Curriculum
Whispering Wind Academy's Commitment
Whispering Wind Academy is committed to providing a quality education for ALL students. We are committed to preparing our students for success at the University level. The mission of Whispering Wind Academy is to cultivate, lead, and inspire ALL students to become innovative thinkers and life-long learners through a challenging, meaningful, and engaging curriculum emphasizing Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Global Geography. We commit to doing the following things at school:
- Staff will treat each child with dignity and respect.
- Teachers will communicate with parents at least twice per month.
- Objectives will be posted in every classroom so that students will have clear expectations for their learning and performance.
- Achieve time will occur at least 4 times per week. It will focus on Math and Reading. This time is provided to facilitate flex grouping, in which students will receive enrichment or remediation based on data collection.
- Teachers will determine monthly SMART goals tied to their Professional Learning Committee goals. These will be driven by the data collected on student performance each month.
- We recognize that parents are vital to the success of our school and it's students, and we will encourage parent involvement.
- WWA will host a minimum of 3 parent involvement activities throughout the school year.
Curriculum and Instruction
Always with an eye on state and national standards, Whispering Wind Academy uses the following adopted curriculum materials in the classroom. Excellent materials and resources in their own right, they are carefully supplemented with hands-on cooperative projects and activities based in a constructivist approach to data-driven instruction.
Reading
- McGraw Hill's Wonders
Math
- Eureka & Zearn
Science
- Delta's Education's FOSS (Full Option Science System)
The Paradise Valley Unified School District is committed to providing EVERY child at EVERY school an enriched education that included weekly classes in Art, Music, P.E., and STEM here at Whispering Wind.
WWA's Grade Book Policy
Here at WWA our goal is to encourage all students to show mastery of the content standards for their grade level. This philosophy extends to our grading policy on homework. WWA enforces the district policy as found below. The consequence for not doing your work is to do your work!
Governing Board Homework Policy
4.4.1 The Governing Board supports teachers in holding students accountable for completing all homework. This policy is guided by the philosophy that the consequence for not doing homework is doing the homework. Site administrators and teachers will collaborate to develop programs and consistent practices to encourage and motivate students to complete all homework, and to provide opportunities for students to meet the requirement of completing missing homework for credit.