by West | Apr 20, 2017 | Home Page News, News, Student News & Accolades
In 2013, Rainbow Community School was the first school in North Carolina to be honored as a Green School of Excellence. Recently, we have been awarded this designation for the 4th consecutive year. The NC Green School of Excellence designation honors a school that shows the highest level of commitment to a sustainable campus and environmental education curriculum. Go to the Center for the Environment website by clicking here to learn more about the designation and to read how RCS is featured on the site.
After a renewal application process, Katie Ferrell of the Center for the Environment toured the school and presented us with our certificate of designation. She thanked us for our continued dedication “to teaching students about the interconnectedness of humans and nature and showing the students how to take care for the environment all school year long and especially for empowering students to take on leadership roles in the school, for actively creating community engagement and partnerships, and nurturing the students’ natural curiosity to dive deep into their experiences in the outdoor learning environment.”
As you are probably aware, the natural world serves as an important teacher in the lives of all our students. For example, connection to the natural world is celebrated in our mission to “develop accomplished, confident, and creative learners who are prepared to be compassionate leaders in building a socially just, spiritually connected, and environmentally sustainable world” and as one of our guiding principles “through understanding nature we understand ourselves therefore the learning environment extends into the natural world, the greater community and children spend as much time outside as possible. Children who have a relationship with nature will take care of it.” Additionally, environmental sustainability and stewardship and nature appreciation and education are part of our daily rituals and routines. The Natural Domain is emphasized as one of Seven RCS Learning Domains. From eco-conscious and green building practices, time spent in learning in the out of doors, to earth based celebrations, to Citizen Science, to recycling, composting, water conservation and gardening, to participation in Strive not to Drive Week, Screen Free Week and Blackouts, RCS actively strives to build a compassionate and environmentally sustainable school. Moreover, RCS is recognized by Ashoka to be a Changemaker School. The Changemaker Schools Network is a community of schools that as part of their mission and method support children in developing skills that aim to solve challenging problems and effect positive local, national and global change. To that end, elements of every grade’s curriculum integrates these changemaking skills and efforts and often children have opportunities to discuss, research, and design innovative solutions to many environmental problems. Indeed, Rainbow’s mission and vision incorporate learning that has, at its heart, a desire to instill a love for self and a love for the planet in a changing world.
by West | Apr 7, 2017 | Blogs, News, Rainbow Institute
When planning daily centerings Rainbow Community School (RCS) teachers strive to align the lessons, practices or activities with one of RCS’s spiritual, social and/or emotional learning goals. One of the longest standing spiritual learning goals (see below) recognizes celebration, tradition and ritual as sacred acts- acts that offer our students links to other cultures, ancestors and the past while laying a foundation for their future.
Class and Community Celebration and Ritual: Shared celebrations, ceremonies and rites of passage that empower students to be a part of an integral community
These shared celebrations, ceremonies and rites of passage are held as sacred and in some cases magical. They are symbolic and are infused with great care and reverence. Some specific milestones include Move Up Day, The Rose Ceremony, Mysteries Council, Graduation, school wide monthly gatherings that align with seasonal celebrations and Birthday Celebrations.
Recently I was invited into the 1st grade classroom to participate in a centering honoring a birthday. Our students experience at least once collective centering each school day, but for one very special centering each year, it becomes extremely personalized- The Birthday Celebration. As we know, a birthday is such a special and exciting event in a young person’s life, this special day holds a different, personal meaning than do other holidays or celebrations. Birthdays are celebrated for various reasons, from honoring or reflecting on personal growth, to acknowledging new opportunity, to encouraging fellowship. We may associate cake, ice cream, presents, parties with them but at Rainbow this personal milestone is meant to invoke a sense of the sacred- The child is cerebrated as a uniquely spiritual being.
Rachel, the lead teacher opened the centering circle by lighting the candle for “Judah and his new trip around the sun.” She first asked the kids to bring awarenss to their bodies by “finding a space that was grounding for them.” She then help to guide them in three deep breaths by ringing a chime between each breath. As the kids engaged in these typical centering rituals, the energy of the room settled into a more mindful state.
Rachel continued,…”We have all been part of Judah’s life for many days…many of us met Judah the first day of this school year, others have known Judah for many years now. We are also blessed to have two people in the circle that have known him for his entire life and we welcome Judah’s parents. Regardless of how long we have known him, we have all come to love and appreciate him and would like to honor him with appreciations.”
At this point Rachel asked the kids to warm their hands by rubbing them together and then invited them to cover their eyes so that they can fully picture Judah’s face and invite a sincere appreciation to the front of their minds. As the appreciation circle began, she reminded them that “when we speak from the heart, we point our hearts at the person we are speaking to.” The appreciations, as well as smiles and even happy tears began to flood into the room. Judah’s parents were also invited to tell Judah’s birth story and to share pictures and memories through the years.
