Week 24: A birthday, an exhibition, and donuts of various sorts

This week marked the end of Acton Academy Nanaimo's inaugural quest! The first part of our week was spent wrapping up any unfinished work they hoped to show during the exhibition, reaching for just one more badge to post proudly on their crest, and creating maps to guide their families through the studio, showing their most treasured work.

Wednesday morning came and the studio went into full swing preparing for the exhibition. We divvied up jobs - tidying the space, creating an exhibition poster, preparing snacks for our guests, and decorating the lobby chalkboard.

As families were arriving, our guide Ella led the group in a deep-breathing meditation, and read two relaxing stories to calm our excited nerves. One by one, families were welcomed into the studio and began their guided tours through the exhibition, seeing firsthand the hard work these children have put in over these past 3 weeks. Families admired portfolios of their child's reading, writing, and spelling work and were able to try their hand at each of the challenges from the quest, using the same rubric for each we used in studio. Lastly (and in some cases, firstly!) we all made sure to stop by and enjoy the various trail mix creations from the snack table. There were lots of chuckles at the creative mix names!

It was truly heartwarming to see the smiles all around as these children proudly showed their work. Seeing this community come together, all in one moment with so much joy in the air, filled my bucket to overflowing :)

The next morning we all arrived in PJs, a new post-exhibition tradition, and were excited to bask in the glory of a job well done. We had another reason to celebrate....the 6th birthday of one of our heroes! Everyone had big smiles and hugs to give her, and our guide Ella sure knows the way to her heart...a sprinkle covered donut!

We brought out the birthday card box, used our Acton birthday card rubric to make beautiful and memorable cards, and shared photos from each year of her life at the circle rug before we whispered a wish as she blew out her candle. These sweet traditions are cherished and something we all look forward to.

Yet another cause for celebration this week was the arrival of a new member to our tribe, Leonie! She joined us at such a busy time, with all of the final quest work, preparation for the upcoming exhibition, and the birthday celebration. Despite the hustle and bustle, she seamlessly joined the group and has already proven herself to be an enthusiastic contributor to the culture. She showed leadership by upholding our Rules of Engagement during Socratic discussions, eagerly helped decorate our March calendar (giving special attention to the 5th of March - her fast approaching birthday!), and has already made her first proposal at Town Hall! Town Hall occurs each Friday morning and is an opportunity for children to raise issues in the studio and offer solutions, or make proposals for things they wish to do/add/change in studio. Leonie offered a suggestion of including birthday cakes for the birthday celebrations. I asked her who would provide the cake, to which she replied "We'll make it!" Smiles lit up across everyone's faces and they all joined in to contribute their ideas about how this could be executed. And so it was, birthday cakes became part of the Acton Nanaimo birthday celebration tradition :) One week in and she's already making her mark!

We introduced our group to another kind of donut this week - the Challenge Donut. One of our 6 year old heroes was choosing work during core skills time. He was selecting C-V-C (consonant-vowel-consonant) books from our Science of Reading library and, obvious to both him and I, was purposely choosing "easy" books for himself. I asked him if he knew who Michael Jordan was? He did, so I asked him next what he thought would have happened if Michael Jordan went to the gym and lifted 5 pound weights for 10 minutes a day? He smiled. He could read between the lines just as well as he reads these books. He picked up another book - 5 levels above what he had previously attempted. The video below is what he read.

The next morning I cued up some videos of Michael Jordan as well as this brief biography. While our group was watching, I drew a large donut on a poster. Once the video was done, we discussed how we learned Michael Jordan had been cut from his high school basketball team, but never gave up his dream and ultimately went on to become the best basketball player in the world. I then drew their attention to the donut. "The hollow middle of the donut is the Comfort Zone. It's safe, easy, and comfortable here, but no growth or learning can happen in this space. The donut itself - the delicious dough and icing - this is the Challenge Zone. This space can be uncomfortable. This is where you're stretching and pushing yourself to your limits, reaching for new heights. This is where growth and learning happens." Beyond the donut I had coloured the background black. "This is the Panic Zone. It's beyond your abilities, causes you to feel panic, and no growth can happen here. If you find yourself here, you need to pull back to your Challenge Zone." We discussed how this might have related to Michael Jordan's life. He could have lifted 5 pound weights (stayed in his Comfort Zone), but he never would have reached his dreams. If he went straight from being cut from his highschool team to playing with NBA players he would have been in his Panic Zone and given up. We then related this back to our work in studio - if we purposely choose work in our Comfort Zone we will not grow, we won't learn, and we won't reach our full potential. If we overshoot we enter our Panic Zone and may become discouraged. We ended our discussion with a Call to Action: "The next time you're in core skills work, check in with yourself to determine where you're at on your Challenge Donut. If you're not in your Challenge Zone, how can you adjust?". So...if you come to studio and see images of donuts all over our walls, now you know why ;)

Anyone who's been following our blog will know how much we treasure our time at the river. The flowing water, flora, and fauna offer endless and constantly changing sources of inspiration and interest. I was inspired this week by one of our youngest learners - who decided to make a potion using a paint cup, mud, and moss - to stock up on pots, pans, spoons, and cups for a riverside mud kitchen. Why, oh why, did it take me so long? In no time they were concocting birthday cakes, potions, stews, and serums. Wide-eyed rosy-cheeked children were running up to me, breathlessly requesting more spoons, cutting boards, bowls, and cutlery. They were shouting out orders from their kitchens, staking claim to new forts, and eagerly running about collecting ingredients from the river's edge.

The river was such a draw for Chris and I when we came across this property. Ensuring the children who attended our Acton would have access to an abundance of nature was important to us. I vividly remember standing there one year ago, dreaming of a future with children running and playing freely, squealing with excitement and letting their imaginations run wild. Seeing it become a reality is better than I could have ever imagined in all my wildest dreams.

In the words of Richard Louv, author of "Last Child in the Woods"....

"Passion is lifted from the earth itself by the muddy hands of the young; it travels along grass-stained sleeves to the heart. If we are going to save environmentalism and the environment, we must also save an endangered indicator species: the child in nature."