District in Pictures

Congratulations to the December Teacher Spotlight Award winner, Adam Wood! This monthly award is sponsored by First Bank and News Channel 6 KAUZ, and recognizes a teacher who goes above and beyond in the classroom. Mr. Wood is a 6th grade Math teacher at Barwise Middle School. Thank you to our PIE partners River Bend Nature Center, Star Brite Cleaners, Frank & Joe's Coffee House and Market Street United for providing gifts to our monthly winners!

Joy and Jolly, two of Franklin Elementary's elves, left the fourth-grade students with a fun activity to do on Friday. The elves provided them with a large sheet of paper featuring holiday characters to color, giving them a chance to be creative and embrace their inner child. Mrs. Bodkin remarked that regardless of their age, "children always enjoy coloring and just being kids!"

Last Saturday, nine middle school art students joined WFISD high schoolers at Midwestern State University for the Steamroller Print Event. The students spent the past two weeks designing and carving wood boards for this event. The middle schoolers were able to work with high school and college-aged volunteers to print their carved woodcuts on the MSU printing presses. They printed five pieces each and a t-shirt with their design.

The work created by the middle school students and their teachers will be on display at the MSU Fain Fine Arts Center and in the art lounge of Wichita Falls Museum of Art through January 19.

The middle school art teachers who participated were Jennifer McLarty and Shawn Ramos. The Barwise student participants were: Anni Jeschek, Betzy Morales, and Chloe Combs . The Kirby student participants were: Diana Martinez, Lillian Chavez and Alexa Becerra. The McNiel student participants were: Braelyn Diaz, MaKynna Hadley, and Xander Rivers.

On the Friday before Thanksgiving break, Zundy hosted their Fall Talent Show. They had 21 student performers from 1st-5th grade singing, dancing, and playing piano! Such talented students! Emcee's DJ Travey (Ms. Trevino, Instructional Coach) and DJ MJ (At-Risk Coordinator, Maurice Jordan) led the event and got the kids hyped up and excited to support their peers!

WFHS and Hirschi choir directors, Sarah Cook and Carissa Long, traveled together with their students to Mineral Wells last Friday for pre-area choir auditions. Hirschi had 2 students, James Hasson and Charles Ramos, who qualified for Area auditions and one first alternate, Emily Minter. WFHS had 6 students, Senon Cabrera, Noe Castro, Grace Cuellar, Ilyanna De la Rosa, Ava Fukasawa, and Luke Meador, who qualified for Area auditions and one first alternate, Dajuan Rankin. Congratulations!

Two of the Wichita Falls High School E-Sports teams made it to the playoffs last week with the following results:

The Overwatch team won their first playoff match and played again on Dec 5th. They also played in a college recruitment match on Sunday that they won 3-0.

The Rocket League team lost their playoff match, but it was still an amazing feat to have made it to the playoffs out of 40+ teams!

Top image is the Overwatch team: Front left to right - Callum Burke, Dayton Jernigan, Hayden Williams. Back left to right - Phoebe McAlister, Angel Chacon, Nova Daniel, John Morrell.

Bottom image is the Rocket League team: Left to right - Yael Hernandez, Caleb Bean (Mathematics teacher & E-Sports coach), Natalie Dickerson, Noah Re.

Congratulations to both teams!

Brandi Rye, a Pre-K teacher at Sheppard Elementary, was recently named a recipient of the Christmas Came Early event, thanks to KFDX and Hamilton Bryan. Mrs. Rye, who tragically lost her husband in September, received $500 to make her and her children's Christmas a little brighter. Despite her personal loss, Mrs. Rye has used her grief to help others in similar situations, which was why her friend Sheila Hare nominated her. “I can’t think of anybody more deserving than her to have this help at Christmas,” said Sheppard Elementary School Principal Cindy Waddell.

Photo courtesy of KFDX-TV3

GT Teachers, Alison Colemere & Shasta Smith, were awarded an IDEA grant this year for their proposal, "Persevering Puzzlers." The teachers sought to provide a variety of critical thinking and spatial reasoning games for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade TAG students. This week, the 4th and 5th grade students had their first experience with these games! Students enjoyed playing against each other, working together, and reasoning independently to find solutions. Both teachers are thankful for the opportunity provided by the WFISD Foundation and look forward to utilizing these games for years to come.

This week, Dr. Ginnings' music class at Fowler Elementary was a huge hit with the students. They were able to make music from the Nutcracker using Boomwhackers - lightweight, color-coded, plastic tubes that create a musical pitch based on their length. The children followed the color-coded keys to bring the music of The Nutcracker to life.

