District in Pictures
April 5, 2019
WFISD Invites 25 Community Members to be ‘Principal for a Day’
When a community member walks the halls of a school as “Principal for a Day,” he or she sees schools the way they really are. On Thursday, 25 community leaders participated in “Principal for a Day” by visiting an assigned campus to shadow a WFISD principal for a morning. Then everybody rendezvoused at the Career Education Center to share lunch and their experiences. Participants raved at principals who knew so many children’s names. Other comments: “I am completely inspired,” “It’s crazy to me what you’ve been able to do,” “People need to know the hearts of every one of you in education,” “You can tell the teachers care,” and “We were so busy we never sat down.” WFISD hosts this popular event twice each year. Pictured left to right: Crockett Elementary Principal Lee Ann Farris and her Principal-for-a-Day Ashley Fitzwater, KAUZ-TV anchor.
Jefferson Elementary Principal Honored as Region 9 TEPSAN of the Year
Jefferson Elementary Principal Erica Adkins was among 20 Texas school leaders recognized by the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association (TEPSA). She was named Region 9 TEPSAN of the Year. The honor confirms her outstanding service to the association and her role as a voice for Texas students. She and fellow honorees will be recognized at the TEPSA Awards Reception on June 12 in Austin. Former Jefferson principals attended a Jefferson assembly to congratulate Ms. Adkins. Pictured left to right: Sandy Camp, Pat Page, Ms. Adkins, Peter Braveboy.
Farris Early Childhood Center Assistant Principal Recognized as Region 9 Assistant Principal of the Year
Carol Gibbs, Farris Early Childhood Center assistant principal, was named Region 9 Assistant Principal of the Year by the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association (TEPSA). The peer-based award recognizes assistant principals for their commitment to student learning as shown in exceptional school leadership. Ms. Gibbs will be recognized at the TEPSA Awards Reception on June 12 in Austin. TEPSA began in 1917 and has more than 5,900 members.
Rider High School Student Receives President’s Distinguished Scholarship
A Rider High School student has received one of Midwestern State University’s most prestigious scholarships. Brooke Inman received the President’s Distinguished Scholarship, which comes with $7,000 per year. Steve Garrison presented the scholarship to her in a special ceremony. Brooke is the daughter of Reese and Kathy Inman, both former WFISD teachers. Pictured from left: Steve Garrison, Brooke, Reese Inman, Kathy Inman.
Milam Elementary Introduces Ga-Ga Ball
If you miss the old dodgeball game, you’ll be glad to know there’s a friendlier version called Ga-Ga Ball, and it’s a big hit at Milam Elementary. The game originated in Israel; Ga-Ga means touch-touch in Hebrew. With $2,000 donated by Milam’s PTO, a WFISD maintenance team installed the slab and ball pit during spring break. “Students cannot hold or throw the ball but must slap or push it,” said Milam Assistant Principal Willis Norton. Players hit the ball at each other with their hands and are "out" if the ball strikes them on or below the knee. “When hit, that player must leave the pit until the game is over. The last player standing in the pit is the winner.” Soon, physical education teachers will introduce the game in class. “Those who already know how to play Ga-Ga Ball are having a blast and teaching others during recess and after school,” said Mr. Norton.
Southern Hills Elementary Students Master King Charming’s Sight Word Challenge
Lately, Southern Hills Principal Jeremy Lopez just hasn’t been himself. Instead, he’s donned a crown and purple cape and morphed into King Charming. As King Charming, he presented a special Sight Word Challenge to the school’s children in kindergarten and to first- and second-graders to encourage them to master their sight words. “Kiddos let me know daily that they have been practicing and are ready to conquer the Challenge so they can raid King Charming’s Treasure Box,” said Mr. Lopez. “It has been well received by the students, teachers and parents alike.”
McNiel Middle School English Teacher Grades Benchmark Essays During Spring Break
English teachers know when they choose to teach English that there will be many nights spent reading and grading essays. Sure enough, McNiel seventh-grade English teacher Hannah Reames graded 160-plus benchmark essays from her seven classes during three days of her spring break so she could enter the results into Eduphoria by the deadline. Topic? The importance of keeping promises. “The techniques I taught them for their thesis statements, topic sentences and conclusions were very evident in their writing,” she said. “I was rather pleased, especially when I consider where their writing was at CBA #2!” Ms. Reames took breaks to check social media and text with fellow writing teacher Angela Baumann, who was also grading essays. “Every fourth- and seventh-grade writing teacher in the district was under the same time crunch,” said Ms. Reames.
