Winter Program 2019

Winter Program 2019

Winter Program 2019 – “Family”

Preschool and Kindergarten both performed in the morning program.

You can follow along with the lyrics to their songs:

Preschool

“Family of Feelings” by Lucy MacGregor, Preschool Teacher

I feel something inside me. I feel something in there. It tickles my tummy. It tingles my hair. Oh, hello. Oh, I know. Upset or happy, mad, sad or scared, they are all in there. Feelings… family of feelings… I know how to care for you, deep breath.

Kindergarten

“Mariposa Family Song” by Kindergarten students & Sue Ford, Music Teacher CHORUS.

I like to do things with my family, all kinds of things with my family. Snuggling or cuddling with my mama or papa, I feel safe and love in family. I like to go places and have some fun on airplanes or cars, adventure has begun Go see Grandma or friends or travel someplace new with my family where our love is true. CHORUS I love the outdoors when the weather is nice we pack up and go camping or go on hikes We pretend we are animals, wild and free or play with sticks or swim in the sea CHORUS When winter winds blow we have fun in the snow or play games inside or watch movies playing school with my sister, building Lego sets. I love celebrating family.

First Grade

“Mother Earth” by 1st Grade students, Josie Hoban, 1st grade Associate Teacher, & Sue Ford Chorus

We give thanks that the Earth is our Mother. She loves all of us like no other. Every living, breathing being, plants and animals are family. Ooo Mother Earth…. we are your children

Possum babies sleep in Mama’s deep pouch White tailed deer graze, toads hop and crouch Screech owls fly across the sky Wild turkeys with their babies hear the hawk cry

Bears and wolves, snakes slither together Through brackish ferns, moss, rocks and heather Mother rivers flow, flocks of geese in flight Fox vixens love their kits all through the night.

Third Grade

“Cats and Dogs” by 3rd grade students, Sue Ford & Justin Pilla

Filidae, Canidae, Cat and Dog Families. Warm furry mammals with large teeth and claws They have fuzzy ears and fuzzy tails and cute fuzzy paws. Some say that one –is better than the other In our family they are sisters and brothers.

A Pride of lions work together to hunt Snow leopards are rarest and hard to confront Clever coyotes sing with howls and yelps They hunt in packs with each other’s help Lightening quick cheetahs sprint in the Savannah Leaping, long leopards creep in the jungle Frolicking foxes play with friends in the forest. Wondrous wild wolves howl at the moon in chorus Jumping Jaguars like to swim and fish Stealthy Bobcats wait for prey in the bush Joking jackals will have just one partner Like the wolf, they will babysit their kindergartener Digging Dingos in the dirt wild and free, Powerful panthers prowl land to the sea.

Second Grade

“Family Team” Lyrics by 2nd Grade students & Eddy Webb, 2nd Grade Teacher. Carolyn Zeigler, Rainbow Tutor, on flute. Tune based on Donnybrook Fair, an Irish Jig

Wake me up, I make the bed Cat, gerbils, and dog are fed Wash the dishes, do my chores If you ask, I’ll do some more

Clean my room and rub your feet In the yard I rake the leaves. All the things I do for you, It’s so clear, I love you

Family, we are like a team All for one, a family team! You know I always got your back, Count on me, that’s a fact!

Some are big and some are small That’s okay, we love them all Laugh and cry and try together Family love goes on forever!

Care for me, shelter, food Always kind, and never rude Drive to soccer, cheer me on Call me in when dinner’s done

Hand-me-downs or buy me clothes Make me wear a coat—it’s cold! All the things you do for me, It’s so clear, you love me!

Family, we are like a team All for one, a family team! You know I always got your back, Count on me, that’s a fact!

Some are big and some are small That’s okay, we love them all Laugh and cry and try together Family love goes on forever!

