One of the parents in the Rainbow Mountain community is hosting the Asheville Premier Screening of “World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements”, the new film by Chris Farina which depicts the transformation that happens as a class of students at a neighborhood school work to solve all of the earth’s crises with a balanced budget.
A small panel of local educators, including Renee Owen, have been invited to join the film’s star, John Hunter (teacher and TED speaker), on stage at the Diana Wortham Theatre for an intimate discussion about what Hunter calls “self-evident assessment” and the case for teaching global awareness and the principles of nonviolence in all grades.
The film begins at 6:45, Wednesday, May 4 at Dianna Worthan Theatre. Learn more and get tickets at www.worldpeaceavl.com
There were over 20 people from Rainbow Mountain Children’s School at the Sir Ken Robinson lecture last night, and we were all inspired — actually, validated, is a better word for it. Validated to know that the style of education we have been doing for 34 years at Rainbow, is now considered visionary, cutting edge, and the direction education needs to go nationally.
One of Sir Ken’s points that really stuck with me was when he answered a question by saying, “It’s about Spirit.” He clarified that he was referring to energy. Great teachers are energized by the children and by the material they are teaching. It resonates with their spirit. They also recognize what is special about each child, and they use that. For example, a child who habitually hums would be given more singing instruction and asked to lead songs for the class.
When asked to describe the perfect school, he might as well have been describing Rainbow: A school with strong underlying structure (as Ken said “creativity can only happen within structure”) and an ability to allow both kids and teachers to be creative in all subjects.
Are you passionate about education? Would you like to see the whole educational paradigm changed in America? Despite the seriousness of this topic, do you love to laugh? Then I highly recommend you take advantage of a great opportunity: At 6pm this Wednesday, April 27, TED Speaker, Sir Ken Robinson will be at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville. Rainbow Mountain Children’s School is an official supporter of this exciting event, and much of our staff and board will be in attendance. Tickets are $25 for adults, available at the box office or at the door. Here is one of Sir Ken’s talks. You will find his points are salient, and he is very, VERY funny. Enjoy.
Recently the second graders had an interesting project;
Dear 2nd grade Frogs,
It is very difficult to catch a tricky leprechaun, but you and your family can have a great deal of fun trying! Who knows, maybe you’ll get lucky. The first thing you need to do is build a trap. There is no right or wrong way to build a leprechaun trap.
You can make your contraption with a net, boxes, sticks, or anything else you can think of such as paper towel rolls, empty containers, tin foil, paper, string, yarn, etc. How about using an old shoe? Remember, you must be clever to catch a leprechaun so give this project some time, thought and effort- maybe even planning it out on paper first.
Once you build your trap, don’t forget to add bait to help lure the leprechaun. Since Leprechauns are very greedy, one of the best things you can use for bait are coins! They especially like anything shiny. They also love rainbows, four leaf clovers and round stones.
Make sure your trap is well disguised. It needs to blend into its surroundings or the leprechauns will not come anywhere near your trap. You will bring your trap to school on Tuesday, March 15th and leave it in the classroom. No two traps should be alike or the leprechauns will get suspicious and leave. So, make sure to use your own ideas.
When your trap is done, write a story about the leprechaun that will come to visit your trap. Make it an exciting and entertaining adventure. Your story needs to have an exciting beginning to interest the reader, a middle with some type of problem and an ending with a solution. You will be reading your story to the class on Tuesday, March 15th.
Have fun and may the luck of the Irish be with you!
