The Final Session of the Year is here!And just like that we have arrived at the final session of our first full year!  Quests are real-world projects to master 21st-century skills. Usually lasting four- to six-weeks, each Quest includes a series of challenges bound by a compelling narrative and is designed to deliver 21st century skills while simultaneously incorporating traditional topics like science, social studies, and history. If you'd like to look back at previous sessions quests you can do so here, but this year our learners have explored the following areas through their Quest time: Spark Studio
~Session 7 Quests~Spark StudioGrowing Curiosity - This will be a learner-led quest in which the heroes voted on various topics they were interested in and will get the chance to dive deeper into them each week of this session. The heroes will be provided with 2-3 options of challenges each week that they will be able to complete independently with the materials provided to them.
Biomes: "Create your own ecosystem"
Writer's Workshop: For the Love of Writing Around the World! This Writer's Workshop is all about growth in writing - both growth in skills and in the love of writing. Each hero will complete multiple pieces of writing, but they get to choose a plan in their challenge zone to reach that goal! They have a variety of prompts all based on the continents and world traveling - with the emphasis on exploration, creativity, and fostering still the love of writing. Adventure Studio Quest - Art and Creativity Are artists discovered or created? What is art? Is art valuable? Your job in this quest is to answer these questions through deliberate practice of art, and careful studying of artistic heroes and their works. Goals: Study the foundations of drawing and technique, make an educated decision about a specialty or niche to study further and make a deliberate practice of as you work towards a public showcase and gallery art sale of your works. Exhibition: Public Art Showcase (with visitors looking to purchase art under a randomly assigned persona and budget). Genre - Short Essay and Creative Writing
The Acton approach to building great writers is to write a lot and to utilize a powerful system of peer review, critique, and revision. This session's genre is designed to both inspire and equip the heroes as writers by offering them the opportunity to write a number of short pieces on topics they choose and then to select their best work to take through a process of critique, revision, and publishing.
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Parents Reflect on their Journey to Acton:"We can't think of a better legacy than this."  We had high expectations for Acton Academy coming in, and Acton has exceeded them. Our journey to Acton is probably like many others. We felt there was more to education than what we'd seen with traditional schooling. And that's not a knock on the teachers, only the current system they work in, which in our view is suboptimal. Reading books like Nurture Shock and The Talent Code and listening to TED Talks like Sir Ken Robinson's opened our eyes to a new way of thinking and inspired use to explore alternative education options in Lincoln, Nebraska. We questioned why today's approach to traditional schooling is essentially the same as decades ago.
A series of events then unfolded that led us to Acton Academy Lincoln. First, our daughter, who is very much an outside-the-box thinker and someone who is always coming up with new ideas, was being graded on her handwriting in 1st grade. What wasn't on the checklist scorecard was creativity, where she thrives. Why is that? Doctors toil for years after college, working long hours to perfect their craft, and we consider them successful in life. You know what else they're known for...having illegible handwriting. So why the disconnect in our school system? Why not emphasize usable skills in today's world--creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking--instead of procedural rigamarole? Our daughter would come home from traditional school exhausted, no doubt because they forced her to learn in a manner that didn't suit her best. We can only imagine how many other kids are in her shoes.  During the fall of 2020 through the spring of 2021, we homeschooled our daughter. Our daughter thrived under this less rigid education model. She had the autonomy to study what she wanted when she wanted. To spend more time on something that interested her and less time on what didn't while still getting the work done. The idea that a one-size-fits-all approach works for school doesn't make much sense. The home school experiment was not a long-term solution, so thankfully, we learned about Acton during the tail end of our daughter's second-grade year. We had high expectations for Acton Academy coming in, and Acton has exceeded them. We love this school, its mission, philosophy, and how it encourages kids to be kids—Forest Fridays, learning about podcasts and outdoor survival, engineering, etc. We love the mixed-age studios and how everyone works together and encourages each other. Focusing on critical thinking skills, collaborating with your peers, communication, and brainstorming creative ways to solve problems are vital skills for today's world.
- Jon & Audrey SevenkerActon Lincoln Parents Lincoln's Top Rated Private School Now Offering |
 | Give Your Child The Opportunity To:
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Nobody wants to be in the last generation that remembers when it was considered normal and expected for children to go outside and play. Nobody.