Fourth Grade

“Moments With My Family” by 4th Grade students & teachers – Kurt Campbell & Sarah Callahan

CHORUS: Special moments with my family They are part of my history Looking back on my memories In my mind they’re a treasury

Traveling to Scandanavia Staying up til 4am Hanging out with my sisters Laughing about where we’ve been. Spending Christmas in Ohio Hanging out with my cousins. Traveling to England 8 hour plane ride

CHORUS

Going camping with my family The dog ate my marshmallow Hanging out with siblings Laughing and having fun Watching TV with my parents All day long Picking out Midnight in late winter Fluffy baby bunnies everywhere

CHORUS

Going on a boat with mom and dad We saw whales and it started to rain. Traveling on a plane to Norway Flying through the sky Going on a trip to Carowinds Rollercoasters flying through the sky Going on a trip saying are we there yet Not yet! 5 minutes later ask again

CHORUS

Flying to California with my mom and brother Meeting friends and eating Mexican food Watching a movie in a pool While swimming with my dad. Bringing home a new dog I was so happy that I cried Jumping off a rock Landing in the water

CHORUS

Having fun with my dad in Hawaii Snorkeling in the coral reef Picking out our puppy Phoenix A new member of our family. Playing with my dogs Taking them to the lake. Driving from California to Asheville With my mom and 3 cats Flying and driving to Michigan To get my new dog Ray. Going on a cross country road trip Going almost everywhere.

Fifth Grade

“Rivers and Roads” by the Head and the Heart, words adapted by Emmaly Rogalski, 5th grade teacher, instrumental parts by Sue Ford, Dance choreographed by Julie Chapman, 5th grade parent.

A year from now we’ll all be gone. All our friends will move away. And they’re going to better places. But our friends will be gone away.

Nothing is as it has been as we cross the ocean’s swell And I guess it’s just as well as we cross the ocean’s swell

Been talking ‘bout the way things change. And my family lives in a different state And if you don’t know what to make of this, then we will not relate So if you don’t know what to make of this, then we will not relate

Rivers and roads, Oceans and roads, rivers till I reach you
Rivers and roads, Oceans and roads, rivers till I reach you.

Marimba Omega Elective

“New Hope” by Sue Ford & Walt Hampton
”Carol of the Bells” based on a traditional folksong from Ukraine called “Schedryk”
“Mojo” by Walt Hampton

Sixth Grade

Keep it Together” by Madonna & Stephan Bray

5 Reasons to Attend the Omega Open House

5 Reasons to Attend the Omega Open House

 You can learn so much at the Omega Middle School Open House

Our Omega Middle School Open House is right around the corner. We hope you will take some time to be part of this event, no matter your child’s grade in elementary school or middle school. It gives you an opportunity to see a Rainbow / Omega education across the grades, culminating with the 7th and 8th grade years in which students engage in larger projects, presentations, and leadership opportunities.

What made me a supporter of Rainbow, was the kids’ strong sense of self. They knew who they were and were not. They knew their strengths and weaknesses. And even though high school and college brings its own set of social and educational challenges, the students I met were at peace with themselves, ready to take on the challenges of young adulthood with confidence and determination. —Bill Drew, parent of a current 5th grader

Here is this year’s schedule:

Morning Session
8:30 – 10 am

  • 8:30 – 8:45 coffee/tea/chocolate in the auditorium foyer
  • 8:45 – 9:00 short presentation about Omega Middle School
  • 9:00 – 9:30 tour classes in progress
  • 9:30 – 10 Q & A with current teachers & students back in the auditorium

Evening Session
6:30 – 8:00 pm

  • 6:30 – 6:45 – pizza and salad in the auditorium foyer
  • 6:45 – 7:00 – short presentation about Omega Middle School
  • 7:00 – 7:15 – tour classrooms
  • 7:15 – 8:00 – meet recent graduates and ask questions with our alumni panel

The five big reasons you should come to the Omega Open House:

