May 2021

Wow, what a year! But not unexpectedly, WWA students rose up to all the challenges and rocked it in the Art Room. I hope you check out our virtual art show, 2020-21 WWA Art Spectacular! You can find the link on the Welcome page of this website. We have some amazingly talented artists at our school, and I was thrilled with their creative endeavors. 

We always try to find the positives in the Art Room. Digital learning provided us with opportunities to discuss, laugh, tell jokes, play music we love, and spend time with one another while we learned more about our world and created some cool art. I was joyful to reunite with my students when we returned in-person, and was so proud of how they included their digital classmates in discussion and laughter. They adjusted to new schedules, new rules, and rose up to meet our classroom expectations. WWA students are simply awesome and I hope you can see their successes as you view our virtual art show. 

If you are seeking to provide your student with added art lessons, please check out the page, 2021 Art Camps/Lessons. There are some wonderful opportunities for students during summer break.

Thank you for supporting our school,  the Visual Arts, and all our staff and students. Have a wonderful summer break!

January 2021

Happy New Year! We are excited about returning to our school building on February 16, 2021. Please make sure you visit the Art Supplies for In-Person Learning page on this site. You will find a list of basic supplies that all students need to bring to their Art classes. I will provide paper and other supplies that are needed to complete their assignments. We will continue to practice social distancing and maintaining best practices for supplies and materials in Art.

Even though this year has been challenging for both students and staff, I want to commend my WWA artists for doing a wonderful job in transitioning between online and in-person instruction. We always have a great time learning, along with discovering more about our world and our creative expression. It is a pure joy to witness my students' growth and creative voice. We laugh and play music, tell jokes, and create wonderful works of art...WWA is a true community effort! Their smiles and laughter keep me inspired and optimistic! I can't wait to see what amazing works of art they produce for the remainder of the year.

Thank you to all our WWA students and families for being the BEST!

November 2020

Stay safe! That's Rule #1 in our Art room! Whether it's sitting on the stools properly, handling materials with care, or keeping our distance from each other, WWA students have been awesome during the weeks we have been back in the school building. I have been so proud of our WWA learners! They have been patient, tolerant, and are all trying their best. Thank you WWA artists...for your creativity and your understanding of our current situation.

But here we go again, back to online learning, for the safety of all of our WWA community. We can do this! We may not be able to get as messy as we would in the art room, but we can still create, have fun, laugh together, and experience the joy of creative expression during this time.

At this point, we are waiting for direction on for our daily schedules, as well as Special Areas. That information will soon be available and I will share it here as I receive it. We did have enough time to teach the entire school population with our new 5-day Specials rotation, and the children did very well. Check out some examples of what we have made above this area.

MATERIALS FOR ONLINE LEARNING

Please click on Art@Home Page for recommended materials to create art projects during online learning. 

Please make sure students have their materials at-hand during Art Class.

TURNING IN ASSIGNMENTS

Grades 4, 5, 6 must take a photo of their artwork and turn in their assignments on their appropriate Google Classrooms. I have had many discussions with our intermediate grade levels about this subject. Please ensure students are turning in the assignment with a photo.

Thank you to all for your patience and understanding during this very unusual year. We will continue to create and do our very best for all our learners. Please check back for updated information as we go forward! 

September 2020

We are preparing for in-person instruction beginning October 8 for our K-3 students, and October 12 for our 4-6 kiddos. After weeks of online learning, I am very proud of our WWA students for what they have accomplished in Art. Now, onward towards the next phase in this very different year!

All students will be required to bring the following supplies to Art class:

Pencils

Eraser

Crayons

Markers (thicker preferred)

Black Sharpie or fine point marker

Scissors

Small bottle of glue

These are BASIC supplies that students will use in their regular classrooms. If they don't have a storage container for these items, please use a ziplock bag or another type of container. We will continue to do art projects that both online and in-person students can create. For all students, with the exception of paper, art supplies will not be provided in order to abide by the standards set by our district. 

For the first 2 weeks, Special Area teachers will be traveling to students' classrooms to present their lessons. This requirement puts the students' and staff's safety as a priority. After this period, WWA will review strategies regarding students traveling to the Special Area classrooms. 

Our schedule as also changed. Please see the updated WWA 2020-21 Art Schedule in the menu on this website.

Masks are required for all Art classes. Students are expected to follow directions regarding their safety, and the safety of others. 

Our kiddos are extremely compassionate and kind-hearted, and they have done extremely well during this transitional period. I am so proud of them!  They love to show me their efforts through the screen, and I look forward to watching them blossom in-person! For my students who choose to remain in PVConnects, we will keep creating and making beautiful art!

Information keeps coming daily, so please check the WWA and PVUSD websites for continued updates. Thank you for supporting our school community, and your child's learning in the Arts. Let's have a great re-opening!

July 2020

WWA staff working hard for the kids and getting ready for our big day next week! 

Please see the updated WWA 2020-21 Art Schedule-Virtual for the beginning of the school year on August 5. Also, if you are uncertain about logging into Google Classroom, check out the page titled, How to Access Google Classroom. There is a document with English/Spanish instructions, as well as a Slide Presentation. 

Please remember that the children will have separate Google Classrooms in Music, Art, PE and STEM as well as their own homeroom. Their Special Area Assignments will be posted in these Google Classrooms. Students will receive email notifications when a new assignment is posted. Each assignment will have due dates and will be graded. 

July 2020

This has been a challenging year for us all, unprecedented and unimagined. I want to convey my deepest gratitude to the students and families of WWA, who have supported our school throughout these past months. 

Last March, most of us were left with our mouths wide open, and waited with anticipation of what the next day's news or events would bring. And believe me, it was changing daily. I have great admiration for our PVUSD Governing Board and the Administrators who have worked continuously on behalf of PVUSD students and staff...since day one. And I have deep gratitude to my colleagues and teammates at WWA and the Fine Arts Department.  Emails and texts were flying, as we tried to navigate through this new virtual world together. We were desperately concerned for our students' families, as well as our own families. 

I was always thrilled to receive a message or post from the kids! And from parents who reached out to ask questions, or show me their progress. Thanks to all who sent me lovely words and photos of their artwork. They really made my day happy.

I am so very fortunate to call WWA my school home, and no matter what platform we are using to begin this year, I am excited as always, to see my students' faces and smiles (if I think about missing their hugs, I will get all verklempt). 

Please know I am working diligently to provide your children with engaging and fun art projects that they are able to complete at home. I love seeing the children use their individual skills to create and express themselves! They are amazing people-gentle, kind, loving, compassionate...but also fierce, strong, creative, and intelligent. They inspire me every day.

In our Art room, we sing, we dance, we learn history, culture, and techniques. We are sloppy, and neat, we are loud and quiet, we are intense and introspective, we are goofy and silly. And we allow it to come out through creative expression. 

We are artists.

I am very committed to continue to educate WWA students through the visual arts more than ever! In these challenging times, the arts are what we have embraced. More details will be coming from our principal and district for this year. Here are the links to the sites that will keep you informed:

www.pvschools.net/schools/whispering-wind-academy/home 

www.pvschools.net

Thanks for visiting my website! I can't wait to see the children again and begin a new adventure together. Please feel free to reach out with any questions, concerns, or just to say hi. Thinking of you all...

Mrs. Starmer

jostarmer@pvschools.net