-Richard Louv
Outdoor Program
We are excited to announce our revamped Wilderness Wednesdays in partnership with Camp Sonshine - Shiloh, where our learners will spend the day exploring and immersing themselves in nature. Barring extreme weather, we will spend half the day in free play, simply learning to 'be in nature' and half the day completing challenges, hiking, and developing outdoor & survival skills. They will also have the opportunity to work together, build shelters, and become connected to our natural world and each other.
Survivor Quest is here!
Quests are real-world projects to master 21st-century skills.
Usually lasting four- to six-weeks, each Quest includes a series of challenges bound by a compelling narrative and is designed to deliver 21st century skills while simultaneously incorporating traditional topics like science, social studies, and history.
Usually lasting four- to six-weeks, each Quest includes a series of challenges bound by a compelling narrative and is designed to deliver 21st century skills while simultaneously incorporating traditional topics like science, social studies, and history.
This session our entire school will be diving into the "Survivor" Quest which, as the name suggests, is focused on a variety of survival based skills and challenges. Heroes will dive into basic human needs like food, water, shelter, and warmth and will learn skills to take care of those needs in a wilderness setting. They'll get to try their hand at a variety of awesome hands on activities like starting fires with magnifying glasses and flint & steel, setting up tents, purifying water, and practicing first aid skills (Adventure Heroes will get first aid certified!). This Quest is built to offer the right level of challenge to heroes no matter their previous experience or initial comfort level with the outdoors. While all three studios will be completing this quest, the specific challenges will vary across studios.
This Quest also culminates in a camping trip for our Adventure and Discovery Studios, where they will have the chance to put their newfound skills to the test! And while they will walk away with some practical skills they can take with them, the more important skills of critical thinking, problem solving and overall confidence are far more valuable take aways!
This Quest also culminates in a camping trip for our Adventure and Discovery Studios, where they will have the chance to put their newfound skills to the test! And while they will walk away with some practical skills they can take with them, the more important skills of critical thinking, problem solving and overall confidence are far more valuable take aways!
Spark Studio
Biomes | Desert
Each session hero's in the Spark Studio spend time exploring a different Biome from around the world using our Waseka Biome Readers, with the goal of sparking curiosity & a love for reading. This session they will be exploring the Desert Biome!
Each session hero's in the Spark Studio spend time exploring a different Biome from around the world using our Waseka Biome Readers, with the goal of sparking curiosity & a love for reading. This session they will be exploring the Desert Biome!
Discovery studio
Writer's Workshop | For the Love of Writing - Let's Grow!
This Writer's Workshop is all about growth in writing - both growth in skills and in the love of writing. Each hero will write 6 or more pieces of writing, but they get to choose a plan in their challenge zone to reach that goal!
They have a variety of prompts to spark their writing - from "What would you like to invent?" to "Finish the story" scenarios.
This Writer's Workshop is all about growth in writing - both growth in skills and in the love of writing. Each hero will write 6 or more pieces of writing, but they get to choose a plan in their challenge zone to reach that goal!
They have a variety of prompts to spark their writing - from "What would you like to invent?" to "Finish the story" scenarios.
Adventure Studio
Genre Writing | Apprenticeship Prep
Heroes will dip their feet into one of the most important and unique aspects of the learning design at Acton - real world apprenticeships.
Heroes will begin with research on industries, companies, and professionals that interest them, then narrow their list to their top three possibilities, and then spend most of their time on the process of actually securing an apprenticeship. It might sound a little intimidating, but the daily challenges will walk heroes through a tried and true step by step process for finding and securing an apprenticeship.
Heroes will dip their feet into one of the most important and unique aspects of the learning design at Acton - real world apprenticeships.
Heroes will begin with research on industries, companies, and professionals that interest them, then narrow their list to their top three possibilities, and then spend most of their time on the process of actually securing an apprenticeship. It might sound a little intimidating, but the daily challenges will walk heroes through a tried and true step by step process for finding and securing an apprenticeship.
socractic launches
We don't do lectures at Acton. We have launches!
- Launches serve three purposes: to inspire, equip and connect.
How do you demand attention, teach key skills or keep young people in order if a guide has limited authority and is unable to questions or lecture?
In many ways, it’s a mis-framed question for a learner-driven community. But the short answer is that Heroes get everything they need for the day in a few 15-minute Launches, written and delivered by a guide or (even better) a Hero.
