RAS thrives when we have interns and preservice teachers in our building who work with our students and staff.
Kyai Byrd spent the 2024-25 SY with us as a social work intern through her BSW program at ISU. We are so lucky to have seen her grow and flourish throughout this school year! Kyai was a critical part of our check-in crew, and her sense of humor fit right in! Added bonus: She loves working with kids on math!
Hailey Toney spent the 2024-25 SY with us as a social work intern through her MSW program at Aurora University. She did an amazing job this year as part of the check-in crew and teaching a variety of SEL lessons throughout the building. Added bonus: She loves working with middle school students!
Austin Bender spent spring semester with us as a social studies student teacher. He started his RAS journey as a TCH 212 student, followed by some EAF hours in our classrooms. Austin has been an integral part of our school on a daily basis and strives to provide students with relevant skills and knowledge. Added bonus: He loves the same kind of music as most of our students, and they LOVE him for that!
We will miss having these three amazing humans around our building. We wish them nothing but the best and hope to see them back at RAS in the future!
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. RAS stands together to raise awareness & promote the safety and well-being of all children. RAS staff are wearing blue to show our commitment to preventing child abuse.
We showered Mrs. Lindsay with our appreciation for Administrative Professionals' Day 💜 Thank you for all you do to keep RAS running every day!
For the past two growing seasons RAS has rented garden space from the West Bloomington Revitalization Project at the corner of Mulberry and Roosevelt streets in Bloomington. This year RAS has the opportunity to double the amount of space for growing with the addition of a second plot. The goal is to give all RAS students exposure in many different areas from helping design an outdoor space, building raised planter beds, constructing fencing, landscaping, tending to and harvesting plants, learning culinary skills, and general maintenance of the overall space. This project has been funded through state and local Career and Technical Education grants.
On Tuesday, students engaged with real hands-on learning during a trip to the community gardens just down the street. During a previous STEM unit in March, each class explored, did research, and planted vegetable seeds of their choice. After 6 weeks of growing plants indoors, Earth Day was perfect timing for the weather and for our plant babies to be moved outside. Students did some weeding and planted their plants in the raised garden beds with hopes of high yields from: a variety of tomatoes and peppers, corn, parsley, golden beets, sunflowers, spinach, collards, mellons, squash and more!
We'll keep you all posted on the fruits of our labor!
RAS is incredibly fortunate to have a partnership with Illinois Wesleyan University Nursing Program. As part of their Public Health class, RAS had FIVE nursing students 👩🏽⚕️👩🏾⚕️👩🏽⚕️👩🏼⚕️👨🏼⚕️in the building. From presenting to students about health related topics to inspiring future healthcare professionals, their impact was invaluable. 🩺🩻
Ms. Walters and Mrs. Quick had the opportunity to speak with two sections of SED 344 at Illinois State University today. This course focuses on preparing content-specific, general secondary education preservice teachers to work with students with disabilities.
RAS's approach of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) was a highlight of the discussions, as were the many questions posed by students enrolled in Dr. Lee's courses.
We are always willing to share all of the great teaching and learning going on at RAS, in addition to all of the supports and services offered to our students and families.
Thank you, Dr. Lee, for inviting us today! Your partnership is priceless!
We ❤️ FREE 💰❗️Mr. Eddins was awarded a ⚡️Corn Belt Energy Grant⚡️ to provide more experiential learning opportunities for our students! 👏Nice job, Mr. Eddins👏
FREE dental services for anyone under 18 . On Saturday April 12, 2025, Chestnut Family Dental will host a dental clinic. Register at https://chestnut.org/give-kids-a-smile.
After speaking with many of our female students, Miss Ryan discovered most of them do not feel safe walking alone. Quick to problem solve, she inquired about offering a self-defense class to help our students build their confidence, awareness, and ability to protect themselves. Enter Gracie Barra Twin Cities Jiu-Jitsu. Owner Torree was quick to say yes to Miss Ryan's request to offer a free session for our students. Torree is an amazing instructor and taught our students so many techniques to protect themselves. We cannot thank her, and her helpers, for their time and support today! We appreciate this new partnership!
RAS Staff had the opportunity to participate in the annual ICEARY Conference in Normal the past two days. It's always beneficial to collaborate with other programs and learn from other educators around the state. BONUS: Mr. Thornton and Mr. O'Kraski presented on the benefits of using art to create your own brand!
🏒🥅🦬 Thank you, Bloomington Bison, for inviting RAS students and staff to your Education Day today! Everyone had a great time and enjoyed watching the game and participating in the activities you offered. We're lucky to have you as our neighbor!
🗣️💻 Friendly Reminder 💻🗣️
RAS students will work remotely Thursday, 3/6 and Friday, 3/7 to allow for staff to attend the annual ICEARY Conference. Students will be expected to check their email and Google Classrooms for posted assignments and expectations for each day. Please email or text your child's homeroom teacher if you have any questions. See you back in the building on Monday!
‼️Positive Post Alert‼️
Marc and Kelly, local community members, recently toured our school to learn more about our program. We must have really impressed them because they keep coming back! These two amazing individuals have spent hours in our School Market making sure our donated food and dry goods are nicely organized, assembling food bags for our students and families, and unpacking new deliveries. Thank you, Marc and Kelly, for all you have done to help the RAS Family!
Looking for a job?? On Tuesday, March 4, 2025 from 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM at the Grossinger Motors Arena at 101 S Main Street, the Bloomington Parks & Recreation Department along with the City of Bloomington’s Arts & Entertainment department are set to host a Job Fair . Applicants 15 years old and over are encouraged to attend. For a list of jobs, please visit bloomingtonil.gov/jobs
RAS recently teamed up with community partners First Christian Church and University of Illinois Extension to provide some of our high school students with a unique and customized planetarium experience. Students in STEM class just finished a 5 week unit covering all things space! We ended it with an out of this world experience flying to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto, different moons and asteroids in real time. Thank you to Heather at UI extension and First Christian Church for making this possible for our students! 👨🏿🚀🧑🏽🚀👩🏼🚀🌝🌖🌎🪐💫☄️
Today, a few members of our staff had the pleasure of setting up for the Senior Citizen Valentine's Day Dance at Western Avenue Community Center. We are always happy and willing to help our great community partners! Here is a list of what we can provide your organization if you ever need assistance:
✅Muscles 💪
✅Event planning skills 📋
✅Teamwork 🤝
✅Ability to put on challenging chair covers 🪑👏
✅The best emotional support animal ever 🐾🐶
Our dear friends at First Christian Church provided RAS Staff with the sustenance to hold productive and collaborative conferences with students and their families over the past two days. Thank you, as always, for showing RAS so much love! ❤️
Friendly reminder: Student-Led Conferences are tonight and tomorrow morning. Please call to schedule one if you have not already done so.
What is getting us through a long day? Matching dino sweaters and cupcakes from our favorite EPG Bus Monitor, Paige!
Pic for attention 🤣
RAS-Bloomington Campus will have regular, in-person learning today. If your home school district is not transporting today, please log into your Chromebook and complete your work remotely. Email your teachers if you need any assistance. Thank you!
We were delighted to host a Staff Wellness Day at RAS! We wore comfy clothes and enjoyed a morning stretch, smoothie bar, energy balls, and a calming VR experience. The highlight of the day was Action Wellness providing free 10-minute chair massages 🤗
Dash even enjoyed some extra love and attention!
It's always a great day to be at RAS!