1. Meet teachers

During the school year, it’s not always so easy to speak with a teacher who is not attending to other tasks – students, planning, teaching, training, in a meeting, etc. Having their undivided attention to answer all your questions about what they teach and how becomes such a gift! The open house provides you this opportunity. Meet all the teachers in our Omega Middle School: Susie (division head), Susan, Jason, Niki, Justin, Lisa, Jenny, and some of our specialists.

open house


2. Meet students

We love opening up our campus so that you can meet students and see how incredible they all are. The programs and curriculum in the Omega program allows them to explore their interests more in-depth through our regular academic program and through our electives classes. We have extensive electives courses and our students can tell you about them.

open house

3. Meet recent graduates

You also have an opportunity to hear from recent graduates who can give you candid answers about how prepared they felt for high school. They can share about their Rainbow experiences, the transition to high school, and tell you much more about their academic and extracurricular careers as a result of their Rainbow / Omega experience.

You can get a great feel for how this works with our past alumni panels who have spoken at other Open Houses:

 

4. Visit classes

On the morning of the Open House, you can see classes in progress. On any given day, students engage in different experiential activities involving collaboration, problem solving, math, language arts and social studies.

omega open house

5. Get all your questions answered

We cannot stress enough the value in being part of an event like this. You get to see the “whole Rainbow story” and how proud we are of our young students and who they grow to be.

Last year, one parent attended and felt so moved by the event, he wrote a long letter of how this event alone helped him decide on a middle school for his child. Take a look! at Bill Drew’s Testimonial Letter.

We hope you will join us for an evening of connection, information, and fun! We’ll have door prizes and other giveaways, too!

Rainbow Student Memorizes 220 Digits of Pi

Rainbow Student Memorizes 220 Digits of Pi

The Number Pi

Do you know about the number pi?

Aside from being the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet – 𝚷 – it is also a unique number.

If you take the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, no matter how big or small a circle is, this number is the same. That is, dividing any circumference of a circle by its diameter, you’ll still get the same result: pi.

Before we share the number, we need to explain that it’s an irrational number. Its decimals are infinite. They go on forever, though they do not repeat, such as when you get the decimal form of 2/3: 0.66666666…and on to infinity.

Here are the first 100 digits of pi: 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679

A Pi Day Tradition

Each year in 6th grade Omega, on March 14, students have a “Pi Day” showdown. Students who want to participate in Pi day spend time memorizing as many digits of Pi (after the number 3) as they can.

Students get up and recite them in front of their classmates. Even if they have memorized hundreds of numbers, the added challenge of doing this in front of peers doesn’t guarantee that a person will be able to flawlessly recite their memorized numbers.

Some students memorized the first two digits (ha!). Some memorized 30 digits, 61 digits, 71 digits, 73 digits, 103 digits, and one student kept going…and going…to 220 digits!

Why Memorize Digits of Pi?

It may seem at first glance that memorizing lots of numbers in rapid succession for “rote memorization” isn’t a great use of time. Besides, why do that when you can just search that number on the web?

You might not know about the real benefits of doing an exercise like this.

First, let’s talk numbers.

In 1981, Rajan Mahadevan (of India) correctly recited 31,811 digits of pi. Eight years later, Hideaki Tomoyori (of Japan) would recite 40,000 digits in competition. In 2005, Lu Chao (of China) broke the world record for correctly reciting 67,890 digits of pi.

Impressive, no?

But get this. Those folks don’t have extraordinary memorization powers. Oh, no. It’s strategy.

These people simply learned different methods for effectively memorizing large amounts of information. It’s not hard to see how this would translate to the classroom. By learning how to memorize numbers in various ways, students can apply those skills to memorizing other important information, such as historical dates, social security numbers, drivers license numbers, and more.

They also start to understand their own process of learning and what is most effective.

