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!