What Problem Could You Solve In The World Right Now? - Year 3, Week 23
As session 5 comes to a close, our learners focus on making a big contribution to their local community and presented their final exhibitions to local experts. Meanwhile, our Spark learners perfected their grace and courtesy and continued their learning of the body!
spark studio
“The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you.” – B.B. King
This may have been on of the busiest week we’ve had. We finished up our Human Body Quest learning about the Digestive System. When we asked the children about their experience they said “it was cool but gross”. It was so gross that they decided to share part of the experience with parents and visitors at Exhibition. A huge thanks goes out to all who joined us in the misty rain. We have been practicing grace and courtesy throughout the school year and were able to put our best manners forward on Friday during our very precious Valentine’s Tea. It truly was lovely and we hope it was a memorable experience for all.
We continue celebrating Black History and our focus this week was on Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, George Washington Carver, Madame C.J. Walker, Garrett A. Morgan and Ruby Bridges.
“Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by color” - Author Unknown
elementary studio
Session 5 is in the books! This session heroes embarked on a journey to build a bridge design for Trilith that was remarkable. And boy, did they deliver. Heroes presented their bridge designs to The President of Trilith, Mr. Rob Parker. After taking the designs back to his team, they chose to implement several ideas to their current bridge design. Those ideas included adding greenery, lights, water features, speaker boulders, as well as designated lanes for walkers, bike riders, and golf carts.
Parents had the opportunity to hear bridge presentations on Exhibition night, and choose winners for most innovative, best presentation, and most feasible design. The count was extremely close but three teams came out victorious. While reflecting on the experience some heroes said, “Before starting this quest I didn’t think I could build anything, now I feel like I COULD build anything”. What an amazing impact. Heroes are finding out how their learning translates and can be used in the real world.
We are extremely excited to see the completion of the bridge! Have a great break!!
middle school studio
What kind of work were you doing in Middle School?
For most of us, it was a combination of reading textbooks, listening to lectures, taking quizzes and tests, with the occasional research project sprinkled in. For the past six weeks, our Middle School learners played the real world roles of city planners and landscape architects. Their task was to build a proposal on how to expand the golf cart path system in Fayetteville. Teams went head to head in a tournament-style competition, with the top two teams earning the opportunity to present their visions to officials from the city. The city leadership was so impressed by the work of our learners that they invited them to present at an upcoming city council meeting.
Our goal is that all of our learners build the muscles to be able to find and solve real problems in the real world. Learning here is not just future-oriented, something that you may some day use in college or a job. Learning at The Forest School is rooted in the here and now, and all of our heroes are getting practice at answering the question: What problem can I solve in the world right now?
high school studio
“Be so good they can’t ignore you”. -Steve Martin
Week 6 has come and gone! After 4 pitches, multiple revisions, and a lot of questions answered, the exhibition was a success! The week began with a round robin tournament where each team had an opportunity to pitch 3 times to a group of experts who gave direct feedback on how they could make their golf cart proposal even more appealing. On Tuesday heroes submitted their final drafts for graphic novels and on Friday they share publicly within the studio. Wednesday kicked off with a gold and silver bracket tournament where the top 6 teams moved on to see who gained the opportunity to present to the city counsel. The final two high school teams rained over all while winning the final votes to present to the Fayetteville City council. In the end, high school team # 1 took the win. David Rast, Director, Community and Economic Development stated “To say I was blown away by the thought process, research, intuition and presentation would be an understatement”. What an outstanding review to receive!
As we look forward to the break there are few things to remember. February 22-March 2 will be the week of high school parent conferences. If you have yet to sign up, please do so soon.
Two more sessions left until the end of the school year.
-Onward
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