WHS teachers participated in their first local EdCamp on January 3. Faculty members came together to share best practices, ask questions, and gain insight from one another, and the event was a huge success. Submitted by Christy English.
At the January 3rd School Board meeting, Wade Wilmouth, Commander VFW Post 4437, presented the winners of the Voices of Democracy competition for high school students and the Patriot's Pen competition for middle school students with their awards.
Pictured left to right are as follows: Deseria Boyer of WMS (2nd place), Wade Wilmoth of VFW, Atterol Walters of WMS (3rd place), Andrew Ellis of WMS (1st place), Zachary Seay of FHS (1st place), Wendy McCormick of FHS (2nd place), Melanie Nowell of WHS (3rd place), and Superintendent Russell Hughes.
Congratulations to each of these students!
Submitted by Donna Honish.
Check out this video of Representative Brad Drake visiting Emerald Coast Technical College! https://splice.gopro.com/v?id=VxJW5b
Submitted by Charlie Morse.
Teachers from Maude Saunders Elementary and Freeport Elementary participated in a differentiated instruction training at the WISE Center. Author and educator, Jodi O'Meara, provided teachers with strategies and suggestions for differentiating instruction in their classrooms to best meet the learning needs of the students. Submitted by Brianna Leavins.
Walton County School District Superintendent, Mr. Hughes visited Emerald Coast Middle School and assisted in drawing names for the school's RAYS Rewards. RAYS Reward slips are awarded to students who uphold the highest standards and expectations of ECMS. The first semester drawing included rewards such as, restaurant gift cards, Visa gift cards, movie cards, and the grand prize was an iPad. Superintendent Hughes did the honor of drawing the name of one lucky Grand Prize winner, Olivia Stange who received the iPad.
(Pictured Left to Right: Superintendent Hughes, Student Olivia Stange and ECMS Principal, Mr. Infinger.)
Submitted by Angela Vance.
Walton Middle School teachers started the new year with a new professional learning experience--Edcamp.
Edcamp is an organic, teacher-driven model that is fairly new to the professional learning scene and a paradigm shift from the traditional, sit-and-get conference style. On the day of Edcamp, teachers propose discussion topics pertinent to their day-to-day experiences in the classroom, and breakout sessions are created accordingly, evolving as the event progresses. These personalized topics yield rich, realistic, and problem-solution centered conversations among teachers.
At WMS' Edcamp, teacher-driven discussions included topics like differentiation, strategies for challenging advanced learners, parent communication, intrinsic motivation, and digital technology, among others--all relevant issues that impact classroom instruction and student learning. Throughout the day, teachers engaged in insightful, collegial conversations that helped re-ignite their passion for their profession--a great start to the new year.
Submitted by Kristen Rhodes.
Pictured Left to Right: Beckham Tripp, 1st Place in the 5th grade contest; Isabella Busby, Most Persuasive Speech in the 6th grade contest; Eanna Rodriguez-Lombardo, 2nd place in the 6th grade contest.
Submitted by Sharie Smith.
Mrs. Mills’ and Mrs. Carroll’s fourth grade classes at West DeFuniak Elementary raised money for the Walton County Animal Shelter. Students earned $0.25 for an A, $0.20 for a B and $0.10 for a C. They earned the money for math and science grades taught by Mrs. Mills. They also earned money for behavior grades. “E” or Excellent conduct earned $2.00 and “S” or Satisfactory earned $1.00. In addition, students who had straight A’s in all 4 subjects earned an extra $5.00 for the project. The students earned a total of $91.05 and one student donated $5.00 of her own money, so we ended up with $96.05 to buy items for the shelter.
With that we were able to purchase the following:
30 pound bag of dry cat food, 50 pound bag of dry dog food, a case of wet cat food (24) & a case of wet dog food (12), a 25 pound case of cat litter, a container of treats for the dogs and one for cats, cleaning supplies for the shelter, including paper towels, disinfecting wipes and magic erasers.
The students were very excited to get to do a good deed for the shelter and hope their hard work helps the animals in need this holiday season.
Submitted by Jessica Dawkins.
