Our Eagles had a wonderful Session 5 filled with writing, creativity, educational simulations, and business-building challenges. It was exciting to see our learners transform into Entrepreneurs and take on the business world. As part of our focus on entrepreneurship, we are very excited about our upcoming Children’s Business Fair (CBF) on Saturday, May 11th. To make this a great experience for our Eagles, please mark your calendars to attend the event using this LINK.
We are also excited to share that registration for Summer@Acton camps are still open. Join this fun and enriching summer program designed to ignite your child's curiosity, foster creativity, and empower your learner with essential skills for success. Sign up now as space is limited. The deadline for registration is Friday, May 31st.
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Sparks
Morning Launches
Our Eagles enjoyed themselves as leaders and continued the practice of the job chart responsibilities. Each Eagle has two jobs in the Studio, one at the start and one end of the day. With these two jobs, the Eagles feel responsible for their studio and often suggest new roles to be added.
In our morning circles, Sparks discuss virtues and traits that Heroes need to acquire along their journey. The Eagles focused on time management and had discussions about the effect of time management on their success in life. They focused on the importance of setting a schedule for their day to best manage their time. They also learned about short-term and long-term goal planning. Sparks highlighted the importance of role models, specifically, what defines a role model and what each of the Eagles can do to become one. They also had discussions about what it means to be successful.
Work Time
At the beginning of each day, our Eagles focus on their CORE skills. In partnership with the Montessori Method, each Eagle focuses on Math and Language Arts, learning at their own pace. Giving each learner the ability to take the time they need to build upon their foundations or even soar above their grade level is what makes our studio a dynamic and unique learning environment. In our learning environment, you often see advanced learners help their peers, giving way to yet another avenue of learning.
Discovery Time
Our Discovery Time was very enriching, focusing this session on Entrepreneurship. Eagles got the opportunity to learn new ideas as well as new terms related to business such as “entrepreneur”, “budget”, “profit”, “investor”, “customer service” and much more. In this program, each Eagle came up with a business plan and made important decisions based on the product or service they would like to sell. They were thrilled to navigate through an entrepreneurial mindset and learn new skills that are often left out of traditional education settings. They are ready and excited to present their businesses at our Children's Business Fair on Saturday, May 11, 2024.
Writing
For this session, our Writer’s Workshop centered on Informative Writing. This style of writing is used to communicate knowledge in an unbiased manner. Eagles each chose a topic that interested them and wrote several pages to share with their peers. Their pages were well-written and organized to fit the Informative Writing criteria.
Geography
Geography has always been a very popular subject with Sparks, as they grow excited to learn more about continents and add this knowledge to their passports. The focus of Session 5 was to explore the continent of Asia. They learned about Japan, China, India, Russia and Turkey. They were introduced to cultural practices, country flags, animals, top destinations, and lastly the local delicacies. The Eagles were also thrilled to gain the skills to locate all 49 countries of Asia on their studio map!
Art
Art is a studio favorite, as all of the Eagles enjoy getting hands-on with their learning. In connection with our study of Asia, the Eagles colored and painted different pieces of art from around Asia. They also learned a fun technique to paint the famous cherry blossom trees of Japan using just a straw.
Science
The Eagles dove into the fascinating world of electricity, gaining insights into its sources and the intricate journey it undertakes to power our homes and schools. They explored the phenomenon of static electricity, unraveling its mysteries and understanding its occurrence. Through a captivating experiment involving balloons and light papers, they witnessed firsthand the principles of static electricity in action, resulting in an exciting and successful endeavor that sparked curiosity and wonder among all participants.
Intentionality
To encourage intentional acts of kindness, our studio has a “Kindness Jar” where Eagles collect one bead for each act of kindness they commit in the Studio each day. The Kindness Jar was overflowing for a third time this session! To celebrate and treat themselves, the Sparks Eagles prepared a pancake brunch. They worked together to wash and cut fruits, mix pancake batter, and cook the pancakes. We are so proud of all their achievements for this session - all while showing care and kindness to one another!
Elementary Studio
Entrepreneurship Quest
The purpose of the Entrepreneurship (E-Ship) Quest is to equip our Eagles with the tools, framework, and information to have a successful business. The Eagles enjoyed the process of ideation, creation, and execution of their business.
Entering the mindset of small business owners, Eagles produced multiple business ideas to pitch in a professional presentation. They did extensive research on the cost of materials, booth design, and most importantly, uncovering what motivates them to create their products.
The Entrepreneurship Quest prepares the Eagles for our upcoming 7th Annual Children's Business Fair on Saturday, May 11th, 2024 at Emerald Glen Park in Dublin, CA. This Quest aids them in developing a business plan, strategy, and marketing to their target audience.