- To Inspire by connecting to a challenge, hero or world-class example that lifts your eyes to the horizon and gives you energy.
- To Equip by offering a process, recipe, algorithm or framework that leads to better decisions and habits.
- To Connect by bringing the tribe closer together with each other, fellow travelers or loved ones.
“To Inspire” comes first, because without a “Why?” it’s unlikely Heroes will embrace a new process or want to work together.
Description
The 15 minutes of group time at the start of the day, before a work sprint, and to kick off project time is called the “Launch.” It’s a powerful moment because it gives your studio the opportunity to get inspired, equipped, and connected before embarking on the next challenge. At the end of a successful Launch, everyone is ready to get something important done.
Here's your chance to step into the shoes of a guide...
Questions for your studio
It’s 8:30 a.m. Heroes are arranged in a circle. The Exhibition is in two days and there are at least four days of work left to do. Do you launch by: inspiring Heroes with a moving video about a sprint to the finish; equipping them to create a plan to prioritize and execute on the last stages of the Quest; or connect the tribe by sharing personal experiences of sprinting towards a deadline?
A week later, it’s early in a new Learning Arc. You start preparing for your next launch by assessing needs. Do energy and intentionality need attention? Is there a key process or framework that needs to be introduced to uplift the culture or execute on a difficult learning challenge? Do you need to introduce incentives or encouragement to unite the tribe or break up cliques?
How will you inject energy, right from the start of the launch? Will you do a quick physical activity, watch a short video, or tell an “imagine this . . .” story? Or perhaps you will share a personal testimonial, tell about the struggle of a hero, describe a big upcoming event, or do a centering exercise?
Which opening question will place each Hero in his or her own shoes or the shoes of a protagonist, facing an extremely important and difficult moral decision that requires immediate action and someday may be faced by each Hero in real life?
What two to four “anchor questions” will you ask, in what order, to dig deeper, provide more perspective, diagnose a problem or create an action plan? During today’s launch, will you focus more on Socratic process to enhance critical thinking skills, the needs or a few to be heard or making progress on a critical decision faced by the studio?
Finally will you close the day with “lessons learned;” next steps or a call to action, for example:
It's through these daily launches that we develop
It’s 8:30 a.m. Heroes are arranged in a circle. The Exhibition is in two days and there are at least four days of work left to do. Do you launch by: inspiring Heroes with a moving video about a sprint to the finish; equipping them to create a plan to prioritize and execute on the last stages of the Quest; or connect the tribe by sharing personal experiences of sprinting towards a deadline?
A week later, it’s early in a new Learning Arc. You start preparing for your next launch by assessing needs. Do energy and intentionality need attention? Is there a key process or framework that needs to be introduced to uplift the culture or execute on a difficult learning challenge? Do you need to introduce incentives or encouragement to unite the tribe or break up cliques?
How will you inject energy, right from the start of the launch? Will you do a quick physical activity, watch a short video, or tell an “imagine this . . .” story? Or perhaps you will share a personal testimonial, tell about the struggle of a hero, describe a big upcoming event, or do a centering exercise?
Which opening question will place each Hero in his or her own shoes or the shoes of a protagonist, facing an extremely important and difficult moral decision that requires immediate action and someday may be faced by each Hero in real life?
What two to four “anchor questions” will you ask, in what order, to dig deeper, provide more perspective, diagnose a problem or create an action plan? During today’s launch, will you focus more on Socratic process to enhance critical thinking skills, the needs or a few to be heard or making progress on a critical decision faced by the studio?
Finally will you close the day with “lessons learned;” next steps or a call to action, for example:
- “What do you absolutely have to get done today?”
- “How many minutes until we are focused on important work?”
- “What is the one thing you promise not to do today to make sure you don’t get distracted?”
It's through these daily launches that we develop
- Clear thinking, which leads to good decisions,
- Good decisions lead to the right habits,
- The right habits lead to character and
- Character becomes destiny!
What exactly do you mean by "Learning to Be"?
The following is a Deep Dive into "Learning to Be" at Acton Lincoln.
 | At Acton Academy we promise Heroes will find a calling that will change the world by:
The final “learning to be” promise means finding ways through difficult challenges and decisions to deeply etch habits of positive character traits into each soul, while rubbing away the negative habits that take away from who we are destined to become, if we want to reach our full potential. |
Acton Academy’s Learning Philosophy is:
Learning to do means making practical decisions in the real world to accomplish great tasks, as a way to change the world.
