Texas City Boys basketball defeated La Marque High School last night 83-57. Leading scorers were Murquell Smith 16 points, Carver Hardy 13 points, Zach Galvan and Anthony Johnson 11 points.

Girls Basketball

Baytown Lee beat the Varsity team 45-49 and Freshman team 24-27 last Friday. TC JV beat Lee 25-17. This week, Goose Creek Memorial swept Texas City 28-61 (Varsity), 39-40 (JV) and 33-53 (Freshman).

Coaches can submit information to mtortorici@tcisd.org.

Sports Schedules

Texas City High School

Boys Basketball

Girls Basketball

Golf

Softball

Swimming

Tennis (Fresh/JV)

Blocker Middle School

Boys Basketball

Girls Basketball

Science Fair judges needed for Jan. 16

The Texas City Independent School District will be holding its fourth annual TCISD District Science Fair on January 16, 2014, at the Doyle Convention Center in Texas City. We are asking community members, industry representatives, medical professionals, retired teachers, and college educators to serve as judges.

Please call Gwen Bradley at 409-916-0120 or email Brenda Caro if you have any questions about the process or to volunteer as a judge. If there is a particular area of science judges prefer, they can make that request.

Jazz Band performs

The TCHS Jazz Band performed this week for the Rotary Club of Texas City. After 5 years of dedication and hard work, the Texas City High School Jazz Band is starting to get the recognition they deserve. They were recently selected to perform at the Jazz Education Network national conference in Dallas on January 9, 2014.

BP makes donation

BP Texas City Chemicals made a gift of $7,500 to the TCISD Foundation for the Future to support teacher grants throughout the district. The support from BP Chemical is instrumental in providing innovative learning tools for students of all ages in Texas City ISD. Shown are Deborah Laine, TCISD Foundation for the Future Executive Director and Kollin Fencil, BP Chemical Operations Manager.

Rotary "I Like Me"

The Rotary Club of Texas City annually purchases "I Like Me" books for every kindergarten student in Texas City. They delivered the books this week and read to each kindergarten student with the help from volunteers from Levi Fry Intermediate School. The students get to keep the personalized motivational book.

Blocker's generosity helps 17 families for Christmas

Each of the schools in Texas City ISD organize Angel projects to help assist families with things they need to provide a great Christmas to the students in our district who have the biggest need. This year, Blocker Middle School teachers focused on their students who sometimes are difficult to buy for because of their age and gift requests. In its third year, the generosity of Blocker staff lead them to purchase $1,300 of clothes, gifts and food baskets for 35 students in 17 families.

Santa visits TCISD

Santa Claus really came to town this week! He could be spotted at all of the elementary schools with elves passing out mints. He was spotted during the Foundation's Prize Posse parades when delivering teacher grants. He was spotted at Heights for their Spaghetti with Santa fundraiser. Students, big and small, and teachers all love Santa!

Keep up to date with what's going on in TCISD. Please like Texas City ISD on Facebook and please like the TCISD Foundation for the Future on Facebook.

There will be an early dismissal on Friday, December 20 for all schools. Please keep reading for details.

Texas City ISD wishes you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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TCISD will have Early Release on Friday

Texas City ISD will have an early release day for students on December 20 so that teachers can finalize semester grades. All schools will begin at their normal start time. Dismissal will be at the following times: Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities (PPCD) Morning classes, 10 a.m.; Woodrow Wilson DAEP, 10:45 a.m.; Blocker Middle School, Texas City High School and Calvin Vincent Pre-K and Head Start, 11:35 a.m.; Heights, Kohfeldt, Northside and Roosevelt-Wilson elementary schools, 12 p.m.; Levi Fry Intermediate, 12:30 p.m.; and PPCD Afternoon classes, 1 p.m. The morning PPCD class will be served breakfast only and the afternoon PPCD class will be served lunch only. All other schools will serve both breakfast and lunch. For more information, contact your child's school.

Foundation delivers $140,569 to teachers

The TCISD Foundation for the Future passed out more than $140,569 in teacher grants and Helper Hero grants to teachers this week for innovative classroom projects in

science, math, reading, writing, music, art, geography and mental health.

Teachers shout with joy, they cry tears of happiness and they beam with pride when they find out their grant has been funded by generous donations from business, industrty, civic groups and individuals in the Texas City community.

Snow blizzard to hit Blocker today!

Blocker Middle School will have 30,000 pounds of snow brought into the courtyard of the school for a fun Holiday in the Park on Thursday, December 19 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Assistant Principal Thad Spears has had this on his holiday wish list for family fun for several years and this year his wish is granted! There will be lots of fun activities, including a real snow slide. All Blocker students and their families are encouraged to attend.

The band, choir, and theatre students will be performing throughout the evening and the art students will have their work on display. "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" by Dr. Seuss with selections

from the screenplay by Jeffrey Price will be adapted

for oral interpretation by theatre students in the auditorium at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Cold weather refreshments will be available for sale in the cafeteria and in the courtyard. Bracelets can be purchased for $5 and will cover unlimited snow slide rides and 3 refreshment choices in the cafeteria. You won't want to miss this family fun night!

