We launched our week talking about the history of St Patrick’s Day and watching a time lapse of Chicago turning their river green. Ask your Eagle which color we should really be wearing on St. Patrick’s day! We also kicked the week off with a discussion about curiosity, and how we can incorporate that into our daily learning.
For History, our Navigator and LaunchPad Eagles explored all the pros and cons of interconnection and expansion of early tribes. We even looked at the Silk Roads and The Columbian Exchange to see how they contributed to wars and the spread of disease, but also how they contributed to collective learning.
In Foundation, students explored the historical timeline and how to measure dates. They also learned about the mummification process. From organ removal and embalming to why they preserve, and their beliefs in the afterlife. Eagles then joined in a discussion over whether they believe it’s better to be buried with your valuables for the afterlife, or to give those things away to your people. Ask your Eagle which one they chose!
For Writing Workshop, we launched our new section on journalism! Eagles began discussion about what journalism is, what makes something newsworthy, and what interests them! Ask your Eagle about the film we watched about Kitt Kittredge, a young investigative journalist during the Great Depression! Our Navigator and LP Eagles took it one step further and dug deep into the Journalist Code of Ethics and how that can guide them on this quest. In the next month and a half, Eagles will explore and learn how to produce their own newspaper!
The Launch Pad continued on with their Biology Quest, earning their white coats and beginning Medical Biology! They had some vivacious discussions about who is responsible for their health, as well as the future of telemedicine. The young scientists then explored medical discoveries made by other teenagers. The young biologists also followed their curiosities and passions to research and explore various diseases. Our heroes then practiced their medical diagnosis skills by looking to Renaissance art and also by using the tools and games that medical professionals use for training!
Foundation and Navigator studios joined together for the launch of our gaming quest this week! Eagles partnered up and were assigned challenges to complete as a team, exploring probability and intuition in gaming. They will use what they learned to start narrowing down the kind of games they will design for our next Exhibition!
Our Level 5 Eagles were given their Independent Learner Binders this week, which will be a part of their ticket to the Navigator studio when they’re ready! As a group, we flipped through the binders and explored the missions assigned for each of the four sections: following directions, solving problems, participating in discussions, and researching questions. Eagles got excited about the various challenges and activities to come, and will be working through these on their own in the coming months!
We had lots of Socratic discussions in the studios this week including a discussion around if we should hold ourselves and each other more accountable to the freedom levels the Eagles put in place earlier in the year, or if we should lower the standards.We had another discussion about if holidays should stick to tradition and honor the people or event it was originally created for, or if holidays should morph based on who is celebrating them. Make sure to ask your Eagle about opinions shared, and where they themselves land. A great way to bring the Socratic Discussions home!
