West Nodaway Newsletter

May

1st: Sixth Grade Field Trip to Science City

1st: Spring Music Concerts [PK-5th at 6:30 PM, 6th-12th Grade at 7:30 PM]

1st: Last Day for AR Points

2nd: Second and Third Grade Field Trip to College Basketball Experience

2nd: NHS Field Trip

2nd: FFA Banquet + Junior High and High School Academic Awards Night, 6:00 PM

3rd: Fourth and Fifth Grade Field Trip to Lego Land

3rd: Seniors' Last Day at West Nodaway and Northwest Technical School

3rd: 6th Grade Move Up Day

3rd: Senior Decision Day

6th - 9th: West Nodaway Senior Trip

7th: Junior High Track Banquet @ Nodaway Holt, 7:00 PM

7th: PreK Field Trip to Maryville

8th: West Nodaway Board of Education Meeting

10th: Elementary Fun Day

10th: Senior Cap and Gown Pictures, 9:00 AM

10th: Senior Graduation Practice

12th: West Nodaway Commencement, 6:00 PM

13th: Important - West Nodaway in Session

13th: Student Council Cookout

14th: Dare Graduation

14th: Junior High and High School Semester Finals
15th: Junior High and High School Semester Finals

15th: Elementary Gold Medal Readers Lunch

15th: Elementary Pie in the Face Assembly

16th: Juniors' Last Day at Northwest Technical School
16th: Junior High and High School Semester Finals

16th: Elementary End of Year Awards Assembly, 8:30 AM

16th: Last Day of School, Dismiss at 12:30 PM

17th: Staff Development Day

27th: Memorial Day - District Closed

• When your child is unable to attend school, please notify the appropriate school office by 9:00 AM. When your child is seen by a physician, please ask for a doctor's note so we can verify attendance. Thank you! (Elementary: 725-4126, High School: 725-3317)
  
  
• If you would like to be added to West Nodaway's "Rocket Alert" list, please contact the high school office. Parents and guardians are automatically added to the system. It's a great way to keep updated with current happenings!
  
  
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Greetings All,

It is hard to believe that another school year has come and gone. As I write this article there are only 12 days left for students, less if they do not have to take finals. This is the last week for seniors. Senior trip is scheduled for next week and senior graduation is scheduled for Sunday evening, May 12th @ 6:00 p.m. here at the school We wish our graduating seniors all the best in their future endeavors.

I hope you have been enjoying the Spring weather. Again I want to thank and commend district patrons for their continued support of public education with the passage of the bond issue on the April ballot. As you maybe aware, due to the passage of the bond issue we will be doing four major construction items this summer to include the roofs on the entire school except the gyms, HVAC in the high school, main sewer line work, and insulation in the elementary.

As we wrap up this year we have already turned our attention to next year’s budget and the reviewing of school handbooks. Please take the time to review the dates at the beginning of this news letter as we still have many activities to complete in the remaining few days of school. I hope to see you all at the 7-12 student academic night on Thursday, May 2nd.

I wish you all a good summer break and look forward to the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year with great anticipation!

Go Rockets!

Dr. Barnes

Lauren Stahl received 2nd place in the "I Will Listen" Art Exhibit at NWMSU. Congratulations, Lauren!

Wow! I can’t believe we are in the last few weeks of the school year. It’s been a great year at West Nodaway Elementary and I know students and staff are excited to have a nice summer break. All we have to do is finish strong. We have several events and activities in the month of May as we wrap up our school year.

Before I list these events, I would like to mention a few programs we have available this summer. Once again, we will offer our Really Great Reading summer program. In the past, we have offered this program immediately after school is out for summer break, but this summer we are going to take a different approach and offer the program in early August. This will help students get a jump start on the new school year and hopefully help students with less summer regression, specifically for reading. We will also offer one-on-one tutoring with teachers throughout the entire summer. Teachers and parents will work together to create a flexible summer tutoring program focusing on individual student needs and goals. If you are interested in either or both of the options, please reach out to Mr. Conn at tconn@wnrockets.com and we will make arrangements.

May 1st - PK-5th grade music concert in the high school gymnasium starting at 6:30p.m. and our 6th-12 band will follow at 7:30p.m.

May 1st - 6th Grade Field Trip.

May 2nd - 2nd/3rd grade Field Trip. All Library books need to be returned by this day as well.

May 3rd - 4th and 5th grade Field Trip.

May 8th - Pre-K Field Trip.

May 10th - Elementary Field Day

May 14th - 6th grade D.A.R.E graduation at 8:30a.m.

May 16th is the last day of school. The end of the year Awards Assembly will be 8:30a.m. in the elementary gym. We will have an early dismissal at 12:30p.m.

Once again, it has been an honor and a privilege to be the principal at West Nodaway Elementary School. I hope everyone has a wonderful and eventful summer and I look forward to the students returning in August. In the meantime, parents - “Tag, You're It” Have a great summer!

Nodaway County Health gave nearly 30 immunizations at our spring clinic here at West Nodaway. That leaves just a handful of junior high/high school students who will need to complete them this summer. Thank you so much!

Pre-K and Kindergarten students will need their immunizations completed prior to the start of our school year. Please send records once completed. School fax: 660-725-4300, Email: khoyt@wnrockets.com

Big Smiles dentist was able to see and treat 25 students this past month. Some did get referred out, so please try to get the more extensive dental work done this summer so we can do the maintenance cleanings and fillings here at school when they return in the fall. They are scheduled to return on October 22.

Thank you for an overall healthy year!

The end of the school year is just around the corner and that means it is testing time! It’s been three full weeks of testing for students and they have worked diligently, putting forth great effort on each exam. Beyond the standard state testing for 3rd through 8th Grade and a few classes in high school, we have also focused on juniors and seniors completing their Career Technical Education (CTE) pathway exams. The agriculture students achieve this through FFA contests by obtaining certain individual scores at contests. The business students don’t have the same type of contests so they have to pass a 150-question test related to business and technology concepts. Another way to achieve CTE completion is to fulfill the requirements of a health science or industrial arts program through Vo-Tech. In looking over the past few years, this current year has one of the highest percentages of students who have achieved their CTE pathway!

Thank you to everyone in the community who donated snacks for testing this year. We had a variety of cereals, cookies, crackers, and other snacks to get us through the last three weeks. Students always look forward to what snacks are offered each day. The variety and amount provided wouldn’t be possible without the donations.

As the year winds down, elementary is focused on the character word “Creativity” which means using their imagination to solve problems. Surprisingly this can be difficult for students as they struggle to think outside the box for solutions. I have encouraged students to play outside this summer, develop new positive games, explore their surroundings, read books, and think of other ways to be creative inside and outside the house.

Junior high and high school will be looking at classes for next year in the upcoming days. Students will use their 4-year plans to help make decisions about courses as the goal is to complete a career pathway upon graduation. We have nine students attending VoTech next year and several others interested in dual credit. Please talk with your child(ren) over the new couple of days and inquire about their potential classes for this coming school year.

Have a great rest of the spring as summer is quickly approaching!

Mrs. Clayton