Author: Marisa Palmer

This week at Discovery Studio was filled with creativity, collaboration, and excitement! The heroes dove into some hands-on art projects, creating beautiful leaf art that showcased the vibrant colors and beauty of fall. Using leaves they gathered, the heroes experimented with different designs, turning nature into artwork. With just a little glue, paper, and a lot of creativity, they crafted birds, puppies, cake, and cats. It was fascinating to see how each hero uses the natural beauty of the leaves to add texture and depth to their designs. In addition to the leaf art, the heroes also made adorable pom-pom caterpillars. This activity sparked their imagination as they crafted their caterpillars in various sizes and colors, bringing these fuzzy creatures to life.

We also launched a full-circle feedback survey (also known as 360 reviews) for both the guide and heroes. This review encourages open, honest feedback where each hero and guide is evaluated on their strengths and areas for growth. It fosters a culture of reflection and continuous improvement, allowing everyone to gain insights from their fellow learners. The heroes embraced this opportunity to share their thoughts and also receive feedback, helping them to grow both personally and within the group. During Friday’s running team meeting, the heroes reviewed their feedback and set personal growth goals for the next session.

Finally, the heroes kicked off the process of exhibition planning for the Build-the-Tribe Quest. The heroes began by brainstorming creative ways to showcase their hard work and learning from the past weeks. They discussed what tasks they need to complete for the exhibition, and talked about the different roles. Each hero took ownership of a part of the exhibition, whether it was coming up with the schedule or making a poster to present. As always, the focus is on making the exhibition a true reflection of their journey and growth for this session. Our heroes are excited to get ready for the first exhibition this school year!

This week has been filled with both fun and growth! We had a discussion to start the day about “Seeds of Potential,” where we explored how every hero has their own unique gifts waiting to be cultivated. The heroes got a chance to examine a variety of apples, each one different in color, shape, and size. The similarity between these apples is that they all have seeds and a star. This activity served as a reminder that just like apples, every hero is different in their talents, strengths, and potential. Some apples were red, others green, some perfectly round, and others more irregular in shape—but all were special in their own way. The heroes also shared their thoughts on how their fellow travelers can help support them on their learning journeys. 

The annual hero boards are designed to be living documents—constantly evolving as the heroes develop new skills, achieve milestones, and set goals for themselves. Each hero personalized their board to reflect their unique journey, choosing colors, images, and layouts that resonate with their personality and vision for the future. For discovery heroes, this meant highlighting key moments of triumph in their Acton journey. 

In the meantime, the heroes also spent time reviewing Lip Dub videos from other Acton schools, exchanging ideas and discussing what elements made the videos stand out. They were inspired by the creativity of their Acton peers and excited to incorporate some new ideas into their future Lip Dub. 

To wrap up the week, Discovery heroes held their second running team meeting on Friday, where they updated each other on their progress in Core Skills. This was an excellent opportunity for the heroes to reflect on their weekly efforts, share insights, and provide support and encouragement to their fellow heroes. We saw one of the running teams practice their special handshake to wrap up their meeting. It’s such a great way to cheer each other on in the group.

The Discovery Studio was filled with creativity, teamwork, and celebrations as our heroes took on a variety of exciting challenges and activities this week.

We launched the hero board challenge this week. The heroes dove into the researching phase of gathering elements, reflecting on their hero’s journey, and refining their ideas to ensure their boards truly represent their personal journeys and answer the question, “Who am I becoming?” This task requires focus and creativity as the heroes work diligently to bring their visions to life.

The heroes also completed and submitted their Lip Dub video to the global annual Acton Academy lip dub challenge! This project was a labor of love, involving choreography, and plenty of energy. The submission marks the culmination of their first week’s worth of hard work, and Discovery heroes are all eagerly awaiting the results! Heroes at Acton Academies across the globe will vote on the submissions.

In art this week, the heroes began working on a community mural project. This hands-on, collaborative project encourages creativity and cooperation as they brainstorm and come to agreement on different elements they would like to include in the project. It’s amazing to see their innovative ideas and how they support each other through the process.

A Special Birthday Celebration

We also had the joy of celebrating a hero’s birthday this week! Discovery heroes planned a special surprise, coming together to create a memorable experience for their fellow hero. Discovery heroes made a special birthday binder filled with heartfelt birthday cards. For the celebration, we sang the Montessori birthday song, “The Earth Goes Around the Sun,” and reflected on the hero’s journey throughout the years. The hero shared his favorite memories and milestones from each age, highlighting special moments that shaped his growth. It was a beautiful moment of community and kindness, and we had a wonderful time celebrating together.

This year’s question of the year is “What motivates a hero?” and we will explore this question throughout the year. The entire school started this process during our annual school year kick-off “Welcome Party” where each hero – and their parents parents – shared with the group one new thing they tried or learned this summer, and what motivated them to do so. It was such a fun way to understand the interests and callings of both the children and adults in our learning community. We were surprised and delighted to learn about children running triathlons, joining a baseball team, taking a cooking class or going to sleepaway camp for the first time. Meanwhile, adults were traveling to far away places and reading books in foreign languages. It was inspiring for the children to see that even adults are always learning!

We’re building the Spark tribe this session through lots of play, fun, teambuilding games and collaborative activities while also introducing studio systems and expectations. This week we explored the ideas of civility, peace and friendship. Heroes have had a lot of fun playing games to get to know each other like “get on the boat,” the “blanket name game” and the “friendship scavenger hunt.” Next week we will be introducing Montessori materials and systems in earnest, but this week the heroes learned new skills like rolling a mat, carrying a tray, and walking around a mat. To us adults, these may sound trivial, but not walking through others’ workspaces (mats), or understanding that each tray contains a “work” are new concepts to the youngest Spark heroes.

