Our Fifth Year (2013-14)

Tying our character trait of the session to our question of the year, we launched this week by discussing whether heroes are more motivated when they are grateful, happy, and have a positive, can-do attitude, or whether they are more motivated when they are not grateful for the way things are and therefore want to work to change things.  Eagles then each wrote one thing for which they are grateful on a piece of paper, which they folded into an origami ornament to decorate our Gratitude Tree. 

In our continued pursuit to understand motivation, during the week eagles also learned about a couple very motivated heroes: Nick Vujucic and Logan LaPlante.   After watching a video on Nick Vujucic, students discussed whether or not they find joy in a challenge and whether they find more joy in overcoming their own obstacles or in helping others overcome obstacles.  After listening to Logan LaPlante’s TED talk, eagles considered whether or not they are “hackschoolers” and when they find the most joy during the school day.

Learn about these two heroes yourself and continue the conversation at home:

• Nick Vujucic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNnVdlvodTQ

• Logan LaPlante: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11u3vtcpaY

After facing continuous interruptions during Core Skills time in last week’s Colonial Acton experience, the eagles showed a lot of productivity and progress towards their goals during long, uninterrupted Core Skills times this week. 

On Thursday and Friday, the pressure set in and all teams focused their efforts towards page making.  To begin, teams evaluated the data from the customer surveys (Thank you, all who participated!) and made changes to their products to meet the customers’ desires. In order to qualify for a loan, each team member was required not only to contribute a page, but also to have it edited by 2 team members, a guide, and declare to their team it was their best work.

Eagles discussed whether they would find more success if they competed with others (trying to out-sell the other teams) or if they competed with themselves (striving to do their best work).  With a combination of competitive juices, a deadline’s pressure, and excitement for next week’s book signing, all teams felt a sense of accomplishment and pride as they met the deadline and finished their books!Eagles also charged forth in the revising and editing quest in Writers’ Workshop.  As the deadline for the literary magazine approaches and the possibility of the literary magazine not being published if not enough pieces are completed, intentionality has increased.

This week’s stories in Civilization inspired lively debate.  While reading about the Oregon Trail, eagles considered what they would have done if they lived in Pennsylvania in the late 1800s: stay home even if there was no work to be found and money and food were running short, or risk the perilous trip out West?  They also considered what they would have done if they were the Native Americans: go peacefully to a reservation, or fight against the new settlers?  Who deserved the land out West more: settlers who were forced to leave home because of overcrowding on the East Coast, or Native Americans who had lived in the land out West all of their lives?

Eagles also read about the rise of factories and their takeover of work previously done by small business owners around 1900.  As a chocolate maker whose business is being taken away by a factory able to produce and sell candy for less money, what would be their options?  Was it fair what happened to factory workers in the beginning of the 1900s?  Were wealthy stockholders and philanthropists like Andrew Carnegie only rich because they stole the work from others by making factories and paid their employees tiny salaries, or were they rich because they were smart, had good ideas, and made good decisions?

We have been closing each day by sharing our gratitude in small groups, so I’ll leave you with some of the things for which our eagles are thankful:

• Finding a book in the library that I hadn’t seen before and that looks good.Doing art.

• Free time.

• Middle School buddies.

• No homework.

• Core Skills and being able to choose the work we want to do.

• The freedom to do what we want, not just what a teacher says.

• Food and water that we don’t have to dig for.

• The freedom not to have to sit at our desks to work.

• The ability to work at my own pace.

• Flowers.

• Yoga.

• My parents for driving me to and from school every day.

• Friends helping me when I need it.

• Guides.

• Only having one test left to complete an excellence goal on Spelling City.

• Getting a unit on Dreambox.

• Gaining Mastery on Khan.

• A spot was removed from my dog and she is okay.

• Warm December days and riding my bike to school.

• Computers and electricity.

• A good football game.

• Dessert and snacks.

• My house.

• Acton.

• Family.

• My granddad teaching me math.

• Snow in Texas.

