A Welcome from Principal Susan Monaghan:

Pin Oak is in its 10th year of existence! The 2010-2011 school year was my first year as principal of POMS. I could not be prouder of our students and our entire school community! We had an OUTSTANDING year last year! We celebrated with award winning recognitions such as the TBEC Honor Roll School and a TEA Exemplary Campus. The teachers at POMS continue to have high expectations for all students. The rigor in the classrooms is evident by the incredible number of increased commended performance on TAKS. Our collaborative efforts contribute to the success of each and every student!

News Flash:

Graduation may seem far away, but a spring full of fun activities for the Pin Oak Class of 2012 is being planned!
A webpage devoted to activities and events for this Spring's graduating class activities has been created and can be found by clicking HERE. If you have a graduating eighth grader or are interested in helping this year's graduating class, please consult the page over he coming weeks/months for information.

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!

Pin Oak Again Receives TBEC Honors.
Pin Oak was one of twenty-four HISD schools to receive honor roll distinction from the Texas Buisness and Education Coalition. This distinction recognizes schools for their outstanding acheivements on the TAKS test over three consecutive years. Click HERE for the offical press release. Congratulations to our Pin Oak students and the faculty that prepare them academically.

Call of Duty
There were tears and hugs all around as the girl's basketball team said goodbye to their coach, Phyllis Fredricks. Fredricks is the department chair for physical education at Pin Oak Middle school. She has been called up for duty to the Army National Guard. Coach Fredricks will return in three months to her teaching duties at Pin Oak when she completes her military assignment.
Pictured here: Coach Phyllis Fredericks and niece, Jade Miller (who attends Roberts Elementary).
2nd picture: Pin Oak Middle school coach recieves a group hug and heartfelt send off from the Pin Oak girls basketball team.

Pin Oak UIL Continues its Winning Ways
Pin Oak Middle School's UIL Academic team brings home another first place Sweepstakes award . The 25 member team competed at the Academic and Speech contest held October 24th at MC Williams middle school. They also earned Team Awards in Spelling, Dictionary Skills, Mathematics, Number Sense, Maps, Graphs and Charts and Social Studies.
This is the latest in a string of 12 wins for the Pin Oak team. The Academic Squad is an after school club, under the direction of Mr Bryan Bancroft.

Advocacy Information:
Consult our new page by clicking HERE for information on "Blotcky's Best Picks - Resources for Parents." Current topics on internet safety and cyberbullying are highlighted but this page will be up-dated to contain useful information for Parents.

All Region Orchestra Winners
Four orchestra students from Pin Oak Middle School have been named to the All Region Orchestra. Paula DeAnda, viola, Jacob Miller, viola, Ruizhe Wang, violin, and James Tedore, viola, (pictured above) competed against several hundred students from the Houston area for this honor.

The student musicians will attend a clinic and then perform with the All Region Orchestra November 19th at Morton Ranch High School in Katy. The orchestra program, under the direction of Ms Carol Whiting, is in its fourth year at Pin Oak. It has almost tripled in size since it began and has won Sweepstakes ratings at U.I.L. competition for concert and sight-reading the last two years.

Science Rocks!
Students from Bellaire High and Pin Oak Middle Schools traveled to Yellowstone National Park for a hands-on environmental lesson. For a week, the students studied the mountain building processes, rock formations and glacial impact of the Grand Teton's. They also explored the volcanic and geo-thermal features unique to this area.  Bellaire teacher Ann Linsley has been organizing the unique field trips since 1997. In more recent years, she expanded her curriculum to include Pin Oak. The Yellowstone region represents more than 80% of all the world's geothermal features and activity and it is the site of the largest volcanic eruptions on the planet.

Upcoming Events:

Spare Change for a Great Cause!
The Pennies for patients Campaign begins on Friday, February 24th.  We'll start with announcements and student coin collection box distribution that day. The Pennies for Patients has become an annual event at POMS. Students are involved in a school-wide advocacy competition to raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Over 250,000 schools nationwide participate in the Pasta for Pennies program.   The winning advocacy class earns a catered lunch from Olive Garden.  Student Council proudly puts on this event.

Kudos for the South Region History Fair Finalists!

The Pin Oak Middle School family congratulates the following talented students who will represent POMS in the South Region History Fair to be held at Jackson Middle School on Weds February 1st from 1-4 PM.

Grace Armstrong, Corrinne Cassel, Karla Benavides and Hibah Akhter competing in the Group Website

Noah Switek competing in the Individual Website

William Kennedy competing in the Individual Historical Paper

Lillian Evans and Patrick Revilla competing in the Group Exhibit

Julia Casbarian competing in the Individual Exhibit

Elliot Ross competing in the Individual Documentary

Caitlin Berg and Kerrigan Quenemoen competing in the Group Documentary

Haeyum Lee Competing in the Individual Exhibit

Claire Stringfellow competing in the Individual Historical Paper

William Falloure competing in the Individual Documentary

Isaac Winter competing in the Individual Historical Paper

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.

Celebrating a Season for All
Music is the universal language and students at Pin Oak Middle School celebrated that with their annual muticultural showcase. This year's annual schoolwide performance included dances ranging from Chinese to Irish, to Latino to Hip Hop, along with music from the orchestra to the stage band. The event is organized by Social Worker Alyson Blotckey as part of Pin Oak's No Place for Hate designation. Photos coutersy of Katherine Stamp.

Important Information for Volunteers.
We love our volunteers!  If you are interested in volunteering this year, please make sure you are registered online and cleared through the VIPS (Volunteers in Public Schools) process. Please note that returning volunteers will not be automatically cleared to volunteer again for this school year. If you were cleared to volunteer in previous years, you do not have to register again online, but you must go to the front office to show your ID for verification of this year's background check process.  For more information about the VIPS program, please contact Julie Boudreaux at jboudre2@houstonisd.org.

Discover Boston in 2011-2012!
Visit Historic Boston with the Chargers! Pin Oak will be hosting a 5 day trip to Boston, Salem, Lexington and Concord, and Plymouth in the spring of 2012. The trip is open to all Pin Oak 7th and 8th graders (2011-2012). Click HERE for pricing/logistic parent letter for more information. Contact Mr. Wagner (gwagner@houstonisd.org) with questions or for more information. Spaces for the trip will be limited and will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

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