4th graders in Susie’s class embarked upon a special project recently: charting how much food, recycling, and trash that students produce as their “Zero Waste Project.” As students embarked upon this endeavor, they looked at the school’s mission statement. Students held discussions and made connections between their project and Rainbow’s mission.
Zero Waste was part of a larger unit on electricity. Students explored energy use and human impact across the domains.
At the beginning of the unit, Darrah, a Rainbow parent, came to speak about solar panels and energy use. She shared with 4th grade how solar panels have a negative charge and those negatively charged electrons run off the side of the panels to a conductor. Relatively big batteries fuel the panels and are “better than ever” at holding electricity for longer periods of time, such as when there are cloudy days.
After talking about solar panels, 4th grade moved on to talking about Zero Waste. For about two and a half weeks, students calculated in ounces how much food waste, trash, and recycling the class collectively generated each day. They recorded that data into a graph.
Day 1: The Introduction: students put food, waste and recycling into the pitchers and weighed them at the end of the day.
After 11 class days, students had the graph filled out and made some great observations.
Charting this kind of data had an assortment of learning opportunities, as you can imagine. Students learned about decimals, taring the scale, how to accurately graph data and interpret the results. They understood that certain food waste went into the pitcher, but things like banana peels and apple cores did not. Those could be composted and were things that people normally didn’t eat.
Any bits of sandwiches from lunch or leftover snacks (that students wouldn’t eat later) all went into the pitchers for measuring. For paper recycling, students were able to rip up pieces so they could fit into the pitchers. Since the school has pizza on Thursdays, they also started to brainstorm about how to use a pizza box in different ways.
Part of the idea behind this project was to allow students to just become aware and more mindful of their actions and their impact with regard to food, recycling and trash.
How It All Ties Together
In their electricity unit, students saw how the consumption of resources was related to electricity, to water, and to the planet. They saw how they could take advantage of opportunities to reduce, reuse, and recycle. They talked about the use of reusable bottles, how they might decline the plastic straw at restaurants, turn the faucet off while brushing, turn lights on only when necessary, eat all their food off dinner plates (and store the rest), and more.
An Electricity Feast
The end of this special unit was marked with an “electricity feast.” Students and their families brought in food to enjoy together, but only after 4th graders demonstrated their learning at different stations.
All around the classroom were signs of learning about electricity.
The creative and mental domains were an integral part of this unit. Students created electric game boards. If you answered a question correctly, the circuit would connect and light up (with the help of a knowledgeable 4th grader).
Closing the circuit resulted in the light bulb glowing.
Themes for morning centering during the unit allowed students to reflect on how their own light shines in the world. Students also reflected on world leaders and what light they bring to the world community.
Students reflected on the idea of personal enlightenment and leaders who changed the world with their light. This touches upon the spiritual domain.
The 4th grade classroom was “alight” with the energy of community, learning, light and love as families came to see all the students present their portfolios.
After everything was finished, everyone joined together for a blessing. There was a lot of gratitude for the feast. They understood that what we eat ultimately comes from our beautiful planet.
At least several students in 4th grade reported on how they wanted to keep trying to measure their food, recycling and trash to stay mindful of their consumption of resources. Beyond the unit, others have mentioned changing habits at home and being more mindful of their impact on the planet and on the world’s resources.
Willow the Welcome Dog – Highlighting a Special Friend!
For this month’s team highlight, we have something sweet to share. You may have noticed a sweet dog greeting you when you come to Rainbow. She’s the official “Welcome Dog,” a self-imposed designation by our four-pawed friend. In fact, she’s so adept at being a greeter and interacting with humans, we think Willow doesn’t know that she’s a canine and not, in fact, a homo sapiens.
Willow claims West Willmore as “her human” – the Curriculum Director and Development Coordinator, as well as the Director of Operations for Rainbow Institute.
But Willow has come into her own as the Welcome Dog. She’s quite at home in our community and loves it when people come up and pet her.