Writers Workshop - Editor-in-Chief
For Writers Workshop, our Eagles became the editor-in-chief of their very own magazine. Building up their creative writing skills, they wrote multiple articles, designed their cover, created product ads, and even wrote a letter to their audience as the editor-in-chief. All of their work was put together in their individual magazines to showcase their writing, editing, storyboarding, creativity, and design skills.
By the end of the Session, Eagles were able to publish their first edition magazines. They had a blast researching a business personality, finding recipes to recommend to their audience, reviewing a game, book, or movie, and even writing an article to help their readers plan a successful sleepover. Their creativity and hard work shined through their completed magazines and informative articles.
Civilizations
Session 5 Civilizations introduced Eagles to several civilizations and empires. Civilizations build deep-rooted connections to history and allow our learners an opportunity to connect to the people, places, and events that led to our current lifestyle.
From Russia expanding West to the building of the Great Wall, our Eagles are taking on diverse topics and learning about the foundation of the current world nations. Our Eagles took special interest in westward expansion this session, focusing on the creation of new territories, and the treaties that were broken and built to form our current state system.
Learn to Be
The concept of “Learn to Be” is simple, yet so important. The act of “Learning to Be” pushes our learners through difficult challenges and decisions to help them deeply etch habits of positive character traits, while working to rub away negative habits.
Over the past five weeks, our Eagles have been looking at their challenges, habits, studio culture, and systems, looking for areas to improve. They have focused on developing stronger CORE skills by implementing a reward-based system tied to their minimums, as well as revamping their Eagle Buck (studio currency) system to hold each other more accountable. We praise their ability to understand the importance of trial and error and to continuously improve their systems.
“Without change, there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement.” -William Pollard
Middle School Studio
Entrepreneurship Quest
This Quest, our learners focused on Entrepreneurship which allowed each student to research different business ideas and make an informed decision to execute their business plan. Each Eagle then chose a different product or service to build a business around. From handmade crochet plushies to ice cream, and even teacup candles, the Eagles researched their products' market value, competition, and target demographic all in preparation for our Children's Business Fair.
Over the past five weeks, our learners have turned an idea into a business by researching their market competitors, using e-learning tools to be challenged in business simulations, and even built a website to showcase their product and its story.
The Entrepreneurship Quest prepares the Eagles for our upcoming 7th Annual Children's Business Fair on Saturday, May 11th, 2024 at Emerald Glen Park in Dublin, CA. This Quest aids them in developing a business plan, strategy, and marketing to their target audience.
Variety Magazine - Genre
For Genre, our Eagles became the editor-in-chief of their very own Variety magazine. Building up their creative writing skills, they wrote multiple articles, designed their cover, created product ads, and even wrote a letter to their audience as the editor-in-chief. All of their hard work was put together in their very own magazine to showcase their writing, editing, storyboarding, creativity, and design skills.
By the end of the Session, the Eagles published their first edition magazines that included articles about fitness, health, movie/book reviews, favorite recipes, and even articles about cultural issues. From formulating ideas to researching supportive evidence, the Eagles created informative and engaging articles that will leave their readers wanting another issue.
Civilizations
Session 5 Civilizations focused on the Civil Rights Movement and immersed our Eagles deep into the 1960’s. They took part in an online simulation where they played the role of a 16-year-old moving to Georgia, right as the movement for civil rights was gaining momentum. They traversed through difficult situations, had to make tough choices, and got the opportunity to read first-hand accounts from the 1960’s. The Eagles learned so much this session about the immense struggle for freedom and equality that surrounded the Civil Rights Movement.
Learn to Be
The concept of “Learn to Be” is simple, yet so important. The act of “Learning to Be” pushes our learners through difficult challenges and decisions to help them deeply etch habits of positive character traits while also working to rub away negative habits. Over the past five weeks, our Eagles looked at their challenges, habits, studio culture, and systems to find areas of improvement.
They focused on developing stronger CORE skills by implementing a reward-based system tied to their own focus and their ability to uphold their studio contracts by keeping their peers accountable. One example of this was when they realized that their quiet focused work periods were starting to be too loud. They took this opportunity to develop a new studio system that helped encourage and reward quiet work time and focus, while also holding those who were too loud accountable.
As they go into the next session, they will have the opportunity to trial and review, and may make more changes to continuously better their studio.
“Without change, there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement." -William Pollard
Session 5 Entrepreneurship Activities
Parent Professional Presentations
In partnership with our Entrepreneurship Quest, we invited 4 parents/professionals to give a presentation about their work, passions, and what they did to get there. Our Eagles enjoyed learning about the internet and what happens after you Google something, starting and supporting women-led career opportunities to remote locations in India, and volunteering to foster puppies.
A huge thank you to the parent volunteers who took time out of their busy schedules to talk with our learners and give them a detailed view into different career paths and industries, as well as opportunities in service and volunteering.
