The Weekly Newsletter
Week 10: November 13-19
Welcome back! We really had a fantastic final week of the session. We wrapped up quests, celebrated our thankfulness with a community lunch from a trip to the farmers market, and said goodbye for the first holiday of the season! Here’s a look into the week:
Our first quest work for the week was in writer’s workshop. For the launchpad and navigator transition studios, the students prepared for their first two interviews. To do this they did peer- to- peer edits and critiques, make any necessary revisions to their 10 major questions to their heroes, and order these questions in the order they feel flows best.
For the foundation and navigator transition studios, writer’s workshop was all about plot this week. We launched by reading a classic children’s story, Owl Babies, and filled out our “plot mountains”. By doing this the Eagles practiced identifying the flow of a plot and how it progresses into the climax and then slowly climbs down to the resolution. We then split up and each student filled out their own plot mountain from a short story of their choosing.
For the entrepreneurship quest, the launchpad and navigator transition studios got inspiration from a video called The Red Paper Clip about a man who started with a simple red paper clip and kept trading it up until he owned a house. They replicated this pattern by trading their own items throughout the week. Then they reflected on this and wrote about their trades, their experiences, and what kind of trader they believe they are: a bootstrap tortoise or an asset fox.
The foundation and navigator transition studios learned all about the first president, George Washington, as well as continued learning about the three branches of government! Together we played a matching game to find the roles of each branch of government. Then we read all about George Washington and his reluctance into becoming the first president, how much everyone loved him when he was inaugurated, and his humble approach throughout and after his presidency.
In history for launchpad a navigator studios, we read about the first battles of the revolutionary war and started to get to know George Washington, his character traits, and his relationship with the people of the United States. We also learned about the colonial soldiers- the conditions they were fighting in. Lastly, we looked at British war tactics and why they did the things they did.
Everyone finished their clocks in art this week! We can’t wait for you to see them at our next exhibition of learning, and then they can take them home to hang up!
We ended the session with our annual trip to the Venice Farmer’s Market! Every year, on the Friday before Thanksgiving we put together a community meal from food purchased at the farmer’s market. It’s a practice in budget, negotiation, teamwork, and living sustainably. The kids always come up with such awesome dishes and it’s so great to sit down and celebrate our community with a thankfulness lunch.
Finally, the Eagles put together the session shell shop filled with lots of fun stuff. Everyone got a chance to spend their shells (their currency), and then we said goodbye for the holiday break.
We hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving break! We can’t wait to see you all at the business fair!
