The week has been full of learning for the students of Acton Academy! This week they embarked upon their Architecture Quest. In this quest the students will learn different techniques that are used by professional architects! The first two days of the quest was all about learning how to measure and scale items. When it came to measuring most of the students worked through the activity with confidence. The scaling activity was a challenge for many of them. Once a few of the students learned, they went around and helped each other to complete the challenges. Some of the challenges asked them to measure books, the height of their desks and the length and width of the rugs in the studio. For a bigger challenge the students were asked to measure the length and width of the studios or the hallway and then draw them to ¼ inch scale! Instead of using a ruler to measure, they measured the rooms by using the measure of their feet and walking across the room.
This session, squads were introduced to the students. Each student was put into a group with an older student. The older student serves as an older brother/bigger sister to the younger student. In the squads the students set goals in the morning and review them at the end of Core Skills. Throughout the week the younger students have used their older “sibling” as a resource for things they needed in the studio.
In Writer’s Workshop the third session kicked off with a Fantasy writing unit. The students started with a brainstorming session to figure out who the hero of their story is, what their goals are, their enemies, and the setting of their story. The following writing session required the students to research the fantasy aspect they wanted to include in their story. Many of the students wanted to use gods and goddesses and drew inspiration from Percy Jackson, while others looked up magic spells that were used in Harry Potter. Next time the students will figure out the plot structure of their story.
This week also brought a new addition to the schedule. On Wednesday, the students began a weekly Drama class lead by Eitan’s mom. The class began with drama games and transitioned into the students planning out their own plays.
A big thank you to the learners who came and helped out with our first Open House on Wednesday night!
