2025-2026 Session 6 Newsletter

Curiosity in Motion

A 5-minute read,

Something big shifted across the studios this session. Conversations grew louder around whiteboards and prototypes. Learners lingered longer over difficult problems. Ideas that failed on Monday often reappeared by Thursday in a completely different form. From Sparks to LaunchPad, Eagles spent the session building, testing, presenting, revising, and trying again.

Much of the work this session asked learners to stay flexible. Plans changed. Designs collapsed. Presentations needed rewrites. Team dynamics had to be worked through in real time. Instead of avoiding those moments, many learners leaned into them. By the end of Session 6, confidence looked less like perfection and more like persistence.

Explore the latest updates from our Studio Blog, designed for families and prospective members. Click here to dive in:

Sparks Elementary  Middle School / LaunchPad

Sparks Studio: Exploration Takes the Lead

In Sparks, the studio stayed in constant motion. Morning Launches opened conversations around friendship, kindness, responsibility, and caring for others. Stories like Frog and Toad, The Lorax, and The Little Red Hen gave learners opportunities to wrestle with questions about leadership, fairness, and what it means to help a community thrive.

Transportation Quest quickly became one of the driving forces of the session. Across the studio, learners explored how people move through different parts of Asia. Bullet trains sparked curiosity. Tuk tuks and rickshaws inspired questions. Soon, the room filled with foil boats, race tracks, origami creations, and handmade vehicles built from pipe cleaners, Play Doh, cardboard, and tape.

One table tested buoyancy while another worked on miniature robotic cars. Wheels rolled across the floor. Decorations appeared. Batteries were adjusted and reattached after failed attempts. Learners rarely stayed seated for long.

Exhibition brought that energy into the room for families to experience firsthand. Sparks proudly demonstrated their robotic creations before inviting parents to build alongside them. A giant three dimensional bus became one of the centerpieces of the studio and reflected just how immersive the Quest had become.

Alongside Quest work, learners continued strengthening foundational academic habits through reading, writing, spelling, math, and penmanship. Daily Core work created steady routines while learners practiced taking more ownership of their tasks and transitions.

Elementary Studio: Failure, Redesign, Repeat

The Elementary Studio spent much of Session 6 experimenting with motion and engineering.

Physics Quest introduced learners to concepts like gravity, momentum, elasticity, thrust, and buoyancy, though most of the learning happened through trial and error rather than direct instruction. Cardboard cars veered off course. Popsicle stick boats sank under too many pennies. Rubber band safety nets snapped unexpectedly. Again and again, Eagles returned to redesign their work.

Bridge building became one of the most talked about parts of the session. Learners researched real world bridge designs before sketching blueprints and constructing their own models. Some structures held immediately. Others collapsed within seconds of testing.

What mattered most was what happened next. Instead of abandoning failed designs, learners studied weak points, adjusted supports, and rebuilt. Over time, the studio developed a rhythm of testing, revising, and trying again. Learners worked not only on their projects, but also toward building fortitude and determination.

Later in the session, teams began combining simple machines into large Rube Goldberg systems. One movement needed to trigger the next with precise timing. Small mistakes created chain reactions no one expected. Progress often came one adjustment at a time.

Writer’s Workshop stayed closely connected to Quest work throughout the session. Learners researched physicists, drafted biography essays, and turned scientific research into graphic novels designed to teach many audiences, from other Eagles to parents, as experts on their physicist. The final products reflected not only research skills, but also creativity and audience awareness.

During Exhibition, families joined Eagles in building and testing marble runs together. Some designs worked immediately. Others required multiple attempts before the motion carried through successfully. In many ways, the experience mirrored the entirety of the session.

Middle School & LaunchPad: Stepping Into Responsibility

Middle School and LaunchPad learners entered Session 6 through the lens of Medical Biology Quest.

The studio transformed into a diagnostic environment where Eagles took on the roles of doctors, patients, researchers, and medical teams. Learners studied body systems, examined symptoms, conducted interviews, and worked through medical case studies while attempting to identify possible illnesses.

Role-playing quickly deepened the experience. Learners developed detailed patient backstories connected to hidden conditions, forcing teams to rely on observation, questioning, and reasoning rather than quick assumptions.

As the weeks progressed, the studio became increasingly immersive. Life-sized body system displays appeared across the walls. Educational videos with humor and creativity came to life. Organ research pushed learners to organize complex scientific information in ways others could understand.

The exhibition invited families directly into the process. Visitors stepped into the role of patients while Eagles guided interviews, analyzed symptoms, and attempted diagnoses in real time. The level of ownership that many learners brought to the experience stood out immediately.

Outside of Quest, the studio spent time reflecting on accountability and studio culture as the year begins winding toward its final session. Learners discussed what kind of community they want to build and where stronger intentionality is still needed moving forward.

This session, preparation for the Children’s Business Fair took learners into the Pleasanton community, where MSLP Eagles met directly with business owners to present sponsorship pitches and explain their vision for the event. The experience pushed many learners to move past hesitation and speak with greater confidence in unfamiliar situations.

Children’s Business Fair: Ideas Become Real

The Children’s Business Fair became one of the defining experiences of Session 6. For weeks, learners worked behind the scenes refining products, recalculating costs, redesigning displays, and practicing how to speak with customers. Some businesses changed direction halfway through preparation. Others discovered problems only after testing their products publicly.

By the day of the fair, the campus had transformed into a marketplace filled with handmade goods, original games, artwork, jewelry, baked items, and creative services. Some Eagles sold out quickly, while others used the experience to rethink their approach, adjust their messaging, and find creative ways to connect with customers throughout the event.

Throughout the event, learners adapted constantly. Sales pitches evolved, and teams solved unexpected problems without adults stepping in. Visitors saw far more than student businesses. They witnessed learners navigating uncertainty in real time.

Looking Ahead

As Session 6 came to a close, many learners reflected on how different this session felt from earlier parts of the year.

The work demanded more initiative. Challenges lasted longer. Collaboration mattered more. Across every studio, Eagles were asked to keep thinking after the first attempt failed.

That mindset showed up everywhere:

• In collapsing bridges rebuilt from scratch.

• In robotic vehicles patched together after another wheel fell off.

• In patient interviews that forced learners to rethink early assumptions.

• In business booths where learners adjusted on the fly after slow sales.

Session 6 was full of motion, but not the kind measured only by activity. The deeper movement came through learners becoming more willing to revise, adapt, and persist when the outcome remained uncertain.

As we head toward the final session of the year, we are excited to see where that momentum leads next.