(Asheville, NC) – In May, a moss garden will be installed at Rainbow Mountain Childrenโs School in West Asheville.ย The garden is donated by Dulcita Love who met Annie Martin of Mountain Moss Enterprises at a Women in Business networking event hosted by VERVE magazine and Boca restaurant earlier this year.
Annie caught Dulcitaโs attention when she mentioned that there are over 450 species of moss in Western North Carolina and moss does not require the fertilizers, chemicals, and mowing that other traditional landscape options require.
Annie Martin, aka โMossinโ Annieโ, will install a moss garden and incorporate a โGoing Green with Mossโ lesson with the The Third Grade Penguins.ย The students will assist in the garden installation which will include rescued moss from Dupont State Forest and elements such as lichen sticks, nut pods, acorn caps, snail shells, ferns and other native plants.
ย Teacher, West Willmore, with a background in natural sciences and environmental education, will collaborate with Mossinโ Annie to create a lesson plan that includes the sciences, arts, and fun.ย Rainbow Mountain Childrenโs School places a strong emphasis on cherishing the Earth and has an outdoor classroom to bring the students outdoors.ย Under the direction and leadership of Renee Owen, Executive Director, the school will increase their focus next year on the outdoor environment of the school.ย Moss will be one way to enhance the grounds, educate students on local flora, and reduce long-term maintenance costs.
ย Mossinโ Annie writes:
ย โLike “Penguins”, mosses even like the cold and can be found growing in Antarctica. Mosses grow in all types of environments around the world. Phenolic compounds are like built-in antifreeze. This fact, among other amazing botanical characteristics, emphasizes the variety of bryophytes and their ability to survive extreme conditions.ย
With this “hands-on” living environmental art project, students will learn various bryophyte types (botany/science); how certain mosses solve environmental issues (environmental science/ecology); and how they can be creatively used in the landscape (art).ย This moss garden feature will provide delight throughout all seasons, even the winter, and opportunities to keep on learning for years to come.โ
ย Tammy Watford of WLOS TV will film a Never Stop Learning segment during the moss installation and lesson. ย
ย In addition, Annie Martin is runner-up for the Big Idea Business Plan Competition sponsored by VERVE and AdvantageWest will receive a full-page story in VERVE magazine.
On a recent Friday evening Rainbow Mountain preschoolers headed back into their classrooms in their pajamas. It wasn’t detention it was a preschool โpajama partyโ to raise money and collect new pajamas for children in Japan whose lives have been affected by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.
They listened to stories, played games, and made art. The kids had a ball and the class raised $200 and received several pairs of new pjs for the special collection.
One of the parents in the Rainbow Mountainย community is hosting the Asheville Premier Screening of โWorld Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievementsโ, the new film by Chris Farina which depicts the transformation that happens as a class of students at a neighborhood school work to solve all of the earthโs crises with a balanced budget.ย
A small panel of local educators, including Renee Owen, have been invited to join the filmโs star, John Hunter (teacher and TED speaker), on stage at the Diana Wortham Theatreย ย for an intimate discussion about what Hunter calls โself-evident assessmentโ and the case for teaching global awareness and the principles of nonviolence in all grades.
The film begins at 6:45, Wednesday, May 4 at Dianna Worthan Theatre. Learn more and get tickets at www.worldpeaceavl.com
Are you passionate about education?ย Would you like to see the whole educational paradigm changed in America?ย Despite the seriousness of this topic, do you love to laugh?ย Then I highly recommend you take advantage of a great opportunity:ย At 6pm this Wednesday,ย April 27, ย TED Speaker, Sir Ken Robinson will beย at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville.ย Rainbow Mountain Children’s Schoolย is an official supporter ofย this exciting event, and much of our staff and board will be in attendance.ย ย ย ย Tickets are $25 for adults, available at the box office or at the door.ย Here isย one of Sir Ken’s talks.ย ย You will findย hisย points are salient, and he is very, VERYย funny.ย 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 youโll 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, donโt 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 Capesโ Asheville High Schoolโs ROTC class came to demonstrate drills, lead team building exercises and talk about the life of a soldier.
During Omegaโs 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.
โI enjoyed how, on the plank walking, everyone had to really work together and if one person was out of step it messed everyone upโ, 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. โEveryone was pleasantly surprisedโ, said Susan.
As one student put it, โThat was a lot more fun than I expected!โ
(Asheville, NC) – In May, a moss garden will be installed at Rainbow Mountain Childrenโs School in West Asheville.ย The garden is donated by Dulcita Love who met Annie Martin of Mountain Moss Enterprises at a Women in Business networking event hosted by VERVE magazine and Boca restaurant earlier this year.
