Detective Quest – First Week
We returned after a one week break, straight into Detective quest, and I have loads of super interesting updates for you!
Detective Quest – ever since I joined Acton, there’s no doubt that this is the coolest quest I’ve ever seen. The Eagles have to solve a real mystery, which we created for them in one of the rooms of the studio. Alden has prepared for them a room full of evidence, fingerprints, data on suspects, and each day they get more clues and more techniques, with which to analyze them. This week, the first day included a preliminary collection of evidence and the second day included fingerprint extraction. The third day of each week is devoted to solving mysteries and creating mysteries. Today I read the mystery, found in this link, and then they had to write their own mystery. The Eagles enjoy this week’s quest very much 🙂
Art Quest – This week the Eagles returned to work on the large wooden boards that are supposed to decorate the studio. You can see one of their works in the photo I attached. The wooden boards are huge, and each Eagle draws the general lines with a pencil and then paints them with acrylic paint. I promise to upload photos of the final products, mainly to show how different they are from each other, and how well they express the personality of each Eagle.
Civilization – This week, we read the chapter about the black plague, and then I gave the Eagles the task of presenting the following play: They are the leaders of a small village, which has not been affected by the plague so far. Two ships arrive on the shores of the village: On the first ship, there is a good friend of one of the leaders and on the other is the son of another leader. The two ask the leaders to let them into the village. The village leaders must decide whether to let them in and risk infecting the whole village with the plague or leave them to die on their ships. The Eagles enjoyed putting up the show very much and expressed the dilemma at its best: What is more important – friendship or the people you lead? Family or friendship? It’s great.
Writer’s Workshop – The writer’s workshop of the current session is a technical writer’s workshop. This week, we read an excellent Washington Post article and tried to understand why people do not read the manuals that come with their products. After that, each Eagle started creating her own product, for which she would need to write a detailed manual at the next stage in order to allow others to use it properly.
Islands Transition Celebration – The Eagles’ curriculum is divided into “islands.” The first island corresponds to the first-grade curriculum, the second island corresponds to the second-grade curriculum etc. When an eagle finishes one of the islands, it means that he has completed all the academic requirements of that island and is ready to “go up a grade” to the next island. This week one of the Eagles finished the second island and one of the girls finished the fourth island. In order to celebrate the joyous occasion, we’ve formed a tradition of “Island Transition Celebration”. Every Eagle, who finishes an island, gets a big rudder of a ship and is carried on a chair by all the Eagles in the studio in a festive and happy parade. When the parade ends, they receive a certificate of appreciation for finishing the island and must share one significant lesson they learned during the quest. The lesson that the younger Eagle shared was “I learned not to give up even when I fail many times” and the lesson that the girl shared was “My real learning happens when I experience difficulties.” What can I say? I wish all the children in the world would learn these lessons themselves at the age of 8 and 10. It’s exciting and inspiring, in my opinion. Here is a photo of the rudder and the certificate.