TCHS choir will have dinner and show tonight

The Texas City High School Choir Department is presenting Sounds of the Season on Thursday, December 19. Dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m. along with the Christmas show at 7 p.m. The menu is turkey and ham, dressing and gravy, green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes. Tickets to the dinner and show are $15. Tickets to the concert only are $7. To purchase tickets, contact the TCHS choir office at 409-916-0957 or any TCHS choir member.

Assistant Superintendent retiring

Diane Martin is retiring from Texas City ISD as the assistant superintendent for secondary curriculum and instruction, concluding 38 years in public education. She served as Co-interim superintendent in TCISD for one year. Before coming to TCISD as director of secondary education in July 2005, she spent 2 years as principal of Hughes Road Elementary, 4 years as principal of Pearland High School, and 1 year as principal of Stafford High School. She taught high school science and served as an assistant principal in Clear Creek ISD for 21 years, and began teaching at Spring High School. Diane received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology from Sam Houston State University, her Masters of Education and Mid-management and Superintendent's Certifications from the University of Houston, Main Campus. We wish her well!

La Marque ISD Superintendent Terri Watkins, Diane Martin and TCISD Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Curriculum & Instruction Susan Myers at Mrs. Martin's retirement reception

Deputy Fernandez will be missed in TCISD

The Texas City Independent School District and the Galveston County Sheriff's Office would like to thank Deputy John Fernandez for his dedication and service to TCISD's students and staff for the past 8 years. During this time, Deputy Fernandez has been instrumental in creating the TCISD Safe Sting Program and assisting our district with gang awareness and prevention. We would like to wish him well in his new position an Investigator for the Criminal Investigation Division within the Galveston County Sheriff's Office. He will be missed but we know we'll see him since his daughter attends school in Texas City and his wife is an academic coach within the district.

TCHS golfers get to meet pro Stacy Lewis

Members of the Texas City High School golf team got the chance to meet and talk with professional golfer Stacy Lewis today at school. Thanks to Marathon Galveston Bay Refinery for giving this opportunity to our students. She spent about two hours with the students casually visiting about her golfing experiences in high school, college and now on the LPGA tour. Students were awestruck at first but warmed up to her quickly.

TCHS soccer program adopts TCISD angels

The TCHS Soccer Booster Club adopted angels again this year. The soccer players are giving back to our community by adopting three Christmas Angels.

The players brought in lots of great gifts. Each angel has between 13-16 toys and 3-5 items of clothing. The Booster Club also collected some money to be able to purchase a $61 gift certificate to Food King to help them with their Christmas dinner.

Great job players, we are extremely proud of you. We are looking forward to a fantastic season! Go Stings!

Foundation to benefit from Color Run

Texas City runners are gearing up for a color party of epic proportion, as they participate in Color Up 5K! This event is expected to sell out quickly so sign up soon.

The Texas City ISD Foundation for the Future is the benefiting charity for the race with assisting partnerships from the Texas City Recreation & Tourism Department, Texas City Explorers, Citizens Police Academy, Friends of the Foundation, and Texas City ISD.

At Color Up 5K, Texas City on Saturday, February 1, runners and walkers wearing pristine white will be bombarded with a rainbow of color throughout the 5K course that starts at the Rotary Pavilion and winds through beautiful parks, Stingaree Stadium, and

finishes near Rotary Pavilion. The color is officially FDA approved colored cornstarch, and unofficially magical pixie dust.

Participants of all ages are welcome to run or walk. Children in strollers get in free. Registration for the race is now available at the Color Up website.

More Color Party and Less Run, this colorful race is a celebration of color, music, and good times with 4 color zones located throughout the 5K course. After completing the 3.1-mile race, the Color Party really heats up as people simultaneously toss packets of

color in the air at the post-race Color Party!

"We are really excited to bring Color Up 5k to Texas City" said Color Up Race Director Eric Shewski. "Our mission is to inspire families and individuals to live healthy and active lifestyles. The 5k course through Rotary Pavilion, surrounding parks, and Stingaree

Stadium make for an amazingly beautiful race. We look forward to a great event."

For more information or to register for the run, visit the Color Up website.

Blocker girls place in basketball tourney

The Blocker Middle School 8th Grade A Team placed 1st in the consolation bracket in the Santa Fe Girls Basketball tournament last weekend. Congratulations to the team and Coach Misty Jensen.

Spaghetti with Santa fun for the family

Heights Elementary tried out a new fundraiser this week with Spaghetti with Santa before their annual Christmas concert. Many families came to have a spaghetti supper, write letters to Santa and visit with Santa. It was fun family night.

We have an archive section if you have missed any STINGAREe-News edition from the past year! You can access it in the Quick Link section above. If you have trouble viewing photos, they also can be seen clearly in the Archive section.

Sincerely,

Melissa Tortorici

Director of Communications

Texas City ISD