• Being healthy.

• The experience of helping a friend.

Week 12: December 2-6

A lot changed at school this week as eagles entered into Colonial Acton, a game in which we imagined King George III had taken over our studio and issued taxes and royal proclamations delivered via his Royal Governor.

At first the King’s demands weren’t so bad: lunch was taxed and proclamations requiring students to drop everything and assemble in a line were issued.  Then the demands became stricter: free time was taxed and the students now had to assemble in height order and chant: “Hail to the Queen.”

After three proclamations, the eagles were upset and signed petitions to stop the taxes. One proclamation was even defaced.  Needless to say, King George was not pleased.  He responded with a letter rejecting the petitions and instead further taxed those colonists who had signed.  Talk of revolution began.

In the middle of the day colonists were presented with their options:

1. Live with the taxes and proclamations.

2. Draft and unanimously sign a declaration, go to war, and risk facing severe penalties if the war is lost. 

Colonists discussed their frustrations with the taxes, the typical Acton Academy freedoms they were willing to fight for, the risk of going to war, and the odds of winning or losing.

After a discussion on what they were risking and why, a brave colonist rolled the die to see whether or not they would win the war.  Unfortunately, the needed 1 or 2 was not rolled.  The colonist rolled a second time to see how many days they would have to endure the penalties (being restricted to working only at their desks, using bathroom passes, eating food only in specified areas of the studio, and having scheduled, rather than choice, Core Skills time).  A two was rolled and the colonists celebrated!  Even though they lost the war, they rejoiced that the proclamations and taxes would end and the penalty period would be brief.

After the experience, eagles discussed the point at which they had been ready to sign the declaration, why we played the game, and which freedoms they are most thankful for at Acton.  Students took time to complete written reflections, which will be included in their portfolios. 

The decision to go to war in the Colonial Acton experience connected well to this week’s Civilization discussion.  The chapter began with the comment: “You may be thinking there is a war in almost every chapter of this book.  That’s very close to the truth!  Wars have been a part of history since the beginning.”  We went on to read about the Sino-Japanese War and the Spanish-American War.  Drawing on the stories of these two wars and the eagles’ own experience declaring war in Colonial Acton this week, we discussed the main reasons why people or countries decide to go to war: alliances (to help others who agree to help you in return), money (individuals or businesses stand to make money from war), power (to take over other people/countries), beliefs (to fight for something you believe in), fear, and resources (like oil).  After a Socratic discussion filled with evidence from wars throughout history, eagles took a vote on which reason they believe to be the main cause of wars.  Final tally: power (9 votes), beliefs (5 votes), money (1 vote).

As a welcome respite from the tensions of Colonial Acton, eagles began yoga with Ms. Kaylie this week!

• On Friday, Acton dad Mr. Kelvin King shared his hero’s journey with the community.  As a consultant, Mr. King applies tech to businesses, listening to his clients to understand their needs and help them figure out what they need to change in order to be successful.  After his interview, the eagles shared some of their main take-aways from his story: His slogan: “The past is great for learning, horrible for living.”

• The importance of “learning to be” over “learning to know.”

• Mr. King realized he was doing his first business for money, but he wasn’t happy, and that wasn’t right, so he switched what he was doing.

• At Acton, we are given tools to figure out what we want to do with our lives a lot earlier in life than he did.

This week I (Anna) also shared with the eagles that my husband and I are expecting a baby in early May. This December school session will be my last as a guide in the ES studio. While I will still be on campus and part of the Acton team, starting in January, I will be shifting my focus to work on the Acton Academy curriculum kit. Middle School Apprentice Guide Brian will be joining the ES guides in the studio. As our character trait for this session is gratitude, I would like to express how much I have appreciated every moment I have spent with these amazing, creative, curious, kind, courageous, dedicated young people over the past four and a half years in the studio. Thank you for all the joy you have added to my life!

