Session 4 Week 1
Welcome to Session 4! I love the first week of a new session. New quests and a new session question bring new energy and excitement. I am excited to introduce to you what each studio is exploring this session…
In the Spark Studio we are diving into the world of architecture and engineering during CHOICE work cycle (our “Quest” time). Heroes will be exploring bridges, tunnels, towers, finding ways to improve structures, studying famous architects, observing famous and local architecture, exploring building materials, and creating lots of their own structures! This week the Sparks discovered some of the tools of the profession and how to use them. Heroes learned how to use a compass and ruler to draw circles and measure inches and worked together to help each other complete challenges.
A compass and ruler aren’t the only tools Sparks practiced using this week. The Spark heroes practiced creating more unity in the studio. This week they found ways to make studio maintenance fun AND efficient. They worked in their squads to divide the workload and enjoyed some tidying up while dancing!
They supported each other during Montessori Work Cycle saying things like, “I can play this with you after you get your language done.” and “Tell me how this was challenging for you?”
Sparks are embracing the challenge to do hard things. Several heroes spent time together helping one another to memorize the ‘skip count by 7s’ song. They worked so hard supporting one another with words of encouragement, even writing down the song for other heroes so they could practice at home.
The Session Question “Why is it difficult?” focuses on the Road of Trials segment of the Hero’s Journey. There will be lots of fantastic discussions in the Spark Studio about why things are hard and what tools we have to overcome the difficulties. We observed difficulty and tools of overcoming in language this week. Even after two weeks off, Spark heroes showed up to work on language challenges with determination! Most of the time, they push themselves further than the guide would if she was in charge of their learning. They often get halfway through and express a desire to give up but find the resolve to finish. It is impressive to watch the way they build their tolerance for making mistakes – which is essential to growth.
Fire Studio Heroes started Session 4 with four big discoveries: they completed challenges to find out which studio they are in this session, which squad they belong to, who their new Running Partner is, and the adventure they will have in Quest!
in Jolliness (mental and emotional wellness) heroes explored the use of dance to express big emotions, mental health, and connect communities. Some heroes even chose to join in some community dancing, while others cheered them on.
During Civ, fire studio heroes tried to create bas-relief style art after learning about the Assyrians and the stone bas-reliefs that tell the story of the Assyrians destroying the ancient Jewish city of Lachish on display in the British Museum. Some of them even tried to imitate the Assyrian ringlet beards that the ancient artists somehow chipped out of the stone with such impressive detail.
Before Quest started, Dr Azaela Plantitis (better known as Dr. P) came in to show heroes her latest amazing discovery… the Shrink-o-nator!
Unfortunately, as she was showing them, it malfunctioned, and Dr. P shrunk all the Fire Studio heroes!!! Big apologies to parents.
Heroes made their way through the grass in her backyard to see if she could make them big again in her laboratory.
As it turns out, Dr P has not yet created a Big-o-nator. Gaining the knowledge of how to do that is her Quest for the session! While Dr. P is doing that Quest, the heroes are on their own Quest to gain enough knowledge (knowledge points) that when they are re-united with their parents at Exhibition, they will have enough knowledge (knowledge points) to engage in all the plant activities with their parents… including growing big again! Heroes will gain knowledge points by doing three things each day- Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Heroes start the day with a Squad Experiment:
This week heroes created and observed osmosis in a potato:
Set up a data collecting, root observation experiment:
And practiced recognizing independent and dependent variables in a non-plant related – saltine cracker experiment:
Before each experiment, the squad members choose roles (supplier/recorder, scientist #1, #2, and #3). After each experiment, the squad has a squad huddle where they 1 – discuss and award knowledge points as a whole squad depending on how well they focused and completed the experiment and 2 – discuss and award individual heroes knowledge points depending on how well the individual felt they focused and fulfilled their responsibilities.
Highlights from the Squad Experiments include heroes coming in during lunch to check on their data and put concepts together to understand what happened! And, watching a squad who really struggled the first day, talk together, self-reflect and make changes so that they worked almost seamlessly the next day!
Once squads finish their daily experiment, they move on to trays. Trays are individual works where heroes will learn and explore a huge variety of plant topics (plant anatomy, classification, photosynthesis, adaptations, poetry, art etc. etc.)
After heroes complete a tray or two, they can keep going on more trays or move on to the plant games, puzzles and books. Heroes have a variety of options to be engaged with plants all during Quest time. And they were sure engaged this week!
On Thursdays, we mix things up. Heroes begin with a Super Challenge. A Super Challenge is a challenge related to the week theme from the Quest map below (inspired by Honey, I Shrunk the Kids) and a plant topic.
This week heroes raced as different pollinators to pollinate flowers as quickly as they could.
Wind:
Water:
Bees:
Other animals such as hummingbirds and bats:
After the Super Challenge, heroes have a discussion about one of the difficulties from the week (inspired by our Session Question). This week’s question revolved around awarding ourselves knowledge points and the “concern” about giving yourself full points. Heroes were challenged to say 2 positive things about themselves to their partner.
Our final event every Thursday is plant inspired creator time. This week’s plant creator challenge was to make up a plant, give it a name, and then describe how it is pollinated. Every hero, without exception, was excited and anxious to share what they created!
The DELTA Studio enjoys Civ each week. Why do we believe Civ is so important? Young people can gain resilience to deal with hard things they face without crumbling as they learn about the conflicts and challenges of the past. Studying history can bring a sense of normalcy to the idea of doing hard things and facing challenges just as everyone else has before.
In world geography the heroes learned about political boundaries. There are many long-standing border disputes all over the world. The heroes taught each other about 3 border disputes this week: the Nakchivan section of Azerbaijan, Machias Seal Island, and the historical border dispute between New York and New Jersey over ownership of Liberty and Ellis Island.
The other DELTA studio heroes waged siege warfare on each other’s Lego creations as they learned about the Neo-Babylonians and their siege and destruction of Jerusalem.
You may ask why the DELTA Studio only has pictures from Civ this week. Because they were practicing running their studio all on their own this week. I posted the schedule, Bob was around for Quest and otherwise they got to practice being totally and fully in charge of their own studio. We prepped ahead of time with some tools for the aspects of this experiment that they thought would be most challenging. And now, the key component of this experiment will be next week as we reflect and learn from what went well and what didn’t. I am so impressed that they are a group of junior high aged young people who could even take on this challenge! I am excited to learn from it together next week.
After the first week, it appears engagement and fun will be high, and difficulties and challenges will abound this session. This is what we aim for. This is the perfect recipe not only for discussing our Session Quest, but more importantly for meaningful and deep learning. Welcome to Session 4!