I AM...

Elementary Art Students have been busy learning rules, routines, and procedures.  We've also been taking time discussing empathy and training ourselves to think positively about who we are as unique individuals.  Every student has created a mini-work of art to add to our school collaborative "I Am..." display in the hall.  Ask your artist about the word or words they've chosen to embrace as their legacy this year!

Hello, My Amazing Art Students and Families!

My name is Rachel Warsow.  I am one of two elementary art teachers in our district.  This year will be my 18th year teaching Art for SJPS.  I grew up in Holland, Michigan and attended Western Michigan University for both my bachelors and master's degrees.  I live in St. Joe with my husband, Mr. Warsow (the Industrial Technology teacher at Upton) our two boys, Ethan and Ashton (who are in 5th and 3rd at Lincoln) and our two crazy cats, Puma and Wheezie.   Along with creating, our family loves to go to baseball games!  We're working every summer to visit as many MLB ballparks as we can.  

I am looking forward to another year of creating in the art room with you!  This year I will be creating with all the artists at Lincoln and 1st, 3rd-5th grade students at Brown.

Throughout the first two cycles of the school year, we will be working on learning and practicing important routines to make our art room run smoothly.  You can ask your amazing art student about our hallway greeting, our quiet signal based on a famous portrait by Leonardo daVinci, and how we model our artist-ready bodies after the painting!

This year, we are going to focus on developing positivity, kindness, and community in our art rooms.  We will begin the year by reading the book, I Am Human, with our students and will challenge our young artists to start to think about all the character traits that make them such a valued part of our art family and school community.  We are looking forward, not only to the art learning and making that will happen in our rooms, but for the love, compassion, confidence and kindness we will see blossom.  You should be able to find your artist's "I Am" word in the hall by the end of the 2nd week of school!

Thank you for sharing your child with our school family and for allowing me to guide them through the adventures of creating artistic masterpieces!  This is going to be a fantastic school year!  I can't wait to get started.