Session 2, Oct 11-15

Welcome to Session 2!

This 6 weeks, Eagles are getting the hands-on experience of creating and running their own business.  Learners are split into groups of 4-5 to work through challenges to create their own lemonade stand.  All their hardwork this session will end with a final showdown of their business skills at the Exhibition.  Eagles will compete against one another to see who can earn the most money by using effective customer communication, designing an eye-catching booth, choosing a desired product and keeping their expenses low.  

Monday, the Eagles took the first steps in their new business by creating a duct tape wallet to store their company's Quest Bucks.  Companies will work together to complete various challenges to excellence to earn bucks.  These bucks can then be used to purchase materials needed throughout Quest; such as lemonade, cups, markers, cardstock, ice, and booth decorations.   

On Wednesday, Eagles created their team roles and made business decisions.  They started by determining their own personal skill sets they could contribute to the company.  Based on that information, the companies then assigned roles (or jobs) to each member.  These roles include Bookkeeper, Accountant, Customer Support and Lawyer.  Companies also decided how they would make difficult decisions when they arise, the words they would use to describe their company, and their company's name. 

  

Friday, Eagles explored branding.  Does the name, colors, logo, or slogan of a company play a role in what customers choose to buy?  The Eagles will find out at their Exhibtion when family and friends have to make the tough choice of who's lemonade to purchase.  

  

Our focus this Writer's Workshop is poetry.  The Eagles began by exploring the question, "What is poetry?" with their squads.  One group decided poetry is "a piece of writing that rhymes and inspires people," while others groups found that not all poems rhyme.  We will be spending the next 6 weeks exploring the answer to this question. 

 

Eagles also discovered the power of metaphors to describe people, places, things, and animals.  We began our time together on Thursday by noticing the power of words.  Eagles were partnered up and challenged to explain to their partner how to draw a specific dog and frog.  Many found it very challenging to express their thoughts and reflected they would be more specific in their details and instructions next time.  

 

We then broke off and worked with our squads to create metaphors describing various colors.  Can you guess what "is the color of a glowing light?"  Eagles were then ready to create their own metaphors for a topic of their choice to be used in their poems next week. 

   

Our Excellence Committee (the group of Eagles in charge of approving work for excellence) has spent MANY hours this session checking over 20 submitted Badges!  They have upheld the high standard of excellence we expect here at Acton by assuring all standards are met, Eagles' work is truly their best effort, and each piece is better than the last one.  To encourage hardwork and high standards, the entire studio chose to reward the Committee with a $5 giftcard of their choice if all submitted work was completed by Friday. We cannot wait to celebrate all of the Badges our Eagles have earned at the Exhibition!! 

In art, Eagles are exploring watercolors.  They learned how to properly take care of the paint and brushes, how to make colors lighter or darker, then practiced using watercolors by creating a self-portrait.

One of our favorite times of the week is Town Hall! This is a chance for Eagles to bring up concerns, ideas, and celebrations they wish to share with the studio.  This week, Eagles shared concerns about the noise level before lunch, an idea to limit the number of visits an Eagle has to the rest each day, and a plan to celebrate Halloween with a party.  After sharing their thoughts and voting, Eagles chose to plan a Halloween party on their own, without the help of the Guides.  

Together, with a few standards (the time, budget, and space) the Eagles planned their party.  They chose friends to help lead the planning, dicussed the important activities they wanted to include, created a schedule, and filled out request forms for needed supplies.