Memorization Strategies

Mind Palace or The Method of Loci

Basically, this method uses location as a way to trigger the memory. Let’s say someone wants to remember 24 digits. Standing in front of the kitchen sink, for example, they would memorize four or five digits. Then they could move toward the window and memorize a few more, and move again to the couch, then to a door, each time memorizing a few more digits of a number.

To recite the numbers, the person then starts again at the kitchen sink, moves toward the window and retraces the path they first took – essentially moving “through the palace” to visualize and remember the numbers.

Chunking

This method calls for memorizing numbers in smaller chunks. To make it more effective, a person could put them on cards, write them on paper on different lines, or write in names of people and “assign” a chunk of numbers to them.

Major System

This is another memorization technique in which numbers have consonant sounds and memory aids.

In fact, there are many ways to do this! The website The Art of Memory has many different techniques of improving memory skills and resources for learning how to memorize large amounts of information.

Here is a fun video on “How to Memorize Pi the Easiest Way Possible” by Memorize Academy:

At the very least, anyone looking up resources to memorize pi naturally gains research skills and cognitive reasoning skills to sift through all the information!

It’s More Than A Friendly Competition

Students who choose to get up and recite these numbers face some challenges. It’s not easy getting up in front of peers. But at Rainbow, teachers and students spend time on developing the “whole child,” and this includes developing those empathy skills that allow students to be supportive of each other as they go up and present in front of the class.

Everyone received an applause, a little hedgehog sticker for participation and support from classmates.

Then They Ate Pi…Er…Pie!

Though Rainbow has a policy on not eating sugar during the day, teachers will make exceptions for special occasions. This was definitely a special occasion: not eating pie on pi day amounts to…mathematical error.

Instead of regular pie, however, Jenny, our 6th grade teacher, got “cookie pie” as it was easier to transport. What would a celebration be without 3.14 candles?

We’re not sure which memorization method students used, but one thing is for sure: students learned about how they learn, and figured out different memorization techniques.

Rainbows End Presents “We Are Monsters” (video)

 

Vampires, werewolves, goblins and ghouls, welcome to the annual Monster Cabaret.

 

Monster Theater

So begins our adventure down into the underground world of monster theater, where monsters, who have been rejected from human society, finally feel safe to express themselves authentically. That is until four human kids put on monster disguises and infiltrate the monster world!

As the human ‘spies’ slip in and out of vampire dressing rooms and werewolf howl-offs, they each discover the pitfalls of their own assumptions. Soon however, eyes are opened, long lost friends are reunited, and working through conflict leads to lasting connection.

 

 

More than anything, “We Are Monsters” reveals the power of compassion and friendship through self expression and loving acceptance. During these overwhelming times of divisiveness, there is no message more vital to our transformation as a society, than this one.

 

 

Thank you to all of our incredible monster families for your absolute dedication and support. You have deeply inspired us and we could not be more grateful.

Who:

Rainbow’s End After School Students

What:

“We Are Monsters”

Where:

Rainbow Community School Auditorium

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flashback Bowling Fundraiser

Flashback Bowling Fundraiser

Have Fun, Go Bowling, and Help Omega At the Same Time

Every year, Omega students go on an end-of-year trip. In the spirit of making sure every student has the opportunity to participate, Omega parents are hosting a bowling night, with all proceeds going toward the trip. What does that mean? Get your bowling gear ready, gather some friends, grab those 80s clothes hanging in your closet, and get ready to roll…a bowling ball.

Flashback Bowling

Details: Join us for an ’80s themed evening! You can register individually or with a team, dress up in your favorite ’80s costume and you’ll have the opportunity to win different prizes for the best-dressed team and the best bowling score. We’ll also have a silent auction

Date: February 23, 2018

Time: 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Cost: $25 per person. Price includes cost of bowling, rental shoes, a beverage, and a raffle ticket. This event is for folks age 21 and up.

Sign up by filling out this form and registering your team! Please note: only one person can register a team.

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Teachers and RCS Staff – Register Here!

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