Session 3 Comes to a Close: Year 5 - Week 14 In Review
Exhibitions and grandparents’ day
Check out this week’s updates below…
spark studio
How did 5 weeks go by so fast? As we travel through time, we are discovering who we are as individuals and who we are as a studio.
New badges were created by learners: respect and manners. One learner discovered that the badges they are creating are attached to feelings. As we orbit through space we are slowly discovering that the words we say matter, our actions can sometimes speak louder than our words, and we cannot go back in time. We are beginning to understand to think before we speak and/or react.
Learning to live together is a daily reminder of our need to challenge and better ourselves. We are learning to appreciate and leverage the lines of difference within each other, therefore nourishing our cross cultural competency and creating a multicultural studio.
We give thanks for each relationship that adds richness to our lives. We feel blessed for each of our Spark families. Enjoy the break! We have a challenge for you: Create a family tree and converse about your ancestry.
elementary studio
Another session has come to a close! Learners spent this session learning about business and finance, and at Exhibition they had a chance to do two things.
The Lower Elementary learners showed their business ideas in detail—from their slogan to their resources, and even the profits they planned on making after paying for all their capital. Meanwhile in Upper Elementary, they asked themselves a deep and difficult question: who will I be for the rest of my life? Who do I dream to be? And, just like the younger learners, they answered these questions in detail. They talked about how much they would have to spend on bills, their vehicle, their house, and all their other expenses, and how this affected their dreams and what they wanted to be.
Our whole week was mainly focused on preparing for Exhibition, and we ended with a reflection day where people gave feedback to their peers and celebrated their achievements with our first badge ceremony of the year. It was a short week, but a very busy one, and now we head off to the break and session 4!
middle school studio
Now that we’ve come to the end of Session 3, we are very excited to announce that it is officially the countdown to the holiday season. With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, we are happy to finish this session in a positive mood with the heroes.
This week learners worked on Exhibition and perfecting the skits to present to their parents and Dream Teams. The skit came to life after their hard work and studio sacrifices. The heroes were proud of their work ethic and learned a lot in the process.
Furthermore, learners have been finishing up their challenges and Badge approvals so they can get their badges. Earning a Badge per season is important to the learners because they want to get rewarded for their hard work and success. On Thursday, we had a Badge ceremony honoring our heroes and their hard work and success individually. Badges show who has been putting in the work over the course of the year as a self-directed learner. As the Guides continue to motivate getting Badges and Challenges Approved, heroes are actually cranking down on time and getting the work done.
Exhibition was a success! The learners did a great job managing their time for learning new lines last minute and giving such a great performance. During the Exhibition, learners received helpful feedback from their family and grandparents. Our families were excited about how much information heroes learned in such little time and how they are coming up with plans regardless of whether it’s realistic or not. They loved how learners knew financial terms to have a better understanding of financial literacy.
Learners started the week off by finalizing their Apprenticeships for the next session. Remember, the next session's Quest is Apprenticeships! We ask that learners come for the first 2 days of the session and the last day or 2 in preparation for the Exhibition. Many learners have already started before the next session, which is great. We are excited for next season where students will be focusing on their Apprenticeships and the fundamentals of learning words in this year's upcoming Spelling Bee.
high school studio
We did it! While everything may not have been perfect, we finished with a bang. Exhibition is done! This exhibition we had the pleasure of having more experts than ever, a total of 10 financial professionals. There was so much incredible knowledge shared that the financial learning continued for the heroes!
StoryArts wrapped up in a spectacle Thursday. Our heroes interviewed a customer who purchased a not-so-user friendly product, and our heroes created a compelling video to the creators, convincing them to change or correct their product. Civilization ended on a true academic note: our heroes completed their research papers, and submitted for approval today. Lastly, we honored our grandparents today by sending them a letter of appreciation.
Everyone has worked so hard—from Guides, to heroes, to parent volunteers. I just want to end this by screaming, ‘Thank you” from the bottom of my heart and top of my lungs. Enjoy your break, eat a ton of turkey, and relax. We will see you soon!