A First Grader’s Morning in Spring

A First Grader’s Morning in Spring

School for the First Grade Jellyfish began as usual this morning with stations of building blocks, coloring sets, puzzles, and games neatly contained on each of the four-person tables. Bowie and Judah were busy building extraordinary creatures that turned effortlessly into whirring machines, a forrest of trees, and then finally into the flying contraptions pictured below with their amazing ability to land upside down and hang from the “ceiling”. Next came a special centering. Every first grader grabbed their sturdy sketch book and a pencil on their way out the door, as they prepared to spend some quite moments centering with their tree. Children drew the images that came to them in the silence as well as creative representations of the trees they’ve been tracking throughout the changing seasons. As soon as she had sat down at the base of her tree, Jett sprung back up and ran to her teacher. “My tree is flowering, Ms.Itiyopiya! Look!” she said. After ten minutes of relaxed mindful presence with their trees, the First Grade Jellies gathered around the candle Ms.Itiyopiya had lit in honor of nature and waited ceremoniously for their teacher to blow out the candle, signaling the end of centering and the beginning of a bright new spring day.

Author Andy Griffiths Visits Rainbow

Author Andy Griffiths Visits Rainbow

Australian children’s book author and comedy writer, Andy Griffiths, took Rainbow first through fifth graders by storm this morning. His childlike imagination coupled with his hilarious kid-oriented sense of humor brought the Rainbow auditorium to thunderous laughter. Throughout his presentation about his journey as a writer, comedian, and story-teller, Andy never missed an opportunity to engage our students’ imaginations. In preparation for his visit, Rainbow students drew upon their creativity to design the treehouse of their dreams, taking inspiration from Andy’s wildly popular Treehouse series. One of the treehouses in his series has “a bowling alley, a see-through swimming pool, a tank full of man-eating sharks, an underground laboratory, a vegetable vaporizer, and a marshmallow machine that shoots marshmallows into your mouths when it detects that you are hungry”. It is with this delightful absurdity, that Andy Griffiths and illustrator Terry Denton, have captured the attention of young readers around the world. Our young readers were smitten and eagerly lined up to get their books and bookmarks signed. If you’re looking for more Treehouse books we suggest you buy them from our local children’s bookstore, Spellbound Children’s Bookshop, who helped organize Andy’s visit to Rainbow. Thank you to Andy and his team for making this morning exceptionally hilarious, enlivening, and inspiring for us and our students.

VIDEO: “Animal Love” Performed by the 5th Grade Lamas

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 year. More touching still is the way her classmates rallied around her and her song. As one of our smallest classes here at Rainbow, the 5th grade has continued to astonish us with their tender support and committed love of each other.

VIDEO: “Let Us Work Together For Love” Performed by the Fourth Grade Tigers

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 them: What is love for you? What does it look like? What does it feel like? From there they came to understand love as having three distinct forms. Love is first an expression originated in the self, then an action cultivated in community, and finally an offering given with generosity. The fourth graders learned to think of it this way: Love is fostered within us… grown among us…. and gifted beyond us. These beautiful song lyrics reflect their journey through their curriculum on Love.

Let us work together for love in head, heart, and hand.
Let us work together for love to make a better land.
Love is many things; I cannot count them all.
It is powerful. It is peaceful.
Love is many things; I cannot count them all.
It can break down every wall.
Through the woods past the valley where the sea of green grass grows.
Love is found in nature’s harmony where the holy river flows.
Friends, family, love of life; I feel the warmth from you.
Follow me to the land of love where your light is honored and true
to make a different land.