Willard East April 17th
Willard Central April 9th
Willard Orchard Hills May 6th
Willard North April 18th
Willard South April 16th |
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The Great Egg Hunt
March 23
9 a.m.
Moved to the
Recreation Center!!
Willard Parks and Recreation will be hosting our annual Great Egg Hunt on March 23rd. Come join us for this FREE community event that is fun-filled with games, contests, jump houses and of course our Great Egg Hunt with the Easter Bunny.
For more information contact Amanda Allen at 417-742-2262 or email us at [email protected].
We look forward to seeing everyone there!
J.C. Loveland
Community Service Director
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Music is Key to Being Willard
This week we were notified that the Willard R-II School District was selected as a recipient of Best Community for Music Education Award. National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) selected Willard along with 300 other districts in a nationwide analysis based on criteria of level of staffing, minutes in music class, participation ratio, and academic strength. This is an incredible accomplishment and speaks volumes on the K-12 vocal and instrumental music educators we have in our district. I think our music educators would agree the strength of our music programs go beyond the work of the instructors and students.
If you spend very much time in Southwest Missouri, music is a big piece of our heritage. It is a given that students K-12 are asked to perform in numerous locations and events. The love of music is supported well beyond the school. If you haven't visited our local religious congregations for an Easter, Christmas or musicals, you have missed out on some incredible performances, and many students are encouraged and supported to participate. Our local religious organizations play a big role in fostering a love of music. Willard's 4th of July Celebration always has a music component with a local band and individual performers. The success Willard has in music is due to many people working in concert (pardon the pun). I congratulate our students, K-12 music faculty, and our community for being honored by NAMM.
Have a great weekend
Stewart Pratt
Assistant Superintendent |
I'm not going to complain about the weather....I'm not going to complain about the weather....I'm not going to complain about the weather.........
Whew! That was difficult!
Our Tigers have somehow maintained very busy even though mother nature has not been cooperating. Here is the latest on our incredible student/athletes.
In the sport world, the baseball Tigers had a huge win over Bentonville, Arkansas last weekend before falling to Warrensburg and Joplin. They were suppose to play Glendale and Aurora this Saturday but it doesn't look promising. Next week, they will host the Willard Lead-Off Tournament starting on Thursday and running through Saturday. The soccer Lady Tigers defeated Rogersville this week to start their season 1-0! They will host Hillcrest next Monday before traveling to Joplin on Thursday and back at home vs. Marshfield on Friday. Congratulations to Alli Frazier on breaking the school record in the shot put on her very first throw as a Tiger last week in Warrensburg. Several track athletes will be going to Columbia this weekend to compete before going to their first full varsity meet next Thursday in Carthage.
We took 18 students to compete at the DECA State Leadership Conference & Competition, and have some great results to report. We now have 3 international qualifiers and a scholarship winner!
Our international qualifiers who will compete in Anaheim, CA, are:
Robert Mitchals (2nd in Principles of Finance)
Katie Larson (6th in Principles of Marketing)
Hunter Hein (top 2 in the Regional Virtual Business Challenge)
Jessica Albright received the Kent McDaniel Memorial Scholarship in the amount of $1000. This scholarship is in memory of a past Missouri DECA Board President and Springfield Parkview DECA chapter advisor, Mr. Kent McDaniel. The winner exemplified a student whose life has been positively impacted as a result of her involvement in Marketing and DECA, and she received extremely strong recommendations.
Here are the District Theatre results: Congratulations to Brock Andrus, Reagan Drake, and Kimberly Jones for their being selected for the All-District Cast. Congratulations to One Act for placing 3rd and Readers Theater for placing 2nd and moving on to state!
I received this from Chris Church this week, please read - "We were "officially" notified today that the Willard R-II School District was once again, (I think 5 or 6 yrs straight now), selected as a Best Community for Music Education. There were just over 300 school districts NATIONWIDE that were selected for this honor. There are many characteristics that NAMM, National Association of Music Merchants, are looking for other than the outstanding quality of the program. It gets into staffing, minutes in music class, participation ratio, as well as including academic offerings, and on and on. The committee is also overseen by Kansas State University." Congratulations to the entire K-12 music department!!!!
