The Cedars students have begun the long, arduous, and energizing process of planning our January celebration of learning called Renaissance Fair. This is our culminating event that wraps up our learning about the Middle Ages and the European Renaissance.
On Renaissance Fair Day (January 24th) Cedar students will be hosting immersive learning stations designed to engage MRA's younger students. Cedar students plan, design, and implement these learning stations using a blend of costumes, role playing, direct instruction, and participatory activities.
In the afternoon we will host a play for the entire school and in the evening we will perform the play again for the parents and communities. This year's play is a student-friendly version of Robin Hood. The play will be acted, directed, and staged by our students, and held in the MRA gym.
In between the two performances of the play we host a cast party here at school. This is a low key event where we celebrate and recognize our hard work, spend some time together in fellowship, and relax before the stressful final performance in front of students and community members.
How can I get involved?
Parents and families are invited to participate in any or all of the Renaissance Day festivities. I know it's often difficult to plan around work and family obligations, but your presence makes a huge difference to our students. Many of them are working outside of their comfort zones, taking leadership roles, and accepting responsibilities like they never have before. We are already quite proud of them and can't wait to show off what they get accomplished!
How can I get more involved?
We have many volunteer opportunities leading up to and on Renaissance Day itself. We are working on Renaissance Fair every afternoon at school (1-2:45) and would love your presence assisting and guiding student groups in their planning processes or assisting the actors and/or crew for the play. These opportunities extend from now to winter break and through much of January. During the last week of our preparations (1/20-1/24) we extend our planning and preparation time to the mornings as well. This is our "crunch time" week, and we would love to have you here. You do not need to be a medieval historian to assist our students! Often just having an adult to bounce ideas off or keep a group on task is just the thing a group needs to be 100% successful. Finally, we will need plenty of help on the day of the event. We will need parents to assist / supervise the student learning stations in the morning. We will need volunteers to staff and provide snacks at our cast party. We are also looking for donations or loans of props, costumes, or other paraphernalia that could be used to help with our medieval / renaissance ambiance. These types of items can be donated permanently (we will use them repeatedly over the years) or loaned to us temporarily (we will do our absolute best to treat these items appropriately and return them to you in the same condition they were loaned).
Let me know if you have questions about Renaissance Fair, or ask your student. They're already pretty excited!
Look for an upcoming message from Missy Marshall, who is our room parent coordinator, regarding these volunteer opportunities. If you already know you want to get more involved, feel free to reach out to her at mamgolf@gmail.com.
As always please reach out to Mr. Luke (lprecourt@mra-k8.com or Mr. Poff bpoff@mra-k8.com if you have any questions, or concerns.
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