Volume 8, Issue 6
http://www.houstonisd.org/valleywestes
Valley West Elemenary
10707 S. Gessner
Houston, TX 77071
February 2014
713-773-6151
If you would like the monthly newsletter emailed to you, please email Mrs. Arnold
to be added to the list. earnold1@houstonisd.org
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Black History Month
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 to Alberta
Williams King on and Martin Luther King, Sr. in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. King
has two siblings named Alfred Daniel Williams King and Christine King
Farris. Martin Luther King Jr. skipped 9th and 12th grade and entered
college at the age of 15. Dr. King first attended Morehouse College and
received a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology. He then went to Crozer
Theological Seminary and received a degree in Divinity (religious
studies), later he received a doctrine at Boston University.
Then he married the love his life Coretta Scott in 1953. Dr. King and Coretta Scott had four
children: Yolanda, Martin Luther King III, Dexter and Bernice. Dr. King said, “When I grow up I
want to become a pastor just like my father,” and he did. He became a pastor at Drexel Ave.
Baptist Church in Montgomery Alabama. But he wanted to change the world. In 1955 he took
leadership of the Montgomery Bus Boycott where Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her
seat and moving to the back of the bus for a white man. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted a
year and ended on November 13th 1956.
In 1957 along with other civil rights activists Dr. King founded the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference to organize and conduct non-violent protests for civil rights. Martin Luther King Jr.
with other civil rights activists will go on to lead many non-violent protests for civil rights around
the country.
On June 23rd 1963 Dr. King Jr. lead a Freedom Walk in Detroit Michigan, 125,000 took part
in the walk. On August 28th 1963 at a historic march in Washington DC for jobs, freedom, racial
equality and the end of discrimination Dr. King delivered his “I have a dream” speech. On
October 14th 1964 Dr. King became the youngest man (age 35) to receive a Nobel Peace Prize for
combating racial inequality through non-violence. Dr. King Jr. was assassinated on April 4th, 1968
on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee. In my opinion Martin Luther King Jr.
was a great African American leader to the African American society.
By De’Erika Banks
Valley West Elementary Spelling Bee
On January 13th of 2014, Valley West Elementary had their annual
Spelling Bee! There were spellers from 3rd-5th grade. As the rounds went on,
the words got harder and harder. Every child participating in the event wanted
to win, but there could only 2 finalists and 1 spelling bee champion.
The 2 finalist were Kennedi Williams and Ashton Macklin. As the 7th
and 8th grade round came along Kennedi and Ashton were both trying to win
the spot as the spelling bee champion. The two finalists were given words and
whichever spelling bee contestant spelled the word correct and spelled a new
word correctly, was declared the winner. And finally, after a lot of words had
been spelled, Kennedi Williams was declared the winner. Ashton Macklin is
the runner-up and is to help Kennedi in the District Spelling Bee which is
February 4th of 2014.
By- Kennedi Williams
The STEM Expo Projects
On January 14, 2014 the students at Valley West Elementary turned in their
expo projects. Then on January 15, 2014 the projects were displayed in the
auditorium or in the hallway for the students and the judges to examine. The
subjects were Science, Social studies, Technology, and Robotics. The students
who were in the expo worked really hard on their amazing projects.
By Kevin Nguyen
Valley West Basketball Team
This year’s basketball team is run by Coach Miller, the P.E teacher. The players on
the team are Paul, Fred, Jeremiah, Xavier, Azuka, Keshuan, Anthony, Aviona, Jakayla, and
Roland. Practice is held on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays under the flat top from 3
to 5pm.
Right now we are 0 and 3 trying to bring Valley West a win. Despite are record I
believe we have manatee spirit. If we bring our all we can win our first game. Our next
game is this Saturday at Westbury High School. We will play against Hines-Caldwell at
11:00am so come on out and support the Valley West basketball team.
By Paul McCardle
Mrs. Alamo
I want to introduce you Ms. Alamo. Ms. Alamo was born in
Puerto Rico. She worked in the University of Puerto Rico for
20 years, and then she went to New York she also worked on
a University of Master’s Degree. She came to Houston and
started working at the University of Texas and started working with Pre-K students. She
has no kids and her husband name is Carlos Mercaldo.
By Adriana Mejia
Ms. Carpenter
When Ms. Carpenter was asked why did you move to Valley West? She
said, “’I heard that it’s a really good school and that has a magnet
program. I wanted to participate in a magnet program.”
Before I was a teacher I worked for an oil and gas company. I wanted to
spend more time with my children; this schedule lets me have more
time with my children. Ms. Carpenter really does enjoy teaching at Valley West and
working with her teammates. Working with children, is what she best likes about teaching.
Ms. Carpenter said, “Our students are really smart and ready to blast the Stanford test!”
By Brian Ochoa