June 6 - 10

In our Growing Curiosity Quest, Justin from Avant Garde Brazilian Jiu Jitsu shared with us the art of his sport.  Eagles learned how to create a strong base and use that to defend themselves against an opponent.  They also had the opportunity to learn a little about his Hero's Journey and the work it takes to become a black belt. 

 

After our visitors grew our curiosity,  Eagles worked with their Squad to choose and research a topic they are curious about.  They were challenged to find at least 8 interesting facts about that topic, so they could teach others.  Squads will be sharing what they learned with visitors at next week's Exhibition.

   

As part of their Learning To Be Curiosity Badge, Eagles must create and implement 3 launches.  The learner follows a launch outline that includes an introduction, asking 2-3 tough questions, and ends with a closing that inspires or challenges the studio.  This week, Grae presented two launches to the Eagles.  In one, she discussed the difference between movies and books and the value of each.  In her second launch, Grae asked about the best way to spend the 1,750 hours of break they will have this summer, then challenged the group to create a summer bucket list.  What intentionality and bravery it takes to lead a launch with your peers! 

 

Writing Buddies were invited into the studio on Tuesday to meet with our writers.  A Writing Buddy's job is much like a peer's, to provide warm-cool-warm feedback that improves the writer's piece and future writing.  One writer was challenged by her Buddy to include the perspective of multiple characters in order to add more dimension to her piece. 

 

Writers also worked on editing their work for mistakes this week through the Community of Editors.  5 writers signed up at a time to have their story checked for capitols, spelling, punctuation, and the inclusion of 'juicy words.'  With their stories being on the computer, the group chose to pass their computers around for friends to make edits.  

  

On Tuesday the Eagles tested their athletic progress in the Acton Olympics.  This included a max plank hold, 100 meter sprint, max burpees in one minute, and a 400 meter run.  Many learners improved their scores and we can't wait to see their growth over the next year! 

 

Thursday, Eagles celebrated the end of PE with a Field Day! This included a max height jump, max long jump, shoe kick and water balloon toss.  One Eagle jumped 24 inches high and another jumped over 4 feet in length! So impressive! 

 

For our team building challenges this week, Eagles paired up to instruct a blindfolded friend to draw a lion and worked with a group to create a marble maze using only paper and masking tape. 

May 31 - June 3

This week in Quest we had the opportunity to grow our curiousity about various topics from visitors!  

Mrs. Nabours explained to the Eagles how drones are used to survey land for building.  To test out this concept, groups were challenged to create a flat pad of dirt that measured 6"x8"x2".  Sadly, all groups would have been fired for their failure to meet the specs.  To test out their foundation, Eagles were then challenged to build a house that would withstand an earthquake.  One set of builders chose to create a foundation under the dirt that stabilized their house and kept it from falling.  

  

Friday, Mrs. Farabough studied density with the Eagles.  She passed around various density cubes and disussed what makes them more or less dense.  After a demonstration with many different liquids, the Eagles were challenged to create their own poly-density bottle.  They combined salt water, poly beads, alcohol, and palmer beads together to observe what happen when mixed.  They learned that the salt effects how the solids and liquids seperate within the bottle, causing the beads to join in the middle. 

   
In our Creative Writer's Workshop, writers are working on improving their story with word choice; using interesting and juicy words, including descriptive language, not afraid to use new words, and using figurative language.  They were challenged to find and include each skill in their pieces. 

To end the year strong, Eagles recorded their weekly goal on the board for everyone to see.  Like all our goals here at Acton, they were required to be SMART; specific, measurable, achievable, relevent, and tough.  A little extra incentive was added and the Eagles who reached their goals this week celebrated with a movie and popcorn.  Those who did not reach their goals, were given that extra time to complete them. 

In PE this week, Miss Karsen challenged the Eagles to something new! Tuesday, they competed in a hula hoop workout, completing 5 synchro burpees then running down the field together in their hula hoop.  They then crowned Oliver as the Hula Hoop winner after he held onto his hoop for over 5 minutes! Thursday, the Eagles competed against one another with wall sits.  One friend lasted 20 minutes! I bet she'd beat most adults with a time like that! 

  

Since we couldn't go outside Wednesday, we enjoyed some DEAR and Core Skills afternoon work in the church's Sunroom.  It was so nice to change up the scenery and get some tough, intentional work done!

Session 7, May 23-27

This session's Quest is called Growing Curiosity, focusing on learning about new topics and sparking interest.  Level 3-5 Eagles were given the chance to create their own launch and challenge to share with the studio. 

