We had a great week back at school after our Late Summer Break. The students were excited to share stories from their week away. We had a lot to squeeze into our first week back with Monday off, so we got right to work with SMART Goals and Core Skills Time. I love the energy and excitement in the studio as the learners get back to their work. In the last session, we talked about how a brick wall is built one brick at a time. The same concept is applied to the SMART goals we set here at Acton. Looking at the badge plan, how can we break up the big goal of completing a math level or reading level badge into daily bite-size goals?
In Writing Workshop, we began a unit on Memoirs. We will read several excerpts over the next five weeks to familiarize ourselves with world-class examples of memoirs. This week was prewriting: the learners became engrossed in mind mapping their life.
We started civilization and learned about nomads and the early civilization of Egyptians. We had deep discussions around why history is important to us & how it has impacted society today. During our map work, we discovered https://thetruesize.com/
As the weather continues to cool, many of our days begin outside for at least half the students. With Morning Launch beginning at 8:30 and the majority of students arriving by 8:15, there is time in the morning for settling into the day and catching up with friends. Recently this time has been spent in the backfield trimming trees and “maintaining” property.
We drove right into our Physics Quest with three competitions this week. The learners experimented with propulsion (using a balloon), mass (pennies and play-doh), momentum, and gravity on their cars. Each week we will build different challenges and have a fun friendly competition to wrap things up. Up next…Marble Run and Defying Gravity with Boats!
