Launch Pad: Session 2, Week 4

We are now 4 weeks into session two, and we did many fun things this week. I can't wait to tell you all about it! In genre, we began to start writing our speeches; in civ, we learned about the history of Christianity; and lastly, in the quest, we finalized the plan for both Guatemala and the New York City tour. On Thursday, we had a super interesting Heroes visit, which I will get into later, and a field trip that took somewhat of an unexpected turn.

First, we're going to start with genre. Over the last few weeks, we have been researching the historical figure we chose and learning more about how to compose speeches with great taglines and points. But this week, we put it all together. On Monday and Tuesday, we wrote a total of 1,000 words as our rough draft, and next week, we will continue to improve it.

Moving on to Civ, this week, we had two challenges, learning about the history of Christianity and the life of Jesus. A lot of the research we did focused on the early church and how Christianity has developed and evolved over time. After doing some research, we wrote 250 words and then came together in our Civility discussion and debate.

And now for the quest: The past few weeks have been spent planning and developing an itinerary for Guatemala and New York City. This week, we worked together for hours (!!) and agreed on the final plan. Then, we wrote emails to Acton in Guatemala and our parents.

Last but not least, on Thursday, we had a super exciting hero visit from an Acton mom. She is a foster parent and shared her story with us, the children she has fostered, and what it’s like for her and for them. In the end, we had a Q&A and asked her many questions about her experience and the Foster system.

 Later on Thursday, we planned a field trip to Time Mission in the Palisades Mall. However, there was an electrical problem in the building when we got there, so we did not get to do it. Even though this was unfortunate, we tried to make the best of the situation, so we got lunch and walked around the mall before heading back to school.