District in Pictures

As of October 1, 2023, the Project Back to School program has officially transitioned to the WFISD Foundation. In 2009, Cheryl Ritchie formed Project Back to School as a way to help disadvantaged students in the community by providing them with a custom school supply kit and backpack each year before the start of a new school year. Cheryl was honored during the board meeting on Tuesday, October 10 for for her 15 years of service to Project Back to School. Thank you Cheryl for your dedication to WFISD and our community, and thank you for entrusting in the WFISD Foundation to continue your legacy!

It's that time of the year again for teachers to be able to apply for an IDEA grant! Teacher IDEA grants fund programs that encourage innovative, developmental and educational activities (IDEA). The IDEA grant application can be found online by clicking here or scan the QR code below. The WFISD Foundation is expected to award over $18,000 in IDEA Grant funding this year.

Progress is being made at Memorial and Legacy High School! On Wednesday, October 11, the WFISD Board Members had an opportunity to tour Memorial High School. We can't wait for the rest of the Wichita Falls community to see it in person!

The Culinary students from the Career Education Center had an opportunity to compete at the Texas State Fair. Congratulations to Jayleen Rodriguez for winning 1st Place and Best of Show, Thomas Genewick for winning 3rd Place, and Hailey Norfleet for winning 3rd Place.

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month and campuses throughout WFISD have been finding ways to bring awareness to others about dyslexia. Pictured below are pictures from Jefferson Elementary, McNiel Middle School, and Southern Hills Elementary.

On Thursday afternoon, members of the Legacy High School Spirit Committee had their first meeting with Legacy principal, Dr. Cody Blair. Students and parents received an update on the construction process and discussed traditions and student activities at their new high school! We can't wait to update you on their progress and share their ideas with you! Go Leopards!

Congratulations to the three Hirschi High School choir students who auditioned and made All Region Choir. Emily Minter made 7th chair Alto, Charles Ramos made 4th chair Bass, and James Hassan made 3rd chair Bass. "Kudos and congratulations to our students for their amazing voices and their success," said assistant principal, Wendy Moulds. "Another huge thanks to their Director Carissa Long for being such a great leader and inspiration!"

Ms. Abi Parker, music teacher at Franklin Elementary, got a big surprise this week after finding out that she won a $1,000 grant from Burlington Stores through AdoptaClassroom.org. Ms. Parker plans to use the funds to buy new hand percussion, props for programs, and activities for when the music, art and P.E. classes are combined for "Fun Friday."

This week's Staff Spotlight shines on Jennifer Ramey, Pre K Para at Fowler Elementary.

If you are a non-teaching staff member in WFISD, we want to feature you! Click here to complete the information form.

The Fowler Elementary first graders participated in a restaurant review this week as a way to improve their reading and math skills they have been learning. Those skills include short and long vowel sounds, the digraph TH and foundations of numbers up to twenty.

October 6 was National Instructional Coaches Day, and Rider High School made sure to show appreciation toward the Instructional Coaches on their campus. Heather Preston (English), Stacie Martin (Science), Todd Chamberlain (Social Studies), and Keri Jones (Math) were each recognized with a sweet treat!

This week's Teacher Tuesday is on Riley Hester, Math Models and AQR at Wichita Falls High School.

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WFISD Superintendent, Dr. Donny Lee, speaks with Crockett teacher, Skylar Bavousett, about skip counting

The fourth grade classes at Fain Elementary launched their PBL (project based learning) with the Monarch butterfly migration. Students will learn about the life cycle and migration of the Monarch butterflies. The fourth graders had the opportunity to have guest speakers from the Texas Master Naturalist organization to present the journey of the migration. The students were astonished about the travel and how instinctively they can travel so far. They also had an opportunity to tag and release a few butterflies so they can be monitored on their journey. As fall approaches, be on the lookout for these majestic butterflies as they travel through Wichita Falls on their way to Mexico.

Each week at Rider High School, a student from each grade level is selected as the Raider of the Week. The chosen students must have shown commitment to their education and self-discipline at school by having no tardies, no unexcused absences, and no referrals for the school year. Congratulations to Freshman- Kresee Maroney, Sophomore- Juliet Lor, Junior- Romen Peel, and Senior- Katherine Bruce.

The Read 2 Learn program officially kicked off Wednesday, October 12 for the 11th consecutive school year! Pictured below are high school student PALS reading with Southern Hills Elementary students. If you are interested in serving as a Read 2 Learn mentor, please reach out to January Cadotte at jbcadotte@wfisd.net.

Last weekend at the Wichita Falls Farmers Market the WFISD Child Nutrition team celebrated Farm to School Month by partnering up with local farms such as Morath Orchard. The WFISD food truck was on site serving up Western Burgers and hosting a free "Build Your Own Acai Bowl" station.

On Wednesday, October 11, the Franklin Elementary 3rd graders enjoyed a sweet day of learning during Bakery Day. In math, the chefs answered bakery themed math task cards and used their multiplication skills to create a yummy array treat. In science, the students created a food mixture and then separated it. The students utilized their knowledge of text structure in reading to answer questions and earn a chance to get a pie in the face! Students also used reading and sequencing strategies to cook up a bakery themed craft.

This week's Coach's Corner is on Marc Bindel, Head Football coach at Rider High School.

At Franklin Elementary, the 5th grade students in Alexis Michalski's class put their financial literacy skills to use in a Game of Life project. The students had to randomly select their "life" which included how many people are in their family and what their salary would be. Students then had to analyze their income and expenses and create a budget to fit their lifestyle. "Getting to use real like skills was a hit with the students," said instructional coach, Laura Garcia. "My favorite part of the project is getting to do something that grown ups get to do."

Under the direction of the Fowler Music Teacher Dr. Stephanie Ginnings, Fowler's 4th graders performed "I Need A Vacation" to the entire student body on Thursday night. The first grade students have been working hard on these songs for weeks. Several students had speaking parts and even solos. "The program was absolutely amazing," said assistant principal Amanda Awtrey. "Dr. Ginnings does such a wonderful job at ensuring that ALL of our students shine on stage! It was the perfect performance to kick off the year!"

This week's Fine Art's Feature is on Kaitlin Truxal, Art teacher at Booker T Washington Elementary.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the staff members at Kirby Middle School wanted to bring awareness and show support by having a "PINK Out" dress up day on Thursday, October 12.

This morning, Milam Elementary staff members enjoyed their pop-up breakfast. The staff members enjoyed breakfast pizza from Market Street and was sponsored by Union Square Credit Union. Scones, hot chocolate and coffee were also supplied thanks to Chartwells.

This past Thursday, the Hirschi High School Army JROTC program had a few students attend the North Texas ROTC Scholarship and Junior Military Academy Onboarding event hosted by the Lake Highlands High School in Dallas. The purpose of this event was to bring awareness to opportunities for JROTC, AVID and Scholar winners about programs and continued service at the college level and career opportunities from their education. Several university ROTC programs were present and students had the opportunity to engage with them about their ROTC programs and campus opportunities. Schools that were in attendance were Texas A&M, TCU, Delaware State University, Tuskegee University and UCF. Overall, the goal was to help bridge the gap between JROTC students, scholars and athletes and University-level programs.

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 feature, please let us know by completing the form at the following link: www.wfisd.net/dip. We would love to include you in our weekly district news.