Willow is happy to welcome you to Rainbow!
During the course of the day at Rainbow, she loves being part of centering. In fact, she hopes that her presence will be perfect for “therapeutic student interactions.” She loves how she can help students calm down – just when they would want some time to take a few breaths.
Willow loves being pet and finds that this calms students, too!
She attends faculty circle from time to time and likes to keep tabs on what’s going on in the community. It’s hard to sit perfectly next to other staff members in the circle, so she doesn’t mind going into the center. She figures if she just listens really well, no one will mind.
Sitting in the center of the circle.
Willow sees to it that she’s present for all school celebrations. One of her favorites is Halloween.
Willow and Sandra, our Director of Operations, all dressed up for Halloween!
Another favorite is May Day each year.
May Day celebrations with Willow!
She also doesn’t mind an impromptu “long lost cousin” costume, either.
We think that perhaps that extra layer should be sheared…
She even likes to hear the graduation songs and speeches at the end of the year.
Graduations are reasons for everyone to gather around…
She doesn’t mind crowds or having them look at her. That’s funny because although she doesn’t bark, West reports that she’s kind of afraid of everything.
Willow doesn’t mind helping students out with their science projects. She gives them lots of ideas.
Willow just doing her part for science.
Willow On History, Science and Sports
When she’s not helping students out with centering or science, she likes to sunbathe on Rainbow’s main deck – as long as it’s warm enough to do so. She figures what would be the point of sunbathing if the sun doesn’t bathe you in some warmth?
During history lessons, Willow is great at illustrating the idea of “hunting and gathering.” She hunts and gathers bits of food from snack time and is really good at keeping the floors clean.
She can be a comedian, too. One of the funniest things she does is stand in her water bowl. When she does that, we think she’s trying to tell us that it’s time to get out and play. Preferably in the water.
Indeed, she loves to swim! Not only does she go with her human to the lake quite often, she also goes on rock climbing trips, hiking, trail running, and more. Even though she likes to hunt, she’s content with the thrill of the game and accepts the fact that she doesn’t catch much.
Travels All Over
She also accompanies West on plenty of road trips. She’s been all over the U.S. and has her sights set on international travel. For now, she can boast that the farthest she’s ever been outside of North Carolina is California.
Willow has made quite a life for herself in the world of humans. When she was born, she was the runt of her litter-mates. As soon as she met West, however, it was loyalty at first sight.
If you see a light-colored fluffy dog around the campus of Rainbow, just say, “Willow!” and she’ll come right over to you and make sure you feel welcome. Don’t worry if you’re allergic to dogs: Willow is hypoallergenic.
You might find Willow in an office, ready to offer her insights, but she can’t promise complete seriousness all the time…
You can find Willow in Instagram under her owner’s account with the hashtag, #willowthewaterdog.
You probably know that music changes lives. It brings people together. For this month’s team highlight, we wanted to share about Sue Ford, our longtime music teacher who is heavily involved in the Asheville community with Village Marimba.
A Brief History About Sue Ford
Sue Ford has been a part of Rainbow Community School as the music teacher since 2003. She left Rainbow for a little while to work at Evergreen Community Charter School in 2006. While there, she started a marimba band. Along her musical journey, she’d spent time studying with folks trained in playing marimba. In fact, she’s dabbled with marimba for a long time, even participating in a band called “Chikomo.”
After leaving Evergreen in 2016, Sue felt that she had the confidence to move ahead with the marimba business she’d started. At Rainbow, as part of that business, she offered to teach marimba after school. In that time, she’s had students from the 5th grade all the way through 12th grade join her marimba classes.
Due to demand, she began an adult marimba class last summer. It proved to be so popular that she added a second class. Many RCS staff have participated in these classes. Those who have taken Sue’s marimba class report that it feels so empowering and that it is a lot of fun.
