Session 6 Week 4 in Review
Elementary Studio
Only one week remains! As we begin wrapping up Session 6, learners begin preparing for the exhibition. In Quest, learners reached out to their users to get feedback on their fully functioning prototypes to determine if any changes needed to be made. They also began creating the presentations that they will show during the exhibition. We received a visit from Kimberly Smith, an entrepreneur and our Head of School's sister! During her visit, she shared tips with the learners to help create and facilitate a phenomenal presentation! We ended the Quest with a day of additional work time. During Civilization, we continued to discuss geography and learn more about each other by creating travel guides unique to their location that included their previous research relating to climate zones and landforms. Additionally, they included traditions, symbols, resources, and crops that are unique to their location and a paragraph enticing someone to visit their state. During Story Arts, learners became producers to complete their songs! They combined their lyrics and melody/beat with other musical technology advancements to create a high-quality song product. Next week, we will have a listening party for learners to showcase their finalized songs and celebrate the end of the session!
Middle School Studio + HS Story Arts & Civ
Session 6 is winding down! This week we enjoyed three learner-led launches by Caitlin, Yagna, and Maggie. It’s always a pleasure watching our learners share their knowledge and passion with our Studio! We also enjoyed a wonderful Circles time, and continued to develop our House points system during Town Hall.In Quest, learners continued to work on their prototypes for Design Thinking. Some learners created 3D models, some drew detailed plans, and some built semi-functional handmade prototypes. Learners also went through the Test phase, where they tested out the functionality or quality of their prototype and asked their users for one final round of feedback. We had two amazing guest experts come to share their wisdom and experience with prototypes: Tajari Goin of Smart Boy Beats and Ashley Smallwood from The Group Forward. Both experts provided incredible tips and strategies, and gave specific feedback on learners’ prototypes. We ended the week with work time for learners to create an awesome pitch for Exhibition next week!Part 4 of Civ this week was all about working on the paper bag project Maker’s Challenge. Learners were busy finding or making primary and secondary sources from the Revolutionary War era to feature in their bags. During Share Outs we saw some really creative artifacts and bags!Story Arts got musical this week as learners began recording the various audio elements that will make up their song! Voices were singing, guitars were strummed, piano chords were played, and electronic beats were looped; all being captured in audio recordings that our music editors will piece together next week!
High School Studio
We started off the week with a Socratic Launch led by Taina, her Mastery Credit topic was “Storytelling”, and her topic was Dance.In the afternoon, we continued finalizing our prototypes, and began to think of how to display them for the final Exhibition.Wednesday: For morning Launch, I led a launch on Abstract Expressionism, and we discussed our preferences for art making, how we analyze art, and how other art forms relate to abstraction. In the afternoon, we did a group check-in to talk about everyone’s progress for Quest, and help others brainstorm.Friday, we had a Socratic Learner Launch led by Annie, who walked us through the 101 Beginner topics of how to take care of Horses! Afternoon was a work session, and we ended the studio by sharing what we’ve been working on all week. Learner’s shared their prototypes and went into breakout rooms to help each other.