Dear 2013-1014 Middle School Students,

I hope you have plans for a wonderful summer and that some of those plans include reading great books! To help prepare you for next year, I ask that you complete the HSA Middle School Summer Project. You are asked to read at least three books this summer, according to the guidelines below. You should complete a “Response to Reading” for each of your books. You will find 18 fun choices for “Responses to Reading” in this document.

Read More…



6th Grade Suggested Summer Reading List

7th Grade Suggested Summer Reading List

8th Grade Suggested Summer Reading List

College Board Recommended 101 Book List

Rebecca Eaves
Middle School English Language ART Teacher
Harmony Science Academy-Odessa

With excitement and anticipation, Harmony Public Schools is looking forward to the launch of a 1:1 Chromebook initiative for all 6th - 12th grade students beginning with the 2013 - 2014 school year. Every student will be assigned a device for use during the school year and will be allowed to take it home each night. The purpose of this initiative is to use modern technology tools to fully engage students and create a learning environment that fosters critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity.

This initiative comes at a very exciting time for Harmony Public Schools as we strive to provide an even more individualized learning experience for your children. As a recipient of a Race To The Top - District grant, we are restructuring our academic day to provide technology enhanced personalized learning time every day. During this time, students will use the Chromebooks to master skills that may need refining and further enhance and enrich personal areas of interest.

As you plan for the fall and joining the Harmony Public Schools family or returning for another exciting year, please be on the lookout for more information. The devices will be distributed within the first few weeks of school after a Family Information Presentation and all required documents are signed. We look forward to seeing you at one of our Family Information Sessions in the fall!

Dear Students, Parents and Guardians:

Reading and writing are essential to learn about ourselves and our world. Students will read a variety of books over the summer and engage the texts through writing. Please see the attached summer reading suggested texts and choices for response. If you have questions, please contact your English language arts teacher or school administration. Enjoy your summer and have fun reading!

Click to download Kindergarten thru 2nd grade Summer Reading Newsletter

Click to download 3rd thru 5th grade Summer Reading Newsletter

Click to download IRA Summer Reading List

The National Junior Honor Society and Team Andrew’s Heart would like to thank everyone at Harmony Science Academy who helped raise money to benefit the March of Dimes. Our team raised over $2,500 to help babies! We won 2nd place in our category for fundraising and Best Design in the t-shirt contest! We had a great turnout at the March for Babies to support this important cause that is near to our hearts.

On March 28, four HSA-Odessa students traveled to San Antonio to compete in the ExxonMobil Texas Science and Engineering Fair. They were competing against the brightest young scientists in Texas! Taylor Leblanc-Busby, Garrett Peck, Ana Trueba, and Shayna Engdahl worked very hard to make it to this point, and they represented our school well!

Congratulations to Shayna Engdahl for winning the Department of the Army Award! She is the first HSA-Odessa student to win an award at the state level!! Way to go!!

An enormous thank you goes out to every student, parent, and teacher who made this year’s Science Fair activities such a success.

Congratulations to all students who participated in the Panhandle Regional Science Olympiad on March 30th, 2013! Harmony Science Academy participated in the competition with 16 students in two teams. They all worked very hard and represented our school very well.

Click to see Award List

We had 16 students who won awards. Please see the award list in the below link. In addition, Harmony Science Academy – Odessa won the 1st Place as a team and advanced to Texas Science Olympiad in College Station.
Our Olympiad Team will all be traveling to College Station on May 2, 2013 to compete against students from around the state at the State Wide Science Olympiad! Congratulations to all of the students on their success!

Special Thanks go to Mr. Han, his team and Students' Parents!!! read more . . .

Congratulations to all students who participated in the UTPB Science Fair on Saturday! Harmony Science Academy had 30 students who participated in the competition. They all worked very hard and represented our school well.

We had 8 students who won awards. Shayna Engdahl, Garrett Peck, Taylor Leblanc-Busby, Yudith Molinar, and Amanda Carrasco won first place in their categories. Ana Trueba won second, and Nathan Peck got third place! In addition, Garrett Peck and Ruben Colomo won a special award from the National Association of Corrosion Engineers. Shayna Engdahl also won awards from the National Association of Petroleum Engineers and the Excellence in Science Award, and earned $13,000 in scholarships to UTPB and $300 in cash!

Shayna, Garrett, Taylor, and Ana will all be traveling to San Antonio on March 28 to compete against students from around the state at the Exxon Mobil Texas Science and Engineering Fair! Congratulations to all of the students on their success!

Special Thanks go to Mrs. Hurst and Students' Parents!!!

A segment of the May 13 television news show 60 Minutes included references to Harmony Public Schools (HPS) of Texas that may have left some inaccurate impressions. Please note the following facts about Harmony Public Schools, all of which were shared with 60 Minutes before the show was broadcast: Read more at Harmony Public Schools and 60 Minutes: Setting the Record Straight

Texas is celebrating "National School Choice Week" this week.

Events are planned across the state to highlight the need for enhanced education options for students.

The movement hopes to inspire parents to look at all options outside of their neighborhood schools.

There are options here in West Texas. Over the years several charter schools have popped up in our area.

Harmony Science Academy has locations across the state and 2 years ago a campus opened up here in Odessa. Parents immediately jumped on board and they say, for them, it was by far the right move.

"We make sure that every one of them goes to college," enforces Principal Emin Cavusoglu.

Click here to read and watch for more on CBS 7

From Superintendent Dr. Soner Tarim To the Harmony Public Schools Community: A disappointing article on charter schools in this week's New York Times attempts to put Harmony Public Schools in Texas in a context that is not accurate, necessitating this brief response. Many of us at Harmony Schools cooperated extensively with the Times on this story over the last several months, providing documents, interviews, tours and dozens of detailed responses to specific questions in good faith. But, as sometimes happens, the end result was not entirely what we had hoped. See the rest of Dr. Soner Tarim's response here: http://harmonytx.org/news/122/letter-to-stakeholders-on-ny-times-article/

It is the policy of the Harmony Science Academy Charter School to locate and identify any child who contacts or enrolls in the Charter School who may have a disability and be in need of special education and related services, regardless of the severity of the disability, in accordance with its procedures as reflected in the CHILD FIND legal framework of the Legal Framework for the Child-Centered Special Education Process, located at: http://framework.esc18.net/. read more...