Gifted and Talented

An accelerated and enriched curriculum is provided for students identified as potentially gifted and talented in intellectual ability, creativity, or leadership. This challenging and differentiated curriculum is designed to meet the special needs of these students. Curriculum is differentiated through depth, complexity, and pacing. Admission into the program is based on superior achievement on standardized achievement and abilities tests, academic grades, parent, and teacher evaluations. The Gifted and Talented curriculum is enriched by programs such as Books, UIL Competitions, Robotics, Word Masters and Mapping the World by Heart. All students are given the opportunity to participate in creative problem solving enrichment activities such as Odyssey of the Mind, Number Sense, Writers In The Schools and PTA Reflections contest. All Petersen Elementary teachers are GT Trained.

Dyslexia

Petersen Elementary does a fantastic job of helping students who think out of the box. Teachers, reading interventionist, and HISD evaluation specialist work together to identify students struggling with Dyslexia. Students that are identified with developmental dyslexia are given accommodations protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act. (504 laws) Petersen Elementary has a teacher certified and trained in specific dyslexia instruction. Teachers and parents work together to provide our dyslexic population with the instruction they need to remain successful in their classroom.

Both teachers and staff are trained annually on 504 and dyslexia accommodations as well as instructions and new dyslexia laws and information.

Bilingual Education

Petersen Elementary offers a Traditional Bilingual Program in grades PK to 3rd for those students whose dominant language is Spanish. In this program Spanish is used to teach the core subjects of Reading, Math, Science, and Social Studies to state standards. During this time English is taught as a second language. When students meet state standards Bilingual support is provided in grades 4-5 for students who continue to need that support as they transition to English for fluency in English for speaking, reading, and writing they are transitioned into all English instruction.

Special Education

Petersen Elementary provides special education services for our students who meet Texas Education Agency criteria for a variety of disabilities. Most of the children we serve have learning disabilities in reading, math or writing. Other students have more severe cognitive disabilities and some have medical issues that are best supported by Special Ed.

Our philosophy is to include students with disabilities as much as possible with their typically developing peers. These students are as much a part of their regular education classroom as any student. In fact, for most students, they are indistinguishable from their peers. Travis provides in class or small group class learning experiences individualized for each student’s needs. We strongly believe that students with disabilities succeed when expectations are high and they are involved academically and socially with all students. Some students are more successful in a small group setting. For these students, resource classes are available as a regularly scheduled part of their school day.The special education staff develops relationships with our children to give each one chances to shine even if they have rarely experienced that feeling of accomplishment in the academic setting. The teachers use a variety of resources to support learning. These may include modifications or accommodations to the regular curriculum, behavior support plans, and extra practice computer programs for reading, math or specific areas of need, small group off level lessons or just extra help when needed.

All the teachers at Petersen work together to support children who have a variety of skills, interests, and needs. For more information please call 713-434-5630 or email us.