The staff and I took a break from our usual work to tap into our creative sides. Self-Care is an important part of staying healthy during this period of remote learning. Taking a walk, baking fresh bread, playing with a puppy or making art are all good ways to break up the mundane. We used Bob Ross’ The Joy of Painting to inspire our beautiful paintings. Bob Ross is a great inspiration for not only painting, but also life. In addition to teaching us that the closer to the forground, the darker the color, Bob also professes life lessons.

“We don’t make mistakes, just happy accidents”

“When painting, you are in control. You decide what is there.”

“Every tree needs a friend.”

If you’d like to join the same session, we painted Season 20 Episode 1 of The Joy of Painting. It can be found on YouTube https://youtu.be/VlucWfTUo1A. Share with us what you paint!

Mrs. Werner is trumpeting a partnership with University of Alaska Southeast where her upper high school students have the opportunity to choose Oceanography 101 as their science course. Students enrolled in the course will have their tuition paid through a grant.

For more information about the programs offered at UAS, please visit https://www.uas.alaska.edu/apply/programs/index.html

Probably my favorite time of year is Interims. Interims provides both our students and staff to take a break from their normal academic classes and explore new endeavors.  Not only do we all try new things, but we also have the opportunity to work with new people.  It is not uncommon to find middle and high school students working together in Interim classes.  I think the best example I saw of this this year was watching our upper high school students playing croquet with new 7^th graders. 

For me, Interims are always a struggle of balancing what I want to do (teach classes with students!) and what I need to do (the more boring parts of my job).  In the past, I’ve especially enjoyed teaching cooking & baking classes, teaching the ancient art of Batik and hosting Sources of Strength activities.  This time, I decided to take on an asynchronous remote class – Painting with Bob Ross.  The set up was simple and the results thus far are amazing!  Above you can see two of the paintings that were created in this class.  And you can also find the Bob Ross Video if you would like to give it a try yourself.  The medium that you use is open – watercolor, crayon, pastels, acrylics, or even oils – as Bob himself uses.  Email me what you create – and enjoy the break for your brain. 

~D