But however important the tasks of learning to learn and learning to do, the most important part of finding the Grail in the Hero’s Journey is not the Grail itself, but how the hero is changed in the process. This is the essence of learning to be.
We want Eagles near the end of a successful, satisfying and fulfilling life to have answer to three important questions:
Variation Across Studios
In the Elementary Studio, much of the “learning to be” impact comes from hero stories, working together in curiosity-filled quests and “learning to be” badges, supported by Full-Circle Feedback from peers.
In the Middle School Studio, 360 feedback and Hero Bucks become even more critical for earning additional freedom and responsibility through Freedom Levels, all supporting the habits of self-management and self-governance, as recorded in Servant Leader Badges.
By Launchpad, many of the most important “learn to be” habits are deeply embedded, and increasingly put into action in lower studios through Servant Leader badges, while attention shifts towards who Launch padders will become in their “next great adventure” in the real world.
- Clear thinking leads to good decisions,
- Good decisions lead to the right habits,
- The right habits lead to character and
- Character becomes destiny.
Learning to do means making practical decisions in the real world to accomplish great tasks, as a way to change the world.
But however important the tasks of learning to learn and learning to do, the most important part of finding the Grail in the Hero’s Journey is not the Grail itself, but how the hero is changed in the process. This is the essence of learning to be.
We want Eagles near the end of a successful, satisfying and fulfilling life to have answer to three important questions:
- Did I contribute something meaningful?
- Was I a good person? and
- Who did I love and who loved me?
Variation Across Studios
In the Elementary Studio, much of the “learning to be” impact comes from hero stories, working together in curiosity-filled quests and “learning to be” badges, supported by Full-Circle Feedback from peers.
In the Middle School Studio, 360 feedback and Hero Bucks become even more critical for earning additional freedom and responsibility through Freedom Levels, all supporting the habits of self-management and self-governance, as recorded in Servant Leader Badges.
By Launchpad, many of the most important “learn to be” habits are deeply embedded, and increasingly put into action in lower studios through Servant Leader badges, while attention shifts towards who Launch padders will become in their “next great adventure” in the real world.
Announcing
Session 5 Quests!
We are thrilled to announce our quests for our Spark, Discovery, and Adventure Studios for this upcoming session.
As our learners continue to work towards answering their overarching question of the year, "How do we build a heroic culture?" each studio will spend the first week back this session revisiting all things Acton. From their daily launches, to Freedom levels, from Core Skills to their contracts, they will explore how these systems help build culture and why each is an important building block for a successful Acton experience!
On top of that, we are also partnering with Tiger Rock Martial Arts this session, to allow all of our heroes to try out Taekwondo during PE, culminating in a Taekwondo showcase as part of our public exhibition on March 31st!
As our learners continue to work towards answering their overarching question of the year, "How do we build a heroic culture?" each studio will spend the first week back this session revisiting all things Acton. From their daily launches, to Freedom levels, from Core Skills to their contracts, they will explore how these systems help build culture and why each is an important building block for a successful Acton experience!
On top of that, we are also partnering with Tiger Rock Martial Arts this session, to allow all of our heroes to try out Taekwondo during PE, culminating in a Taekwondo showcase as part of our public exhibition on March 31st!
Spark Studio
| Quest: Healthy Living It's pretty remarkable if you stop to consider, the only world our youngest heroes have ever known is a world fixated on the pandemic. We are coming up on two years since the world shut down. This world altering event marked the beginning of their school experience and in many ways the outside world of masks and hand sanitizer is the only world they've known. |  |
But what does it truly look like to live a healthy life?
Our Spark studio will explore how factors like food, exercise, sleep/ screen time, and mental health all contribute to the strength of their immune systems and ultimately their ability to live a long healthy life!
Our Spark studio will explore how factors like food, exercise, sleep/ screen time, and mental health all contribute to the strength of their immune systems and ultimately their ability to live a long healthy life!
Biome of the Session: The Rainforest
The Sparks will dive into the world of rainforests, exploring the ins and outs of this diverse and important ecosystem!
