February is Youth Art Month in Austin, Texas. Art work selected from around the state is displayed at the capitol. School districts from around the state send their best work to Austin for this honor. We were just notified that out of the 8 pieces selected to represent Houston ISD, 6 were created by Pershing students! Our hats are off to our students and to our fantastic art teachers, Ms. Watkins and Ms. Perugini. Pershing [...]

Tomorrow begins our winter holidays and whew…anyone who works with middle school kids knows that the week before a holiday they get a little crazy! Fortunately for us, our craziness was kept in check with our students studying like mad for their mid-terms. Tonight was our dance, gymnastics, and music production showcase. Truly an amazing display of talent. Tomorrow we will celebrate the many talents of our fine arts students with performances throughout the day. [...]

I just listened to our amazing orchestra students perform their winter concert. We have such talented students and dedicated teachers! Mr. Whatley, orchestra, Mr. Smith, band, Ms. Biedenfeld, choir, Ms. Schroeder, dance, Ms. Schrull, gymnastics, and Mr. Wurtzel, music production, have all outdone themselves this year and need to recognized for their outstanding dedication to our students. The enormous amount of guidance and encouragement they give our students, along with the many extra hours, shows [...]

Mid-terms are coming up next week. Your child should have received their study guides by now. You can help out your child by carving out time each evening to study. The mid-term schedule is posted on our website. We only have two periods scheduled for exams each day so our students won’t be overwhelmed. Most teachers are offering tutorial sessions, so check their websites to see the times. Remember that the purpose of giving mid-terms [...]

Grades drive parents crazy, don’t they? It is a constant battle to check on kids, especially middle schoolers, to make sure they are getting everything done they need to do, etc. Honestly, grades drive teachers crazy too! It would be awesome to just say at the end of a six weeks or semester – yep, he gets it, but that isn’t the way society works. We have been discussing as a campus the issue of [...]

Tonight we had our community meeting to discuss issues surrounding bullying and what we can do as parents, educators, and community members to address the problems.  Recognizing that all of us move in and out of bullying roles – sometimes we are the bully, sometimes the bystander, and sometimes the victim – is important.  Rarely is anyone all of one or all of another and we are often too quick to label children as “the [...]

This evening at 6:30 we will be hosting a community talk with our fellow Posititve Thinkng Works schools. This is an opportunity to discuss issues facing our children and how as parents and a community we can work with schools to find solutions. Positive Works is a way of approaching bulling issues by focusing on positive behaviors. I encourage everyone to attend this evening – should be an interesting discussion and a way of meeting [...]

This is the time of year for us to reflect on our lives – what we are grateful for and choices we are making. Are we happy with the direction our life is taking? Are the choices we are making leading us to where we see ourselves in five years? ten years? or more? Honestly, one thing I know for certain is that I love working with kids. If there ever comes a day where [...]