4/13-4/19

From the Spark Studio

From Miss Anna We had many beautiful moments of allyship and teamwork this week. Often young children can be stereotyped as being self-centered or oblivious to the needs of others around them. While this can be true sometimes, our heroes in the Spark Studio prove this assumption wrong more times than not!

One day, two heroes got into an argument, leaving both in tears. After a few moments of one of the heroes crying alone, an older hero, who wasn’t involved, came over and asked if they would like a hug. They sat there together, hugging for quite awhile. From what I could hear, few words were spoken, just a genuine offer of empathy. This was a beautiful example for the other hero who was part of the argument! 

Another example of this happened when a couple of heroes were making some not-so-peaceful choices, which resulted in one of them hitting their head. Very quickly, a swarm of allies surrounded him, hugging him and asking him if he would like some ice. Early on, accidents like this sometimes ended with finger pointing. It was so meaningful to see them skip the blame game phase and jump straight to finding a solution!

From the Elementary Studio

From Kara It has been such a privilege to witness the maturing of the individual heroes as well as the whole tribe throughout the year. It’s not an infrequent occurrence to have a whole afternoon of quest time pass with very little active involvement from me (my job primarily consists of preparing the challenges beforehand, so I often get to just watch it all happen in the afternoons). The heroes have made habits of problem-solving and helpfulness, and they manage day-to-day school life so competently!

From JeVonne The Elementary Studio began this week with a Lego challenge that illuminated the heroes’ roles as allies and helpers or distraction monsters along one another’s Hero’s Journey. Perhaps the highlight moment of this challenge was when one team described the complication of their builder being color blind. Listening to how they worked together, didn’t give excuses and supported one another reminded me how capable these heroes are of being allies and helpers for one another.

We combined our wellness hour with a second writer’s workshop this week. We talked about putting our hearts out there and gave examples of giving feedback that either stomped on one another’s heart or respected it. Afterwards, the heroes formed a panel of judges that gave respectful feedback on other heroes’ thesis statements. Listening to their feedback I was once again reminded how capable these heroes are; the panel gave sound suggestions and the heroes receiving the feedback, went away, made changes and tried again. It was an awesome process.

The moment pictured below made me smile more than any other moment this week. Although “jollies” seem like a frivolous thing to bond over, the fact of the matter was that the heroes self organized and had 25 heroes ages 4-12 completely engaged, laughing and having fun trying to accomplish something together. They gathered and waited for a decent amount of time outside the office door and then PLASTERED the studio with notes. It was absolutely worth the one jolly they were campaigning for! To commemorate their love of jollies and most importantly their ability to work together and have fun together, we designated April 15th as the official CHOICE Jolly Day each year. We’ll have to decide how to celebrate it next year!

Little else brings such joy as watching heroes choose to be one another’s allies and helpers. These heroes are thoughtful and capable young people. It is delightful watching them bond and laugh as a tribe and find joy in caring for one another.