Discovery Studio
| Quest: Build an Arcade - Mechanical Engineering The Challenge: Use the Engineering Design Process, along with completing a series of challenges, as a team of mechanical engineers to develop and build a new arcade game to be showcased at the exhibition! |  |
Imagine this… you are a mechanical engineer who works for one of the biggest arcade companies in the world. Your challenge is to create a new arcade game that will win the prize for generating the most income at your company’s exhibition on March 31st. Not only will the winning team be promoted within the company with the honor of having designed the company's most popular new game, but each team member will receive a Chick-fil-A gift card as well! Buckle your seatbelts, here we go!
Writer's Workshop: Pitch a Pet
Narrative: The learners have a big responsibility: to better the community by choosing whether or not to purchase a studio pet, and if so, which pet to choose. They come up with proposals, conduct the appropriate research, learn the art of persuasion, ask others to join them, and then vote on a final decision.
Adventure StudioQuest: Building an Electric City Do great cities come from central planning or citizens choosing? |  |
The Challenge: You are placed in the shoes of a mayor/ city planner and must balance the wants and needs of different residents, and ultimately build a great city!
In this Quest, Lions will have the chance to deeply explore electricity and quantum mechanics, and put theory to concrete use by constructing functioning 21st-century cities. Throughout, they’ll be challenged to function as effective teams - setting goals, dividing work, and managing projects in the face of uncertainty and aggressive deadlines.
In this Quest, Lions will have the chance to deeply explore electricity and quantum mechanics, and put theory to concrete use by constructing functioning 21st-century cities. Throughout, they’ll be challenged to function as effective teams - setting goals, dividing work, and managing projects in the face of uncertainty and aggressive deadlines.
Genre: "I Have a Dream For My Community" Speeches
The learner's genre challenge this session is to write a persuasive speech to designed to help improve something in their community. They have six weeks to work their way through a series of writing challenges, culminating with a speech where they "stand on the box" and give their 5-8 minute persuasive speech.
The learner's genre challenge this session is to write a persuasive speech to designed to help improve something in their community. They have six weeks to work their way through a series of writing challenges, culminating with a speech where they "stand on the box" and give their 5-8 minute persuasive speech.
Quests are real-world projects to master 21st-century skills.
Usually lasting four- to six-weeks, each Quest includes a series of challenges bound by a compelling narrative and is designed to deliver 21st century skills while simultaneously incorporating traditional topics like science, social studies, and history.
Usually lasting four- to six-weeks, each Quest includes a series of challenges bound by a compelling narrative and is designed to deliver 21st century skills while simultaneously incorporating traditional topics like science, social studies, and history.
Exhibitions 101
Acton’s Exhibitions of Learning take place at the end four to seven-week sprints that make up a session. Much like an agile software sprint, sessions have a real-world deliverable at the end, often presented to a live studio audience made up of more than parents.
Exhibitions are performances, with stakes as high as possible. We want Heroes to feel more like Steve Jobs presenting the iPhone than a lame middle school science fair.
Although Exhibitions allow Heroes to showcase what they’ve “learned to do” in Quests, Civilization, Writing, Art, and other learning challenges, they should never resemble the pristine, tightly managed traditional school performances largely crafted by adults.
Therefore, exhibitions are 100% planned & ran by the heroes. Each session a committee is selected to plan the exhibition and we have seen the exhibitions very much take on the personalities of those heroes selected to the committee, meaning no two exhibitions are alike!
By the end of your time in your child's studio, you should have a grasp of their learning and progress over the past session. But please keep in mind at Acton, academics are not our primary focus. They are important, but finding a true passion for learning, for life, and developing interpersonal skills and leadership skills trump all and that is a little harder to summarize in an exhibition or a piece of paper.
Exhibitions are performances, with stakes as high as possible. We want Heroes to feel more like Steve Jobs presenting the iPhone than a lame middle school science fair.
Although Exhibitions allow Heroes to showcase what they’ve “learned to do” in Quests, Civilization, Writing, Art, and other learning challenges, they should never resemble the pristine, tightly managed traditional school performances largely crafted by adults.
Therefore, exhibitions are 100% planned & ran by the heroes. Each session a committee is selected to plan the exhibition and we have seen the exhibitions very much take on the personalities of those heroes selected to the committee, meaning no two exhibitions are alike!
By the end of your time in your child's studio, you should have a grasp of their learning and progress over the past session. But please keep in mind at Acton, academics are not our primary focus. They are important, but finding a true passion for learning, for life, and developing interpersonal skills and leadership skills trump all and that is a little harder to summarize in an exhibition or a piece of paper.
