Welcome to Session Two: Year 5 - Week 6 In Review
Welcome back and get ready for session two!
With our new Quests in motion, what new discoveries have been made this week? Read on for details!
spark studio
Children have an innate desire to learn. They soak in their environment, positive or negative, like sponges. Rather than interfere and try to mold little people into what society deems as desirable, as guides, we create the perfect conditions where learners can concentrate and explore freely, revealing themselves as an individual based on their interests and unique strengths. The studio has freedom within limits; boundaries not barriers.
Our studio has no posters decorating the walls or alphabet loudly displayed along the edges of the ceiling where learners can barely see it. The studio is decorated with paintings, learners’ artwork, family pictures, and plants displayed at their eye level so they can revel in beauty without being bombarded with distractions. Guides minimize interruptions and protect a 3 hour work cycle creating an environment ideal for learners to concentrate. When we concentrate on interesting, attractive work that is meaningful to us, we can become our best selves.
Lessons are arranged on the shelf in order from least difficult to most challenging and every lesson has countless extensions so the guides can adjust to meet each learner’s needs. The guide presents a lesson to a learner one-on-one or in small groups first, but each material has a control of error. For example, when learners work independently on the Spindle Game in Math they have to count the correct amount of spindles for each numeral 1-10. There are only enough spindles to fit correctly in each space. If they get to 10 and count out only 9 spindles, they will realize they made a mistake somewhere earlier. They may not realize or correct the mistake right away, and that’s okay. Learners often need weeks or months of practice with the same material before they master it. Guides allow them the time and space to do so. Guides don’t step in and correct. It is more powerful for the learners to correct themselves, than be told they made a mistake or given the answer. It is truly magical to witness.
“The greatest gifts we can give our children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence” Maria Montessori
elementary studio
“I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream”
Welcoming heroes back from break, we started this session off strong with our Ice Cream Quest! We reviewed the different types of ice cream and their components such as; the temperature it needs to freeze, the ingredients used to create it, and the fat content in the frozen treat. We even taste tested these frozen goodies to help us determine the differences between each. The heroes especially enjoyed creating their own ice cream in a bag and whipped cream as they experimented with how ice cream is made focusing on the states of matter! We are tying Storytelling into our quest this session, by writing letters to invite community helpers to our exhibition. They focused on the components in a letter writing and got a deeper dive into things such as the heading, the greeting, and the closing.
The heroes’ alien scientist has landed on the continent where it all started, Africa, for Civilization. They had a chance to create a map of Africa and explore some Swahili in East Africa. We are taking a world view in civilization and diving into more map skills as we investigate each continent.
This week is one of many exciting weeks for the heroes! And we are even more excited to see their growth and knowledge acquired throughout this session.
middle school studio
Welcome back to Session 2 at The Forest School!
We are stoked to have the heroes back in the studio to continue their journey towards self-directed learning. We started off by introducing “Freedom Levels”. These levels will allow for fewer distractions and help hold the heroes accountable for their actions along their journey. We reached out to other Acton schools to see what they use for their Studios and found an effective way to modify the Freedom Levels for our learners. It will be an adjustment but, we believe that by earning their Studio freedom, heroes will see a greater reward.
Next, we launched into our new Quest, “Machine Learning” where heroes will be able to work in teams to create future projections for Trilith Township’s growth. As a group, they will determine their own questions to ask and the data sets they need to use based on interviews they conduct with Trilith’s leadership. As they learn to code this session, learners end task is to learn how to teach a machine how to become a city planner.
Next, we have a brand new Story Arts challenge where learners are using “User Stories” to figure out issues others may have with a certain product. They will be putting stories together and interviewing friends or family on their experiences. Later this session they will turn in their projects to our Story Arts program and possibly be considered for the Story Arts Live Presentation on September 30th, 2022. For Civilization this session, heroes are focusing on the Ottoman Empire and Papal Bull. As a school, we have finally opened our Math Help Desk where select heroes will be mentoring other heroes from Spark, Lower Elementary, and Middle School. This is exciting because learners will be making a difference in their peers education in the best way possible with support from the Guides.
high school studio
Our first day back was a smooth one! The studio as a whole seemed rejuvenated and excited for session two.
We started our week with this session's Quest, and so far it's presenting itself to be pretty amazing. This Quest is all about machine learning. and learners are responsible for finding a company to take on as a client, and help grow their business through their machine design. At exhibition, learners will present all of their data to the company.
Learners were also assigned new running partners, which will bring a ton of growth to some, simply because they will be interacting with new people they've haven’t gotten the opportunity to build a relationship with yet.
On Tuesday, many High School learners dug their heels into making connections with whom they are going to apprentice with and have set up schedules to get to work. Wednesday, learners spent some time working on their Learner Design Course, and many are farther along in completing their course than they realized which is exciting! Thursday a learner led a launch on Queen Elizabeth which proved very enlightening to our learners. Friday we close out the week with badge approvals. Our heroes have voted to spend 1 hour a week approving badges for one another to get ahead of the curve.
Onward!