It was a huge week of learning this week in Spark! One of our focuses was routines. The Spark heroes helped the guide create a daily visual schedule. It was great to have their input so that together we all understand what activity each picture represents. Now when a Spark hero asks, “When is lunch?” Or “What are we doing after this?” the guide can ask, “Have you checked the schedule?” The Sparks have enjoyed the additional independence and knowingness about their day.
The Sparks have also requested more “free time.” We drilled down into what exactly this means since they have various blocks of unstructured play or exploration that are quite “free.” We discovered that some of the heroes are very interested in using the materials in the Extended Day Area, including blocks and fort-builders. The guides are planning ways to integrate these into outdoor time and Spark Play afternoons.
The Spark heroes discovered that a number of them have a common interest in hockey, so we have integrated that into their daily schedule when they need movement. The first time they played hockey together required much collaboration and negotiation to form teams, establish rules, and take turns when the number of players is odd. It has really brought the group together.
Another thing we have noticed is that the heroes have enjoyed leaving clues for each other and playing detective with magnifying glasses throughout the studio. In addition to have fun, we noticed it’s a way for them to naturally explore all of the shelves and materials in the studio, which we expect to grow their curiosity about the breadth of Montessori activities they can do. In addition, they have requested scavenger hunts which we will gladly oblige!
This Friday we introduced math and word games in the studio: Shut the Box, Sleeping Queens, and Bananagrams were favorites. Research has shown that games accelerate learning because they are so fun! This is an important role of guides at Acton: gamemaker.
Other activities this week were hero boards, painting, free-making in the makerspace, fort-building in the park, tracking hosta growth and collecting their seed pods, exploring burdock and making tea with lemon balm from the garden.
