6/13-6/16
Our last week of school was full of hard work, reflections, and joy. There was so much to celebrate!
In the Spark Studio…We started the week with our final P.E. challenge. We walked to Fire Station park and heroes had the opportunity to try out Bubble Balls. Many heroes were hesitant at first, but most all of them tried it, and found out they loved it! They were begging for more turns even as we were deflating the balls. Another opportunity to step into their challenge zone!
Tuesday we were so grateful our parents joined in our Reggio inspired art exhibition. We loved painting together and are considering accepting those parents who enjoyed creating so much that they asked to enroll at CHOICE themselves 🙂 Prior to the exhibition, the heroes were introduced to abstract art and explored with paint and non traditional paint brush materials.
On Wednesday we played with water beads! We discussed words like transparent, invisible, and translucent. Heroes were in sensory heaven and loved feeling the water beads on their hands, arms, even faces.
At the end of every school day we have a cheer, “I am brave. I am strong. I am wonderful. I can do hard things. I am amazing.” Thursday we started our day, the way we usually end it, with our cheer. Afterwards, heroes shared examples of HOW they have been brave, strong, wonderful, done hard things, and been amazing this year. Heroes told about hard challenges they have faced this year whether at home, school, or someplace else. They recognized those moments when they felt strength, bravery, grit, and pride. Reflection revealed there was much to celebrate!
In the Fire Studio…Tuesday was a whirlwind of focus. Heroes worked incredibly hard at finishing their final goals. It was awesome to look around and realize this motivation wasn’t coming from grades or a teacher harping on them, but instead from the heroes desire within to finish the goals they had set. It was so fun to celebrate all the badges earned at the exhibition!
Heroes were engaged the entire quest time on the last hero led mini quest. Heroes built models of atoms, experimented with changes in states of matter, raced to figure out how many protons, neutrons and electrons an element had, did experiments with viscosity and then wrote up lab reports. I couldn’t decide whether the heroes engagement or the fact that it was all hero created was more exciting.
Wednesday we celebrated our grit challenges with some Bubble Ball fun!
Every day of the week we took time to reflect. We took time for self reflecting, giving ourselves, rather than others, 2 stars and 1 wish. We reflected on our greatest challenge zone and panic zone accomplishments of the year. We reflected on our session question, “How does an individual influence a tribe?” and took time to write down how each individual in the Fire Studio has influenced the tribe. We reflected on our Question of the year “What motivates a hero?” and why that was an important question. For our final discussion we spent some time reflecting on our Heroes’ Journeys this year. I wish you all were present to hear the answers to questions such as “Who has been a mentor to you this year?” and “What has been one of your road of trials this year?” My favorite question/answers of all was “How have you changed this year?” Their answers were inspiring and exciting. It is a beautiful gift to watch heroes improve in reading, writing and math (which they have all done). It is even more special to listen to them sharing the important ways they have seen themselves change as a person over the year. Truly there is much to celebrate.
Thursday the whole school enjoyed time together both at the splash pad and later at the end of school party.
Watching them play together, help one another and enjoy each other it is easy to see what a fantastic group of individuals they are, and how beautifully they have formed a tribe this year. As we wrap up our second year of CHOICE, there is so much to celebrate!