Week 4

This week kicked off with a miniature town meeting to discuss measures that had been brought forth on Friday. The Eagles voted to have squad leaders and then spent some time in their running squads deciding who their leader would be. They have also voted to have squad names, although not all have been selected yet.

On Tuesday, we started off with a bang (or a rattle) and had Fred from Texas Snake Avoidance in the studio. He chatted about snakes in Texas and specifically Travis County with our learners and made them aware of what to look for, what to do, and what to listen for with a live rattlesnake. The Eagles can now let you know what steps to take if someone gets bitten by a snake, step 1 being don’t get bit twice!

We continued in Writer’s Workshop this week focusing on word choice and revision. Eagles paired up and revised their poems with a buddy twice, so each Eagle gave and received 6 revisions. Next week, we will edit and publish our poetry in advance of the Exhibition.

The Eagles continued working on their core skills this week, with 2 badges being awarded for Level 2 Reading which includes levels 10-12 of Lexia and reading and reviewing your first badge book, and 1 badge being awarded for Level 1 Writing which includes completing the free-writing packet. We saw a lot of progress in Dreambox and free writing notebooks as well.

We continued art this week with a clay mold of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Eagles used air dry clay, tempera paint, crayons and pencils to get shaping correct, and sticks and twigs from outside for added detail to finish off their creations. We look forward to showing them off next week. The Eagles also worked on their Hero Boards which will be used for continuing to get to know one another and to provide a barrier against distractions.

Possibly the biggest, and hardest, thing the Eagles did this week was begin to plan their first Exhibition. They worked as a team to set an agenda, decide on a schedule, select each Eagle’s role, and make many other decisions. It is difficult to plan an Exhibition when you have never been to one or really seen one in action in another way, but they are doing a great job.

We ended the week with a belated celebration of Madison’s birthday complete with vanilla cupcakes from Gigi’s! Looking forward to next week, we will finish off our poetry, do a final Land and Sea art project, and host our families for the very first Acton Imprimis Lake Travis Eagle Exhibition of Learning.