Session 7 Week 1 in Review
Elementary Studio
Welcome to Session 7, the last session of the 2022–2023 school year! This week, we welcome everyone back with a school-wide welcome back morning launch during this time learners participated in a scavenger hunt that required them to reflect on the school year. Once they found their item, they shared in mixed-age breakout rooms. During Quest, we explored sustainability. On Monday, learners were challenged to set a timer to determine how long it takes them to clean their room at a normal pace. After cleaning their room, they recorded how long it took, what went well during the process, explained what their process is like, and what needs to improve. On Wednesday, they researched sustainable building materials to help them brainstorm ideas for creating a tool that would help clean their room. During our Socratic launch, we discovered that newspaper wood, coffee husk, diapers, corks, and mycelium are some examples of sustainable building materials. To conclude Quest for the week, learners explained the importance of sustainability and found three pieces of evidence to defend their reasonings. During Civilization, we explored the Columbian exchange by breaking up into groups to create single-slide presentations on Europe and the Americas. Instead of the guide providing the learners with information, the learners were able to inform the guide and studio of the knowledge gained during their research. During Story Arts, learners were introduced to Carmen Key. After watching the introductory video, the learners researched unique partnerships in the music industry to begin preparations for creating a rollout plan.
Middle School Studio + HS Story Arts & Civ
What a great start to our last session of the year! We kicked things off with a school-wide launch where learners got to scavenge for their favorite memories, works, and projects from this year so far and share with their group. In the Middle School Studio, Simon presented a great learner-led launch on the benefits of being Vegan, and Frida led our Fascinating Friday with a Kahoot on The Forest School Online to see how much our learners know about their school!Our Nature Conservation Quest began with three days focused on human impacts on our natural environment, and the issues that those impacts have caused. Learners engaged in some solemn but hopeful discussions about our impact and what we can do about it. For our challenges this week, learners worked on defining conversation related terminology to help them better understand and communicate within our Quest this session. We also looked at the services our Earth’s ecosystems provide for us, and our top 5 negative impacts on those same ecosystems. We ended the week with a launch about what would happen to the Earth without humans, and we had a compelling discussion about the human impact on Earth, but also Earth’s ability to heal. Learners looked at a real-life example of human impact impeding on the natural systems in nature. They then chose a human-cause problem, researched how humans created the issue, and created a prototype to reverse the damage and restore natural functioning.
Middle & High School learners began their Manifest Destiny Civ this week. We learned about the origins of Manifest Destiny, and how that mindset affected much of America’s beginnings as a country. We examined how westward expansion stemmed from Manifest Destiny and how it led to the mistreatment of Native Americans, and consequently the Trail of Tears. Learners immersed themselves into the story of the Cherokees and their journey from Georgia to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears.The Great Debate Story Arts kicked off today by watching a World Class Example of a youth debate to help us conceptualize the art of debate, as well as to understand the overall structure. We went over important terminology such as Motion, Proposition, Opposition, and rebuttal. Learners were split into 2 random teams, with one being assigned the pro side and their assigned to the con side. Both were given the following Motion: The House believes that zoos should be banned to prevent poor treatment of animals. Both teams had 20 minutes to research and prepare a two minute preliminary argument. During Share Outs, one learner from each side was randomly selected to share their argument. Shout outs to David and Rico for presenting really strong, well researched arguments for your team!
High School Studio
Monday: Session 7 has begun! We are almost at the end of the school year. This morning, we were welcomed with a carousel in Ms.Shamira’s zoom, where everyone greeted each other and we shared laughs in breakout rooms with a scavenger hunt. For Quest, we started our topic Green Chemistry, while thinking about "How can we use one of the 12 principles of Green Chemistry, to make a more sustainable society
4/12: Wednesday: This morning, we got inspired by Conceptual Art in a Socratic Launch led by me! We discussed what “qualifies” as art, how context and environment play a role in art, and how definitions and images play together.
Afternoon: For SLE, we began our lesson in Bioplastics. Learners began making experiments with kitchen/household items (milk, vinegar, cornstarch, honey, glycerin) and created a biodegradable plastic. We talked about the shelf life of traditional plastic, how microplastics affect soil/the environment, and alternatives to these plastics that can be found in nature.
4/14:Friday: Friday Morning, Marcos led a wonderful and engaging discussion on Interesting Architecture. We talked about form<>function, and discussed our dream buildings. Learners shared their preferences to being in a city, a forest, secluded, and what material they would want their home to be made out of (and why).
Morning:Afternoon:We continued our lessons in Bioplastics. Today's challenge work had two options: create your own experiment, or build a plastic out of bioplastic! We learned that a bioplastic can biodegrade in 80 days, and even if the item has microplastics, majority will biodegrade in 60 days. Super cool!!