, en un formato, lo más posible, en un idioma que los padres puedan entender. Valley West ha establecido la práctica de enviar correspondencia a los hogares, en inglés y español para asegurar que toda la información relacionada con nuestra escuela es comprensible. D. REQUISITOS DE PARTICIPACION DE LOS PADRES
Los padres de todos los estudiantes, independientemente del nivel de competencia del inglés, la movilidad o discapacidad, se considera que es una parte importante de nuestra comunidad de aprendizaje. Todos los padres tienen la oportunidad de participar en el ambiente de la escuela de su hijo. Por esta razón, si se identifica una necesidad especial, que ayudaría a los padres a entender mejor el proceso educativo y el progreso académico de su hijo / a, se prestará asistencia a ese padre. Este tipo de apoyo viene en forma de documentos escolares traducidos en el idioma principal del padre, teniendo un intérprete a su disposición para traducir información importante en las reuniones y eventos de toda la escuela, trabajar con un intérprete para proporcionar una traducción en conferencias con los maestros, por lo que los recursos para padres disponibles en nuestra biblioteca se encuentran en Inglés y Español, participando en la formación de profesores y personal de mejor entendimiento de la cultura de los alumnos pertenecientes a nuestra escuela.