Childhood Dreams

The 6th graders at Renaissance Academy helped the 1st graders with their childhood dreams as a service project.  RAVE students report their experience:

"We experienced being like a parent."
"This produced responsibility."
"With her fearless and succeeding eyes, she (the 1st grader) glanced up and said, 'I want to be a teacher.'"

"My buddy looked me in the eye and told me he wanted to jump out of an airplane.  He looked embarrassed, but sounded determined."

Good Luck 1st Grade Buddies...with all your Childhood Dreams!!

Disney Dream Gardens

Our playdough flower garden with crystals was so wonderful, it could not be described by words.  It was so fun to work together as a team to makes the crystals and flowers.  You can make your garden grow, if you just try.  Our flowers looked horrible by themselves, but with them together, they looked awesome.

Composed by RAVE 3 students

The Constitution Rap

For National Constitution Day RAVE teamed up with the Leadership class to help educate the entire student body.  Here's what the students had to say about it...

"It was radical because we got to share the constitution in words of rime.  Because we had to work together as a team this project helped us to experience diversity."

"We rapped our hearts out until the Liberty Bell stopped ringing."

"We drew pictures to represent our glory."

Operation 9/11

The following are excerpts taken from RAVE students' reflection journals about 9/11.

"For 9/11 we watched videos of 9/11.  We also made fliers, and put our feelings of 9/11.  I was sad when I watched the videos.  There were people running everywhere.  I knew something about 9/11, but it was interesting to learn more things about it."

 "It was a good day because we had to think about it."

"It's good we have a day to remember 9/11, and we were able to remind people about it."

"I was happy, but sad.  It was fun doing something, and I hope people will always remember 9/11."

"I think the fliers were good because they help people know about what happened, and what it is about."

Operation Orange Reflection

RAVE gives special "Phoenix Salute" to all the teachers, parents, and students that walked in the Provo MS Walk on April 17th for Mrs. Whitney; Team Renaissance Phoenix Fighters raised $1,007.38!

The school received public attention not only from all the YouTube hits, but also from KSL News. The Friday before the walk students had an unusual fire drill. As everyone exited the building they were handed an orange paper chain and were directed to form a giant "MS" in the field. It was quite a sight for Mrs. Whitney to see and she said, "This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me."

What a great project to end the year with!!

We love you Mrs. Whitney!!

MS Walk Information

The walk is coming up fast--this Saturday. The walk is in Provo at Exchange Park (900 North 700 West, Provo, UT). The park is in the heart of Provo with a playground, sand volleyball, fishing access and beautiful river trail. It is located close to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. Walk MS: Provo begins and ends at Exchange Park taking a scenic route along the Provo River Parkway. The morning will look something like this:

8:00 Registration
8:00-9:45 Continental Breakfast and Festivities
9:45-10:00 Program begins
10:00 Walk begins

If you would like to register in advance you can do so online. All students that register to walk (whether online or the morning of) need to bring a signed wavier form with them. Wavier forms were sent home with each student on orange paper, and can also be printed here. If you are unable to walk the 3 miles but still want to be there to show Mrs. Whitney your support, you may visit her in the team's designated pavilion.

Students that bring team donations of a dollar or more to the front office will receive a donor sticker. This sticker can be worn on Friday along with any orange clothing and it will NOT be considered out of dress code. Of course there can be nothing too distracting and since this is Mr. Veasey's idea, he'll be available to answer any specific questions as to what is considered "too distracting."

Each class has received an orange good luck card to sign that we'll hang outside of Mrs. Whitney's classroom. Anyone who would like to write an individual note showing your support may also do so. Please give any card or note to Mrs. LeDuc.

Thanks again for your support and I'll see you Saturday wearing as much orange as possible!!

MS Walk Waiver Form

Click here for the required MS Walk waiver form.