Lamar Elementary Brushes Up on Dental Care
Lamar Elementary students will be able to brush their teeth at school, thanks to a generous gift from Blair Kaiser at Midwest Dental. She donated boxes of toothbrushes and toothpaste, which will be kept at school for all students to use. Fifth-grade teacher Jerry Taylor coordinated the donation. Pictured here from left: Blair Kaiser and Lamar Principal Amanda Garcia.
Hirschi, Wichita Falls High School and Rider Students Asked to Vote on Lunch Choices with new Chartwells K12 Program
The 3,586 students in WFISD’s three high schools were invited this week to sample two new menu items and vote for their favorite. The activity is part of “Student Choice,” a new program introduced by foodservice partner Chartwells K12. WFISD is one of 150 school districts nationwide launching the Student Choice program to bring the latest in food trends to school cafeterias. This week, students at Hirschi (pictured here), Wichita Falls High School and Rider sampled “Roost,” a classic chicken sandwich with a choice of sauces, and bok choy, a teriyaki chicken over fried rice with sweet and spicy green beans. The winner? “It’s unanimous – ‘Roost,’ a restaurant-inspired concept, is their favorite,” said Marci Spruiell, Chartwells marketing director. “Roost” claimed 70 percent of the high school students’ votes.
Spring Worms Its Way into Brook Village Early Learning Center Classrooms
Spring showers bring – what else? – worms, so Brook Village pre-K teacher Makayla Atchley made them the focus of a Worm Investigation in her classes. “The highlight was watching how each student reacted to the worms,” she said. “Some were scared. Some talked to them to make them feel safe. Others were all in, picking them up and exploring. It led to great discussions about using our senses to describe things.”
Southern Hills Elementary Art Students Partner with MSU Students in Monster Meet-Up
When Southern Hills art teacher Stacey Barton decided this would be the year she increased community involvement at her school, she came up with a way to link her art students with collegiate artists at Midwestern State University. “Too often, kids decide at an early age that their art is ‘no good,’” she said. “I wanted to combat that by showing them how their original ideas can grow if they continue in the arts.” She arranged for 25 of her second-graders to create drawings of monsters. Then MSU’s art fraternity Kappa Pi, with staff and professors, adopted each student piece and used the monster as inspiration to create a new piece. Then she scheduled a “Monster Meet Up” gallery to display the second graders’ artwork alongside the corresponding collegiate artwork. The second-graders met their collegiate counterparts to talk about what inspired them. “It was a wonderful, successful collaboration that I believe will become a tradition,” said Ms. Barton. View the art pieces, which are on display during April at Sikes Senter Mall outside the At Home store.
Sheppard Elementary Teachers Create ‘Camp Sheppard’ STAAR Review
This year, Sheppard Elementary teachers worked together to create “Camp Sheppard,” a camping-themed STAAR review. Here, third-grade students in Brittany Owens’ class used paint-dipped marshmallows to illustrate word problems. “Hands-on learning at its best!” said Lauryn Taylor.
Fain Elementary Students Beautify Campus in Master Gardener Project
The children at Fain Elementary are taking ownership of the school’s outdoor plaza by sprucing it up this spring and continuing on with maintenance. Wichita County Extension Agent David Graf arranged for Master Gardeners to come in, along with local 4H groups, to train students in gardening skills. Students put plants in bottles and worked with mulch, compost and moving dirt to raised beds. “The hope is to have some lettuce or strawberries before school is out!” said Principal Clarisa Richie. The renovated plaza will become a new learning area for science projects or any class “that wants a change of scenery,” said teacher Frank Tarver. Master Gardeners worked with students in grades 3-5 (pictured here) last week; they worked with grades K-2 on Wednesday.
Wichita Falls High School Sweeps ‘Citizen Bee’
For the third consecutive year, a Wichita Falls High School student has pulled in a win at the Texas Citizen Bee. WFHS sophomore Elie Lam won first place in the regional competition held in Edinburg, Texas, on March 22; WFHS junior Kennedy Baker won second place. Next up: the state competition in Austin on April 27. Pictured from left to right: Citizen Bee competitors Daniel Portillo, Kennedy Baker, sponsor Wendy Presson, Elie Lam, and Isabelle Jennings. The Bee is a statewide civic education competition.
