Last Sunday I had the opportunity to sit by one of my former High School Teachers. (Yes this was in a district that will remain nameless due to the fact that I could receive hate mail!) Mr. Brashers will be starting his 40th year in education next year. He is one of those teachers that I look back on with great respect and admiration. I am sure that every one of us remembers those special teachers that cared enough to share their life with us. Our district students are blessed because they have many, many of those types of teachers here at Willard. The vast majority of our teachers are not only quality teachers they are great people. One of the greatest rewards is to get a note or an e-mail from a former student that simply says thanks for being their teacher.

It is not possible to express my appreciation to the efforts of our teachers. The countless hours, tears, sacrifice of family time, etc. that is offered by all of you is priceless to our students. Our Master Teachers are never satisfied with their present level of performance. They are always looking to find new techniques and skills that can help them teach in the classroom. The key to every successful effort that we put forth for student learning finds success or failure because of the classroom teacher.

Thanks to each and every one of you for all you do!

Kent

Wow!  It’s hard to believe that two weeks have gone by since our last post to the Pride!  Let me tell you, we have a lot to report! 

Of course we are finished with all MAP testing for this year!  The kids did an AWESOME job during the tests! We are proud of the fact that we are the only school in Missouri that still has the MMAT!  Actually it stands for Map Motivation and Teamwork!  Our team did a great job of encouraging all that were participating in the tests!

Then we had Secretary’s Day!  We appreciate Mary Crighton and Nikki Stokes so much!  They are truly the heart of our school. 

 Wednesday, April 25th, Willard North was proud to sponsor our 3rd Annual Locks of Love Event!  This year, 34 people cut their hair for the cause!  It was a wonderful event.  Thanks to our local hairstylists Angela, Jennifer, Lori, Toni and Terri for coming and cutting ponytails and giving free haircuts!  Thanks to Carolyn, Stephanie and Robin for also helping cut ponytails!  Thanks also goes to Carah Patterson ,Stephanie Yates, Angela Stevens and Laura Hurd for the makeovers!  Lifetouch photography took pictures of the girls which are just awesome!  Thanks to all for making this a community event!

Friday, April 27th our 3/4th grade Honor Choir sang the National Anthem at the Springfield Cardinals Game.  They also held a wonderful concert on May 1oth at Willard North.

Kindergarten Screening was held April 30th and May 1st.  We are so excited about next years class!

On May 1st, our kindergarten class held their spring concert on the big stage at Willard High School!  They did an amazing job!  The facilities were awesome!  Thanks to Mr. Tuck, Mrs. Chappell, and Willard High School for letting us use it!  Also thanks to John K and Matt M for the lights and sound!

On May 5th we held our annual Track and Field Day!  The events went great!  The threat of weather stayed away and we enjoyed a fantastic day.  Thanks to Coach Bills for putting on a terrific activity!

This afternoon, First Grade will host their Mother’s Day Tea.  The students are very excited to show their Mother’s their talent and the gifts they have made.  Bring on the kleenex!  It’s bound to choke you up!

Happy Mother’s Day to all our Mom’s!  You do so much for us!  Enjoy your special day with your family!

Rhonda Bishop, Willard North Principal

Teacher Appreciation Week was celebrated this week.  Thanks to the many efforts of our PTO, WC Teachers were spoiled with little goodies everyday this week, words of encouragement, the royal spa treatment, and a great luncheon on Friday.  Thank you to Mrs. Bull and the other PTO parents for helping set up all of these activities to recognize and pamper our teachers. 

At our Community Time on Monday, we recognized the WC Teacher of the Year and Staff Member of the Year.  Mrs. Shannon Roberts was honored as our Teacher of the Year for her positive attitude, professionalism, and contagious energy.  Mrs. Roberts is a Special Education Teacher who does amazing things as she works with students with autism.  Mrs. Michelle Miller, our BASE aide, was recognized as our Staff Member of the Year for her helpful and positive attitude.  Mrs. Miller collaborates with teachers and supports students from kindergarten to 4th grade.  She is ready and willing at a moments notice to help in any situation.  WC greatly appreciates these fine educators and their hearts for students.  Congratulations on this much deserved award.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the WC PTO Carnival last Saturday.  It was a great day full of fun and excitement.  Thank you to the PTO for their tireless efforts in setting up such a great event!  We are blessed to have such wonderful parent support.

As we look ahead, WC will have their Field Day on May 24th.  Our 4th Quarter Terrific Tiger Celebration will be at 9:00 on Friday, May 25th.  We will dismiss early on this last day of school at 12:40.  Please join us as WC is “On Track for Success” for a wonderful end to a wonderful school year.