Week 11: November 18-22

As a follow-up to last week’s introduction of excellence goals, we launched this week by asking the eagles why they find excellence goals so motivating.  Given the following choices, here were their initial responses:

• You get to choose your own area to pursue. – 0

• They are especially challenging. – 24

• They are long-term. – 2

• They are easy to track. – 0

• Everyone around you is striving for excellence. – 6

• Something else. – 4

The eagles proceeded to share their reasoning with one another in an enlightening debate about motivation.  Many argued that they were motivated by the extra challenge of excellence goals because it was satisfying to prove to themselves and others that they can achieve an especially difficult goal.  Others shared that seeing their peers set high goals inspired them to push themselves further.  Several noted that they were motivated to complete their excellence goals because of the feeling of satisfaction they knew they would get if they accomplished their goal.  One eagle stated he was motivated because he knew that he was learning something in the process of working towards his excellence goal.  Some said that doing the actual work was enjoyable and motivating in and of itself.

At the end of the discussion, we took a re-vote:

• You get to choose your own area to pursue. – 0

• They are especially challenging. – 17

• They are long-term. – 0

• They are easy to track. – 0

• Everyone around you is striving for excellence. – 2

• Something else – 17

  • You experience satisfaction at the end/when you reach your goal.  (10)

  • You experience satisfaction while you’re working.  (5)

  • You know you are benefiting and learning something by working. (2)

(Is anyone else surprised that no eagles chose being able to pick their own area to pursue?)

The rest of the week was a whirl of celebrations and endings.

In E-ship this week, in addition to continuing to earn sail patches, eagles played the Business Comparison Game, a game that tied back to the Story of Sally the Seller and compared the cash flows of four different businesses.  Students broke into teams with the goal to be the first to determine the cash flow of each business and choose the one with the highest potential profit.  To earn the prize of an eagle buck or points towards eagle bucks, 100% of the math had to be correct on the chosen business.  If 100% of the math was correct for all four businesses, an additional eagle buck was awarded.  Two teams earned points towards eagle bucks for choosing the 2nd and 3rd most profitable businesses and one team won an eagle buck for 100% correct math on all four businesses.  Congratulations to the Non-Chickens and the Talking Pickles! Two more eagles volunteered to facilitate Socratic discussions to close project time.  One student prepared a couple original questions concerning whether to hire employees or not, and the other posed questions on ethical dilemmas faced by entrepreneurs.  Both students were given rounds of applause by their peers for successfully facilitating engaging discussions and demonstrating courage and leadership!

In the garden, many Eagles have noticed little growth in their plants over the past few weeks.  Together we brainstormed what a plant needs to grow: water, sunlight, air, soil high in the correct nutrients, and care.  Next, we brainstormed where things could have gone wrong with each of these requirements: too much heavy rain that caused the soil to harden and compact, over-watering, an unbalanced soil pH, not enough aeration in the soil, too hot or too cold weather, etc.  On Friday, we carefully aerated the soil by gently loosening up the soil around the plants with Popsicle sticks.  A few students opted to remove their plants and replant spinach or radishes.  Overall, most plants are making a comeback with new green leaves emerging.  A couple students even tasted their first snap peas!

In Nutrition and Heath, Eagles began to research various food and exercise topics.  Teams brainstormed ideas for skits on these topics to perform for their peers next week.

We welcomed the parent Reading Buddies back into the studio with gratitude for their shared time, support, and enthusiasm!

In Writers’ Workshop, this week’s focus trait was Organization and the focus story element was Plot.  After reading and critiquing a graphic novel version of The Three Little Pigs, eagles worked throughout the week to apply a new understanding of organization and plot to their own stories.  On Friday, after completing self-critiques based on organization, they paired up to read one another’s stories and offer peer critiques.  With deadlines quickly approaching, many eagles finished hand writing their first drafts and began typing in preparation for further critiques and revision.

Geography map-making continued this week, as well:

The Middle School Communication Team will relay to the middle school any MS-ES issues that arise in ES Town Meetings and will represent elementary school students in all communications with the middle school.