The heroes have been spending time each day in the makerspace and are learning new skills as they work towards earning their “Makerspace Champion” badge. They mastered using watercolors, cleaning a paintbrush, putting caps back on markers and demonstrated much perseverance completing a makerspace scavenger hunt to help them develop familiarity with the materials and tools in the space. We also have a number of non-readers in the group, so while we make all materials visual, it’s also been a wonderful servant leader opportunity for the readers in the group to support and help their friends.

Speaking of which, we have a new system this year which is the “Pom Pom Jar.” Heroes earn a pom pom when they help a friend and we often end the day saying thank you for the specific ways we’ve seen friends helping each other. Once the pom pom jar is full, we will have a celebration!

Speaking of which, some of the heroes this week were initially disappointed that this week, they didn’t have “Friday Reward” which was a system we used in Spark last year. But then after some discussion amongst themselves, came to the realization that with the redesign of Spark, and the inclusion of Spark Play, every afternoon is a reward! This week, the heroes collaborated to build their own water play system complete with sand dams in the garden (indirectly exploring fluid dynamics :)) and went on a nature walk with the Spark Play Guide that turned into a survival adventure finding shelter from the rain! We’ve also noticed that the heroes really want to build a fort or a lean-to and we are just going to have to figure out how to make that happen…..

Another way in which this year’s studio design is different is that rather than the adults developing all the systems at the start of the year, we are co-creating them with the heroes. For instance, the heroes are very excited about the ideas of badges and are now brainstorming skills to master that are important to them. We will be incorporating their ideas for a “Bravery Badge” and a “Masterbuilder Badge” along with many others that come up throughout the year. We are excited to tap into the children’s intrinsic motivation to learn, explore, and feel pride in mastery.

As always, thank you for trusting us with your children. It’s been a wonderful week and we are so happy to be on this journey with you and your hero!

This year’s question of the year is “What motivates a hero?” and we will explore this question throughout the year. The entire school started this process during our annual school year kick-off “Welcome Party” where each hero – and their parents parents – shared with the group one new thing they tried or learned this summer, and what motivated them to do so. It was such a fun way to understand the interests and callings of both the children and adults in our learning community. We were surprised and delighted to learn about children running triathlons, joining a baseball team, taking a cooking class or going to sleepaway camp for the first time. Meanwhile, adults were traveling to far away places and reading books in foreign languages. It was inspiring for the children to see that even adults are always learning!

Embarking on our first week in Discovery this year, we have two former Spark heroes shadowing in the elementary studio. It’s the role of the experienced heroes to help guide the new joiners, while leading and building friendships across this bigger group!

To this end, the Quest for our first session is called “Build the Tribe,” where Discovery heroes discuss together, create their studio contracts, and familiarize themselves with Acton processes and systems. This week, the heroes had fun playing team-building games, collaborating to design their studio maintenance system, and building bonds within their running teams to come up with a team name, vote for a squad leader, and design a team logo. Additionally, Discovery’s focus this week is the lip dub challenge which the heroes will submit to the annual Acton Film Fest!

The lip dub challenge was entirely learner-led and included both Discovery and Spark heroes. The heroes planned the choreography, props that they wanted to show in the video, and filmed the videos. Next week they will edit the video to prepare it for submission. In addition, discovery heroes observed and discussed world-class examples of other Acton’s Lip Dubs to measure progress and excellence.  After filming, they have also reviewed the videos and offered valuable feedback to decide areas for improvement in the next take. They have also led the Sparks in the process which has been a lot of fun for both groups to work together!

Some of the things you can ask your child(ren) about this week:

1. What are the community contract promises that you promise to try?
2. Lip dub video process. Which part did you enjoy the most about? How do you handle challenges that occur in the lip dub process?
3. How do you play the chocolate river game? What did you learn about other heroes while playing the scavenger hunt game? What skills did you practice during maker space champion skills check off?
4. How do you measure excellence?
5. Who is in your running team? What’s your team name?
6. What is the pom-pom jar system? How does it work?

What a wonderful week it has been here in the Discovery studio! This week, Discovery heroes continued to prepare for their upcoming survivor quest exhibition & camping trip. They created signs and programs. The heroes’ creativity shined through their designs, and they took great pride in making sure their signs would inspire and guide attendees through the exhibition. It’s incredible to see how they have embraced the spirit of  teamwork in every step of their preparations.

Meanwhile they also completed their meal plans, budget and food shopping lists, considering the cost and convenience. Discovery heroes thoughtfully planned meals for the group camping trip that would not only be delicious and nutritious but also easy to prepare in a camping environment. The heroes are all looking forward to their overnight camping trip! It’s sure to be an unforgettable experience filled with learning, teamwork, and fun! 

After pitching their tents, the heroes led the exhibition which consisted of stations, where heroes led parents and Spark heroes through survival skills: knot tying, water filtration, fire-building, and hoisting a bear bag. The heroes also led families through afternoon activities including kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding and swimming. They wrapped up the exhibition with a Socratic discussion around the campfire, and we shared our goal’s for next year at Acton Academy!

The camping trip was a ton of fun, and families requested that it become an annual tradition. It’s been a tremendous year and we are looking forward to seeing everyone again in the Fall! Have a great summer!