Willard High School Speech and Debate has broken a school record! We have qualified three events to the National tournament this summer! This is the most events Willard has ever sent to this very prestigious tournament. Competing this June are Seniors Derby Davis and Greg Hamilton in Duo Interpretation, Junior Mercer Martin in International Extemporaneous Speaking, and Freshmen Comeron McMurtrey in Humorous Interpretation! We still have a chance to qualify more students on April 11th at the Student Congress District Tournament. Great Job for a truly impressive season!
It's Good To Be A Tiger!
Jeff Staley
Activities Director |
Congratulations to Greg Hamilton for being named a Missouri Top 100 Scholar for the Class of 2013. Congratulations also to Brenton Hrebec for being named honorable mention to the Missouri Top 100 Scholars. These two young men represent Willard High School, Willard R-2 School District, and the Willard community very well. Their character and academic excellence is a great example of the high quality education and terrific students that walk our hallways every day.
While it is still trying to snow and act like winter, spring activities are in full swing. Baseball, track, soccer, and golf are competing. Several clubs and organization are competing to qualify for state and/or national competition. EOC testing, prom, and graduation are on the horizon. Please be sure to check our website and calendar for upcoming events.
It is GREAT to be a Tiger!
Curt Graves Principal |
- The WMS archery team had a competition the Friday before spring break. They did amazing!! They had enough students to have two middle school teams and they took 1st and 3rd place!! The following students placed in the top three as individuals: Jordan Lockhart (1st place male division), Emalie Textor (2nd place female division), and McKenna Townsend (3rd place female division). AWESOME JOB - WAY TO GO!!!
WMS DATES
- 3/23/13 - This Saturday Color Guard will be attending a competition at O'Falon, MO and the archery team will be competing in the state competition at Warrensburg
- 3/26/13 - First track meet at Branson and first softball game at Branson
- 3/28/13 - Track meet at Ozark
Thanks for checking in on us!!
Amy Sims and Stephanie Walters
Willard Middle School Administration
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Welcome to Spring! Hopefully our recent weather is short lived and some warmer temperatures are in our future. WIS students and faculty celebrated World Down Syndrome Day (3/21) all week long! Activities included drinks and snacks available for purchase, 80's dress up day for staff with students voting for the "best dressed", everyone sporting their blue and yellow ribbon, and a hat day to "cap" it all off. Our hope is that the WIS school community has a better understanding and is more accepting of those that have Down Syndrome. A special thanks to Mrs. Skaggs for organizing the activities for the week and to Mrs. Kern's classroom for all their help selling and distributing items throughout the week. All of this fun also raised over $800 that will benefit the Down Syndrome Group of the Ozarks. Way to go WIS!
We also kicked off our annual spring fund raiser this week. Our students are selling $1 tickets in the chance to win drawings that will be held during intermission of our talent show next Thursday. The awesome prizes up for grabs this year are: A brand new iPad 3, an xbox 360 core system including 2 games, and a family 4 pack of season passes to Silver Dollar City and White Water. This is a great opportunity to potentially pick up a valuable prize for only a dollar!
Enjoy your early Spring weekend!
Tom Davis
Principal |
Welcome to the end of a great week! Willard North has been busy busy busy learning about animals. First grade is starting their habitat unit this week which has been extended into their computer time in which they are working on research and using graphic organizers to put their data together. It's exciting to see what these students are able to do with technology. With kindergarten screening right around the corner, early childhood students are practicing gross (catching/jumping) and fine motor (coloring, cutting, and gluing) skills. These are skills necessary along with recognition of numbers and letters. Our Kindergarten screening date is April 18th. If you have a child ready for kindergarten and live in the Willard North attendance area, please call 742-2597 for an appointment for screening. Have a wonderful weekend! Angela Stevens Principal
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So much for the first few days of spring being warm and enjoyable! This winter weather has caused Willard South to cancel our annual Parent Appreciation Dance and our Care to Learn Brownie Wars. However, it has been rescheduled and will take place on Thursday, April 11th from 6:00-7:30. We hope you are able to attend next month when the weather is actually more springlike!