The Eagle Buck Team will take responsibility for the Eagle Buck Bank, giving new eagle bucks to those who earned them (and verifying that these were earned) and returning to the bank those that have been taken away.  This team will also be responsible for keeping track of eagles in debt and enforcing the consequences of having negative eagle bucks.  They are also charged with figuring out ways eagles can spend earned bucks.

On Friday, the Eagle Buck Team brought two proposals to Town Meeting.  First, they proposed that when students are in debt one eagle buck, they lose 15 minutes of free time each day until getting out of debt.  Students who are in debt two eagle bucks must sit and work at their desks during Core Skills in addition to missing 15 minutes of free time - again, until they earn more eagle bucks.  Students who are in debt three eagle bucks lose all 30 minutes of free time and must sit at their desks during Core Skills until they earn their eagle bucks back.  The proposal for these consequences was voted on and passed by the rest of the class.

The team also proposed that eagle bucks can be used to buy bonus free time on Friday afternoons.  They suggested that the whole class pay 45 bucks total to earn free time for everyone.  After some discussion, however, the class voted that instead, extra free time should cost one eagle buck per student and each student may decide on their own whether or not to buy this extra free time.

This week in Civilization, eagles traveled to the Atacama Desert in Chile to learn about the War of the Pacific.  They learned that the Atacama Desert is the driest in the world, yet contains valuable resources such as saltpeter and sodium nitrate.  They learned about the many quarrels over this land between Bolivia and Chile, as well as the events that led to The War of the Pacific.  They were asked: "Was Chile's response to Bolivia justified or was it an overreaction?"  This led to an important discussion of resources, business and negotiation.  After spending time in the Atacama, the group traveled to Africa to learn about the Suez Canal and how Egypt became a British colony.  They discussed whether Ismail Pasha's greatest mistake was borrowing money from Britain or not having a plan to pay it back, as well as whether it is more important for a leader to be ambitious or cautious.

On Wednesday the eagles continued their journey by traveling to Australia to learn about life on this challenging continent and about Ned Kelly, the Iron Outlaw.  From there they went back to Africa to learn about "The Scramble" – the European colonization of the continent. The students listened to stories about the land, rich in resources, the people of Africa, and the leaders of the European nations.  They studied the Berlin Conference in 1884 and the borders of new countries created by the colonizers.  They discussed what they would do if they were a European explorer and had just found these new resources, and what they would do if their home were suddenly divided by arbitrary lines. 

In Geography, the eagles finished working on their maps of North America and began working on maps of the whole United States. While tracing and labeling each state carefully, the students listened to American Tall Tales about fictional and non-fictional heroes including Davy Crockett, Johnny Appleseed, John Henry and Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind.

In Project Time, Eagles took a one-day break from playing E-ship to read and act out the story of “Sally the Seller.”  In Magic-School-Bus fashion, students shrunk down into dollars and acted out the cash flow of Sally’s entrepreneurial endeavors.  Sally took a risk and spent $12 dollars to build and sell handmade picture frames at an outdoor market.  Students became Sally’s sunk costs, variable costs, fixed-period costs, revenue, and profit as she went to the hardware store to purchase supplies, paid her booth fees at the market, and made sales.  After the experience, the eagles broke down the cash flow and did the math to calculate her profit.  Sally sold two picture frames and her original $12 grew to $23!

And finally, there was also plenty of time for play!  The eagles especially enjoyed the fun rain and the mud it created.

During Core Skills, in addition to working to gain points towards Eagle Bucks, students participated in a Goodreads Challenge.  For their portfolios, eagles will be tracking the books they read using goodreads.com.  This online social network allows students to rate and review books they’ve read, as well as connect with fellow eagles to see what they are reading and get recommendations.  The challenge was for all eagles to add all of the books they’ve read so far this school year to their accounts and befriend at least two eagle buddies by Friday with no assistance from guides.  Working independently or with assistance from fellow students, all members of the class successfully navigated the program and completed the challenge by Friday afternoon, earning bonus free time!

