This week was the “Market Challenge” in the E-ship (Entrepreneurship) Quest. The Discovery heroes kicked off the week with a coffee shop simulation, then moved onto conducting actual market research with their Spark cohorts. They surveyed potential customers to understand how much customers would pay for an 8oz glass of lemonade. They also conducted blind taste tests to understand if customers would prefer plain lemonade or strawberry lemonade.
Next week, they will design and create their lemonade stand signs and decor as part of this sessions art exploration on art in advertising. This week they learned about Andy Warhol and made lemon pop art prints!
Core Skills: Passion Projects and Math Power Hour
This session we kicked off “math power hour” during Friday core skills. During math power hour, the children play math card and board games. Last week, they played Battleship and Monopoly. This week they played Fraction War and Sleeping Queens. Why games? Because math games have been shown to increase math learning above and beyond what happens in typical daily math lessons.
A couple of children have earned “Passion Projects” that they can work on during Friday core skills. They earn passion projects by consistently engaging in focused effort throughout the week. One child is building a website for her business fair business. Another is researching ocean life and building an ocean life display.
Montessori Supports in Discovery
To support the development of math skills, we recognize that using Montessori materials can be helpful for all children of any age to support learning in a more sensory and visual way. When children engage in Fractions War or Fractions Uno (or encounter fractions on Khan), they may utilize Montessori fraction “pies.” And to help calculate their daily and weekly freedom level points, they have the option to use cuisenaire rods or an abacus to help them add and multiply.
Physical Education
The children have been having a great time exploring winter sports! This week and last, Ms. Kathryn set up stations where the children could explore hockey, bandy and snowboarding! It was so much fun that the children requested these activities for another week, and mentioned Phys Ed as their “rose” (high) for the week!
Distracting Behaviors
One of the beauties of Acton is that children develop strong social awareness via self-governance. One challenge in Discovery has been distracting or disruptive behavior during discussions, or during less structured project time, that can make it hard for other children to get work completed. It’s been improving as children start to learn how they are impacting their friends when they act really silly during collaborative work times. Usually, it’s simply because they are excited about working with friends and excited about the project.
Today, the children discussed in Town Meeting an issue around using the reset/calm table. What’s the best way to ask a friend to separate from the group for a short time to calm their bodies and minds? Is it better to ask or tell? Is it helpful to share why you are suggesting a friend needs some calm time, i.e. what contract promise a friend is breaking? After deciding together on the best way to let a friend know they are being disruptive, and may need some time to calm their bodies, the children discussed what the consequence should be if a fellow here refuses to stop disrupting the group, and when it makes sense to re-join the group.
They will be testing this week to see if their new system works, and if they all truly have buy-in from all members of the tribe.