Shane Medlin, Principal

Wednesday evening, our 6th grade honor choir, under the direction of Mrs. Dina Morris, had the opportunity to sing the National Anthem at the Springfield Cardinals game.  We also enjoyed seeing some of our students who are members of the Willard Diamondettes who were involved in the “Field of Dreams” recognition.  Special thanks to Cheryl Buttram, who helped coordinated tickets sales (over 400 tickets sold!), and helped organize the event.  It turned out to be a great night, no rain, and a fun time for our kids.  Only thing better would have been a win for the ‘baby birds’.

Willard High School Special Services would like to thank Mike Crocker, Zoo Director, and Angela Gibson, zoo keeper, from Dickerson Park Zoo.  Mrs. Poulson’s Transition Class has been participating in a community-based program with the zoo and with the support of both Crocker and Gibson.  Students have been helping with clean-up of ice storm debris, trash pick-up and cleaning of various buildings at the zoo.  Each week when the duties have been completed, Angela Gibson provided our students with a zoo enrichment activity which included feeding lemurs and giraffes, observing monkeys being fed, and a very special visit to the lion’s den.  We appreciate the special treatment given to our students, which will contribute to the many wonderful memories from this zoo experience. Five students from Mrs. Stonebarger’s Life Skills class also had animal experiences this past Tuesday as they visited the Gold home where they met Penny, a thirteen year old palomino Fox Trotter mare and Spunky, her four-year old offspring.  Learning hands-on how to pet and groom a horse while remaining safe, were components of this visit.  Mrs. Stonebarger and paraprofessionals Aimee Sims, Mitzi Albert, and Jenifer Irwin had instructed students by reading books about horses and reinforcing safety issues.  The students were well-prepared for their visit and used their newly-acquired skills with Penny.  Sounds of laughter and even groans were heard as  students hand-fed carrots to Penny and watched as horse-slobbers and carrots were flung everywhere.  This horse visit was such an enjoyable event for students, staff and parents who attended, and even for Penny.  She hasn’t been spoiled so thoroughly in a long time!

This could be long…..but it’s only because we’re GOOD!!!

Congratulations to the baseball Tigers on their extremely successful reagular season. They finished up with a 18-4 record and finished 2nd in the COC. The boys will start district play as the #1 seed on Monday in Bolivar. They will face Aurora in the first round with game time at 12:00. Semifinals are on Tuesday and Finals are on Thursday. Two other items of note in baseball. First, the Tigers have jumped to 5th in the state rankings this week and second, we all wish Coach Hartley good luck at his new job. Coach Hartley is trading in his tiger stripes for bobcat stripes as the new head coach at College of the Ozarks. We thank Coach Hartley for running a first class operation for 22 years!

A big congratulations to the soccer Tigers on their huge COC win over Nixa this week. The girls have a lot of momentum heading into district play. We will be hosting the district tournament and it will kick off this Saturday with the Lady Tigers entering as the #2 seed in the tournament. They will play Marshfield at 9:00am. Semifinals are on Monday and Finals will be next Wednesday.

The track Tigers had a successfull COC meet as the boys team finished 4th overall! The district meet is this Saturday in Carl Junction with the top 4 finishers in each event moving on to Sectionals. Individual results at the COC meet were as follows:

1st place – Z. Thompson, shot put; J. Carpenter, long jump

2nd place – J. Carpenter, high jump and 110 hurdles

3rd place – B. Childers, 400m

4th place – K. Hession, 1600m; J. Carpenter, triple jump; D. Harr, pole vault

5th place – A. Scarlett, 100m

8th place – D. Childers, 3200m

Mark Lawley and his choir students are at it again! 37 Willard Choir students earned top Honor I ratings at eh State Music Festival! Those earning “I” rating on their solos were:

B. Lyons, B. Lawley, H. Masters, G. Bolton, L. Slown, C. Bolin, L. Warren, S. Scott, and B. Badger.

Students earning “I” ratings on their ensembles were:

R. Askren, R. Bodine, J. Carleton, G. French, G. Bolton, B. Lawley, S. Yonke, H. Masters, B. Lean, S. Thedell, L. Thedell, N. Harr, T. Craft, J. Kennard, N. Adams, G. Adams, C. Moore, M. Tuck, A. Malarkey, A. Malarkey, E. Malicoat, L. Nadeau, M. Bock, A. Adams, C. Robinson, M. Bolton, L. Wagner, K. Burch, H. Sherertz, A. Lechner, B. Ballance, and L. Sloan.