During her tenure as a teacher, Sue has worked with students ranging in age from preschool through middle school. Mountain Express and the Asheville Community selected Sue Ford as the “Best Music Teacher” for four years in a row.
What Students Learn in Marimba Classes
Students in Village Marimba learn music that interests them, including popular music. They also incorporate multicultural music, work on their general marimba technique, and work in tandem with each other, as well as other musically-minded folks.
Take a look at one of her Village Marimba videos:
Expanding The Marimba Horizons
The historic significance of the marimba is important to Sue. The marimba instrument itself originated in Zimbabwe (a country that used to be known as Rhodesia).
Influenced by the equity work that Rainbow is doing, Sue thought about how the marimba has had such an impact on her life and influenced her music. She began thinking about how she could give back to the people who made the instrument possible.
Last fall, Sue got in touch with Peter Swing, a fellow marimba teacher and friend who lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He had connections with marimba musicians in Zimbabwe. Sue asked him if he knew anyone in Zimbabwe that would benefit from a donation from her company, as a way to give back.
Indeed he did! Peter put her in touch with a teacher in Zimbabwe. Shortly after, Sue launched a campaign to support the work of Barnabas Ngalande by raising over $1000 in two different fundraisers. Barnabas was a “mbira” teacher and with the proceeds from Sue’s campaign, he was able to build several of these instruments. Barnabas also sponsored three orphaned girls to send them to a high school with a music curriculum as a result of this funding.
In the weeks after the most recent benefit fundraiser, Sue received a letter from one of Barnabas’ students:
The three girls are part of Barnabas’ mbira group, “Mbirautare.” The student above, who wrote the thank-you letter to Sue, just enrolled in her school in January 2018.
We are so glad that Sue is part of Rainbow and that she is offering these classes to our community!
In Omega, teachers often incorporate ways to make a lesson come alive. Students embarked on a design challenge of sorts, one in which they challenged themselves, worked against the clock, and figured out how to quickly problem-solve for a solution.
Rocket Launching
Using a piece of paper, tape, and a straw, students were challenged to make a flying object. The idea was to repeat the process three times, except they had less and less time with each round.
Round One
Students had five minutes. They collaborated in groups and could talk about what sort of rocket they’d like to build. When time was up, they only had one chance to launch and measure how far their paper rocket traveled.
Collaborating in groups. Round One.
The results for this first round would help inform students as to what trends they spotted, what modifications they might need to make, and what they could do to make their rockets go farther.
After all students launched their rockets, the range was from 0 inches all the way to 168″!
What’s so incredible is that students were extremely supportive of one another, and they immediately got to work on the second round to make iterations. In essence, they were using failure to inform their next decisions.
Round Two
The next round meant a shorter time: three minutes. Students concentrated furiously and worked to design better rockets.
The biggest challenge was not having the amount of time they did on the first round. But, using experiential data, they tried to figure out what would sail through the air the farthest.
The results were as varied as the first time! Flight paths ranged from 0″ to 176″!
Round Three
This time, all students only had one minute thirty seconds to build their rockets. The time constraint created the ultimate pressure! In fact, time went by so fast that they had only enough time to quickly put together something and line up for the final launch:
Older rockets were left in place so students could compare and contrast their results. They began to analyze results, as well. All the scores ranged from 0″ to 159.5″.
Results
Interestingly, it was the second round where someone got 176″. Perhaps it was the sweet spot between time and thinking to pull off something that would sail farther through the air.
Student observations included things like how it seemed like all the rockets formed a bell curve, how longer and narrower rockets seemed to go through the air more easily (though they didn’t always fly the farthest), and that being “smaller” wasn’t necessarily an indicator of how far an object would go.
Some students stayed with the same design all three rounds: one student built small paper airplanes and attempted to refine the configuration on each round. Other students modified their rockets based on their observations. Rounds two and three saw more slender rockets.
This incredible lesson helps students learn to innovate. By doing so, they’ll come up with ideas for an incredible Design Fair later in the semester.
