by Webmaster | Nov 29, 2013 | News
Our Third Grade Otters are making a difference!
They held a food drive so that families in the area would have food during the Thanksgiving holiday.
What a food drive it was!
The entire school participated and brought in so much food, here’s what West, our 3rd grade teacher reported:
The pantry at children first went from being almost from almost entirely empty to so full that we had to stop unloading boxes!
Indeed! Rainbow Community School and the 3rd graders delivered enough food to feed over 200 children.
Thank you to the Rainbow Community for helping us with this project. We were moved when we found out thatย 1 in 2 children in public schoolย in the city of Ashevilleย do not have enough to eat. Rainbow Community School is definitely committed to helping make a difference right here in our Asheville community.
by Webmaster | Sep 13, 2013 | News
The Future of Education and The Future of Rainbow
By artist Caryn Hanna
Before school starts each year, educators at Rainbow attend a series of trainings to enhance their teaching careers and to help them prepare for a new academic year.
In one of those sessions, teachers brainstormed about the future of education in general and about the future of Rainbow Community School. Artist Caryn Hanna visually interpreted and recorded their ideas onto a beautiful banner.
Teachers noted that seeing their thoughts “visualized” effectively helped them to form a solid vision for the future.
Before meeting, the staff at Rainbow read Renee’s article about Educating the Innovation Generation.
In Renee’s words,
The mission statement at Rainbow Community School ends saying that we are developing students who will be โleaders in building a more compassionate and environmentally sustainable world.โ
Anyone enrolling their child at this unique school must resonate with the urgency of this goal.
One would have to have blinders on to ignore the stream of evidence and quotes from leading scientists, sociologists and experts in almost every field who declare that sustainability is the most important vision for human survival.
From Tony Wagner, โThe solution to our economic and social challenges is the same: creating a viable and sustainable economy that creates good jobs without polluting the planet. And there is general agreement as to what that new economy must be based on. One word: innovation.โ
Indeed, the mission and vision of Rainbow embraces our new generation of young people to propel them into a world where they are prepared to not only think out of the box, but to dare to reinvent the concept of the box itself. We understand that giving students the tools to be creative thinkers and problem solvers today will help them become leaders who will create a sustainable tomorrow.
by Webmaster | Sep 11, 2013 | News
Rainbow Community School has won a prestigious award: it has become a Green Ribbon School.
Why is this so important?
From the Green Ribbon Schools website,
The Green Ribbon Schools program is where health, education, STEM skills, technology and being green combine to propel entire schools towards a happier, healthier and smarter future. It is where students get more involved in school activities, not less, and where teachers and students become the true leaders of their schools and communities.
The community here at Rainbow is committed to a happier, healthier and smarter future for our students. We embarked on many projects in the last year to create a school that embraces sustainability. Our students are heavily involved in this process.
Take a look at some of the projects that helped us to gain such special recognition:
Building a New Playground
We built a playground that incorporated recycled materials wherever possible: from “dead” locust logs to urbanite (recycled concrete), the children can play in an area that was designed with nature in mind.
Our “Gnome Village” was built with recycled materials wherever possible.
Creating Gardens
Our fourth graders helped to build raised garden beds to learn about growing vegetables sustainably and organically. They used the scientific method to investigate vegetable growth, nutrition and predicted various results. They also incorporated their math skills by calculating the distance between vegetables and growth patterns. They also experienced the “farm to table” idea by eating the vegetables they grew.
4th graders learn about growing vegetables organically.
Create an Outdoor Classroom
In order to create what is dubbed the “Council Circle,” community members and builders found dead tree stumps and reclaimed them to become the “chairs” for our outdoor classroom.
The Council Circle fosters a community learning environment. Designed in a way that echoes the customs of Native American Indian tribes, this classroom promotes peace and appreciation for nature, as well as helps create an atmosphere of mutual respect and appreciation for not only the outdoors, but for fellow students and teachers. At Rainbow Community School, everyone has an equal voice.
Our outdoor classroom, aka “The Council Circle.”
Investigating Dinosaurs
Our second and third graders from last year did a paleontology dig to investigate dinosaurs. ย The dinosaur unit centered around investigation, writing, documenting, and seeing the world through a paleontologist’s eyes.
2nd and 3rd graders doing a dinosaur dig.
Build a Terrarium
Our first graders learned how to build terrariums. In the process, they learned about soil composition and how to create habitats for organisms such as ferns and moss. By the end of the unit, our students understood how important it was to balance water, air, and proper soil nutrition to create a suitable environment for plant life.
It’s fun to build a terrarium! First graders learned so much!
by Renee Owen | Apr 4, 2013 | News
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 offered me their traditional meal. I passed. It was raw milk mix with cattle blood. (They actually didn’t have any to share). I even learned how to say hello in Swahili . I had a wonderful visit. My tour guides were extremely knowledgeable and even though at one time I thought I was to be a lion’s dinner, I would visit again and again, so lovely it all was.
Every year the first grade class studies Africa and it’s inhabitants. They end the thematic unit by transforming the classroom into Africa, giving tours to the other classes and when the traveling is done they celebrate with an African feast. Learning through doing is one of the ways Rainbow Mountain students live what they learn.
Here are some snaps from my trip.
The Baka people.
Diorama of a Maasai camp
Mask made by the 1st grade
My tour guides
Lions and humans together.