This week in Civilization, the eagles traveled to the Dutch East Indies, now the Indonesian archipelago, and to Russia.  However, before beginning their journeys, they reflected on last week's studies of isolationist Japan by participating in a discussion about isolationism.  They were asked: Imagine your garden group is extremely successful.  Your plants are flourishing and your group is getting along wonderfully.  Would you continue to keep to yourself and fight to keep your group/methods the same, without the risk of interference, or would you be open to change with the chance of learning new, better techniques?

After the discussion on Japan, the group traveled on to the Dutch East Indies to study the colonization of the islands and the war between the Dutch and the kingdom of Acheh.  The people of Acheh used guerrilla war strategies to fight the Dutch for nearly thirty years.  The eagles discussed whether, in war, victory or upholding your morals is more important.  This discussion led eagles to question: Are there rules in war?

On Wednesday, we were all treated to an incredible performance by Ken Purcell, a musician and the grandfather of one of the Acton eagles!  Mr. Purcell shared his gift with the group through an historical music performance of songs from the American Industrial Revolution.  Students learned about working on the railroads, mining coal, and immigrating to America.  It was a wonderful experience that enriched their Civilization studies.

Eagles traveled during Project Time, as well, crossing the E-ship map to go to new islands and ask questions such as “How will competition and substitutes affect my business?” “What is the image of my business?” and “How will running a business affect the rest of my life?”  To close Project Time each day, we gather in two separate groups for Socratic discussions.  Each time we discuss a different question.  This week, one question was: Which character trait gives you the most power as an entrepreneur: flexibility, perseverance, honesty, or courage?”  One group had such a heated debate that they unanimously voted to continue their discussion during the next day’s closing group rather than move on to a new question.  Two main sides formed to argue for flexibility and courage.  The flexibility side argued that if you are flexible, you can work with a variety of people, adapt your prices and product, and take risks.  The courage side argued that if you don’t have courage, you wouldn’t be able to take risks or start a business in the first place.  In the end, the courage side won with the point that courage is the first step to following your dreams.

In the Community Garden, eagles reviewed their tracking sheets.  Based on their observations, they predicted whether their plants would need more time, less time, or be on schedule to harvest at the end of the session.  Most eagles felt they would need a few additional weeks, perhaps because of our recent abundance of rain.  The worms are steadily munching through three pounds of food scraps a week and are happy in their homes.

In Writers’ Workshop, after last week’s Decalogue challenge, in which a technique to develop characters and our first trait (voice) were introduced, eagles had a lot of uninterrupted writing time this week to continue developing their characters and incorporating voice into their writing.  On Friday, they met up with partners for a peer critique of their work so far and to set specific goals for improvement.

We rounded out the week with another special First Friday Hero’s Story by Rebecca Esposito.  Mrs. Esposito works with clients to assess their communication strengths and weaknesses in order to help them improve.  Guided by questions asked by a panel of ES and MS eagles, she shared stories from her past that eventually led her to this calling and even demonstrated how she works with individuals by gently coaching a brave MS eagle volunteer. 

Week 7: October 21-25

How wonderful to welcome eagles back to the studio after last week’s break! 

Last session was spent building our community and setting up routines and systems to support eagles on their learning journey together this year.  The foundation, therefore, has been set for eagles this session to begin truly striving towards excellence in everything they do and to become more independent in their learning.  For example:

• Last session we introduced S.M.A.R.T. goals while providing the eagles 

• Last session eagles were guided through the steps for building the Community Garden in teams; this session, students are individually responsible for watering and keeping their plants alive and healthy. The Community Garden will meet only once a week to track, weed, and water. After brainstorming ways to remember to water their plants, students voted to post reminders on the doors and have one student sign up daily to give a quick watering reminder.

•  

Last session the youngest Eagles helped build the community in a variety of important ways; this session, through the Nesting Quest, they will have the fun opportunity to focus on building their own foundations in reading, writing, and number sense.  This quest will also give them an introduction to quest-based learning, in which they are presented with a series of challenges and tasked with choosing their own path.  This will prepare them to participate fully in Project Time and independently in Core Skills.

