Explore Year 6. Session 4.
In Session 4, Explorers embraced challenges and found flow during Art, Writers’ Workshop, Quest, and Work Cycles.
WRITERS’ WORKSHOP
The learners in Explore wrote biographies about one of their ancestors in Session 4. They interviewed family members, researched the historical context within which their ancestor lived, and organized their findings. They drafted their biographies, conducted peer reviews, and made edits. After publishing their work, they shared their biographies with their families.
TYPING TIME
Explorers practiced their typing every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in Session 4. In Typing Time, a focused 10-minute sprint dedicated to typing practice, learners challenged themselves to boost their words per minute—and many hit their stride, finding moments of deep concentration.
ART
Session 4 has brought collaboration between Explorers and Discoverers in both Art and P.D. In Art, learners dove into the world of songwriting! Heroes crafted lyrics for their songs, created egg shakers to add percussion to their songs, and experimented with digital tools to build instrumental backings for their compositions. To land the session, musicians from both studios came together to showcase their progress and celebrate their creative journeys with a campus-wide concert.
QUEST
In Session 4, learners in both the Explore and Discovery studios rose to the challenge of Chess Quest! Learners ins each studio chose a superpower, such as focus, strategy, and self-motivation, they wanted to grow during Quest. Over the course of the 6 weeks of Session4 they learned about each piece and how they move, they practiced notating each game they played, they were introduced to chess clocks, and they played in chess tournaments. Each Quest day, the learners were challenged to play a 30-minute timed chess game and notate each move. On one day, the learners played a game of human chess! Many learners shared that the timed games felt more thrilling and intense. During Socratic Discussions, Heroes explored topics like sacrifice in chess, the dynamics of fast vs. slow thinking, and the critical role of rules in games.
EXHIBITION OF LEARNING
At the Session 4 Exhibition of Learning, Explore and Discovery learners played their final tournament, a 30 minute game based on their rankings, in front of their guests. They silently and strategically played their opponents and notated every move. After their games ended, learners showed their guests some of the studio tracking visuals they use in their studios, such as their year-long maps of their Big Session Goals. After this learner-guided tour, the Explore learners shared their reflections from the session in their Showcase Presentations and fielded questions from their guests.
FRIDAY OUTINGS
Explorers visited the downtown Austin Public Library on a few of their Friday outings and had fun playing regular, and giant, chess. They also did not let the cold bother them as they hiked and splashed around at Bull Creek District Park on multiple occasions!
See you in Session 5!