Willard Intermediate students are geared up for MAP testing next week.  Today, the students were fired up by our High School cheerleaders, some of our champion athletes from the basketball and wrestling teams, and by Coach Wickwar!  If he can’t motivate you to do your best, no one can!  Good luck to all our students, this is their chance to show their stuff!

It’s apparent from the flurry of planning meetings going on around the building that we are looking toward the home stretch of our first school year.  We have many activities in the works, a Library Night, an Art, Writing and Talent Show night, Cardinals baseball, Career Fair and field trips.  All of these things are only possible through the extra efforts of many of our staff who are willing to step up and take on these extra things for our students.  We appreciate their willingness to do these things to give our students some special opportunities to remember Intermediate School by!

Students and teachers are back after a restful and fun spring break.  Everyone is hard at work making preparations for the state MAP test which WIS students will take on April 17th,18th and 24th, 25th.  More information to come your way!  Our spring pictures will be taken on Monday.  Bring your best smiles.  This will be both individual and class picures. 

Mrs. Morris and the WIS honor choir put on a wonderful performance last night.  This group will also be performing at an upcoming Springfield Cardinals game in May.  5th grader Carter Havens will represent Willard in the KY3 spelling bee this weekend.  We wish him the best of luck!

Hmm, spring means Mrs. Germann has already forgotten how to post a blog!  Usually, we think of spring when we see robins, budding trees and flowers starting to bloom.  Anyone who works in schools knows you can tell spring is here by the activity level of the students!  Intermediate school is no exception!  There are some rites of passage beginning to take place here that tell me the end of the year is coming soon.  Our sixth grade have been meeting, filling out schedules and taking placement tests to prepare for Middle School.  We’re also planning some transition activities for our students across the district who will be making their trek to another building next year.  Spring also means baseball, and Mrs. Morris, our music teacher is coordinating a “Willard Intermediate Night” with the Springfield Cardinals.  Our honor choir will be singing the national anthem, and we’ve sold over 200 tickets and are starting on our 2nd batch of tickets!  If you’re interested in joining us, please contact the office when we get back from spring break!

 If you were to walk the halls of our building today, you might think you were in a time warp!  Social Studies classes in 6th grade study world history, and the Blue team is wrapped up in Greek history, literally, right now.  Some students and even their teacher, Mrs. Herron, wrapped up in toga fashion to represent the attire of Greece in early history.  Other classes have also been involved in various periods of world history, as the halls are decorated with castles, maps of kingdoms, coats of arms and other items from mid-evil history. 

When I was young, one of my favorite things about grade school were our spelling bees.  Thursday, the Intermediate School held a Spelling Bee with a representative from each of our 23 classrooms, and the competition was lively!  After 4 rounds, the competition was down to three students, then two.  Those two battled for over 20 minutes before a victor claimed the title of winner of our first ever building spelling bee.  Congratulations to Carter Havens who was crowned our spelling champ, and congrat’s, too, go to Amanda Bradley who gave him a spirited run for his money, and to Matt Gaede, who finished as our 2nd alternate.  Carter and Matt are 5th graders, and Amanda is a 6th grader.  We wish them good luck at the next level, which will be a county event on Monday. 

Julie Germann, Principal

Most parents take for granted that school starts at 8:20 and ends at 3:30 here at the Intermediate School.  In fact, on any given day, you’ll find staff meetings, tutoring and club events that start as early as 7:15 in the morning, and continue on until 5:00 in the afternoon!  All of these things happen only because of the hard work of our staff, who give up their time at home to go the extra mile for our kids!  I appreciate all of their efforts to make our school a better place for kids to learn! 

Julie Germann, Principal

Last night WIS celebrated with the second graduating class of the D.A.R.E. program.  We appreciate the hard work these students have put into learning how to better themselves and make positive choices in their life.  A special thanks to Chief McClain for his efforts in this program and to all who were in attendance for this event.  We hope everyone has a great weekend! 

Tom Davis, Assistant Principal

Willard Intermediate held their first ever student recognition assembly today, and with the help of some creative teachers entertaining the students, we were “blazing” with student successes.  Over 150 students scored in the advanced category on the MAP test last year, nearly 1/2 of our students earned honor roll status, over 60 students have perfect attendance, plus a host of other classroom and team awards were given.  I’d also like to say a BIG THANK YOU to some of our business partners.  Conco Quarries continues to support teacher grants, Mrs. Brenda Ball and Ball Paving recently donated some items to help our students, and last night at the basketball game I learned that we are receiving a $1000 grant from Walmart, thanks to Mrs. Rhonda Parker, a parent and department manager of one of our area Walmart stores.  What would we do without the additional support of great folks and businesses like these! 

Julie Germann, Principal