District Newsletter

 The Pride

The Pride exists to update, celebrate, and inform, the community concerning weekly events at Willard R-II

October 14, 2011

 

DISTRICT OFFICE

Willard Leads State Curricular Efforts!

 

Many times it is easier to follow others than to lead the way.  Willard administrators and teachers choose to lead the way to implement change in curriculum, instruction, and assessment at the state level.  This week forty K-4 teachers and administrators from all five elementary schools collaborated with Diane Audsley, Communications Arts Consultant for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).   DESE has partnered with Willard Schools as a model district to help prepare other Missouri school districts as they begin the transition to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).   The transition in Willard coincides with work that had already begun locally in Mathematics and Language Arts at the K-4 level.  Administrators, Instructional Specialists, and teachers worked side by side throughout the process.  Work was focused to align Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) and Course Level Expectations (CLEs) to Common Core State Standards(CCSS).  The efforts will continue through the 2013-2014 school year with those assessments aligned to the CCSS beginning in 2014-2015.  It was certainly gratifying to hear Mrs. Audsley applaud Willard teachers for their broad knowledge base and familiarity with the CCSS.  Several times during the two days of training, she commended our teachers for being well ahead of other districts in the state in transitioning to CCSS.  To help Willard teachers in transitioning to CCSS, Willard Teaching Specialists have created a website with a number of resources available for their use.   These efforts by Willard Staff members will have a profound impact upon instruction throughout the state of Missouri. 

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Kent

   Dr. Kent E. Medlin
   Superintendent of Schools

 ACTIVITIES

Pardon me if I'm not the only administrator to steal the headline from today's NewsLeader for my Pride article.  "Relentless Pursuit of Excellence" was the headline for an article written about our band director, Chris Church, and the Willard band program.  Not only did it accurately describe what Mr. Church does for our district but I thought it was a perfect summation for what ALL of our programs at Willard are striving to accomplish.  Great job to Mr. Church, Mrs. Meraz, Mr. Chapman, Mr. Kauffmann, the 230+ students, their parents, and to everyone else that makes the band program a great success! Speaking of "Relentless Pursuit of Excellence", what an incredible run our softball Tigers enjoyed in the final two weeks!  The girls started last week by defeating Hillcrest on Senior Night.  That was just the beginning!  They then defeated Central in the first round of the district tournament.  They followed that by upsetting the #2 seed, Lebanon, in the semifinals and then capped it all off by beating the #1 seed, Rolla, to earn their first district championship since 2003!  Their season came to an end this Wednesday when they lost to Jefferson City in the sectional tournament.  Great job Coach Williams, Coach Reed, Coach Wattie, Coach Andrus, and all of the softball Tigers! The football Tigers are heating up!  The Tigers are now 2-0 in district play and have a huge district showdown with Glendale tonight at Willard.  The student body is excited, the players are excited, and it should be a great atmosphere at Tiger Stadium tonight! I know this is getting redundant but let's include the soccer Tigers in that group that are playing really well at the right time of the year as well!  First, the Tigers went 2-1 in the Kickapoo Invitational last weekend.  They lost 1-2 to Glendale in an overtime thriller before defeating Greenwood and Waynesville to take home 5th place in the prestigious tournament.  They followed that up with victories over Monett and COC foe, Branson, this week.  Next week, they will travel to Rogersville on Monday, to Neosho on Tuesday, and will host Catholic on Thursday. The volleytigers have survived the toughest part of their schedule and will now start to get ready for the district tournament in a couple of weeks by going to Neosho next Tuesday and to Marshfield on Thursday.  Good luck ladies! A big congratulations to our cross country tigers on their great performance at the COC meet this past Tuesday.  The boy's team finished 5th and the girl's finished 4th.  A special congratulations to Bailey Hession on earning a top 10 finish and all-COC honors! It's Good To Be A Tiger! Jeff Staley - Director of Operations

   Jeff Staley
   Director of Operations
   Willard R-2 Schools

NORTH

First grade students, teachers, and parents had a wonderful time enjoying the performance of the musical “Goldie and the Three Bears” this past week.  The first grade students did such a fantastic job! Thank you to all of those involved in making this performance such a great experience. Kindergarten students are learning about the seasons, writing fall poems, and planning a field trip to the Dickerson Park Zoo.  Second graders just published their first “opinion” piece of writing, while third and fourth graders are working on personal narratives.   Being a Tiger is GRREAT at Willard North!

Angela Stevens

Willard North Principal

ORCHARD HILLS

It has been a busy week at Willard Orchard Hills!  We are gearing up for our 2nd Annual "Run For The Orchard" 5K, One Mile Fun Run and TOT race which will take place Saturday, October 22nd.  Last year we had 240 runners participate in the various races. We are hoping for 300 this year!  Proceeds benefit WOHE and the Willard Children's Charitable Foundation. We are blessed to have 25 wonderful sponsors to the race. Students who are in high school pay their age as an entry.  Adults are $20.00 prior to the race and $25.00 on race day.  We have the Monster Hummer coming along with the Greene County Sherrif's Crime Scene Unit. We have babysitting during the 5K for those runners who wish to improve their time but need childcare.

 

Did I mention the homemade cinnamon rolls for after the race?  These tasty treats will be available along with a variety of foods and drinks for the participants. Please join us in this great event! 

 

Here is a link to the entry form or you can access it on the front page of the Willard R-II website at www.willard.k12.mo.us  Spread the word!

 

http://woheparentblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/official-entry-form5k2.pdf

 

Dr. Rhonda Bishop

Willard Orchard Hills Elementary

"Be All You Can Be at WOHE"

"2011-2012"

 

EAST ELEMENTARY

Happy Friday from Willard East! Our 2nd graders put on an awesome performance  of "Fall"-ing into Autumn last night. We had a packed house and enjoyed the evening. Great job Mrs. Kuchta and our 2nd graders!

 

As I am typing this weekly update our Prize Patrol is in action. Students who have had excellent behavior during the week have the opportunity to come down to our fully stocked prize closet and "spin" for a prize. We have up to 28 students a week choose a prize. A big thank you to Mrs. Woodall and Nurse Christina for working the Prize closet every Friday.

 

Have a great weekend!

Melinda Miller, Principal
Willard  East Elementary
518 Kime
Willard, MO 65781
Phone: 417-742-4639
Fax: 417-685-0005

CENTRAL ELEMENTARY

To steal a tagline from a local television station, WC is the place to be because we care.  I would like to thank the Willard Community, Christa Forrest, and the students and staff of WC for rallying around a family of ours that lost their home in a fire last weekend.  The donations, generosity and support that have poured in for them have been overwhelming.  Today, our students wore hats to show their support and raise money for this family.  Combined with our staff "jeans" day, over $1,000 has been collected and we are still counting!  Thank you for blessing these students and this family!!  ~ Shane Medlin, Principal 

SPECIAL SERVICES

 

The Special Services department, Sandy Gold, Director; Amy Stroder, Assistant Director; and the process coordinators-Susie Thieman, Janet Turner, Kelli Akers, and Mindy Huslig, have recently returned from the annual MO-CASE (Missouri Council of Administrators of Special Education) conference at Tan-Tar-A in Osage Beach, where they received information on a number of topics ranging from legal matters to funding to current practices in special education.  The information learned helps confirm with the department on things that are being done well and in compliance with state and federal law. New information and ideas will be shared with Special Service staff.