WillardPublicSchools
 Student Focused | Strongly Connected | Success Driven
The Pride
October 16, 2015
In This Issue
Upcoming Events

EAT BREAD TO RAISE DOUGH
 Willard Project Graduation
Willard Parks
Youth Basketball Registration Now Open
Oct. 1st - Oct. 17th
  
Youth Cheerleading Registration Now Open
Oct. 1st - Oct. 17th
  
Halloween Event
Dungeon of Doom
Oct. 23rd & 24th - 7:00pm to 10:00pm
$3.00 per person
Trunk or Treat
Oct. 24th - 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Free Event
  
Turkey Trot
Nov. 26th
  
Christmas on the Frisco
Nov. 20th & 21st
        
District Office
This week Willard was honored to be invited to participate in a round-table discussion with seven other district leaders from Southwest Missouri.  In the welcome, it was shared that this group had been identified as representing districts that were innovative, forward thinking, and high quality.  It was a validating conversation which highlighted common strategies and vision that is developing in Southwest Missouri Districts. 
 
Change is difficult in every situation.  I shared about our districts transition to standards based grading.  This process has been hard for staff, students, and parents.  Parents have an understanding of what helped them be successful in school.  Students have adopted many of those same practices.  Unfortunately this success was not truly based on student learning.  Success in grading over the past century is based in part on the ability to turn things in on time, extra credit, grading on the curve, attendance, and other criteria that have nothing to do with true student understanding of a concept. 
 
Standards Based Grading (SBG) is based solely on the criteria of whether or not the student understands a concept and can demonstrate that understanding in a meaningful way.  Therefore the hope is that students can't "fake" their way through school.  This is the largest academic paradigm shift in my 29 year career.  The outcome allows the student, teacher, and parent a true understanding of what the student knows and areas in which they still need work.  Currently, Willard has embraced SBG in grades K-8.  Parent / Teacher Conferences are the last week of October.  I challenge each and every parent to sign up for a conference.  It is critical that students know their parents care about their academics.  This is one way to demonstrate to your child that their education is key to their future.  Come and learn about the benefits of Standards Based Grading!  Parents can contact their child's teacher or building office to arrange for a conference.  
 
Have a great weekend!
 
Dr. Medlin
Superintendent 
Athletics & Activities
Sometimes it is easy, as adults, to get consumed by all of the negative things that are happening around us.  Think about it....most of what we do is "fix" problems.  We are informed about things that are wrong and we have to spend time dealing with that (whether at work or as parents).  And that's ok.  It's an important part of life to fix the things that are wrong or make good the things that are bad.  But I sincerely hope that this part of life does not take up so much of our time that we don't recognize, or see, all of the truly amazing things that are happening.  And ladies and gentlemen, despite what you may have read, this next generation of young adults is inspired and motivated to do great things.  On a daily basis, I witness compassion (sharing a table with a young person with special needs) and empathy (crying tears of joy for someone else's accomplishments).  I hear laughter in the commons and I see smiles on the faces of over a thousand students.  Willard.....we all should be proud and excited for what our future holds!

Congratulations to the football Tigers on their hard fought victory over Branson last week!  The boys are 5-3 on the season and I couldn't be prouder of them as they have fought through numerous injuries and, yet, have never quit playing their hearts out.  They will host Carthage tonight in our last regular season contest.  It is Senior Night and we will be recognizing the seniors from football and cross country at 6:30.  At halftime, you will have quite a treat as we will be recognizing the WFL players and coaches and the 4th grade team will be scrimmaging!  Districts will start the following Friday but we will not know who or where we will play until after tonight's games.

Congratulations to the volleyball Tigers on their victory over Marshfield last night!  The girls ended their regular season with an impressive 27-4-1 record!  Willard will be hosting the district tournament next Monday and Tuesday.  The Tigers received the #1 seed and will have a bye on Monday.  Matches start at 5:00pm on both days.  Come out and watch some great volleyball and root the Tigers on to a district championship!

Congratulations to the soccer Tigers on their victory over Rogersville on Monday.  They will host Kickapoo next Thursday to finish out their regular season.  The district tournament will be held at Hillcrest on Oct. 26th and 28th.  I will let you know more details in next week's Pride.