Our Parent Appreciation Dance is FREE and is provided by our building FACT Cadre. This is a time to celebrate our "Hollywood" school theme. Come dressed up like a star and enjoy dancing, music, snacks, face painting and games. The Care to Learn Brownie Wars will take place in the Willard South gymnasium. The cost is $3 for adults and $1 for students. All proceeds from this event will go to our local Care to Learn chapter to help families in our community with health, hunger or hygiene needs.
Kara Crighton-Smith
Principal |
We met our goal!!! On behalf of all the students at Willard East we would to thank everyone who donated to our Read-a-thon. Our goal was $4,000 and we raised a little bit over $4,600! Our Read-a-thon ended with an exciting Family Reading Night on March 5th. We would like to give special thanks to Mrs. Uckele's husband, Bob and Mrs. Curry's dad Bill Johnson for coming to our rescue in a pinch. Unfortunately our caterer for the evening had to cancel at the last minute. Bill and Bob were able to prepare a hamburger/hotdog dinner for 200 people with only 4 hours notice! THANK YOU!!! We will recognize individual and class winners at our Friday Tiger Pride assembly!
It's that time of year when our 3rd and 4th graders start getting ready for the MAP test! We are always excited for them to show what they know. We know they are smart but we want everyone to know how smart they are.
Melinda Miller
Principal |
Central Elementary School
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Students and staff came back from spring break refreshed and ready to learn! 3rd and 4th grade students also started preparing for the MAP test with our after-school PUSH program. Even the "snowy" weather couldn't stop our students from working after school to sharpen their math and communication arts' skills!
Here are events coming up in the next 2 weeks:
Monday, March 25th - School Board Candidate Forum hosted by the Willard CTA 3:30 at the Willard Intermediate School Library.
Tuesday, March 26th - 1st Grade Music Program 7:00
Thursday, March 28th - 3rd Quarter Terrific Tiger Celebration at Community Time
Friday, March 29th - No School for Good Friday
Monday, April 1st - No School for Easter Break
Tuesday, April 2nd - Election Day
Thursday, April 4th - Spring Picture Day
Shane Medlin
Principal |
Orchard Hills Elementary School
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This week, students and staff around the district have been working together to bring awareness to Down syndrome. Thursday, March 21, 2013 has been designated as Down syndrome Awareness Day across the world. Students and staff have participated in dress down days and fundraising efforts which included serving McAlister's Tea, selling donuts, and making and selling bracelets to help spread the word. All of the money raised will be donated to the Down syndrome Group of the Ozarks. Here are some interesting facts about Down syndrome:
- Down syndrome occurs when an individual has a full or partial extra copy of chromosome 21. This additional genetic material alters the course of development and causes the characteristics associated with Down syndrome.
- There are three types of Down syndrome: trisomy 21 (nondisjunction) accounts for 95% of cases, translocation accounts for about 4% and mosaicism accounts for about 1%.
- Down syndrome is the most commonly occurring chromosomal condition. One in every 691 babies in the United States is born with Down syndrome.
- People with Down syndrome attend school, work; participate in decisions that affect them, and contribute to society in many wonderful ways.
- Quality educational programs, a stimulating home environment, good health care, and positive support from family, friends and the community enable people with Down syndrome to develop their full potential and lead fulfilling lives
For more information, just follow the links below:
http://www.ndss.org/Down-Syndrome/Down-Syndrome-Facts or
http://www.ozarksdsg.org
Have a great weekend!
Caryn McDonnell
Director of Special Services |
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