As we said previously, exhibitions are the responsibility of heroes to deliver excellent value for parents and guests, so our events are not stage-managed by myself or the guides. We ask parents and visitors to offer frank criticism as well as praise and to direct it to their hero and his or her peers. We care less about the perfect exhibition and more about the learning opportunities to create one.
This is an example of focusing on the process of learning, rather than the outcomes. Better for these young heroes to try and fail and learn than to be relieved of all the responsibility to make it look really good at the hand of an adult.
As you review all their hard work, we invite you to ask questions not only of your own hero but of other learners as well. Here are some growth mindset questions you might want to ask:
If at the end of the exhibition your hero doesn’t have an answer to one of your questions OR hasn’t progressed as much as you anticipated, I would invite you to do two things before reaching out to the guide or myself:
1. Re-Read the Parents on a Hero’s Journey Document linked in the parent hub.
2. Have a conversation with your hero, asking them how they spend their time during core skills, ask them if they would log you in and walk you through what they are working on/ how often they are working… While it varies per week and per studio, any hero that is utilizing a computer for their Core Skills should have between 120-200 minutes available per week per program.
Remember, praise the process - not the outcome.
This is an example of focusing on the process of learning, rather than the outcomes. Better for these young heroes to try and fail and learn than to be relieved of all the responsibility to make it look really good at the hand of an adult.
As you review all their hard work, we invite you to ask questions not only of your own hero but of other learners as well. Here are some growth mindset questions you might want to ask:
- What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome this session?
- How often were you in your Comfort Zone, Challenge Zone or Panic zone this session?
- How does ________ system work? (ie Freedom Levels, Hero Bucks, Peace Table, etc)
- Will you show me how to do a math problem on your current math program (KHAN or Dreambox)?
- What was the most interesting thing you learned from the Quest this session, did you finish all the challenges? Why/ Why not?
- What book are you reading? Will you read to me? Who is your favorite character?
If at the end of the exhibition your hero doesn’t have an answer to one of your questions OR hasn’t progressed as much as you anticipated, I would invite you to do two things before reaching out to the guide or myself:
1. Re-Read the Parents on a Hero’s Journey Document linked in the parent hub.
2. Have a conversation with your hero, asking them how they spend their time during core skills, ask them if they would log you in and walk you through what they are working on/ how often they are working… While it varies per week and per studio, any hero that is utilizing a computer for their Core Skills should have between 120-200 minutes available per week per program.
Remember, praise the process - not the outcome.
New Year, New Session + Quests!
Quests are real-world projects to master 21st-century skills.
Usually lasting four- to six-weeks, each Quest includes a series of challenges bound by a compelling narrative and is designed to deliver 21st century skills while simultaneously incorporating traditional topics like science, social studies, and history.
Usually lasting four- to six-weeks, each Quest includes a series of challenges bound by a compelling narrative and is designed to deliver 21st century skills while simultaneously incorporating traditional topics like science, social studies, and history.
 | Spark StudioFrom the depths of the oceans to the far reaches of outer space our Spark heroes will be exploring the solar system for their quest this session and 'the ocean' for the new Biomes portion of their week. |
| Space Explorers Quest Week #1: The Solar System Week #2: Rocky Planets Week #3: Gas Planets Week #4: The Stars + Constellations Week #5: Rockets + Space Travel Week #6: Exhibition Prep Biome of the Session: The Ocean |  |
Discovery StudioAs our heroes continue to define their question of the year, "How do we build a heroic culture?" This session they will explore the role that art plays in culture? |  |
As heroes explore the world of art, they will also uncover the artist within them! They're going to dive into questions such as: What is art? Why is art important? What skills do artists need? Can we all be artists? As they discover different mediums of art they will complete challenges which eventually unlock their ability to work on their own art projects! Along the way they will meet fellow local artists to help inspire them as they build towards their very own Art Gallery for public exhibition!
Writer's Workshop | Memoirs
Heroes will write a collection of short stories from their lives that, when put together, create their very own memoir.
They will be required to go through the stages of the Acton writing process including; Prewriting, Drafting, Revision, Editing and eventually Publication in order to earn their writing badge for this session!
Heroes will write a collection of short stories from their lives that, when put together, create their very own memoir.