Orange Pencil Dance Video

Operation Orange

Renaissance Academy wants you to join their team.  We will be walking in the Provo MS Walk on April 17th.  There are two ways you can join or pledge a donation to our team...

 Visit the National MS Society Walk Homepage
Click on "Register" and select the" Provo Walk on April 17th"
Join our team:
Team name: Renaissance Phoenix Fighters
Team captain: Pamela Whitney

OR

Fill out a registration form in the front office. 

Please feel free to post any questions, or to contact Mrs. Whitney or Mrs. Holmes.

We are walking for our teacher!!

Operation Flashcard

A RAVE student planned and organized her class to make flashcards for a 3 year-old with Down syndrome.  The child is learning how to talk so they colored pictures .  Not only did the students enjoy making the flashcards, but they also learned not to be afraid of people with Down syndrome.

Thank You for Your Support

RAVE would like to thank all those who made Operation Haiti a success. During the week 6th grade cut out squares of fabric, 4th grade tied fleece, and 3rd grade took turns at the sewing machine.  The students' hard work, along with the support of our amazing parents helped make Saturday's production effective; over 70 people came to school on Saturday to help make over 60 quilts.

If you still have a quilt you would like to donate, you can drop it off in the middle school hallway by the SERVICE wall.  The first batch of quilts is leaving for the orphanage on Friday--we can't wait to give these kids some comfort!

Operation Haiti

RAVE, the service learning class at Renaissance Academy has recently finished a unit focusing on Mother Teresa and Florence Nightingale. Their influence has compelled RAVE students to do what they can to help the children in Haiti.

The school has chosen to help an orphanage in Haiti that is gaining over 100 new orphans a day. These children have lost everything. They are in desperate need of comfort and a place to lay their heads down. To help with this we have decided to make quilts for them.

All this week RAVE students will be cutting squares of fabric to make quilts that will be ready to tie on Saturday, January 30th at 9:30 am. We would like to invite anyone to come help with these quilts and to bring supplies to make other quilts.

If you would like to participate in our Saturday service day please post a comment below so we will know how many people to expect. Also if you can bring any of the following donations listed below please post that along with your name. (ie The Smith Family (3 people) bringing a child size quilt to tie). If you have any specific questions or concerns please email aholmes at renacademy dot org.

Thanks for your support!!

Items Needed for Saturday:

• Batting (please get to Mrs. Holmes ASAP)
  
• Fabric scraps (Please get to Mrs. Holmes ASAP)
  
• Needles
• Yarn
• Flannel (or other soft backing material)
• Quilting frames
• Thumbtacks
• Quilts ready to be tied
• Fleece for tied fleece blankets
• Sharp scissors

What: Service project, tying quilts for Haiti
Where: Renaissance Academy Gymnasium
When: Saturday, January 30th at 9:30 am
Who: Everyone
Why: Because they could use some comfort

Don't forget to post a comment!

Below are some images of Gabrielle, Nyah, and Robens being adopted from the orphanage we are sending the quilts to.  For more information about this orphanage you can visit their website www.vvhf.org

Operation Stars

After learning about Anne Sullivan and all the patience she had while teaching Helen Keller, RAVE students wanted to show appreciation to their own teachers. Students cut out colored stars and wrote thank you notes on them. They taped the stars to the teachers' doors. This was a huge hit with the teachers--one teacher even laminated her star so she can keep them forever.

Operation Trick-or-Treat

Students donated their trick-or-treat candy to the Cathedral Madeline in Salt Lake City to put in sack lunches for the homeless. They had a lot of fun counting and weighing all their donations.

Operation RAK

During December students decided they wanted to do Random Acts of Kindness (RAK). They decided that a RAK was more than doing something nice, but was doing something that was unexpected. They invited the whole school to participate to help make a RAK paper chain. Students and teachers filled out a link of the chain whenever they did a RAK. The student who did the most thoughtful acts (judged by the 6th grade teachers) got to take home a RAVE gingerbread house to enjoy for the holidays.