Sheppard AFB Provides Base Tour – and Fun Facts
Sheppard Air Force Base recently gave a special tour of its facilities to local principals, superintendents and administrators to help them better understand Sheppard’s mission. As part of the tour, participants learned facts about the base. Did you know Amelia Earhart visited Sheppard AFB once? (She flew into what was known then as “Sheppard Field” in the 1930s.) Did you know NASA once did an emergency landing in Wichita Falls? (May 5, 1990) Did you know that NASA donated one plane to Sheppard that involves an agreement with Russia? (Russia agreed that Sheppard could have the black-and-white B52 as long as it was inoperable. Since Sheppard officials wanted to use it for training, they wanted it to work…so, according to a treaty with Russia, they removed the tail so it couldn’t fly. Russia occasionally flies into Sheppard airspace to ensure the plane is still inoperable, according to Mike Wenk, school liaison officer.)
Kirby Middle School Teachers Conclude #HappyKirbyTeachers Challenge
Teachers and administrators at Kirby Middle School latched on to “The Happy Teacher Challenge” in the month of March to prompt them to find the good in each day. Teachers received calendars marked with one happy challenge per day. Challenges ranged from “tell a student how proud you are of them” to “think of three things you do well as a teacher” and “make time to exercise.” Many teachers participated. “Some wanted to continue the course because they missed a week at spring break,” said Kirby counselor Blaire Robinson. “The teachers said this helped keep them positive and focused on finding the good in each day.” Pictured here, a Kirby teacher prepares to drop off a thank-you note to her classroom's custodians.
Farris Early Learning Center Uses Smart Start
This pre-K student at Farris Early Learning Center uses Smart Start, the school version of UPSTART, an online program that prepares children for kindergarten. All 4-year-old students at Head Start and in pre-K across WFISD use the program. “It supports math and pre-reading foundation skills,” said Letitia Willis, Early Learning principal.
Rider High School UIL Competitors Place in 14 out of 15 Contests
Rider High School students who competed in the UIL Academic District Meet in Aledo took home three first-place team awards and three second-place team awards. Rider students placed in 14 out of the 15 competitions entered and won a combined 31 individual awards. Eighteen of the 24 students advanced to the regional competition. Pictured here: Three First-place teams.
Southern Hills Teacher Uses Flowers to Teach Patterns
Teachers find all sorts of ways to incorporate spring into their lessons. At Southern Hills Elementary, pre-K teacher Dolores Zug handed out flowers and asked her students to lay them out in prescribed patterns: AB, AABB, and ABC.
Lamar Elementary 5th Grade Girls Attend Girl CODE
It’s fun to be a fifth-grade girl at Lamar. Once a week, 16 of them grab their lunches and settle into the At-Risk Coordinator’s office to learn about friendships and relationships in a group called Girl CODE. The group is designed to instill compassion, community, optimism, respect, empathy and empowerment. Pictured here, the girls show off their journals. Zundy Elementary At-Risk Coordinator Madeline Eubanks brought the idea to Lamar.
Fain Elementary Students 'Think College'
Fourth- and fifth-graders who belong to the Rocket 26/27 Clubs at Fain Elementary spent time in a recent meeting thinking about and discussing college. Too early? Never! “We stressed the importance of college preparedness at an early age and leadership qualities,” said Gonazalo Robles of @ThinkCollege.
Zundy Elementary Librarian Hosts ‘Stop, Chomp, and READ’ at Dino-Mite Book Fair
Zundy librarian Abigail Potts had such a good response to her fall book fair that she decided to offer another one in the spring and center it around dinosaurs. The theme was “Stomp, Chomp and READ at the Dino-Mite Book Fair.” The day started with a Dinosaur Dress-Up Day, with many children and teachers wearing dinosaur T-shirts. Kindergarten classes (pictured here) made their own dinosaur costumes. Then came Parent Night, complete with photo booth and a poster-drawing. Parents, students, teachers and school visitors all shopped for books at the book fair. “The kids loved it just as much as the last one!” said Ms. Potts.
Hack-a-thon Challenges Students on Friday’s Inclement Weather Day
Last Friday was a day off for students, having been set aside as an inclement weather make-up day that was not needed this year. But instead of lounging at home, 100 students in elementary, middle and high school chose to participate in a Hack-a-thon, sponsored by WFISD and Dexter Learning, held at Dexter Learning’s downtown office in Big Blue. Students worked together to use technology to create an impressive array of products, websites and presentations.