Along with this general shift in emphasis from community development to independent learning and striving toward excellence, Mr. Jeff Sandefer joined us to launch the new project: E-ship.  E-ship is a game in which students travel as Mini Entrepreneurs in e-ships (entrepreneur ships) to eight different islands that represent important questions to ask during an entrepreneurial journey:

1. What kind of business best uses my gifts and motivation?

2. Who is my hero?

3.  What is the image of my business?

4. What is the right market for my business?

5. What is the best unit economics model for my business?

6. Should I hire employees?

7. How will competition and substitutes affect my business?

8. How will owning my own business affect my family, friends, and other parts of my life?

In Community Time, eagles continued to practice teamwork in order to untangle themselves in the Human Knot-so-Fast Challenge.  Before attempting the challenge, we discussed which of the 4 Ps would be most helpful when working as a team: Practice, Patience, Perseverance, or Planning.  Most students quickly decided perseverance would be the most helpful.  When we regrouped after the challenge, however, almost all ended up changing their minds, saying that in fact, patience helped them most when they were struggling through frustrations in their teams.  In addition to the 4 Ps, students also listed the importance of thinking ahead, being proactive, being ready, and listening among their lessons learned.  For some teams, this challenge also brought up what it takes to be a great leader whom others listen to and follow, and specifically what is the difference between being a leader and being bossy. 

This week in Civilization, eagles traveled to Africa with David Livingstone, to Italy to learn about the "Resurrection," and to China to study the Taiping Rebellion. They discussed the travels of David Livingstone who lived in Africa as a missionary with the goal of stopping the slave trade. He was asked by the British government to map the continent and spent the last years of his life trying to identify trade routes so that European nations would be more interested in purchasing goods rather than people. In the end, however, his maps made it easier for European nations to capture and conquer the land. As the eagles discussed his travels, they put themselves in his shoes and contemplated whether or not they would regret their work knowing the consequences. Many said they would regret their work, knowing the negative outcome of his efforts. Some students, however, stated that Livingstone's intentions were good and therefore, they would not regret the work if they were in his shoes. The discussion led to an important conversation about good intentions and negative outcomes. Would you hold it against someone if they tried to help you but ended up causing problems in your life? Are you still guilty of speeding even if you don't know the speed limit?

The eagles then traveled to Italy to study the Resurrection. They learned about Italy as a collection of states rather than one nation under Austrian rule. They studied the Carbonaria and other secret societies that sought to bring the Italian states together as one nation. The eagles learned about the leaders of these societies including: Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi and the first Italian King, Victor Emmanuel. 

From Italy they traveled to China to learn about the Taiping Rebellion led by Hong Xiuquan against the Qing dynasty. They studied the situation in China that led to the uprising that occurred. They also listened to a traditional tale from China titled, The Wonderful Pear Tree. In this story a fruit peddler refuses to give fruit to an elderly man in need. The elderly man turns out to be a fairy, and to punish the peddler for his lack of generosity, the fairy turns his stand into a tree and gives away all of his fruit to a crowd of people. The eagles engaged in a discussion on whether or not it was fair for the fruit peddler to be punished. Some students agreed that it was fair because he should have given food to someone in need. Others argued that it was unfair because the pear stand was the fruit peddler’s business that he invested in, stating, "What if you had a water or lemonade stand and a few thirsty people came up to ask you for your product for free? What would you do? You couldn't give away your product to everyone for free or you'd lose your business." 

The eagles also continued to work on their finger weaving and next week they'll begin labeling their timelines! 

In Geography, eagles finalized their larger maps of the world and finished Around the World in 80 Days. Some began working on their next map: North America! The group began listening to the Comanche story, She Who Is Alone, and they will move on to Socratic discussions and other tales from North America next week as they continue tracing, coloring and labeling their maps.