Good luck to the Cross Country Tigers as they prepare for the district meet on Oct. 24th in Nixa!

Good luck to the Cutting Edge as they traveled to St. Louis tonight to compete in the prestigious Bands of America contest.

Congratulations to our Willard Math Team!
Mallary Ackerman scored 1st place for 10th grade Equations and Inequalities and scored 2nd place overall in that category for all grades!
 
Brandy Adams scored 3rd place in 10th grade Equations and Inequalities and 3rd place in Algebra.
 
Christian Smart scored 1st place in 11th grade Word Problems and 4th place overall in that category for all grades! He also scored 5th place in Simplifications and Algebra.
 
Morgan Earl scored 5th place in 11th grade Equations and Inequalities. 

The speech and debate team had their first tournament of the 2015-16 season last weekend at Kickapoo and Glendale! 
 
At the Novice tournament Brooke Parton advanced to Semifinals in Humorous Interpretation. Caden Belcher placed 4th and Julian Erickson placed 2nd in Student Congress. Placing 4th in Humorous Interpretation was Jayce Bruney. Placing 4th in International Extemporaneous Speaking was Bryant Belcher and Jett Bumgarner place 4th in US Extemp.  In policy Debate Caden and Bryant Belcher place 4th.  The Novice took 4th place overall in Sweepstakes.
 
The Varsity also had a great weekend.  Going to Semifinals in Duo Interpretation was Katelyn Graham and Evan Kirksey, in Humorous Interpretation Jonah Perry and Katelynn Wilson. Aly Marshall and Chris Haviland placed 4th in Duo Interpretation. Emily Raney placed 2nd in Student Congress.  Cole Baker placed 4th and Emily Raney 3rd in Champ Lincoln Douglas Debate. The Varsity Placed 7th overall in Sweepstakes out of 30 schools!
 
Also, good luck to Coach Tobin, Coach Russell, and all of the Speech and Debate team members as they will be hosting the Willard Tournament today and tomorrow.

It's Good To Be A Tiger!
 
Jeff Staley
Director of Activities / Athletics
High School
The freshman class is currently in the lead of the OCC's.  OCC stands for Outstanding Class Competitions.  This school year classes will be competing throughout the school year for points to win the 'Spring Bash Picnic' at the park.  The freshman class won spirit week during homecoming and gained a small lead early in the competitions.  This Friday night during half-time of the Carthage football game, SGA has assisted in preparations for the "Sweet 'n Spicy" Relay event.  Four students, 2 girls and 2 guys, from each class will compete by eating special hot wings from Buffalo Wild Wings and also drinking special milk shakes from Zott's.  The winning relay team will earn points for their class.  Points will also be earned for academic purposes including highest percent attendance and lowest percent of failing grades.  The purpose of the OCC's is to have fun, increase school spirit, and encourage positive interactions at school!

Parent-teacher conferences will be October 27 and 29 at WHS.  Parents may contact the office or counselors to schedule specific times with individual teachers.  Administration is always available to visit as well.

It is GREAT to be a Tiger!  
Curt Graves
Principal
Middle School
WMS Student Council will sponsor a Flashback Friday Dance on October 23 from 7-9 pm in the student union.  Students are encouraged to dress in attire from their favorite decade or they can dress in the present and come as you are.  Advanced tickets will be on sale during lunch on October 20-October 23 for $5.  Tickets can also be purchased at the door for $7.  

Our 7th and 8th grade STEM classes had a circuit discovery day which was a cooperative effort between Mrs. Purvis, WMS STEM teacher, and the librarian, Mrs. Wilcox.  We utilized the Maker Space in our library to learn about electrical circuit building.  Using 3 different types of circuit building, the students rotated through several different stations and experienced building traditional circuits, as well as sophisticated electronic circuits using "little bits" and also building "squishy circuits" using conductive and insulating playdough.  

The students practiced building multi-connective circuits, linking many different functions such as a fans, buzzers, and light bulbs.  

