Coding and Robotics – 3rd week

Art – The “Art from nature” project is currently a great success. After collecting lots of materials from nature last week, this week the Eagles started to work with the materials. We gave them foam boards, cardboard boxes, clay, paints and lots of freedom and each of them took her work in a different direction. Here are some photos of the works in progress:

Closing Group – Alden and I decided to make the closing group a bit more structured. On Monday, the closing group is dedicated to EB distribution and a discussion on the Eagles’ progress during the past week in terms of learning. On Tuesday, the closing group is dedicated to a discussion about the social aspect in the studio. On Thursday, the closing group is dedicated to Character Call-Outs and on Friday the closing group is dedicated to summarizing the week. During Tuesday’s closing group, the Eagles and I did the experiment shown in this video, and they were so excited about it! I highly recommend this to any teacher, or even try this with the kids at home. It works and it’s super cool.

Writer’s Workshop – The writer’s workshop this session is very challenging for the Eagles. During the last two workshops, we talked about the structure of the essay: An intro, three reasons and a summary. We talked about the intro’s importance: how it should contain the thesis and hook the reader. After we saw the Eagles had a hard time making progress with their essays, Alden spent the whole workshop formulating the main thesis and the three reasons for each of the Eagles. Alden conducted a brainstorm with the Eagles about all sorts of problems that could characterize national parks. Each Eagle chose the problem she wanted to solve, and together, the Eagles gave good reasons for solving that problem specifically. One of the Eagles, for example, chose to improve the park’s accessibility, and then the Eagles gave reasons why it is important to allow people with disabilities to enjoy the park.

P.E – During this session, we deliberately decided to put P.E close to lunch and free time, so that on sunny days we would go to the park and spend a significant amount of time there. This Tuesday, the weather was nice (cold and clear), so we went to the park for almost two hours. When we arrived, we warmed-up, and then the Eagles ran around the big lake and I took their running times. The Eagles spent the rest of the time collecting stones and branches in an attempt to see if they could break the ice on the lake (hint: The ice didn’t break :)). It was a pleasure, as usual.