Week of November 16, 2015 Family and Learning celebrated throughout Harlandale ISD Harlandale ISD held several Family Nights during the week of November 16 as a way to increase parent/ guardian involvement in student learning.

On several campuses like Harlandale Middle School and Columbia Heights Elementary, students led the instruction. At Harlandale MS, students led parents through a writing lesson and taught those in attendance the proper way to organize a research paper. During Noche de Lectura (Reading Night) at Columbia Heights, students created and performed their own theatre production to go along with a variety of different learning stations set up by teachers and administrators.

At Morrill Elementary, every teacher opened their classroom in the evening to allow parents to see the lessons currently being learned. The Family Night allowed parents and guardians to actively participate in activities their students take part in every day.

During Reading Night at Schulze Elementary, the teachers and staff set up different stations to perform different lessons that involved reading, writing and some arts and crafts.

Cowboy earns Division-1 Baseball Thanksgiving Break Scholarship Congratulations to November 23-27, 2015 McCollum senior baseball player Ralph Ramirez for signing his National Letter of Intent to play Division-1 baseball at Grambling State University! McCollum High School presents Operation Christmas Shoebox The spirit of giving has started early for the McCollum English department this year, in Mrs. K. Ocampo’s English II and English III class. In an effort to study conflicts around the world, Mrs. Ocampo encouraged her students to research and find a solution to conflicts such as inequality around the world. The tangible result of their research is a shoebox full of toys and necessities that we would take for granted in our society, packed full and shipped off to needy children around the world. The Samaritan’s Purse Organization is responsible for organizing and delivering the shoeboxes to over 150 countries and territories over the span of 4 weeks to get there by Christmas.

As of now, Mrs. Ocampo’s classes, as well as other students across the campus, urged on through their own English teachers, have donated more than 150 boxes with more expected through the end of the week. Mrs. W. Jose, an English II teacher, had her students donate more than 50 shoeboxes.

“The kids generosity and good heart has really come through as many of them donated more then the one box asked of them,” said Ocampo.

Communities In Schools of San Antonio presents STEM Family Night Communities In Schools of San Antonio along with the Harlandale ISD’s STEM program hosted a school-wide STEM Family Night on consecutive days at Leal and Terrell Wells middle schools. The events were two of four family nights hosted at the Harlandale Independent School District middle schools.

The evening kicked off with an exciting rocket launch by Communities In Schools students and a drone demo at the football field. Activities continued inside throughout many areas of the school and included hands-on activities such as launching straw rockets, extracting DNA from strawberries, and an optics demo from LaserQuest. To help guide the students and their families, engineering students from Trinity University and UTSA as well as engineering professionals from Booz Allen Hamilton served as volunteers and led activity stations. This event coincided with San Antonio’s STEM Week which includes CORE4STEM and other events throughout the city. The Communities In Schools STEM program serves to get students excited about STEM and consider the opportunities that are in this field.

For more information about the Communities In Schools of San Antonio STEM Project, please contact Natasha Wilkerson at [email protected]. Harlandale JROTC Teams Win Awards On November 14, Harlandale High School’s JROTC participated in the J. F. Kennedy High School’s First Annual “Rocket Drill Meet”.

The Harlandale team competed in several different categories that included Physical Fitness, Color Guard (Male and Female) and Academics. The Harlandale students walked away with a second place finish in Color Guard (Female) and a first place finish in Academics.

Members of the Color Guard Team: Amber Ramos, team commander, Jessica Carrillo, Karina Chavarria and Jandrea Manriquez.

Members of the First Place Academic Team: Christine Burnham, team captain, Desiree Alaniz, Madison Garza and Zachary Suarez. Congratulations to all participants for making Harlandale ISD proud!