You may notice more outdoor photos and photos in Fellowship Hall this week. We are aiming to start our mornings with activities in Fellowship Hall to help our learners get more energy out before going into the studio for launch at 8:30am. We’ve also lengthened outdoor time. Seems to be working so far as we’ve noticed better focus in the studio. Oh, and the heroes found the sledding hill!
Character call-outs!
One of the things we do at Acton is call out our fellow heroes when they impress us in their demonstration of positive character traits (if you haven’t already, ask your child(ren) about the “Gotcha” bowl).
We also embrace growth. Some of the areas where we are seeing growth in our heroes:
Leaders are emerging: we are seeing leaders emerge who are willing to hold their fellow heroes accountable (e.g. getting snow clothes on in a timely fashion, carrying sleds, focusing-in during activities). Leaders are also helpful, and we are seeing an ethos of community, helpfulness and supportiveness across all our learners.
Reading fluency: D.E.A.R. (drop everything and read) is paying dividends and our heroes may not even realize it. We have seen an improvement in the speed and fluency of reading, especially in our younger readers.
Independence: we are seeing a shift from looking for answers from adults, to seeking them from themselves and other heroes. One of the guidelines we have here is “BBBG,” which means, when you have a question, “check your brain, then a book, then a buddy, before the guide.” We see the heroes taking on more ownership of their own learning and exploration everyday.
Responsibility: with freedom comes great responsibility. We grant learners more agency at Acton than they would be afforded at a conventional school. So it’s our duty as Guides to make the guardrails (i.e. expectations and consequences) clear, so that learners can make a choice. We saw them all embrace that this week.
They are learning to make useful choices and embrace both having fun AND working hard.
Writer’s workshop:
We continue to explore poetry! Some questions / activities you can try with your child(ren) are:
- What is a metaphor you remember from this week? Here are some common metaphors. Can you call it out if you hear a metaphor together this week?
- What do you think about Haiku? Make up some haikus together (5 – 7 – 5 syllables). Read haikus together. Here are some haiku poems you can read together: Funny Haikus and Haiku for Kids.
- Read poems together at home. We’ve definitely noticed our heroes enjoying Shel Silverstein this week.
Acton systems:
Part of our focus for these first six weeks is rolling out Acton systems. This week we put S.M.A.R.T. goals into system along with badge plans (ask your child what they chose as their badge avatar), and running partners (i.e. an accountability partner). These systems help put goal-setting and learning in the hands of heroes where over time, they take more and more responsibility over their own learning and growth. We have some work to do in this area! But that’s to be expected. We will keep practicing!
Next week: Diving deep into the hero’s journey with hero boards!
