by Webmaster | Nov 13, 2014 | Events, Home Page News

Rainbow Community School is once again hosting a Scholastic book fair!
It will be in the RCS auditorium (60 State Street entrance).
The book fair features the latest and most popular titles for children.
Get your Santa list checked off.
Or, you can help stock classroom libraries.
Did you know that children who grow up loving to read tend to be adults who never stop learning?
For more information, check out this link. You can purchase books online 24/7. You can even download an app to your phone to look for right-fit books.
RCS Book Fair
Bookfair Schedule – November 14-19
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Fri, Nov 14
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9 a.m.- 3 p.m.
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Mon, Nov 17
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8-9 a.m. and 2-4 p.m.
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Tues, Nov 18
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8-9 a.m. and 2-4 p.m.
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Wed, Nov 19
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8-9 a.m. and 1-3 p.m.
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Proceeds from the fair will go toward purchasing a SMART board for the school.
by Webmaster | Nov 10, 2014 | Home Page News, News
Rainbow Community’s Artist Reception
Food. Wine. Jazzy music. Great conversation. Fabulous art.
The First Annual RCS Art Show was a hit!
Lots of local and regional artists’ work were in the show and the school created an art page for the artwork. The page will remain active on Rainbow’s website for two more weeks, so if you were thinking about buying a great work of art, you still have a chance!
If you were able to attend the event, and tried the food, it was incredible! Tina Crain catered the food and if you need a caterer that uses the finest quality food for delicious taste, check out her website, Chestnut Flats.
Here’s a sampling of the amazing food:

Sweet figs – so creamy and delicious
There was gluten-free pumpkin bread, and other delectable finger foods:

Bite-sized pumpkin bread
The beauty and quality of all the art was simply exquisite. People were able to have conversations around many of the art pieces.

Conversation around the arts
Delicate and vibrant, the artwork truly was the highlight of the event.

Acro Bag by John Littleton and Kate Vogel
Darrah, a Rainbow parent, facilitated the event and worked hard to put it all together.
From the website, to the food, to the setup, she stepped up to the plate and created an event that everyone enjoyed. A special thank you goes out to her for all the hard work she did.
RCS also wants to extend its gratitude to Wicked Weed, and Jeffie Cilano for the white wine.

Fine wine, grapes and fall themed beer were the order of the day
50% of all the art sales support the RCS Combined Campaign. The other 50% goes directly to the artists.
Many RCS parents and families came to the event, as did folks from the greater Asheville community. Thank you to everyone who supported the event!

Thank you for supporting RCS and the arts!
by Webmaster | Nov 8, 2014 | CEO's Kaleidoscope, Director's Blog, Publications
Kaleidoscope: The Many Colorful Things Happening at Rainbow –
From the Executive Director
Why does our sign still say Rainbow Mountain Children’s School?
Maybe we are just too nostalgic to change it?
Actually, it is a series of unfortunate events behind a long journey which began many months ago, but our sign maker has returned from his back injury and we might actually have our new sign by December – fingers crossed.
Where Will all the Students Go?
We have 5,500 square feet of space in the lower level of the new Community Building that is unusable until we can bring it up to code and configure it into full-size classrooms.
This involves major construction, including removing structural walls and creating handicap access.
This space needs to be completed as soon as possible in order to have enough space for all of your children for the 2015-16 school year!
For example, next year, the Omega 7th and 8th grade will be an estimated 40 students as the current 6th and 7th grade students matriculate up.
Omega only has one classroom now, so they will need another room in order to have enough space for 40 kids. This is one reason we are in a crunch to finish that space. It is silly to have all the space sitting there, unusable, when we don’t have enough classrooms for all your children.
Our contractor says we need to begin construction in January in order to have the space ready for students in August. The permit for the next phase of construction is already being submitted to the City of Asheville.

