Week 1

This week we opened Session 3 of Year 1 with Acton Athens as our new quest. On the first day, each Eagle started by reading about ancient Greece and the gods and goddesses they worshiped. From here, they came up with their avatar for the rest of the session, a Greek god or goddess they want to emulate. We then delved into the activities of the quest, a challenge chart with different items to complete on it. Each activity earns you a specific number of coins so you may go into the market (Agora) to buy items for the next activity. They also learn lots of new skills and great information about ancient Greece. A few of the activities include making a yoyo, making a sistrum (a musical instrument), and sculpting a Greek hero out of clay.

This week in Civilization, we visited Ancient Africa and the Middle and New Kingdoms of Egypt. We learned about the people of Ancient West Africa and read a few stories of Anansi the spider. We talked at length about his stories and how the morals from them resonate with us today. In the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, we talked about different invasions when the Egyptians invaded Nubia and later when the Hyksos invaded Egypt. We discussed what likely causes the fall of great civilizations - greed, war, lack of rights, or too few people making decisions for the majority - as well as dynasties and whether they should be allowed in our current political situation. In the New Kingdom of Egypt we learned about Pharaoh Hatshepsut, the first female Pharaoh, and her reign. We then learned about King Tut and the eventual discovery of his tomb by Howard Carter.

In Writer’s Workshop, we began Pitch a Field Trip! We brainstormed different ideas, organized our thoughts and ideas, and then discussed what makes a quality pitch. The Eagles landed on a pitch between 3 and 5 minutes in length including clothing requirements, time for questions, something people don’t know about the location, transportation for our group, activities to do, examples or scenarios of our day there, a strong conclusion, and photos of the location. We are excited to see what the Eagles come up with and where they ultimately vote for our spring field trip.

We ended the week passing out tons of badges from this week and the last week of last session!