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!
Many Rainbow parents stopped and commented on the unusual sight on campus Friday. What they saw was the outdoor classroom turned into a military parade ground as Major Ronald Capes’ Asheville High School’s ROTC class came to demonstrate drills, lead team building exercises and talk about the life of a soldier.
During Omega’s civil war unit the students studied and read about Union and Confederate soldiers but the ROTC activities and Major Capes talk really brought home to them how working together, buddies or not, directly contributes to success, and in war time to being able to come home.
“I enjoyed how, on the plank walking, everyone had to really work together and if one person was out of step it messed everyone up”, commented a seventh grader.
Although the Omega students were skeptical when they heard ROTC was coming to work with them, Omega teachers, Susan and Jason, were happy with the lesson. “Everyone was pleasantly surprised”, said Susan.
As one student put it, “That was a lot more fun than I expected!”
The following link is a well-written blog that explains how we build self-esteem at Rainbow Mountain. Although the author doesn’t refer to Positive Discipline or The Responsive Classroom (two of the classroom management/behavior models we draw from at Rainbow), his beliefs and practices are exactly the same:
Educational Research has revealed that children learn best when the material is relevant to them. That is one reason why the “PIP: Personal Interest Project” has been a long tradition at Rainbow Mountain.
Students are allowed to chose ANY topic of their interest. They have to do deep research on their topic, write a research paper and give a presentation using PowerPoint. While some students chose incredibly sophisticated topics, others choose topics that may not seem particularly “educational,” but that’s okay. The primary point of PIPs is for students to hone their research skills. They learn how to delve deeply into a topic and become a “specialist.” By allowing them to chose a topic they are personally interested in, the PIP is relevant and very motivating for each student…and the students learn from each others odd and fascinating topics.
The sixth grade will be presenting their PIPs tomorrow. Here is their list of individual topcs: Vietnam War, Optical Illusions, Judas Priest, Betty Boop, Screech Owls, Cat Breeding and Show, Michael J. Fox, Extraterrestrials, Shamans, The Office, DC Comics, Led Zepplin, Dr. Who, Hello Kitty.
