District Newsletter

Willard R-II Central Office The votes have been counted! It is my pleasure to announce that returning board members Mrs. Karla Shaffer and Mr. Ron Crighton along with new member Mr. Jeff Baker will complete the Willard Board of Education. Willard has been fortunate to have quality individuals serve as board members. Together, the Board of Education and administrators have worked side by side to support the Willard mission of excellence. This combination allows for a system of checks and balances resulting in community members and educators working together to support children. Currently we have a vision and a plan for the future of our district. This next year will certainly bring challenges and opportunities. I look forward to working with the new board of education in our educational efforts of continual improvement and support of Willard kids!

Have a great week!

Kent

Dr. Kent E. Medlin Superintendent of Schools

Director of Operations The Willard canoeing and fishing teams have been busy this spring but everyone else has been struggling against Mother Nature...and losing! Just kidding, we don't have a canoe team or a fishing team but it has been wet.

The choir just returned from the frozen tundra of Worlds of Fun and received some outstanding ratings. The Chamber Choir received a "I+". The Women's Choir, Men's Choir, and Concert Choir all received "I" ratings and the Freshmen Choir received a "I-". Congratulations to all students who participated!

The running Tigers are excelling this Spring and the outstanding individual performances continued the other night at the Camdenton Relays. Congratulations to Z. Thompson as not only did he finish 1st in the discus and shot put but he set a new school record in the shot with a throw of 55' 6". Also, K. Hession finished first in the 1600m, N. Pratt placed 5th in the discus and B. Childers placed 6th in the 400m.

Congratulations to the soccer Tigers on their victory over Greenwood last week. This week the ladies play Joplin McAuley at home on Tuesday, at Springfield Catholic on Wednesday and will travel to Neosho on Thursday.

A big congratulations to the baseball Tigers on their victories over Branson, Hillcrest, and McDonald Co. last week. The Tigers are now 9-6 on the season. They will have two big COC showdowns this week as they will travel to Republic on Tuesday and will host Ozark on Thursday.

It's Good To Be A Tiger!

Jeff Staley, Director of Operations

Willard High School The first week of MAP went very well at the High School. Our goals for the MAP are to provide a quality testing environment to maximize student performance and to minimize disruption of learning for the non-testing students. This week we will be finishing MAP by testing Tuesday through Thursday with the Sophomore and Junior classes.

We are rewarding students with 98% attendance or higher today (Monday) with a special dessert treat at lunch. Students with high attendance received "tickets" which entitle them to the item during lunch period. There is a strong relationship between high attendance and high grades.

Lastly, what an impressive feat our district has pulled off. As you know we have been involved in the local Oprah's Big Givecampaign. This is a student initiated campaign to raise funds for a program focused on special needs students in our district. The "Big Give" picked up momentum in our school and community, with Friday April 11th the final day of the campaign as we aimed for a goal of $5,000.00. Again , Willard Schools and community comes through as we have raised $8,000.00. This is fantastic!!! Stewart Pratt, Principal

Willard Middle School This week at the WMS we are deeply focused on the MAP test, and how we can maximize our effort, and therefore our results. We are having special prep lessons, motivational/instructional videos, and decorations around the school encouraging the students to "rock the map." While our focus is on the MAP, life goes on in many other areas as well. The first and only HOME track meet will be this Tuesday, and we hope to see as many people as possible coming out to support the kids. Also this week, WMS will be presenting "Treasure Island," which will be on Friday and Saturday at 7pm. Students who are hoping to be a part of Stuco for next year need to sign up by May 1st, and be a part of the process of making our school one to be proud of. Finally, we will be having a special treat this week, as we welcome the Watoto Childrens Choir to our campus. This is a Polynesian group, and we invite anyone who would like to hear them to come by and enjoy this unique opportunity on Thursday morning at WMS. Tom Merriott, Assistant Principal

Willard Intermediate School The Intermediate School wants to congratulate Stephanie Sechler on her initiative and success in coordinating a Willard Big Give. Our students and staff embraced the idea with a contest between our male staff to see who might have to dress up "differently" and raised nearly $1600 to contribute to the cause. In addition, the staff was very supportive of the idea to pay to wear jeans, and added a good sum of money to that cause as well. Good luck, Stephanie! Julie Germann, Principal

