About Sundown Elementary

In addition to regular Pre-K-5 classes, Sundown is home to a districtwide bilingual program for students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and a preschool program for children with disabilities. Opened in 1982, it was one of Katy ISD’s first elementary schools to create its own website.

Teachers at every grade level use flexible grouping and varied instruction to maximize learning throughout the school day.  Each teacher has received a minimum of six hours of training in gifted-talented instruction.  Sundown’s family atmosphere is enhanced by parent volunteers who provide workroom and library assistance, tutor students, sell spirit items and publish the school’s newsletter.

Sundown offers extended-day academic tutorials for students in grades 2-5.  The REACH (Reading Empowers All Children) program, which provides intensive reading instruction in the early grades, is offered in English and Spanish. Sundown also sponsors a Spanish-language family literacy program aimed at helping students and their families develop and increase literacy skills through direct reading and writing instruction. In addition, Parent Academies in reading and language arts are offered for both English and Spanish-speakers.  Parent involvement in student reading success is further encouraged by sending the informational booklet titled A Child Becomes a Reader home with every student in kindergarten and first grade.

Students at Sundown participate in a variety of exciting instructional and enrichment programs: daily math problem-solver activities; Junior Achievement; Accelerated Reader; E-Courses (accelerated instruction) for fifth graders in math, social studies, language arts and science; Challenge (gifted and talented); DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education); grade level field trips; production of a school yearbook; and other activities. Sundown participates in the district-sponsored KEYS (Keep Encouraging Youth Toward Success) program, in which adult volunteers come to the campus on a weekly basis to provide one-on-one tutoring.

Awards and Honors

• Title I Exemplary Campus
• Third place winner in Sons of American Revolution poster contest, 2006
• Katy ISD Elementary Teacher of the Year, 2002
• Recognized by "Just for the Kids" for academic excellence in reading, 2000
• Website named the first-ever "Cool School of the Week" by Education World, 1997;  recognized as a "Bright Site" by South Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium.

School Report Card Data

2007-08 TAKS Scores

• Grade 3
• Reading: 99.0%
• Math: 91.3%
• Grade 4
• Reading: 92.5%
• Math: 95.7%
• Writing: 96.7%
• Grade 5
• Reading: 97.9%
• Math: 96.0%
• Science: 83.8%
  
  
• 2008 Accountability rating: Recognized