Session 6 Week in Review - Week 26

Zoom Gatherings

Some highlights from Zoom Gatherings this week included:

  • Monday: Monday, for our community builder, learners raced to complete a virtual jigsaw puzzle that contained a hidden Pablo. Congrats to our three medalists for fastest puzzle completion! 

  • Tuesday: Tuesday, Eliza facilitated an important launch on Discipline vs. Energy. Learners had a chance to reflect on their patterns of discipline and work flow, better understand the three energy types, and how they can reorganize important tasks and work to better operate within the prime energy type.

  • Wednesday: Wednesday’s Skill-Builder was Part 3 of the new series on Research & Citations. This week we played a quick review game on keyword searches, and then discussed several different note-taking structures that learners can use when researching. 

  • Thursday: Thursday’s Young Change Maker launch featured Alysa Liu, a National figure skater, who defied expectations by retiring early to live a “normal life”. She eventually did return to professional skating on her own terms, winning an Olympic gold medal. The Studio discussed the tradeoffs between persevering through things that no longer serve you and stepping away.

Week 26 Highlights

This week was full of creativity, perseverance, and some truly exciting accomplishments from our learners!

  • A Published Author!: Huge congratulations to Amara and her mom for publishing their children’s book, Zaria's Heroes. The story follows young Zaria who, after a tough day at school, embarks on an unforgettable nighttime journey through Black history. What a beautiful way to combine storytelling, history, and inspiration—well done!

  • Civic Innovation: Shoutout to Lucia for launching Chamber Civics, a political literacy website she has been building for the past eight months. Her platform aims to make politics accessible by translating bills into plain language, showing voting records and contact information for federal representatives, and allowing users to create profiles to understand how legislation could impact them and their loved ones. An incredible example of real-world learning in action!

  • Academic Milestones: Congratulations to Annie for completing her World History credit, and to Anna for finishing both Math and Grammar after joining us just a few sessions ago. Fantastic progress!

  • Community Builder Champions: Our Monday Community Builder puzzle challenge brought out some friendly competition!
    🥇 1st Place: Louis
    🥈 2nd Place: Vivi
    🥉 3rd Place: Harrison
    Congratulations to all three for their puzzle-solving speed and focus!

Weeks like this remind us how powerful self-directed learning can be when creativity, persistence, and curiosity come together. We love sharing ways our learners are out in the world being young change-makers!

Family Conversation Starters:

  • How can stories like Amara’s help us learn history?

  • Why would it be important to make bills easier to understand for voters?

  • What do you think helped Annie and Anna stay focused as they completed their credits before the end of the school year?

  • Why do community activities like the puzzle challenge help strengthen our studio culture?

  • If you could create a project that helps people in the real world, what would it be?

Tyler Thigpen