The Mental Health Practicum students from the CEC took a trip to the Wichita Falls Area Food Bank. They helped out by packing the Power Packs that go home with students every Friday to ensure they have something to eat. "We learned about how students are chosen and what other opportunities there are in our community to get food if it is needed," said Mental Health Practicum teacher, Gretchen Nielsen. "I want them to understand when we talk about mental health there are factors we don't always consider, and food insecurity is a big one."

At McNiel Middle School, students in Shannon Huffman's art class recently displayed their impressive felt sculptures of food. This engaging project required students to utilize math and precise measurements when constructing the sculptures from scratch. The young artists used their imagination and problem-solving abilities to bring their creations to life. Among the amazing sculptures were a container of fries and a cup of ramen noodles made by Nick Owen and Liam Almanza, respectively. Riley Mande and Aniyah Waters made sushi, and Cherish Sullivan created a bubble tea. The class also featured other impressive sculptures, such as donuts, pizza, and shawarma.

Barwise staff members Shari Torrence, Chelsey Fanchier-Alsup, and Evelyn Jaramillo enjoying the Book Fair Preview Breakfast, sponsored by Barwise PTO and presented by Kristan Neeb, Barwise Instructional Media Specialist.

This week's Staff Spotlight shines on Kelly Strenski, Director of Fine Arts.

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

Elf Day was a blast for Mrs. Rallis' PreK class at Fowler Elementary, especially when they got to try out the Elf Milk Magic experiment. By pouring elf milk into a bowl and adding red and green food coloring, students were able to create their own "elf magic." After dipping Q-tips into the mixture and then placing them in the bowl, they made predictions about what would happen next. They were amazed as the "elf magic" caused the milk to separate from the dye. It was a joy to watch them make predictions and see the experiment come to life!

This week's Fine Arts Feature is on Grace Weaver, Art Teacher at Barwise Middle School.

Mrs. Marker's 2nd grade class modeled their 3D shapes in math class this week!

On Thursday, the Scotland Park Choir, comprised of 3rd-5th grade students, shared the holiday spirit throughout the community. The choir performed at several facilities, including Senior Care Health and Rehab, Brookdale Sikes Lake, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Texoma Christian Care Center. Brandon Barnett serves as Scotland Park's choir director.

At Cunningham, students celebrated a fun dress-up day with a Santa and Mrs. Claus theme. Mrs. Dean's second-grade class joined in the festivities. Santa, Mrs. Claus and even a few elves made an appearance in the Cunningham classroom!

Wichita Falls ISD band members made a notable presence at the Big 12 Championship Game this Saturday. Two former senior drum majors, who have seamlessly transitioned into the next phase of their band careers, had the remarkable opportunity to join their university marching bands in a performance alongside the Grammy Award-winning artist, Nelly, during the halftime show.

Sarah Johnson, from the Rider Pride of the Raiders (Class of 2023), now lends her musical talents to the Oklahoma State University Cowboy Marching Band. Baxter Naylor, from the Hirschi Big Blue Band in Husky Land (Class of 2023), has found a new home in the University of Texas Longhorn Band.

Expanding the roster of Rider graduates in the Cowboy Marching Band are Jordan Tolleson and Catherine King. The collective talent of these students underscores the strong representation of Wichita Falls ISD bands on the grand stage of the Big 12 Championship Game.

This week's Teacher Tuesday is on Melissa Saisuwan, Reading/Language Arts teacher at McNiel Middle School.

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Rider Choirs have multiple trips this week. And, with all the busyness of the season, there was a mishap in ordering the right bus on the right day. Durham Transportation came to the rescue and got a bus just in time for Rider Varsity Choir to sing at Presbyterian Manor. "Rider Choir says a BIG 'THANK YOU' to our bus drivers who serve us so often in the holiday season. Marie (pictured here) who drives Route 1, we appreciate you so much!" said choir teacher, Ms. Norman.

This week's Coach's Corner features Clint Nabors, assistant football and soccer coach at Rider High School.

Thank you to Grand Canyon University for sponsoring this week's pop-up breakfast at Kirby Middle School. On Tuesday morning, staff members were treated to breakfast pizzas from Market Street and warm scones and coffee courtesy of Chartwells.

The last Facebook Live event of the semester is scheduled for next Thursday, December 14 at 5:30 pm. If you have questions that you would like superintendent Dr. Lee to address, please email them to Communications Officer Ashley Thomas at athomas@wfisd.net.

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.