Last week at our Town Meeting, several students voted not to sign the Student Contract because they wanted to take a bit more time to make sure it was exactly right for this year’s class.  On Monday, these volunteers gathered to look over last year’s contract and their classmates’ picture depictions of each of the lines to debate if anything should be taken out, added, or changed.  

a biography of Wilma Rudolph by Kathleen Krull (you can check it out online here). Wilma’s story of overcoming polio to become the world’s fastest woman fit in perfectly with our character trait of the session: courage. We discussed whether it takes more courage to do something that is uncomfortable or painful but that you know will benefit you in the long run, or to try something you’ve never done before and risk failing. 

Wilma’s story was also the perfect launch for introducing a new time period in our day: Neuroblast time. During the first week of school we talked about how different parts of our brain are like rubber bands, and by challenging and stretching these parts, we can grow them. Exercising the parts of our brains that are the tightest, smallest rubber bands isn’t always easy and sometimes may even be scary or uncomfortable, just like the leg exercises Wilma had to do in order to walk again after her leg was paralyzed by polio. But, it is by stretching these smallest, tightest rubber bands that we grow them, and the things we consider our weakest areas could end up being our major strengths. Each eagle publicly declared his or her “shortest rubber band,” and beginning this week, in addition to DEAR and Math Power Hour, we have a time period in our day called Neuroblast during which eagles spend extra time on goals in their declared area.

Since there are so many wonderful things to learn about throughout history and around the world, we decided to begin Civilization early this year. Using The Story of the World, Volume 4, the eagles will study major historical events and paradigm shifts from 1850 to present day while creating their own individual timelines made from finger weaving. On their timelines they will mark events and information about heroes from each decade. This week they dove into Civilization by learning about the large reach of the British Empire and the beginning of Britain's take-over of India. They studied Queen Elizabeth, Bahadur Shah, The East India Company and the Sepoy Mutiny. Students discussed what it takes to be a great leader and the mindset in Britain in the 1850s. They also traveled to Japan, where they learned about the Tokugawa shoguns and the first American ships to arrive in isolationist Japan. As a supplement to The Story of the World, we read passages from Heart of a Samurai and learned about what Americans looked like to those from another country. 

While the older group studies Civilization this year, younger eagles will take part in a Geography quest. This quest will take them around the world studying different cultures through stories and folk tales. While listening to these stories, they will create maps of: the world, Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, North America, The United States, and Australia. They began their journey this week with Around the World in 80 Days. After mapping the world, they will head to their first continent where they will hear stories from specific countries and begin their next map. 

Writers’ Workshop this week was spent mostly writing thank you notes for the awesome architects and the construction team who built our new campus.  This year we are beginning a new focus on handwriting, so students spent a few minutes each day warming up their writing muscles (ask your eagle to show you the Zoom! handwriting warm-up) and copying a few lines from mentor texts in their most beautiful handwriting.  On Friday, they faced their first Writers’ Workshop Weekly Challenge: The Most Interesting, Intriguing, Alluring, Fascinating, Riveting, Gripping, Compelling, Captivating, Juicy, Exotic, and Enthralling Word Collection and Sentence Challenge.  Students searched their heads, dictionaries, thesauruses, books from our library, and the Internet to collect interesting nouns, verbs, and adjectives.  They then competed to write the most fascinating sentences that made sense using as many of their collected words as possible.  Some of the entries:

• “Bob the cat got decollated and his body got festered in a supernova because he had zoophobia and bufonophobia.”

• “Gross, weird, and despicable Zombie Walmart Chickens [the name of one of the community garden teams] are upchucking gummy bears while spitting out French fries at McDonald’s.”

• “The abominable snowman let out a high-pitched scream and then he looked demented and suddenly I saw a horrible, bumpy cow who waddled over to it and sat on it.”

• The winner: “The smelly, stinky, sticky, slimy spider suspected some sheepish sound that seriously stood out, and it was a slimy snake slithering slowly and silently and so seriously.”