Superintendent visits with students during lunch at SWHS. The Art Club entertained potential members, and shared the value of being involved at school. The other students were enjoying their 12th Day Of school and love SWHS! 
EPIC3 in motion during the Third Week! Superintendent Hughes loves seeing the babies in their element!

Heroism is a concept that has been explored in society and culture throughout time--a concept that continues to be worthy of study in ELA classes at Walton Middle School. The first unit in the eighth grade Springboard curriculum introduces the challenge of heroism. Because the word "hero" is used daily--in school, conversations, movies, video games, news, daily life--it is worthy of exploring.

In Ms. Alex Rhodes' classes this year, students are taking the time to reflect on what heroism really means as a societal and cultural concept. On WICOR Wednesday, these eighth graders spent time analyzing how a film--Disney's Big Hero 6--uses the hero's journey to structure its plot. Students closely and carefully watched the film to identify stages of the hero's journey. Ms. Rhodes' students organized their thoughts (a key WICOR concept) using a graphic organizer, recording details from the film that aligned to each stage of the archetypal hero's journey. During Wednesday's lesson, students carefully traced how the film's hero, Hiro, faces a series of challenges that become increasingly difficult as the story unfolds, mapping out the hero's "Beginning of Adventure," "Road of Trials," and "Experience with Unconditional Love." After pausing the film, Ms. Rhodes instructed students to "turn and talk," collaborating with their classmates about how key details from the film support the hero's archetype.

WICOR strategies were in full force throughout the lesson, as students "read" the film as a text, as they wrote down key details and analysis in their graphic organizers, and as they collaborated with their peers to articulate their thoughts. Students at WMS practice these essential skills across campus each and every day--but especially on WICOR Wednesdays.
Submitted by Kristen Nelson

Freeport High School students in Jason Burnham's AP Computer Science class collaborated to invent their own “number system” with symbols and rules for getting from one pattern to another. Computers store information using number systems. All commands from a user must be translated into numbers by the computer's number system. We look forward to seeing Mr. Burnham's students succeed on their AP exams in May.
Submitted by Brian Michie