Field Trip!
The Acton heroes headed to Wingra Boats and Henry Vilas Zoo for their field trip this week. They had a great time! And they planned it all themselves!
From researching potential locations, to mapping the bus route, and sticking within a budget, the heroes were in charge of determining where to go and how to get there. They did a fantastic job navigating the day and loved paddling in canoes, seeing animals and enjoying ice cream!
Civilization
We have been continuing to explore ancient civilizations this session, including Egypt, Greece, Rome, Macedonia, the Americas, India and China. Some notable characters have been Hatshepsut, Alexander the Great, Siddharta, Confucious, Julius Caesar, Odysseus, and Hannibal, to name just a few.
We took a break from ancient civilizations this week though and explored the meaning of the 4th of July. We discussed the Declaration of Independence, the fact that the people who voted for it were ordinary people just like us before arguably changing the world, the value of freedom vs. order, tyranny vs. chaos, how well have they balanced those in the studio via the systems they have created, and set the stage for next year’s question of the year: “when should a hero submit to authority?”
Core Skills
Even though we are in our last session and at times, really feeling the summer fever, the heroes have actually accelerated their progress on core skills this session. We attribute that to setting more specific and measurable SMART goals each morning! They have been incredibly focused!
Today, the heroes filled in where they are in their badge plans (they have a binder with a visual badge plan and milestones they can color in). Ask your hero how they are doing. They are welcome to bring home their binder. Next year we will work with the older heroes to get in the habit of posting to Journey Tracker (JT) and I’m going to add a JT link to our website.
Since they were here for half a year, we don’t expect them to complete all the badges at their level this year. They are moving more rapidly now though, and have the hang of Acton, so we expect core skills to progress well next year! That said, children’s progress isn’t linear – usually more like step stones – so expect bumps and stalls and rocket ships next year at different times.
Quest
The children started designing and building their final toy for the exhibition today. Each hero has chosen a physics concept and is building a toy that utilizes that concept. Ask your child what they chose. Or maybe they will want to keep it a surprise for the exhibition 🙂
Earlier this week they had a tower-building contest. The team that could build the tallest tower, that could hold the most weight, using the fewest parts, without the use of glue or fasteners, won! Ask your child how they approached this challenge! They all did a great job.
We have learned about a lot of heroes throughout this quest: Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Joseph Hersher, Ole Kirk Christensen (inventor of LEGOs), Rube Goldberg, Arvind Gupta and many others. After we learn about a hero, we take time to describe their character traits and see if we can embody them during the quest project.
Today, for instance, we learned about Ole Kirk Christensen, the inventor of LEGOs, whose business had many ups and downs. The heroes discussed how he didn’t give up, and how much care he took to create high quality toys. Having these discussions has helped the children take a growth mindset approach to the challenges in the makerspace, so that even when they fail, they can appreciate what they have learned through the process. And there have been many failures during this quest. And also a lot of fun!
