Author: Marisa Palmer

On one of the rainy days this week, it was a close and controversial vote, but the children opted to go outside 6-5. Some borrowed sweatpants from Acton to keep warm, others mittens, and we doled out several umbrellas. It was a delight to watch them transform from a group of five bored and angry children because they had to be out in the cold rain, to a happy group of eleven making a new collaborative game together of huddling under umbrella forts, then evolving the game to coordinate various umbrella formations like a group of synchronized swimmers. It was very fun to watch, and a great lesson that it’s ok to let children be bored or upset. If we give them space and time, they usually figure things out for themselves. They are hardwired to play and learn.

We are noticing a renewed focus during core skills. The children have begun tracking when they start working, when they stop, and how often they get up to meander around others’ desks. It’s been an effective way for some of the children to develop self-awareness around their work habits. Each day they are increasingly focused. At this Friday’s badge ceremony, three heroes have earned core skills badges! Badges represent a LOT of focused work.

During quest, the children have been having a great time solving crimes! This week, there was a kidnapping. Who could have done it!? There were three suspects and through fingerprint, footprint and handwriting analysis, interviews with suspects, they are close to catching the culprit! This week the heroes also practiced dental identification and extracted DNA from their own saliva.

Did you know that the Samurai wrote haikus? During civilization this week, the Discovery learners compared and contrasted English Knights from the Middle Ages with Japanese Samurai from the same time period. Then they wrote and presented their own haikus!

The children are moving forward on their Letters of Gratitude during communications, and completed their first drafts this week. They have also been engaging in challenges related to their contract promises. Each week, they choose a promise and vote at the end of each day for the hero who did the best job upholding their promises. They must provide specific examples, share character callouts, and the hero who wins the vote earns two “hero bucks” which they can use at our school store or to buy materials for the laser cutter.

This week in Discovery, the heroes continued their exploration of Detective Science! From preparing slides to look at suspects’ hair samples (including cat vs. human), to observing fruit flies on a banana to simulate the way detectives can use insects to determine the age of decomposition, and matching microbes on hands and keyboards to find the criminal, the heroes are becoming the next generation of Sherlock Holmes!

In Civilization, the children explored the first kings of England during the Middle Ages, and then continued their research on Vikings. What did the wear? What did the eat? How did they live? They then presented their findings to the group. In terms of research process, they are learning about reliable sources of information, and paraphrasing their findings into their own words.

In core skills, the children completed their bi-weekly check-ins with the Guides. Some revised their goals and weekly work plans so they can aim towards new milestones and stay within their challenge zone.

Finally, it was a week of projects. The children have the option of engaging in “meaningful work” when they have completed their core skills and communications challenges. For some this is diving into quest. For others, it’s completing studio jobs like helping repair a torn beanbag on a sewing machine. For others, it’s quietly reading a great book. During free time, we see the children opting to work on props for the play that the (child-led) drama club is producing, or hurrying to use the laser engraver. Through these activities, children will discover what they love and find their callings to change the world!

The Discovery heroes continued solving the mystery of the stolen files this week as part of the Detective Science quest. They ventured outside to make plaster casts of shoe prints, lifted fingerprints, and identified the culprit!

They have also been developing their research and presentation skills. This sessions, heroes have the opportunity to earn a “Civilization Research” badge, by researching and presenting about a challenging question related to Medieval civilizations. This week the focus was Norse culture and Viking sailing routes!

The heroes launched their newest communications challenge: writing a letter of gratitude. After posting all week on the gratitude wall and deciding to whom they would write their letter, this week, the learners explored what character trait they admire most in their chosen recipient. They learned the meaning of “integrity,” and also considered other traits like compassion, courage and generosity.

At Acton, we like to design the studio more like a “community fair” with plenty of choices. This session, heroes have the opportunity to work towards a Coding Level 2 badge, which builds on the work they completed during the Coding and Robotics quest. The Coding Level 2 badge asks heroes to complete the block-coding course on Code.org, and will serve as a pre-requisite for the Coding Level 3 badge (under development), focused on Python coding.

Heroes are also using Fascination Fridays to work on their passion project of putting on a play! Two learners from the Discovery studio got together and formed an Acton Drama Club where they are leading five fellow travelers to create and present a spin-off of Little Red Riding Hood at the next exhibition. We celebrate their leadership, creativity and growth mindset to do something new and explore their calling.

