Sallie, Lauren and Louisa Ford

Sallie, Lauren and Louisa Ford

You know our music teacher, Sue Ford, right?

But did you know that all three of her daughters attended Rainbow at one time? Or that they’re making names for themselves in big ways?

Sallie Ford

Sallie Ford, April, 2014Sue’s daughter Sallie, all of 27, is not only “googleable” but, she’s even in Wikipedia!

Her musical talents are getting noticed in New York and beyond.

She’s rocking out with her all-female band. With her distinctive style, she marches out with a raw-soul sound in her music. She lives in Portland when she’s not touring.

Have a listen to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qgFvlvDV0ng

Lauren Ford

Sue’s daughter, Lauren Ford, is living in New York City and loves it!sue ford

She went there to pursue her dream of acting and was trained at Emerson College in Boston. She graduated in 2005 with honors and won the Carol Burnett award – the highest award offered to any student graduating in performing arts.

She’d already made waves before that: while still living in Asheville, she won the “Best Actor” award from ACT when she was just 13 for her portrayal of Anne Frank.

She moved to NYC in 2007 and worked off broadway, in touring companies and in regional theater.

As you can imagine, it’s really tough to make it in New York and she keeps herself very busy working multiple jobs including coat check girl with a fancy Manhattan restaurant, leading sake and whisky tastings, babysitting, working with flowers and plants and working for a catering company.

Those are her day jobs while her dream becomes reality.

Lauren blogs about her experiences at http://laurenford.com/

Louisa Ford

louisa fordLouisa Ford, 24, moved to Portland two years ago after graduating from Appalachian State University with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and a concentration in Sustainable Development.

She is living in Portland trying different jobs including waitressing, hostessing, working in a children’s museum, and teaching tap dance lessons.

She’s a musician too and she tap dances, plays guitar and sings all at the same time.

All three girls are singers and songwriters – hmm…we wonder where they got that from?

Sue Ford is extremely proud of her daughters. Every day she smiles at how proud they make her.

Something they all have in common is Rainbow.

And wouldn’t you know, Sue’s husband, Hobey Ford is coming to Rainbow for a puppeteer performance in the auditorium in February!

Does your child have a growth mindset?

Does your child have a growth mindset?

Does your child have a growth mindset?

This TED video, entitled “The Power of Belief: Mindset and Success” is a powerful reminder of how children can have a mindset to help them achieve what they set out to do.

Thank you to Barb King, counselor at Carolina Day School for sharing this video link.

 

 

 

Third Grade – Legend of Chocolate and the French Broad Chocolate Lounge

Third Grade – Legend of Chocolate and the French Broad Chocolate Lounge

The Legend of Chocolate

The third grade class just completed a unit on the Legend of Chocolate in Spanish. Their Spanish teacher, Cynthia, worked with West, their third grade teacher, to create a unit that would complement what the students were learning in their main classroom.

Students studied about how things work – machines, phones, etc. – in their main classroom lessons and in Spanish class, students learned about where chocolate came from.

At the end of the unit, third graders got a chance to see how chocolate is made, and how the machines work to make all that chocolate.

In their Spanish unit, students learned many new vocabulary words such as food (comida), drink (bebida), the Toltecs (los Toltecas), as well as many more vocabulary words.

They learned abut Quetzalcoatl, the god of Light and Tezcatlipoca, the god of darkness. Quetzalcoatl was the god to bring the food of the gods – chocolate – to the people, especially when they were so hungry. He taught them to farm, and how to turn cacao into a chocolate drink fit for the gods!

Third graders at the French Broad Chocolate Tasting Room

Third graders at the French Broad Chocolate Tasting Room

From there, they learned the mythical story about where chocolate originated. They learned the story in Spanish and even learned to recite it.

At the end of the unit, they took a field trip to the French Broad Chocolate Factory and had a tour of the Tasting Room. They listened to Evan, a Chocolatier, talk about cacao, where it comes from, how the Chocolatiers turn the cacao beans into chocolate and how they try to be as sustainable as possible in the process.

The crew at the French Broad Chocolate Factory led everyone into their “back rooms” where students could see all the machines at work. From rinsing, to sifting the cacao beans, to grinding them down into chocolate, they were able to see the entire process from start to finish.

Students sampled chocolate – the dark, unsweet kind directly derived from cacao – from different regions and it has a different taste from different regions!

Learning about chocolate and cacao

Learning about chocolate and cacao

At the end of the presentation, the third graders performed the skit of the Legend of Chocolate in Spanish for the French Broad Chocolate Lounge Staff.

Did you know that the French Broad Chocolate Factory uses solar power to heat all its water? And that they make every attempt to source all their ingredients locally?

They also deal only with farms that use fair trade in their practices. In fact, the owners and employees make trips to cacao farms in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Peru and help harvest the cacao by hand.

They have developed mutually beneficial relationships with farmers in those countries.

third grade

Watching the grinding machine take off the outer shell of cacao.

Rainbow would like to extend a special thank you to the Chocolatiers – especially Evan – for a wonderful lesson on chocolate, sustainability, how things work, and the idea of being as responsible to the planet and to each other as possible!

Final Hoedown Results and Children First

Final Hoedown Results and Children First

Partnership with Children First

Rainbow, as you may know, has a partnership with Children First.halloween harvest

Quite a few of the service learning projects on campus, as well as the Fall Harvest Hoedown directly benefit Children First/Communities in Schools of Buncombe County.

We wanted to share the final results of the Halloween Harvest Hoedown.

Why now?

Because at this year’s holiday program, The Festival of Lights, we are going to present Children First a check for $1,036. This number is 25% of the total funds raised by the Hoedown event.

 

Here are all the numbers:

Hoedown Profit (after all expenses): $4,143.75.festival of lights

25% to Children First: $1,036.