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Grade-level
Meetings — Teachers, led by team leaders, meet by grade levels
weekly to coordinate efforts in meeting students' needs.
Vertical Teams –
meet each week
by subject area to discuss test data, assessments, and vertical alignment
of curriculum. |
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U.I.L. -
Students in
grades 2 - 5 are given an opportunity to compete against other elementary
students in areas such as Creative
Writing, Spelling, Dictionary Skills ,
etc. |
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Family Math
and Literacy Nights
— Parents and students participate in activities that
reinforce math and reading concepts while promoting family
fun. |
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Jump Rope for
Heart — Student
participation in this American Heart Association program encourages
physical fitness and involvement in community
events. |
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Uniform Dress
—Students are
required to wear navy blue or khaki shorts, slacks, shorts, skirts, and
jumpers with a white or light blue, collared shirt. Students are also
allowed to wear the "Smith Superstar" tee-shirt or the "Smith Superstar"
sweat shirt. Jeans are allowed on Fridays. .
Tutorials
are offered
before and during school as needed.
Safety Patrol
- 5th
graders are nominated each six weeks to help younger students as part of
safety patrol. Students must have an S in conduct and a B average to be
nominated.
Butterfly Garden
–
The garden located in the heart of our school was
started in the fall of 2005, as part of a Leaf Grant. Students and their
families helped plan, plant, and maintain the garden. During the school
year the garden is cared for by the Garden Club. They are Junior Master
Gardener group sponsored by AgriLife Extenstion (Texas A&M System).
The solar lights and solar powered water feature were installed by the
Upper Grade Robotics Club. Mrs. Esswein received a $958.95 Leaf Grant for
binoculars to that are used to monitor the Purple
Martins.
Parenting Skills Program: Open to all Smith parents. The school social worker and a
therapist from a local community resource, facilitate this weekly
parenting program. Parents
work on a variety of issues related to effective parenting. Two sessions are held each
Tuesday, one in Spanish (9:00-10:30 a.m.) and one in English (1:0-2:30
p.m.) Classes begin in the
fall and continue until early
May. Parents learn effective
parenting, participate in personal growth activities, work on hands-on
activities related to helping their children at home and become involved
as volunteers in the school and in their community. Classes are held in the Parent
Involvement Center, Portable T-9.
Contact the school social worker to register for
classes. |
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YMCA After-School Care Program
— Students are
supervised by YMCA trained staff. Students have opportunities to complete
homework and participate in organized activities at
school. |
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After-School
Extra-Curricular Program — Students are provided opportunities to participate in
safe and organized school-sponsored activities. Current after school
activities include soccer, robotics, garden club, Running
Club, Chior, UIL and chess.
Chess Club: This
is a wholesome after school activity available to students in Kinder-Fifth
grade. Interested students
learn basic Chess skills from Chess Coach volunteers. Students are able to compete in
local and regional chess tournaments. All activities are supervised. To register, contact the volunteer
Chess Coach or the school social worker. There is a once year club fee to
join.
Student
Council – Student
Council teaches students how a representative democracy functions.
Executive officers are from the 4th & 5th grade, elected by students
in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. Two classroom representatives are elected from
all 3rd, 4th , and 5th grade classrooms. Student council has been involved
in Toy and Food Drives, and runs a school store.
Robotics Club - During the spring
this year met and created different robots. Program will be expanding next
year.
Gifted and
Talented Program - A differentiated
curriculum designed to meet the needs of identified high
achievers.
Soccer - Soccer club gives 4th and
5th graders a chance to experience what it feels like to be part of a
team. We meet every Thursday and run soccer drills and scrimmages. There
are many very tallented students with great soccer skills.
Houston Chronicle
Spelling Bee - Third through
fifth grade students compete in a campus spelling bee to quality for
county and regional levels.
Accelerated
Reader - A
motivational, literature-based reading program paired with student
incentives and a computer-based management system.
KEYS Mentoring
Program: This
program is designed to assist students in improving social, academic, and
personal growth skills by matching Students with an adult mentor who
becomes a trusted friend, a guide, an advocate and a confidant. Mentors must submit an
application, agree to a background check and complete a training session
before being assigned to work a Smith student. Mentors volunteer a minimum of one
hour per week during the school year. All mentor/student activities are conducted on campus
during regular school hours.
Biz Town -
A simulation-learning program for fifth graders.
Students study simple economic concepts during six weeks
of instruction during the spring. Students learn the importance of
government systems and how they relate to their community. They are also
involved in career exploration, learn how to fill out a
job application, how to construct a job resume, how to complete a job interview, and
the importance of fulfilling the responsibilities of a job. At
the conclusion of classroom instruction, the students spend a
day in a mock city where they work as bankers, clerks, police officers, business
owners, a judge, mayor of the city, and designers. Half way
through the simulation exercise, the students learn to make consumer
choices, pay off bills with the wages they earn, write checks to pay
bills, pay off business loans, pay city taxes and purchase goods designed by
students. This year's visit March
13th. |
Library Buddies –
Smith TV Tech Crew – A new program,
4th graders will apply for positions on the Tech crew. The crew will
learn to write scripts, design PowerPoint presentations, run camera, operate the
sound system and run cue cards. Students will operate the equipment during
announcements and other special in house productions.
Smith TV On Air – A new program,
5th grader will apply for positions as on air reporters and anchors.
They will make the morning announcements, and host other special in house
productions. Previous experience on the Smith TV Tech Crew is desired, but not
required.
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