The Weekly Newsletter
Week 14: January 3-5
Welcome back everyone! It feels like it’s been forever since we have been together in the studios- two weeks is a long time! The Eagles came in strong this week with participation, perseverance, and open minds and hearts. Here’s a look into the beginning of session 4!:
First thing on Monday we came together for a great opening group and talked about what we did over break, favorite holiday moments, and our hopes for this next session. Every new session we like to change things up a bit based on what the Eagles would like to see change, improve, or have more of to make their school the best environment it can possibly be for them to soar. This can be anything from trying new running partners, desk partners, or having a more organized or more free schedule.
This week we rolled out “Fun Fridays”. These Fridays will be once a month, where the Eagles will choose a fun activity for the whole school to be rewarded with for succeeding in finishing all of the basic requirements each week. If a student works hard and used their time management skills, they will definitely be on the right track and will get to be a part of this fun day every month!
For writing this week, the Eagles had journaling prompts that asked them to think about the New Year and what kind of goals or resolutions they have for the next twelve months. It’s always so rewarding to be on the other side of these and to read all of the personal and academic dreams each student has!
As for the writing workshop quests- the navigator transition and foundation studios are writing away on their fictional short stories and the navigator and launchpad studios have finished their My Hero writing projects!
We launched our Chemistry Quest this week! For the next few sessions, we will be learning all about the basics of chemistry- and focus on what exactly matter is, how complex it is, and what the amazingly vast (and tiny) world does to create “stuff”. This week we started exploring terms like molecules and atoms and experimented with water and how it moves and clings to itself for very important reasons…the attachment that molecules have with each other!
The foundation and navigator transition studios have continued their exploration into ancient Egypt and the world of mummies. Together, we took a little quiz to see how much we all really know about mummies and the culture/history behind it. Then the Eagles began creating scavenger hunts written in cuneiform and hieroglyphics! Next week, they will continue practicing this ancient form of writing and the older studios will go on their scavenger hunts!
In Hamilton history for the launchpad and navigator studios, they read about and discussed what the patriot troops were going through, and how they lost a quarter of their troops due to diseases like smallpox, scurvy, and conditions like starvation and extreme cold conditions. They also talked about how the value of the American dollar dropped during part of the war and it became more lucrative for the American people to sell to the British than the Americans. Lastly, they are at a point in the war where Hamilton is really itching to get on the battlefield, but Washington can’t risk losing his best aide.
And that’s it for the week! It was definitely a short one! We hope you have a great weekend and we will see you on Monday!