Willard Central Elementary WC students really "Reached for the Stars" on Friday in our MAP Test Success Kickoff Assembly. 3rd and 4th grade teachers dressed as popular stars to walk the red carpet and share advice on how students could do their best on the test. View the WC blog at <http://willardcentralkids.edublogs.org/>http://willardcentr alkids.edublogs.org to see pictures of some our special guests including Alvin and the Chipmunks and Hannah Montana. Thursday evening, our local Wendy's provided for a Willard Central PTO Night. We appreciate their support, our PTO officers work for the evening, and our families who came out to support our school. Thanks for a great evening. As we look ahead to this week, our 3rd and 4th grade students will show their learning from this year on the MAP test. They have worked hard and we are completely confident they will do a great job! Thank you for help in ensuring our students will be successful by helping them get a full night's sleep, a healthy breakfast, arriving to school on time and being present each day. Your partnership is greatly appreciated.

Here are some other things to mark on your calendar for the coming days:

April 14th PTO meeting at 6:00

April 15th-18th MAP Testing

April 24th Grandparents Day. Grade level times to be announced.

April 25th Snow Make-Up Day. Early dismissal at 12:40.

April 28th-May 2nd Teacher Appreciation Week and Book Fair

April 29th Fine Arts Night

May 2nd 4th Grade Field Trip to Jefferson City

It will be a great week as we "Reach for the Stars" on the MAP. ~ Shane Medlin, Principal

Willard East Elementary It is hard to believe that there are only 6 weeks of school left! Time flies when you are having fun!

MAP Testing Next Week: Below is the WE schedule for MAP Testing next week. Teachers and students have been preparing for these tests for a long and are ready to shine. Tuesday = Morning and Afternoon testing Wednesday = Morning Testing only Thursday = Morning and Afternoon testing Friday = Morning testing only Thank you for all your donations for snacks, treats, and student kits!!!

East Extravaganza Update: Friday May 2nd 5:30-8:00PM Food, fun, games and Teacher Fear Factor!!! We did meet our Box Top Challenge and the teachers who collected the most will take part in the Fear Factor Challenge! We are looking forward to an awesome turn out. All money raised from our auction this year will go toward classroom library books and organization of the Guided Reading Library.

Book Fair: April 28 - May 2nd before, during, and after school. This is a wonderful opportunity to add to your collection of good books a home! Please stop by anytime and check out all the neat things sold at the Book Fair.

Kindergarten Screening: Monday and Tuesday May 5th & 6th from 8:30AM - 3:00PM. Please contact our school office to schedule an appt. for your student. We are looking forward to meeting all our future Willard Tigers!

Summer School Info: Be on the look out for Summer School enrollment forms the next couple of weeks. Principal Germann and Principal Bishop will be leading summer school and have been working hard on schedules and room assignments. As soon as the information is finalized it will be sent home with your students. Summer School dates and times are June 2nd - 27th 7:30AM - 2:30PM. K-3 summer school will be at Willard East this summer.

Parents as Teachers: Just a reminder that if you are expecting a baby or have a 0-5 year old Willard R-II schools offers a parent education program named Parents as Teachers. Feel free to call our office or the PAT office(742-5490) to be enrolled for the 2008-2009 school year. My family, and many teachers throughout the district take part in this program and have found it to be very beneficial and a much needed resource for raising a toddler!

Melinda Miller, Principal

Willard North Elementary April has been the month for weather diversity! If we have not had tornadoes, it has been torrential rains and flooding and this weekend snow!! Who knows what this week will bring? Today we are geared up for the MAP test! Tomorrow is the big day and we are ready! Today we have our MAP Assembly with "Are You Smarter Than a MAP Student?" game show. Our contestants who are being supported by MAP students are Jody Carter, Ty Bills, Pat Mann and Stephanie Sechler! We will see how smart they really are! Have a wonderful week! Rhonda Bishop, Principal

Willard South Elementary We had a great crowd at our Town Hall meeting on Tuesday, April 8th. A big thank you to our school social workers and everyone who was involved in organizing this event. We also had our annual PTO Spring Carnival on Friday evening. The weather was a little chilly but that did not affect our attendance. We had lots of food, games and several silent auction items. Thanks to the hard work of our PTO and parental support we raised around $1400! This week our third and fourth graders will be taking the MAP test on April 15-18. BEST OF LUCK! Kara Crighton-Smith, Principal