Lamar Teacher Welcomes Back One of Her First Lamar Students
Teachers love it when a former student returns to say hello. This week, Lamar teacher Angela Craft Brown welcomed back Abril, a student from Ms. Brown's fourth-grade class in 2007 during her first year at Lamar. Ms. Brown started out her education career as an aide, then went through a special program to become a certified teacher and now has logged 21 years in education. It was fun for her to photograph Abril (pictured in the back row) with her current class. “This represents the beginning and close to the end,” said Ms. Brown as she eyes retirement down the road in a few years. “Abril is truly an amazing young lady and a wonderful product of Wichita Falls.”
Southern Hills Teacher Taps Friend for Virtual Field Trip
Southern Hills teacher Kara Lemons concluded a week of lessons about the media by asking her best friend Stacie Lopez, an anchor for KTAB News in Abilene, for help. “I arranged a Google Hangout with her so she could show us around the studio and production area,” said Ms. Lemons. “Students got a behind-the-scenes look at digital media. They loved seeing the cameras, prompters and green screen. They also enjoyed asking Stacie questions about her job and how she became an anchor.”
Fain Elementary Art Teacher Shares the Secrets of Painting Pears
The pear drawings coming out of Fain art teacher Audra Roberson-Miller’s class look like still-life paintings done by students much older than third-grade. The secret? They begin by drawing their pears using one large and one small circle, then connecting them to form the pear. “Students learned to double-load their brush and to stay light around the edges, creating value,” said Ms. Miller. “After the base color, they double-loaded their brushes to create shadows.”
Kirby Middle School Teacher Replaces Note-taking with Gallery Walks
Lecturing and note-taking is so old-school. Kirby teacher Laura Checki updated her instruction by printing up her notes, cutting them into separate pieces, and posting them in random spots around her classroom. “I have found it is very effective with task cards, practice problems and QR Codes,” she said. She was inspired by Kirby teachers Jessica Toliver and Emma Beshear, who recently used gallery walks in their classrooms. “The students enjoyed trying to find the hard-to-find information,” said Ms. Checki.
Fain Elementary Hosts Flight Fair
Second-grade students at Fain invited parents and friends to their cafeteria Thursday to listen to their presentations on flight-oriented topics like Amelia Earhart and The Wright Brothers. Each presenter shook hands with the visitor, introduced themselves, asked the visitor’s name, then gave a short presentation, pointing out photos on a poster and Chromebook. They ended their presentations the same way: “Do you have any questions?” (And, yes, these were, indeed, second-graders.)
Milam Elementary Teacher Celebrates April Fool’s Day with a Joke on Students
On Monday, Milam teacher Amanda Miller told her students she made them brownies as a special treat. “They were looking forward to them all day,” said Ms. Miller. But when she took the aluminum foil off the cake pan, the students saw a pan full of brown construction paper Es. April Fools! “Let’s just say they were not impressed when they saw their brown Es,” she said. But that wasn’t the end of the story. “Don’t worry. We ended the day with real brownies,” she said.
#WFISDchats Going Strong All Year; Six More to Go
WFISD teachers have embraced their Monday night digital meet-ups on Twitter called #WFISDchats. With the year winding down, six more chats remain. They’ll be led by Nia Gonzales (topic: new teachers), Shera Rasmussen, Amy Janjgava, Frank Murray, Shannon Cunningham (topic: instructional strategies) and Heather Preston (topic: summer plans for relaxation and growth). “The chats have made me a better teacher, which is what I was hoping for, but I’ve built such important friendships throughout the process as well,” said Mrs. Preston. “That is probably what surprised me the most.” Another benefit: Mrs. Janjgava started a monthly book club with #WFISDchat participants. The chats will resume next year, with the first moderator and topic already lined up. Mrs. Preston has curated some of the chats on her Wakelet profile at https://wakelet.com/@HPrestonEdu.
#IAMWFISD
District in Pictures is a weekly publication developed by the WFISD Community Relations department. If you have events, recognitions or classroom activities taking place on your campus that you would like us to cover, please let us know by emailing Ashley Thomas at athomas@wfisd.net or Ann Work Goodrich at awork@wfisd.net. We would love to include you in our weekly district news. (Please know that we will do our best to cover every story idea submitted but it may not be possible to include everything every week due to time constraints.)
Email: athomas@wfisd.net
Website: www.wfisd.net
Location: 1104 Broad Street, Wichita Falls, TX, USA
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