Rachel has, for years, been carrying on a 1st grade tradition of a birthday bead necklace. At his time, she asked the children to choose a bead from the basket and to think about a wish they have for Judah as he embarks on this next journey around the sun and let the bead represent a wish they have for him during this next trip. Each student strung his/her bead onto the necklace and named the wish. As a closure, Rachel reminded Judah that he was loved by his 1st grade family and if there were every a time that he needed to be reminded of the love that surrounded him to wear the necklace so that his heart could be filled.
by West | Mar 20, 2017 | Blogs, Rainbow Institute
There are certain stand out elements of the Rainbow Seven Domains Learning Model that have huge impacts on the culture of the school, the daily centering practice is one. This morning ritual serves to awaken the spiritual center of each child, opening pathways to learning. This whole class activity than has an opening and closing ritual with an activity in the middle. The activity can include mindfulness, but also extends into other aspects of contemplative and spiritual learning with experiences that can integrate with the academic curriculum, social/emotional learning, creativity, kinesthetics, and students’ connection to the natural world. The learning targets for each centering are inspired by the spiritual domain learning goals.
As a centering begins, the classroom is filled with ritual and reverence. These rituals vary from classroom to classroom but the essence of centering is such that the students gather in a circle on a rug, the space is set with intention, the lights are dimmed, a chime or bell invites silence, reverence fills the room, a pause is taken for audible breath work, the invitation of fire through candlelight is summoned- this begins the sacred work of the day.
by West | Mar 10, 2017 | Blogs, Rainbow Institute
I am sure you have actions or behaviors in your day that you could categorize or label as habitual. Consider one or more of those for a moment. For example, brushing your teeth, or filling the tea kettle, putting food in the dog bowl before you are off to work, etc… Do you consider these as sacred HABITS. I am going to assume that you don’t likely bring intentioned awareness or a mindful presence to these on a daily basis. Or that you don’t pause to give reverence to those actions. I wonder what would transpire if you did?
When something becomes habit it has the tendency to lose its power, its meaning, and its impact. As you may know from previous centering reflections- ritual, rites and ceremony are embedded into RCS’s curriculum and culture in various forms. These show up in class meetings, centering practices, celebrations, and everyday when the kids unite in a food blessing.
Recently I joined grade 4 for a two-part centering in which the teacher introduced the word “invocation.” Invocation is a sentence, poem or prayer that calls our attention from the ordinary into the sacred.
Many RCS classrooms invite the sacred into the classroom through morning verses, songs, and regular recitations. However, blessings are one invocation that serve as a sacred ritual in every classroom. They happen each day before snack and before lunch. The blessing leader chooses from the blessing wall or list and then leads his/her classmates. Often they are followed by a minute of food honoring silence.
The introduction of the word invocation opened the floor for a discussion guided by these questions … “What makes something sacred or special and why do we pause for a blessing?”
The discussion led into an extension activity in which the kids shared their own family blessings and brainstormed general elements or characteristics that make up a blessing. This brainstorm then led to some personal journaling in which the students were asked to draft an original blessing to be added to the list of blessings. This was the teacher’s way of bringing the power back to something that had lost its spark while also empowering the students to take ownership over daily rituals.
Something done everyday can become habit if we make an effort to revisit what meaning it has. It we don’t pause or bring some intentionality back into it. This is like adding water to thirsty and drooping plant- it brings the life, the enthusiasm, the perk back into it.
How can what we do at RCS inspire your own personal or professional work? Consider these questions.
What in your life needs to be watered?
What rituals have become habit?
How can you breathe life back into them?
by West | Feb 20, 2017 | Blogs, Rainbow Institute
For many of the 8th grade Omega students, centering has been part of their educational experience for 9 years. This means that they have experienced approximately 1,500 centering practices during their time at RCS.
When Omegans begin their 7th grade year, a new ritual is invited into the centering practice. Words of wisdom, a quote, a lyric, or an invocation serve as the seed out of which the Centering lesson is born. These wise words are displayed on a white board and the Omega students are asked to connect to them in a deeper way by recording and reflecting on them in centering journals. A volunteer is asked to recite the quote and then at this time the teacher fishes for any student reflections, questions, insight or comments. Students are encouraged to offer their own wisdom, tweeze out meaning, making connections, share a personal story, give an emotional reaction and/or new perspective to the quote- ultimately this is how they breath even more life into the words.
On a Tuesday morning in January, the quote of the day came from none other than Winnie the Pooh. His wise words offered the students a chance to reflect on their fortunate friendships as true gifts- not to be overlooked or undervalued. Winne the Pooh says, “How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” One student reflected that “there are so many people that don’t realize how lucky they are…” “another mentioned that you don’t know you love something until it is gone” even still another noted that she recognized there have been many times in her life where she only saw the true gifts of something once it was gone. The teacher leading the centering shared a personal story which helped to create a safe and vulnerable place for the rest of the kids. At this time they were guided by several prompting questions and asked to think, pair, and share among their peers. Some of the prompts included: What qualities do you look for in friend? What are a few of your own qualities that make you a good friend? The room came alive with exchanges. The kids listened to one another with a mutual respect and spoke from the heart.
This culture of deep reflection, critical thinking and empathy didn’t develop overnight. The culture of uncovering personal truths and speaking them with confidence emerged from years of exposure to centering and contemplative practices, it was born out of the safe space the teachers worked so hard to foster, it evolved out of the deep relationships that guide all the work of a holistic education.
How can what we do at RCS inspire your own personal or professional work? Consider these questions.
How do you invite deep reflection into your life?
How do you access your inner wisdom and how do you create a sacred space for this?
How may you adapt this centering practice or one like it so that it may be used in your life?