It’s Good To Be A Tiger!

Jeff Staley, Director of Operations

Friday Governor Blunt signed Senate Bill 376.  This bill enables schools to accept forgiveness days due to the “Great Ice Storm of 2007.”  This ended a very long process that started soon after the storm.  It has taken me all of about 20 seconds to accept this decision which will allow us to have our final day of school on May 25th!  (Things sometimes work a bit quicker here compared to the Government!)  Willard offers a huge Summer School Program to children and this will allow us to better prepare for that to be a success. 
 

It is my pleasure to announce that Mr. Stewart Pratt has accepted the position of High School Principal for the 2007-08 school year.  Stewart is well known by many in our school district.  In the past he has spent 6 years teaching for our district.  Stewart is currently serving as Assistant Principal/Athletic Director in Branson.  Stewart brings experience, energy, and a passion for our community to the table.  I believe he will make a powerful addition to our administrative team, our K-12 program, and our community.  Please join me in congratulating him as a new addition to the best team of educators around!

      GROWL NIGHT ‘07  was a big success.   The middle school alone raise over $6800.  Thank you for to all who helped and attended!

 May 10th the Willard Middle School will have a parent meeting to

review the year and learn about the upcoming bond issue. 

The meeting will start at 7:00 p.m. in the MS library.  Hope to see you there!

What: Annual end of the year Sock Hop, Live DJ, dinner, prizes, live and silent auctions.

Who: Everyone looking for fun, games, prizes, and to be a part of one the biggest thematic basket auctions of the year!

Where: Willard East Elementary

When: Tomorrow, Saturday May 5 4:00PM – 7:00PM

Additional information: If you would like to volunteer to help with Willard East Field Day next Friday, please contact your child’s teacher or call and sign up with Betty or Nikki.

Have a great weekend and we will see you at the Sock Hop!

Melinda

We tried our best to set a new record for how many different activities we could fit into one week!  Monday, we celebrated our year’s worth of art, writing and talent with a very successful Fine Arts Night, capped off with the first ever Talent Show.  We had guest appearances by Sonny and Cher, Ike and Tina Turner, The Judds, Dolly Parton, and Elvis Presley who all assisted in the introductions of our very talented fifth and sixth grade performers.  Thanks to all our staff who contributed to making the evening a success.  The Book Fair has been going on all week, and the kids have enjoyed having the chance to shop for their favorite books.  Wednesday our sixth grade enjoyed a slightly soggy but fun trip to St. Louis, where they saw several “cool” displays and activities at the Science Center and the Zoo.  Thursday, our last group of fifth grade students completed their requirements for the DARE program, and went through their DARE graduation.  Thanks to Police Chief Tom McClain for spending his time with our kids for this valuable experience.  Today, we’ve enjoyed sharing our “facilities” with the children and staff at Willard North, while their water was shut off. 

With the NBA Playoffs in full swing, I have something thing to keep my interest as I stay up late working.  As Marv Alberts and Steve Kerr relive some of the greatest moments and teams in NBA history, the 6 Chicago Bulls’ Championships in the 1990’s come up often.  Besides Michael Jordan, one of the main reasons for the Bulls’ success was Phil Jackson’s Triangle Offense.  When their team worked together, this 3 pronged approach provided options and support that made the Bulls virtually unstoppable. 

Willard Central is blessed to have the triangle offense of Parents/Community/Teachers to ensure student success.  It has been wonderful to watch the flawless execution of the ”Willard Central Triangle Offense” this week.  Tuesday evening was our Family Science Night hosted by the WC Science Cadre.  Local businesses related to the science field along with students and teachers from all grade levels flooded our gym to learn some amazing and interesting facts and perform experiments.  The evening was a wonderful event with about 500 people in attendance.  

Tomorrow, Saturday, May 5th, this Triangle Offense will be in full swing again with the WC PTO Carnival from 11:00-2:00.  The Community has so been generous with their resources and our PTO parents have been working tirelessly to ensure an amazing time will be had by all.  There will be food, entertainment, games, inflatable equipment, a dunk booth (manned by teachers, custodians and yours truly), a car show and AMAZING raffle baskets.  Please plan to join us as we raise money to enhance the technological resources of students at Willard Central. 

It is amazing to see the wonderful things that happen for kids when Parents, Teachers and the Community work together to support them.  Our students are blessed to be part of such a supportive school community!!  We are our own dynasty in the making.

Willard Central is “On Track for Success!!”
Shane Medlin, Principal