Kaleidoscope April, 2014

by Renee Owen | Apr 9, 2014 | Director's Blog

Ole Palnatoke Andersen [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

We will also be saying goodbye to Chris Keeler, PE and After School teacher at the end of the year.  Chris is moving to Korea! The definition of GOOD GUY, Chris has made and incredible impact on everyone in the short time he has been here—so incredibly loving, playful, and good-hearted.  Of course, we are very happy for him, but he will be so missed. Sigh.

Global Connections

Our dynamic Spanish teacher Cynthia Calhoun, is becoming an expert in global education. In fact, she just finished a webinar with HarvardGraduateSchool on the subject, and her graduate degree has a concentration on the topic.  This is going to be great for Rainbow as she would like to help every class adopt an international class next year.  I wonder which class will be pals with Chris’ class in Korea?

Annual Campaign a Bust

…which is totally understandable. We re all fatigued with fundraising—both the askers and the givers.  We raised an all-time low of $21,000 with only 40% participation. Those of you who made the sacrifice, it made such a difference. Thank you.  If you are sad that you didn’t, of course it is never too late—especially if you are a family who arrived mid-year and didn’t get to donate to the down-payment on the church.  You can still make your donation and bask in the glow of gratitude. The finance committee meets next week to see where we can cute expenses between now and the end of the year, so that we can still try to come out in the green, as we can’t afford to dip into our reserve with a construction project on the horizon.  Not all the teachers have spent their annual campaign classroom money, and being very resourceful people, I am sure they can cut corners.  We won’t be able to increase the amount of financial aid we award for next year, which really hurts our potential for diversifying our student body. But—we will get though this, and look forward to doing it differently next year!

And the Town Crier Announces—Important Community Circle n May 5, 4pm—5:30 pm

What is the vision for the new property? Learn what we know, learn what is still unknown, and contribute your ideas. Community Circles are a long Rainbow tradition, where you are asked to gather in a circle, each as an equal, to learn about a topic and to contribute heart-felt thoughts, concerns, ideas. Who should attend? Everyone who can and childcare is free.

Always an Adventure

Over Spring Break I will be attending a Mindfulness in Education conference in San Francisco, hosted by Shambhala. Max Mraz is going to an Amphibian workshop for educators with the NC Museum of Natural Science. He wants to build an amphibian conservation pond here at Rainbow.

Wacky Wednesday

While Wednesdays are an early release day for students, the are the staff’s extra long day. As we stay until 5pm conducting meetings, trainings, planning, and so on.  Our Wednesday work is a large factor in why we are able to consistently communicate well and offer quality-cutting edge programming.  For the March staff training, West led us in something she called Each One Teach One. About six teachers signed up to teach mini-classes to the rest of us, with the objective being for everyone to learn easy things to use in the class room. We learned an Orton-Gillingham trick for teaching spelling words, how to make a cute easy-to-make book, some fun writing prompts, how to have a “wow” moment by teaching with picture books, and much more.  I think it was everyone’s favorite training of the year.

Awkward Subject

I started teaching the 6^th grade substance abuse prevention class a couple of weeks ago.  If your child is in the younger grades, substance prevention class is something you have to look forward to.  Similar to sex-ed, it can be awkward and hard to talk abut, but opening that dialogue between the children and parents is probably the most important aspect of the program. We want Rainbow students to grow up knowing that they can talk to their parents about anything.

What’s Happening?

Rainbow was a sponsor of the Black Mountain College Re-Happening—an innovative and important art event at LakeEden (former location of the famously inventive BlackMountainCollege). I was pleased to hear the emcee announce that RainbowCommunitySchool is “carrying the torch” for BlackMountainCollege. What a compliment.

We also hope to become a sponsor for Asheville FM, the internet radio station that just received its permit to go on the dial! They need to raise $45,000 by May! If they are successful, it is going to be very fun to have a truly local community station located right on Haywood Road. I have already talked to the station manager about Rainbow students having a little spot to broadcaset inspirational moments. To learn more:  http://www.ashevillefm.org/

At Rainbow, We Put Children First

Last week, we presented Children First with a check for $846, 25% of the fall hoedown profit. Did you know that every class does a service project for Children First? Some highlights from this year are being posted on the Rainbow website and on Facebook. Be sure to like RainbowCommunitySchool on Facebook if you haven’t already.

My latest Heart of the Matter is hot off the presses! Click here to read “All for One, One for All!”