The Deadline
By December 19, we need to have $150,000 pledged toward the construction project to know that we can begin construction in January and be able to fund the project.
Have you pledged yet?
Fortunately, we don’t literally need cash in hand when we break ground in January, but we do need enough money pledged by then.
(You can pay a pledge later or over a period of months.)
This year’s campaign is every bit as important as last year.
Thank you for investing in Rainbow’s facilities which will serve your children and so many others for years to come. It is exciting to see the pledges rolling in. It’s incredible how it really does take everyone doing what they can – no more, no less — to make the goal.
For those of you who have already made your pledge, thank you so much!
Not only have you gotten this campaign rolling, but every time someone donates early in the campaign, it means we can spend less money and effort on fundraising and more money and resources on education. The earlier people donate, the better it is for our whole community. Thank you!
Coming Down from the Summit
I found the Parent Summit to be an exciting event.
The board is filtering through pages and pages of notes and documentations from the Summit.
Thank you to the many volunteers who helped make the event happen and/or volunteered to organize notes afterward.
As a result we have a ton of suggestions and ideas.
The board’s job is now to find the common themes in those ideas to help steer the overall direction of the school, and then to turn the management-level ideas over to the various circles which would potentially implement them.
Our Faculty: Life-long Learners
During the faculty work day in October, all faculty members visited another school of their choice.
Although the main goal was for them to observe other teachers, a side benefit is that they act as ambassadors for Rainbow.
You may want to ask your child’s teacher which school they visited and what that experience was like.
Coming soon!
The office is working on completing the 2013-14 Annual Report by Thanksgiving. Look for it!
Wanted: Community Coordinator
We are looking for someone who will write a newsletter highlighting Asheville community events/classes/activities that Rainbow families may be interested in.
Looking for an interesting way to use your volunteer hours?
Contact Kate in the office if you want to know more. This is a fun job for the right person. Most of the work can be done off campus.
EPIC Faculty Training
The teachers are receiving a rich menu of training on Systems Thinking, Engineering, and the Maker Movement this year.
The last two trainings were called Engineering is Elementary.
Before that Tom Heck presented “Making, and Making a Difference.” Tom runs the EPICS program (Engineering Projects in Communities and Schools) at Purdue University. He will be consulting with our teachers throughout the year, helping them integrate robotics, engineering, and tinkering into their units of study.
The Many Adventures of Reneé – Changing the Odds
I attended the Changing the Odds conference, October 9 and 10, in Dallas to help at the table with Ashoka Changemaker schools.
There were 10 other Changemaker schools there, and it was really wonderful forging relationships with other change leaders and teachers. I got to meet some of my favorite authors, Malcolm Gladwell and Tony Wagner.
The Changing the Odds conference focus was largely on the importance of social/emotional learning, especially empathy and compassion.
The school that hosted the conference is called the Momentous Institute, a private school funded by the Salesmanship Club of Dallas, which raises $7 million a year by hosting a PGA golf tournament.
The Momentous Institute is their sole recipient of these funds. So this private school has a dream budget that provides free tuition to many kids who would otherwise attend public school. Momentous has as many therapists as teachers on their staff!
They invest in best practices and have the money to collect and analyze a lot of data. Momentous has really great research that ties social emotional learning (SEL) to academic success.
SEL is becoming accepted as the most important aspect of education.
Forbes predicts empathy as the #1 desired quality for careers by 2020. I am posting some of my favorite quotes and thoughts from the conference on my blog, which can be accessed here.
Mind and Life Institute
Last week I traveled to Boston for the Mind and Life Institute’s International Symposium on Contemplative Education.
Three hundred and sixty doctoral and post-doctoral papers were presented at this conference on effects of contemplative practices in education and life! Just a few years ago contemplative education was extremely rare, and now the field is exploding!
I worked with 30 educators from around the world on the topic of merging transformative education (education for social action) and contemplative education.
John Powell was a riveting speaker. Dr. Powell is a powerful social activist, particularly in the area of race and racism, and he is a contemplative meditator who spent a significant amount of time in India.
He spoke about how people can use meditation to tune out or to tune in. Clearly, we use contemplative practices at Rainbow with the intention of tuning people in– helping them to be more engaged.
A side note on the use of your hard-earned tuition funds: Rainbow spends as little as possible on all the travel I do.Ashoka paid for the Changing the Odds Conference expenses, and I am fortunate to have a family member who used to work for an airline, so I have extremely discounted standby airfare. Plus, I have friends in several cities to stay with, and when I don’t, I am as thrifty as possible. In Boston I stayed in a hostel dorm room.
Time to Slow Down
This has been the busiest fall at Rainbow I have ever experienced – one exciting event after another.
It’s time to slow down.
Winter is approaching, and the time of year when our bodies go inside for warmth is also when we warm our hearts and become more focused on our inner selves.
It is no coincidence that virtually every religion has a major holiday coming up – it’s a very spiritual time of year.
I hope you can soak up every minute of the upcoming Thanksgiving and winter breaks with gratitude and plenty of family time. Blessings.
by Webmaster | Nov 5, 2014 | Home Page News, News
Today we had our Day of the Dead Celebration, led by the 4th grade.
We met at the outdoor stage where the 4th grade shared about the History of Day of the Dead. It is a day rooted in Aztec and Catholic tradition, that celebrates and honors people’s ancestors.

4th grade Day of the Dead – starting the celebration
Each student had a role. Some shared statements about how people in Mexico celebrate the occasion.

They talked about how families decorate altars to remember their loved ones who have passed on. Students brought photos and other artifacts they made to remember their loved ones.

Students danced and recited lines in Spanish. They talked about how families celebrate and go to the graves of their loved ones to clean them up and decorate them with flowers. They bring candles and hold a vigil there over the days of October 31-November 2nd.

Their Spanish teacher, Lisa, helped with all the preparations for the celebration. She dressed up and decorated her face like a “calavera” – a skull.

Some students really dressed up!

We also ordered Pan de muertos, or “Day of the Dead bread” from a local bakery in town. It’s so delicious! It has a hint of orange and made as real bread, then topped with sugar. The bread is in the shape of bones or flowers, in honor of the day.

After the celebration was over, we concluded with a Song Circle, led by music teacher, Sue Ford:

It was a great celebration!
by Webmaster | Nov 4, 2014 | Events, Home Page News
Third Grade Service Learning
Each year, our Third Grade Huskies coordinate a food drive for Thanksgiving in conjunction with Children First (CF) of Buncombe County. The food drive starts today and ends Monday, November 17.
Buncombe County has one of the highest rates in the nation for food insecurity and as a community, we all have a part in helping out those in need.
Our third graders take that calling seriously. Last year, they helped deliver quite a few boxes of food to CF. They helped out numerous families and were quite successful in their endeavor to collect food and other items.
They are again collecting food and asking all Rainbow Community folks to contribute as they can. Their goal is to be able to deliver more food than last year.
Each classroom at Rainbow has food collection boxes to store the non-perishable items until they pick up all the food on November 17th. Below is a list of what Children First has requested. Feel free to print the list and distribute as you need.
Thanks to everyone for their generosity. In the spirit of gratitude, let’s come together and lend a hand!

Food items for Children First food drive.