On Monday, Paul shared about Bushido, the ancient code of the Samurai.  He showed the 7 virtues, led a discussion asking the group if they would choose to be Samurai, then challenged them to create their own code.  Once their Code was created, they designed a Samurai Sword using materials given to them; foil, straws, toilet paper rolls, and cupcake liners. After 30 minutes, groups voted on the best Samurai Sword- crowning Team 3 the winners! 

 

Wedesday, Lulu introduced the Eagles to Georgia O'Keeffe.  She shared a little about O'Keeffe's life, then played BINGO to introduce her artwork.  Noticing most of her work was of nature, Lulu challenged the Eagles to create O'Keeffe inspired watercolor paintings of skyscrapers, landscapes, bones, flowers, or trains.  Working to keep it simple with lines and shapes, just like O'Keeffe did.  

 

Friday, August introduced us to Greek Mythology creatures.  He then challenged the Eagles to create their own and list 3 special features.  Once completed, the group voted on their favorite creature.  Olaf, the pickle eating, unkillable creature won by one vote! 

 

In Writer's Workshop, Eagles are using Storybird to write their own picture book.  This site allows writers to choose a set of images to use as illustrations for their story.  After choosing their image they began drafting stories.  Writers seem to really enjoy this Writer's Workshop and we are excited to hear their final pieces! 

 

We have added in some Team-Building Challenges to encourage teamwork and build upon the culture of our studio.  Working with other people is hard! Yet, it is such an integral part of life; rather it be with family, classmates, teammates, or colleagues.  So, we like to practice this skill in fun ways! 

This week we worked with a group to create clay animals without talking and made skits to get the studio laughing. 

 

May 9-13

A new business has been created- ACME Cleaning Company.  This company services Amarillo Acton and works to keep the studio in prestine, excellent condition.  Job openings were posted Monday and many of our learners were excited to apply.  After being hired, each worker chose (by randomly drawing a stick) an area of the studio to clean.  If deemed excellent by the CEO at the end of the day, the worker earns 5 Eagle Bucks! Those who want to step up and take on another job can be paid an extra 3!  One learner took on 4 jobs, striving to earn a total of 14 Eagle Bucks in one day! The Cleaning Company's hard work was even recognized by a parent who stated this was the cleanest she has seen the studio all year!  

 

Completed challenges in Quest earned the Eagles a trip to explore at River Falls.  We walked about 30 minutes to a small river where the Eagles explored and ate their lunch.  Friends enjoyed the fresh air while skipping rocks, hunting for small creatures, and playing in the water. On the way back to Acton we cooled off with a sweet popsicle treat and Gatorades.  Such a fun way to celebrate their hard work! 

 

The final step in completing their Science-Based Fiction writing was to add 5 illustrations to their pieces.  Writers were challenged to integrate their illustrations into the story, just like we saw in the picture book, A Sick Day for Amos McGee.  Some writers even chose to split their story into multiple pages to resemble a picture book.  These published stories will be combined to create a storybook to add to the studio. 

 

Last semester, an Eagle brought up the idea of bringing her trained Reading Dog to the studio during DEAR time.  The Eagles unanimously voted yes and Olive came this week for her first reading day! Readers had the opportunity to sign up for a 20 minute session with Olive. 

Our Excellence Committee has been hard at work reviewing Badges.  These 3 Eagles, voted upon by their peers, have the tough job of approving and denying learner's work.  They meet together to look at the expecations and determine if an Eagle's submission is excellent based on the following criteria; is this the learner's best work, is it better than their previous work, and does it fit the standards? 

Thursday, Eagles prepared for their Exhibition.  They started the morning creating a plan for the day.  It was decided the Excellence Committee needed to meet, the scavenger hunt needed to be created, friends should finish their Super Bug and posters, while others should work to complete their writing badge.  The rest of the day was spent practicing for the Exhibition and completing a few run throughs. 

This session's Exhibition was all about insects! Eagles created a scavenger hunt for their visitors, challenging them to find the Eagles' Super Insects with various abilities and characteristics.  They were challenged to find the insects that can glow, self destruct, shoot venom out of their bottoms, breath underwater, and hide from predators on bigger insects. 

  

The Eagles even created their own Conundrum Dilemma, challenging parents to take a stance;  

"So. Here’s the thing. There’a a company researching a bug called Tiger Sight. Studying the fact that it can grow crystals out of it's teeth. Whenever you put a tooth in a certain liquid, it takes the form of a crystal. But three other companies also want to study this insect, because if they do they will earn lots of money. So, which team are you on? Team Dojo is the one who studies the insect currently. Team Madlab the one who makes the liquid to turn it into crystals. Team Archerlook the one who catches the bug and transports it to the science lab. Or Team Farmal the one that knows how to process it to the bank." Whose team would you choose?