Diving Deeper Into Diversity - Year 3, Week 16 in Review
Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
spark studio
LEARNING TO BE - The Hero’s Journey, relational covenants, and real world consequences transform difficult decisions into virtuous habits. - Acton Academy
As we continue on our Hero’s Journey, we find ourselves recognizing the needs of others and are beginning to take action to come together as an in-person/virtual Studio. This is what we call "Learning to Be". Why is Learning to Be so important? Is it feeling a sense of belonging? Is it empathy for others? Is it just one thing or several? Traits such as critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, persistence and self control are vitally important to children’s full development. This is a process that takes time and patience and with patience comes growth. Reflect upon an experience of your own wherein you practiced patience. Was it challenging or easy for you?
Here we “grow” again! Session 4 is coming to a close. We have embarked on the Multi-Cultural Quest with a ton of excitement whilst working in groups with the Elementary Studio. We have been very busy discovering, creating a multicultural scrapbook, playing games, as well as learning about holiday traditions near and far. We look forward to experiencing our first virtual Exhibition on December 17th.
elementary studio
You simply have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Put blinders on and plow right ahead. -George Lucus
At the beginning of this session, heroes were introduced to a school wide competition. A competition of hardwork, preparation, determination and pure focus. Heroes are being challenged to reach as many goals as possible on their badge plans and finish this first half of the school year strong.
As the competition began, heroes chose to sit away from friends during work cycles, set timers, and made sure to use their headphones to get into the State of FLOW. We ended the first week of the competition in a strong 2nd place! During this second week of competition, a couple of the elementary heroes led a launch about keeping our eyes on the prize and continuing to pursue our goals.
Much like horses wear blinders, our elementary heroes have found ways to focus and stay on track even when the road is full of distractions and obstacles. I’m excited to see where our heroes finish this week!
middle school studio
Middle School finished the first week of the "Finish Strong in 2020" competition in first place! This week, learners tried to maintain their lead over the other Studios by cranking their Core Skills work. We'll find out today if we're still on top of the leaderboards, hopefully well on our way to winning a pizza party next week!
In Quest, learners continued their journey around the world by studying the major religions, cuisine, and fashion styles of their chosen cultures. Along with their High School teammates, learners will present an overview of their cultures at next Thursday's exhibition! Please mark your calendar to join our virtual exhibition from 6:30 to 7:45 pm.
Additionally, learners have been studying mythology and folklore in Storytelling. This week, they constructed their own folktales, received group critique on their stories, made revisions, and sent their folktales to a professional grader for more feedback.
Next week, we'll put the finishing touches on 2020 as we seek to end the year strong!
high school studio
Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
At the beginning of this session, we asked heroes to push and end the year strong. We also asked them to remember why they started and where we are going in the first place, in order to help them see the big picture on why we’re asking them to finish the year strong.
This week in the high school studio, heroes continued to power through the Around The World Quest as they learned a new language, researched recipes, and designed their own traditional dress according to their chosen culture. In addition, heroes curated a children’s story in which they were able to use their creative thinking and imagination skills to develop a story with true morals and overall positive message the youth of today should hear.
The School is looking forward to the Children’s Business fair this Saturday where some of our students will showcase their entrepreneur skills. Please come and show support! Next week we are all looking forward to exhibitions and the holiday break. Parents and guardians: please remember the break begins Friday after school and we will resume on January 5 at our normal time.
Another week in the bag and just one more to go!
-Onward
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