Welcome to the Rainbow Community School Blog!
RCS News and Updates
We are so excited to share with you everything that makes Rainbow such a unique blend of holistic education, academic excellence, social responsibility, and integrated community. Here you can find our reflections on the seven domains, our opinions on mindfulness in schools, our upcoming events, and how we’re revolutionizing education from the inside out. Explore the posts below to get a sense of what being part of the Rainbow community is all about.
VIDEO: “Animal Love” Performed by the 5th Grade Lamas
Our Winter Program featured many beautiful originally composed songs, but "Animal Love" was the only one written by a particularly student. 5th grader Lilly Fox was inspired to write "Animal Love" when she learned that the Winter Program's theme would be Love this...
EVENT: Hobey Ford performing “World Tales” at Rainbow Community School
This Saturday, the incredible Hobey Ford will be performing "World Tales" at the Rainbow Community Center Auditorium. Pre-sale tickets are $5 for children and $10 for adults ($7 & $12 the day of the show) Show starts at 4pm and is open to the public. Tickets can...
VIDEO: “Let Us Work Together For Love” Performed by the Fourth Grade Tigers
Inspired by Musical Director Sue Ford's vision of writing all original songs on the theme of Love for December's Winter Program, Susie Robidoux, 4th grade's fearless Lead Teacher, developed an entirely new unit on Love. She got her students started by asking...
VIDEO: “The Transformation Song” Performed by the Third Grade Penguins
The Third Grade Penguins sing to us of the transformative power of love in this touching music video. In December's Annual Winter Program Sue Ford, Rainbow's Music Director, helped each grade write original songs on the theme of love. The audience was touched by the...
VIDEO: “I Love My Life” Performed by the Second Grade River Otters
The 2nd grade River Otters wrote this original song in collaboration with their teachers for Rainbow's Annual Winter Program last month. As one 2nd grader put it best, "We wrote about how we know we're loved." Rainbow children grow up knowing their loved from the...
VIDEO: “Our Dear World” Performed by the First Grade Wolves
This year our Annual Winter Program featured all original songs composed by our students in collaboration with their teachers. Our Music Director, Sue Ford, took on this robust task with zealous passion and creativity. With "Love" as their muse, these First Grade...
EVENT: RCS Open House February 17th, 2016
Rainbow Community School is having an open house event on Wednesday, February the 17th from 4pm to 6pm. This is a drop in event and both parents and kids are welcome to attend. This is a great opportunity to meet the teachers, learn more about specific grades,...
Spiritual and Religious Education
Religious children are meaner than their secular counterparts, study finds by Harriet Sherwood for The Guardian If this study is accurate, and religious children are less compassionate, what about spiritual children? If we put people into four categories: 1. religious...
Heart of the Matter: Beauty
“'Walk in beauty,' is sage advice I learned from Native elders. Since my youth, when I was fascinated with Native wisdom, I have strived to walk the beauty way, but it took me until middle age to understand my path. The secret? Being engaged in a purpose – a higher...
Who had a fabulous struggle today?
Try it out for a dinner table discussion. The question, "Who had a fabulous struggle today?" is a great example of what educators call a growth-mindset prompt. Students and adults with a growth mindset believe that humans have almost limitless potential. Therefore,...
Kaleidoscope – January 2016
January 2016 Kaleidoscope: The many colorful things happening at Rainbow, from the Executive Director, Renee Owen As I reflect back on 2015 I am struck by how much was accomplished at our little school. I am so happy we said “goodbye” to 2015 with love. Wasn’t the...
What Really Matters in Teaching and Learning: Exploring Love in the Classroom
“Love is the bridge between you and everything.” —Rumi Susie, our fourth grade teacher welcomes a new group of 18-20 children and families into her life. In preparing to receive each child, and all their gifts, challenges, dreams, worries, and so much more, she knows...
EVENT: Winter Music Performance
Please join us for a musical "Feast of Love" This year's Rainbow Community School student winter music consort features original music written by students, teachers, and special guests. We hope you are able to attend and partake in the love that our children have to...
Together, we learn.
Affirmative action isn't just about merit, defined by the same one size fits all empirical measures of the past. The purpose of education can no longer be about sifting out who deserves merit, and taming those who don't. That competitive model is obsolete. If we are...
Empowering students with student-led conferences
Rainbow Community School has been doing student-led conferences since the early 80's. When students lead their own conference, they truly have to reflect on what they have learned, how they learned it, and what their future goals are. Plus, it gives parents the...
Personalized Learning Needs to Include Social Learning
A primer for Mark Zuckerberg on personalized learning — by Harvard’s Howard Gardner I love this letter from Howard Gardner to Zuckerberg. When I first read the announcement that 99% of Facebook stock would be given away and that "personalized learning" would be a...
Who Said This?
“The most vital attribute in the world you’re about to enter is not critical thinking or fluency in another language. It’s about whether you’re able to see the world through another’s eyes. The key factor of success for any society going forward is what percentage of...
Kaleidoscope: November 2015
November 2015 Kaleidoscope: The many colorful things happening at Rainbow, from the Executive Director November is here; it feels like life is being squeezed into shorter days. Classrooms have established their mascot names. Relationships have...