The Parent Teacher Organization ("PTO") is an organization of parents and teachers at Pin Oak. Our goal is to foster a nurturing and caring environment for the students while promoting active parent involvement to build a better educational environment. We work to build a school community where teachers and administrators can do their best work by providing additional resources. Furthermore, we go all-out to help make school fun! For the PTO to be effective and truly representative of the school, it is essential to have the involvement from as many parents as possible. Many working parents feel that they cannotparticipate in the PTO because they are unable come to every meeting, or be on campus during the day. Do not let that be a reason not to volunteer! There are endless possibilities for you to help. Whatever your schedule, the Pin Oak PTO always appreciates parent volunteers, as does our teachers and staff. Keep in mind that by volunteering, you will become friends with other families and accomplish things that truly make a difference.
This year we expect to be able to make another significant grant to POMS. You may be aware of some of the funding changes in the district (keeping you abreast of District business is another important job of the PTO!), and we are setting aside funds raised this year to provide the principal with resources to help maintain stellar programs at Pin Oak in the 2011-2012 school year. Whether you have 30 minutes or a couple of hours, POMS PTO truly needs your ideas, your time, and your talents. Together we can continue to make POMS a fabulous place for our children.
Thanks so much!
Roxanne van Ravenswaay
PTO President
2011-2012
Recent and Upcoming Events:
PTO meetings
Please join us for our monthly PTO meetings
1st Tuesday of the month at 8:30AM in the Library. Future Meeting Dates:
February 14 - Special Guest Lamar Prinicipal, Dr. McSwain
March 20 - Special Guest Bellaire Principal, Tim Salam
April 10
May 8
Bullying Remains an Important Topic!
Beginning February 6th, HISD will hold a district-wide Anti-Bullying Awareness Week. As part of this initiative, Donna Clark-Love, a nationally recognized expert and trainer in the areas of Bully Prevention and Student Assistance Programs, will be presenting on Bullying Prevention and Intervention next Monday, February 6, 2012 from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. in the Board Auditorium at the Hattie Mae White building. Seating is limited to 300 and there is no cost to attend. Parent, students, and educators are welcome. Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center located at 4400 West 18th Street, Houston, Texas 77092.
For more information click HERE or go to HISD website or contact Alyson Bricker Blotcky, LMSW, Social Worker Pin Oak Middle School at Ablotcky@houstonisd.org
Pin Oak Beautification Day (Note new date due to Feb 4th rainout):
Who: Pin Oak family and "friends with tools" (shovels, hoes, weed poppers, hand tools, etc.).
What: We will "spruce up" our campus by removing dead bushes, small trees (maybe), and weeds to prepare for planting new easy to grow, pretty and tough plants See Note 1.
When: Feb 11th from 9-12 (you don't have to stay the whole time, just as long as you can pull something out or plant something in.....).
Where: Meet in the front of the school lot. We will work on as many areas as possible, based on how many people show. There will be a list of jobs needing done so your "team" can get an idea of what to expect. (It will be posted outside the Main Office by January Jan 30th)
Why: By planting more native plants around the campus, it will be easier to keep attractive without lots of water. It will also help birds and butterflies by offering food and nectar.
Also, this is a great opportunity to earn service hours for scouts, NJHS, etc. There will be a sign up sheet that day to document your time.
Note 1: Another opportunity exists to rescue Prairie Plants on Jan 21. The plants are tough natives that are also beautiful. Here is the link : http://www.coastalprairiepartnership.org/events/prairie-rescue-bella-terra-west-of-houston-tx Plants from this Rescue event are earmarked for Pin Oak and three other area schools. Again, come for as long as you can. It is a pristine prairie that is being dug up to be a retention pond.
POMS MOMS Next Event:
POMS MOMS' next event will be a sweetheart of a good time. Be on the lookout for our next POMS MOMS social in February. It will be a Valentine's BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag) luncheon at Jenifer Lu's house Thursday, February 9th. More details soon!
Order Your Yearbook NOW!
2012 Pin Oak Yearbooks MUST be preordered. Click HERE and you should go straight to the webpage for ordering your POMS yearbook. If the link doesn't work, go to http://www.balfour.com/ click on 'Yearbooks' and search for Pin Oak Middle School.
Charger Chatter News:
Want to know more about school news and activities at Pin Oak Middle School? Click HERE for the first installment of the Pin Oak Newletter "Charger Chatter".
Student Opportunities:
Pin Oak offers students a number of unique opportunities to be involved with various contests, internships, camps, and school activities. For more information please consult the Charging Forward with Opportunities website by clicking HERE. Those interested can also consult the Opportunities Board found in each House Commons, or email Celeste Garcia at cgarcia8@houstonsid.org.
To access old news stories click HERE.
News Flash:
Pin Oak Recognized as a National "Top Achieving School"
Pin Oak was recognized as one of only twenty HISD schools that were rated higher perfoming in all subject areas by the National Center for Educational Achievement (NCEA). This higher performing schools list recognizes schools that are raising student achievement levels more quickly than schools that enroll similar student populations. In addition, schools must meet achievement targets established under the federal No Child Left Behind Act in order to be eligible for the list. Researchers at the NCEA used a value-added approach to analyze student performance on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills in math, reading, science, social studies and writing. This approach measures whether students performed at a higher-than-predicted level, based on their prior performance. See our "Brag Sheet" for a brief summary of other achievements and recognition by Pin Oak students. Congratulations to all of our students, teachers and administrators for this outstanding national recongition!
Foreign Exchange Program Through the Rotary Club
For many years, the Rotary club has hosted a foreign exchange student through the Rotary Youth Exchange program. The Rotary program is open to students aged 15 – 19, who will live with three (3) different host families during their stay. In recent years, the students we have hosted have come from Taiwan and Germany.
Our club is looking for families interested in hosting a foreign high school student in their home for part of the school year beginning in September, 2012. In Rotary Youth Exchange, each student lives with a family for approximately 3 months, to sample a variety of family life in the U.S. Because most of our families in the past have been zoned for Bellaire High School, we are specifically looking for families in that school zone for next year.
There is no requirement that a host family have high school or middle school age kids, but that situation has worked very well in the past.
Host Family Guidelines:
Rotary Host Family Brochure
General Brochure:
Rotary Long Term Youth Exchange
Interested families should contact me at the number below. Many thanks!
Jay Taylor
832-216-4284 (cell)
A Quest for Legos!!
Andrea Rosen is looking for Legos for her students in the Structured Learning Center. If anyone has any Legos they no longer use that they can donate please drop them by Pin Oak Office? The students in the Structured Learning Center enjoy building with Legos during Advocacy but all they have is 1 container of Legos. Ms. Rosen is wondering if any parents have some to donate to be used in class. She would like all of the students to have the opportunity to build.
POMS MOMS
For those of you new to Pin Oak as well as those returning, we invite you to join us this year at our POMS MOMS events. These gatherings of Pin Oak moms are a great opportunity to hang out and visit with other moms from all Houses and share ideas. It's a casual, fun environment and we hope you will be able to come. This year we expect to have around four gatherings. Most will be held in various homes of Pin Oak moms and will be "B.Y.O.B." (Bring Your Own Bag - salad, sandwich, etc.). Desserts and drinks will be provided. We invite you to come when you can, leave when you must.
PTO Membership:
Don't miss out on all the great opportunities to make you voice heard while staying up to date and in the know by becoming a member of POMS-PTO. Membership in your PTO is your best way to stay informed and get connected. For more information about our membership please click HERE.