Finally, another option for Fascination Friday and passion project work is the new laser engraver that one of our families generously donated to the school. The children will have the opportunity to purchase materials from the school store. We’re also exploring ways to integrate the laser cutter into seasonal projects and gifts, so stay tuned for what may come home!

This week the Spark heroes took their detective science quest outdoors to take advantage of the sunny days and hone their observation skills to solve a mystery. Spark learners used their keen eyes and sharp minds as they studied objects, recalled details, and uncovered missing items. Working together as a team, they identified the culprit by deciphering clues from eyewitness reports about the suspect’s appearance. It was a collaborative effort filled with excitement and discovery!

In our exploration of civilizations, we learned about all about leap year and why we have an extra day this year. To commemorate this extra day, the heroes crafted our very own leaping frogs. Inspired by the tale of “The Ants and the Treasure,” the children created their own treasure maps filled with hidden surprises. To close out the week, we read the enchanting story of “The White Butterfly,” and the heroes crafted beautiful mosaic butterflies, each one a unique reflection of their imagination and artistic flair.

Amidst all the learning and adventure, our spark learners took on a challenge of their own. With nearly three full sessions under their belts and the goal of 12 bees in sight, they boldly voted to raise the stakes to 15 bees, all in pursuit of the coveted Friday reward. Their determination and enthusiasm were truly inspiring!

Let’s not forget the icing on the cake – or should we say, the icing on the BIRTHDAY cake? This week, we had the joy of celebrating a fellow hero’s birthday in the studio! The day was filled with love, laughter, and plenty of songs of Happy Birthday.

The Discovery heroes kicked off the week with lots of new challenges!

First up was the Detective Science quest. They will be investigating a crime scene for the next two weeks and investigating various suspects. They found a table with moldy bread, cheese, a strange powder, missing files, fingerprints and shoe prints. Who done it!?

The heroes also have other challenges to choose from during certain times of the day when any “meaningful work” is an option. The Coding & Robotics quest was so engaging, that the heroes now have the option of continuing and completing the Code.org course to complete their “Coding Level 2” badge. Another “meaningful work” option is the “Be Sal Khan” badge which entails creating a video to help explain a challenging math concept using video editing software.

This week’s communications challenge was “drawing a line in the sand,” The learners created scripts for how to set boundaries with fellow heroes and capped off the week with an all-school role-play exercise at the stage in Fellowship Hall where they acted out various scenarios like, “the loud talker,” the “slow-walker,” and the “distractor.” It was lots of fun, lots of laughs, and lots of experiential learning about real like scenarios.

Finally, the heroes are engaging in Civilization Research challenges this session. They are teaming up and deep-diving into history, politics, economics and haiku, and presenting their findings at the end. The children do their research in self-organized learning environments (SOLEs) based on the research and “hole in the wall” experiments of Sugatra Mitra. SOLEs are collaborative and super-power learning.

This week was exhibition week! The heroes planned for their Coding & Robotics exhibition which included a tour of their Code.org work, a friendly robotics competition, and a panel discussion where heroes were asked questions like, “what did you learn from this quest that will help you on your hero’s journey?” The answer, overwhelmingly, was persistence in the face of challenge. Or, “if you could choose one thing to automate, what would it be?” “Cleaning my room,” and “cleaning up the kitchen!” were popular answers.

A couple of heroes started a drama club at the school, and a group of children have been rehearsing a play together which they will present at the next session’s exhibition. In order to support their interest in drama, we took a field trip to the Madison Children’s Theater to see, “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me.” The play was adapted from a children’s book of the same title written by Maya Angelou and illustrated by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Throughout the week, the children discussed the book, as well as the heroes who wrote and illustrated it, during morning launches.

We have welcomed two new joiners to Discovery in the last few weeks: a new hero and a new guide! At the end of most days, we have been re-visiting how many of the systems in the studio work so all heroes and guides are on the same page! We are also creating a “systems wall” with visual posters on studio systems so that they are easy to see and reference. Systems are key to Acton learning philosophy for a) creating structure and accountability, and b) delegating studio ownership and governance to the heroes. They contribute to designing systems during weekly Town Halls.

There is often a misconception that Acton Academies lack structure. This isn’t the case. The difference is that it’s not the teacher determining structure and doling out rewards and consequences based on the teacher’s judgment of a situation. Rather, we set up clear systems ahead of time that everyone plays by – sort of like rules of the game and heroes come in each day, and agree to play the game of school by those rules. It’s a lot more like real life.