Woodview Elementary Spotlight: Serve the City and Beagle Camps

Tallowood Baptist Church volunteers help improve Woodview’s landscaping during recent Serve the City community project.

If Woodview Elementary is looking better on the outside, thank those volunteers from Tallowood Baptist Church who helped spruce up the flower beds recently.

And if the third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders are a bit more inspired about reading, writing, math and science, credit should go to Woodview’s fourth-grade team for  creating Beagle Camp earlier this spring. The beagle is the campus mascot.

On Saturday, April 16, more than two dozen Tallowood Baptist Church volunteers arrived at Woodview Elementary with shovels, gardening tools, plants, flowers and mulch to help beautify the campus. The weekend activity was part of a service day, called Serve the City.

“We are so fortunate and deeply honored to have had this example of collaborative spirit by Tallowood Baptist. We appreciate their help so much and we hope to have them work with us again this fall,” Principal Pamela Pennington said.

Also in April and May, Woodview’s fourth-grade team organized a four-day camp on Saturdays, known as Beagle Camp, which included reading and writing options and activities, math games and hands-on science learning.

Saturday camp sessions were held three times in April, beginning April 9, and also on May 7. Physical activities were included. The Houston Food Bank sponsored camp lunches. In all, more than a dozen Woodview teachers and staff developed this original school camp program, and then made it all happen.

Amazing staff members who made it occur included Michele Rennick, Eli Fernandez, Jessica Zelaya, Geneva Winfield, Wally Martinez, Viviana Ruiz, Patricia Aguirre, Veronica Lopez, Ivonne Davis, Lourdes Perales, Amy Beck, Angele Bressler, Becky Hagen, Deneen Stanfield, Andrea Benge, Chad Evetts, Tim Hatton, Ana Orozco and Abdel Estrada.

“This idea started with our fourth-grade team wanting to have extra time with their kids, and it just blossomed from there,” Principal Pennington said. “The staff came up with the idea, developed the program, and Beagle Camp was formed,” she adds.

Woodview Elementary School is located at 9749 Cedardale Drive at Bunker Hill.