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.
Imagine! Rainbow’s Celebration of the Arts
http://youtu.be/0_zHVkS6kOg Thank you to Steve White Productions for recording the Imagine performance. Imagine was spectacular this year. The script was written by Rainbow teacher, Justin Pilla, directed by teacher, Dusty McKeelan with music written by parent Billy...
Our Teacher Has Mental and Physical Power
What do our teachers do in their free time? Well, West, our second & third grade super star teacher is getting stronger. West had always loved climbing rocks but for the last 20 plus weeks she has been training for a natural bodybuilding competition. She started...
Grandparents’ Tea at Rainbow Mountain
Last week, and every year, Rainbow Mountain students invite their grandparents, or other special elders, to their school for coffee and tea. The grandparents meet each other, nibble on homemade treats, and are entertained by a few classes. This year preschoolers and...
Talented Rainbow Singers Featured on Video
It's here! Aomusic's new music video featuring Rainbow Mountain students in the video and in the recording. Thanks visiting artist and internationally award-winning musician and producer, Richard Gannaway for working with our students -- an experience they will...
Renee Owen on Panel Discussion at UNCA, hosted by Department of Education
The film Race to Nowhere documents the ramifications of America's achievement culture. Hosted by UNCA Department of Education, the film will be viewed in the Highsmith Student Center at UNCA at 7pm, this Thursday, April 11, with a panel discussion to follow. Click...
My Hero
There she is: Ina May Gaskin with me at AB Tech, where she spoke last night. Many of us who had our children at home wouldn't have had the courage to do so without Ina May's book, Spiritual Midwifery. Spiritual Midwifery introduced me to the concept of the "sacrament...
First Grade’s Tour of Africa
A couple of weeks ago I took a tour of Africa in 15 minutes with out having to get my passport renewed. I not only saw all the beautiful sights, I met the people and I learned about sand storms from the Tuareg tribe, medicines from the Baka tribe and the Maasai tribe...
April Kaleidoscope: Scopes out the many colorful things happening from the Executive Director’s point of view.
Introducing New Faculty Members! Great News! Sue Ford has agreed to be our new music teacher, beginning with the 2013-14 school year. She has also begun working with a few Rainbow grades this year -- conducting a music residency with preschool, kindergarten, first...
How creative are you?
"The actual meaning of the word 'original' doesn't mean trying to be different. It means being connected to the origen. You can't be original by trying to be original. You become original by staying true to what your heart sees." ~Cynthia Bourgeault. It has often been...
The New Teacher
What are we looking for in a new teacher? Since we believe in developing the whole child, then our teachers have to be accomplished in all seven domains: spiritual, mental, creative, emotional, social, natural, and physical. As a result of our growth at Rainbow, we...
Rainbow Mountain – Asheville’s Finnish School
Without equivocation, Rainbow Mountain Children's School is a unique learning environment. Everyone knows it the minute they step onto campus. Although Americans would find Rainbow's education very different compared to American prep schools, it is not at all unusual...
Do we have free will?
That is the raging argument among my teenagers right now. Ha ha ha. I guess this is why I have been obsessed with providing my children with the best possible education: So they have passionate arguments about consciousness, existentialism, and reality rather than...
What matters now
This is the question we, as educators and parents, have to ask ourselves over and over, "What qualities will our children need in order to be prepared for the future?" Gary Hamel, author of What Matters Now, How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious...
Gnome Village Comes to Life at Rainbow Mountain
The Gnome Village is being installed. Max, our incredible facilities manager, along with Asheville Playgrounds, have designed what may end up being the most creative and exciting play structure in Asheville. Last week they began installing the main posts which Max,...
Learn to Play; Play to Learn
"The old ways of learning are unable to keep up with our rapidly changing world,"is one of the premises of A New Culture of Learning, by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown. We know that when children are young they learn by playing -- imagining things, experimenting,...
Olympics for Geeks
Did you know Rainbow Mountain has an Odyssey of the Mind team? Odyssey of the Mind has been described as "Olympics for Geeks" (Geek being an affectionate term these days.) Kids form teams and spend weeks solving massive, multi-page problems, and then present their...
Tell All Your Friends
Rainbow Mountain Children's School has grown slowly and steadily since 2007, my first year as director. However, I have never seen anything like what we have been experiencing over the last few months. We have about three times the inquiries and tours of any previous...
The word of the day is “home.”
City Councilman, Gordon Smith, centered with the fifth/sixth grade class this morning. After lighting the candle and opening with three breaths, the seven directions, and greeting one another with namaste, each child reflected on what they love about Asheville (as...
