November 16-20

Can you believe how fast 2 sessions flew by?! 

Eagles are continuing to make progress in their Core Skills.  They are making challenging goals, working in flow, and celebrating their progress! 

  

Collaborative time has changed a bit, providing a time for Eagles to sign up for assistance.  This is an opportunity for the Eagles to ask for help from their peers.  Rather it is writing a challenging word, learning how to add with a number line, or checking their progress in IXL.  Fellow Eagles can see who needs help on the board and sign up to be their helper. 

With Poetry complete, the Eagles have been challenged to create deep, entertaining, imaginative stories! On Thursday, they decided to see what two unrelated ideas they could intertwine to develop a crazy tale. And man, we have some creative Eagles!  

  

During Quest time, the Eagles chose various engineering and science challenges to complete.  They created a water bomb with origami, constructed an air-powered car, and made their own lava lamp. 

On Thursday, Layla was put to the challenge of leading PE.  She led her fellow Eagles in a warm-up, game of Sharks & Minnows, and stretching. We love seeing the Eagles step up and take charge in the studio! 

We ended Session 2 with a fun Thanksgiving celebration.  We played Feather Tag, had an I Spy challenge, ate yummy goodies, and shared what we are thankful for.  I am thankful for these adventurous, hard-working Eagles!!  

This week has been full of opportunities to do hard things, mix it up, and recharge. 

We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving break! We will see you back for Session 3 on November 30th. 

November 9-12

Today is exhibition day! 

The eagles have worked so hard these last 5 weeks learning new and challenging things. 

This week, the Eagles took a deeper look at the work needed to one day move on to Middle School.  By looking at where they began in their Acton journey, they set goals for the badges and milestones they are working to complete this year. 

One wall of our studio has been transformed to showcase the learners' progress.  The Eagles use this wall to track their achievements in Math, Reading, and Writing.  It has served as a great tool for the Eagles to clearly see what is expected of them at their individual level. 

  

In writing, they spent their time meeting with a Community of Editors.  The Eagles each sign up for an editing job: inner punctuation, outer punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and juicy words. Then meet with their group to edit their poems.  On Thursday, they published their finished work with a piece of artwork. 

3 Eagles have turned in excellent work to be awarded a Writer's Workshop Milestone! 

On Tuesday, the Eagles practiced various skills in PE with a Field Day.  They completed a 100 yard dash, long jump, beanbag toss, shoe kick and high jump.  The shoe kick was a huge hit! 

The Eagles have been hard at work preparing for the Exhibition.  Practicing their pitches, setting up their business booths, and assigning tasks.  They worked together to assign speaking parts, create a schedule, and determine what they would like parents to learn at their showcase of learning.  

  

The stakes have been raised in the Rules of Engagement Game, leaving only 6 eagles to celebrate this week's Friday Mystery Celebration.  Those who rose to the challenge celebrated with popcorn and a movie of their choice.  Rio 2 won by a landslide! 

Next week, the Eagles will spend some time watching videos from the Exhibition and critiquing their performance.  They will create a list of areas they feel they excelled in and areas they would like to improve for the Session 3 Exhibition! 

November 2nd-6th

This week has flown by! 

We started the week by welcoming a new Eagle.  It has been inspiring to see the studio welcome her and step up to teach our Acton systems and schedule. 

Eagles are preparing their writing for Exhibition by creating a piece of artwork to display their poem.  They have moved on to the editing process by completing Peer Critiques.  The Eagles meet with a buddy to provide warm, cool, warm feedback on their work.  Next week, they will revise and produce their published piece. 

 

In Civilization we learned about Hammurabi's Code and one of the oldest fairy tales in the world, Gilgamesh.  A few Eagles created and shared a speech Hammurabi may have written when he introduced his code.  We were all shocked by some of his rules- such as "If a doctor operates on a patient and the patient dies, the doctor's hand will be cut off!"  The Eagles all said that would make them think twice about becoming a doctor. 

For our Entrepreneurship Quest, the Eagles worked to create their business prototype and pitch. Next week, they will be practicing their pitch and preparing their business' booth for exhibition. 

  

We are loving this warm weather and spent many hours outside each day! What a beautiful freedom to be able to eat lunch outside whenever we want! 

The Eagles have been focusing on making rigorous SMART Goals and following through with their promises.  On Friday, the Eagles hard work earned them some learning game time!  

 

An Eagle has completed an entire math level- equivalent to a public school grade level!  We celebrated with him on Friday as he earned his Math Badge! Way to go Stewart!!

This week, the Eagles were challenged to have less than 3 marks in the Rules of Engagement game. Those who rose to the challenge celebrated by creating and selling a Trail Mix at the park! They put their new entrepreneurship skills to the test by determining a price based on their product and expenses, set up a booth, created a product, and worked to sell to a market.  After subtracting their expenses, they made $23! 

 Don't forget Session 2's Exhibition will be next Friday, November 13th at 2pm.  The Eagles are excited to share their team's business plan with you!