What a wonderful week in Spark! This week, we began our “Montessori Mornings.” Each hero earned badges by demonstrating mastery in rolling a rug and walking around a rug. They were excited to place their first badges on the Spark badge wall!
In addition, two heroes earned “Bravery” badges for trying new, challenging things. One hero climbed to the top of the playground, and initially thought she needed help from a guide to get down, but then figured out how to do it herself. It was the first time she had ever been that high! Another hero didn’t feel comfortable playing in the rain at first, but persevered, kept his body moving to stay warm in the wind, and ended up having a wonderful time. At the day’s ending reflection, he named playing in the rain as the high of his day.
During Montessori mornings, heroes are able to work on what interests them. We’ve seen children gravitating towards sensorial materials, practical life works, math, art and telling time. One hero discovered the painting easel this week, created water colors, and learned to sew on a button. Some of our youngest heroes started associating quantities with their number symbols. Some explored through their senses to understand concepts like “rough, rougher and roughest” or “large, larger and largest.” Others are beginning to learn the decimal system through concrete materials while others are preparing for writing by developing a pincer grasp and strengthening their hands through different Montessori works.
This week the heroes also played challenging team-building games, explored small creatures’ habitats in the Nakoma woods, built water luges, engaged in a lot of D.E.A.R. (drop everything and read), wrote in their story journals, and made a “super hero fruit salad” together on Friday to celebrate the second week of their heroes’ journeys at Acton Academy. They also had some cucumber from the garden as a side dish 🙂
Finally, the heroes have been working on their studio contract. They learned how important it is to keep promises and each made a verbal promise to uphold each line in the contract. They will practice their promises and sign their contract at the end of the session. They have also been negotiating the rules of engagement they want for their studio. This week they decided that it was more important to have a calm body and to keep ones hands to oneself, than it is to sit a certain way. They also decided it was important for all of them to come to circle time, and one hero suggested a way to use a bell to let everyone know it’s time for “meeting.”
The Sparks also joined Discovery for the weekly “all school town hall.” Together, they established guardrails for outdoor time, keeping the hallways and sports equipment area clean, and expectations for core skills in Discovery.
Next week we are going to work on establishing stronger routines in Spark and continuing to empower heroes in the design of their studio!
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