This is the first collaborative effort between the library maker space and STEM program at the Middle school, but is sure to be the first of many such collaborations with project based, discovery oriented learning.   Check out some pictures below.

Volleyball Buffalo Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 10
8th grade won FIRST place (undefeated against five teams)

Volleyball vs. Joel E. Barber on Tuesday, Oct. 13
7th and 8th B teams both won, A teams did not play.

Football vs. Branson on Thursday, Oct. 15
7th grade game was cancelled after 7 min. but they were winning
8th grade won!

Volleyball vs. Republic on Thursday, Oct. 15
7th grade A team lost, B team won
8th grade A team won, B team lost

Cross Country meet at Nixa on Thursday, Oct. 15
7th grade boys placed 3rd in the COC (Blake Hultgren got 1st place medal!)
8th grade girls placed 3rd in the COC
All of the team raced really well and we had 

On Wednesday, November 11th, Willard Middle School will host a Veteran's Day Assembly.  The assembly will be a celebration of service and sacrifice of all those who have served and are currently serving in the United States Armed Forces. We will begin the assembly at 12:30 pm and it will conclude at 1:30 pm.
     
        
Amy Sims
Principal
Intermediate
WIS celebrated positive student behavior today with our 1st quarter iChoose reward day.  Students spent one class period in the gym participating in things like an obstical course, Dance Party on the giant screen, or just hanging out with friends.  Snacks and drinks were provided to complete the day  We are proud of the 545 students (83%of our school!!) that earned this privilege and hope to see even more participate next quarter!  

A special thanks to our parent volunteers that helped out today as well as our PTO for making all the fun stuff possible!!
Tom Davis
Principal
Central Elementary School
Together we are Learning, Leading, Leaving a Legacy is the mission statement of Willard Central.  Mission statements clarify what is important and help give us focus. This week, students and teachers worked together to complete their class mission statements.  Students also started working on writing their personal mission statements.  Classes started sharing their mission statements with the school at Community Time this week and we will finish sharing these mission statements at our Terrific Tiger Celebration next Friday.

As we look ahead to next week, we are excited to receive our PTO school t-shirts, celebrate the hard work from the 1st Quarter at our Terrific Tiger Celebration on Friday at 10:00, and enjoy our PTO Fall Parties on Friday afternoon.  It will be a fun, full week!

Shane Medlin
Principal
North
 
Willard North has been very busy!  The kindergarten classes took their field trip this week to the Fieth Family Farm.  They went on a hayride, picked pumpkins out of the pumpkin patch, and went through a corn maze.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the kids had so much.  Thanks to all the parents and volunteers that went and made it a great experience for the students.      
 
Looking Ahead...
Oct. 23-29-Book Fair
Friday, October 23-Fall Parties
Tuesday, October 27/29-Parent/Teacher Conferences
Wednesday, October 28-Super Tiger


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Have a great
weekend!
 
Amanda Hambey
Principal
Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment
We Are All in This Together!
 
The High School Agriculture Department has worked very hard this summer in order to get ready for the first annual "Fall Farm Adventure Days".  They started planting pumpkins in the spring in order to have them ready for October. Pumpkins were initially planted by the FFA Officers and cared for over the summer by students and staff.
 
Along with the pumpkin patch, students were charged with criteria from SAE (Supervised Agriculture Experience). SAE allows students to raise cattle, work jobs in agriculture, and run small businesses under the criteria. For this particular assignment, they had to work towards learning what makes a fall festival successful. Students in the construction class were given an assignment to come up with games and construct them for small consumers. Tesslyn Hamilton (featured in the first photo) is the FFA president and created a football toss.
 
 
Mrs. Kimmons and Mr. Asher have done a great job in putting this project together as well as inviting the preschool and 1st grades to join in on the learning. Currently, students in grades Pre-K and 1st are learning about a plants lifecycle and investing in a "pumpkin" unit that includes reading, writing, math, and science. There are lots of fun activities including a hayride from Mr. Asher!
 
Pumpkins will be sold until the 24th of October. Call the high school agriculture department to get one! 742-2597

 

Angela Stevens

Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment  





Willard Public Schools | 417-742-2584
500 E Kime
Willard, MO 65781