They will be required to go through the stages of the Acton writing process including; Prewriting, Drafting, Revision, Editing and eventually Publication in order to earn their writing badge for this session!
Adventure Studio
For our middle & high schoolers each year they will complete a series of 3 science based quests in a row. Last session our heroes were introduced to how we explore science at Acton with Edison's Lab Quest. This year's series of science quests will explore physics, followed by Biology and Chemistry in future years.
| Physics One Quest | The challenge that will be presented to our Adventure Studio learners is: Explore and model basic physical systems in order to make predictions in simple hands-on systems. They will be challenged to constantly examine the “why” behind studying physics and extrapolate our understanding to everyday real-world areas, including sports, transportation, energy (in the industrial sense), design and engineering. |  |
All of this hard work will be completed with their exhibition in mind: The Physics Olympics, a series of competition physics events where studio members compete in showcasing their skills and knowledge by calculating and predicting the outcome of real-world physics challenges.
| Genre A Hero’s Progress is an allegory tale about a young would-be-hero who ventures out on a great adventure, only to encounter three villains named Victim, Distraction and Resistance bent on thwarting the quest, killing the would-be-hero and throwing her into a fiery hell of eternal suffering. |  |
Discover The School You Wish You Went To!
| | Acton Academy Lincoln is Nebraska's fastest growing independent school, request your FREE Info Kit to see what sets us apart. |
Real World Learning at Acton Lincoln
Quests are real-world projects to master 21st-century skills.
Usually lasting four- to six-weeks, each Quest includes a series of challenges bound by a compelling narrative and is designed to deliver 21st century skills while simultaneously incorporating traditional topics like science, social studies, and history.
Usually lasting four- to six-weeks, each Quest includes a series of challenges bound by a compelling narrative and is designed to deliver 21st century skills while simultaneously incorporating traditional topics like science, social studies, and history.
Spark StudioIn their quest to 'build their own heroic culture', the Spark studio will set out to examine cultures from around the world this session. |  |
Around the World | This session our quest in the Spark Studio will be titled “Around the World.” The learners in our Montessori Studio will be “traveling” to different countries around the world and learning about their culture, how they celebrate the holidays, and what day to day life looks like. Along the way, they will earn stamps for their passports, which they will then present at exhibition!
Discovery StudioDoes Freedom come freely or is this a price to pay? Is there a freedom you have now, that you wouldn't give up for anything, not even your safety? |  |
Colonial Acton | Lions in our Elementary Studio will imagine that Acton Academy is a British colony. They must pay taxes to King George and are subject to royal proclamations and taxes imposed by the King (via his Royal Governor played by a guide). To end Colonial Acton, Lions must draft a Declaration of Independence and roll a die to determine the consequences.
Putting themselves in the shoes of frustrated British colonists being ruled by King George gives Lions an opportunity to:
--- A note to parents: Heroes may feel a lot of emotions when this is introduced, as freedoms they normally have at Acton are temporarily taken away by the tyrant King George. Thanks in advance for your support and encouragement through this journey!
Putting themselves in the shoes of frustrated British colonists being ruled by King George gives Lions an opportunity to:
- Feel the resentment and frustration of having to obey a distant and seemingly unfair ruler who knows little about their way of life;
- Understand the need to compromise and join together as one in order to have any hope for winning a war against a larger power; and
- Weigh the possible outcomes of two choices and make a decision with real-life consequences.
--- A note to parents: Heroes may feel a lot of emotions when this is introduced, as freedoms they normally have at Acton are temporarily taken away by the tyrant King George. Thanks in advance for your support and encouragement through this journey!
 | Writer's Workshop: Creating a Podcast! Heroes will discover the world of Podcasts, pick a topic they would like to talk about, decide what kind of podcast they want to create, write down the script for the podcast, record it and add personal touches to their final product. The goal is to practice communicating their voice, working within time constraints, and giving and receiving specific and helpful feedback to peers. |
Adventure StudioHow do you teach science in the 21st century? If you want to inspire young heroes to change the world through discoveries, inventions and innovations, our belief is that you don’t “teach” science at all. |  |
Edison's Lab | This session the Adventure Studio heroes will get their first glimpse at how we tackle subjects like Science at Acton Academy. This will be the first in a three part physics-focused cycle of Quests for this year.
For this quest Heroes will take on the role of innovators in the footsteps of Thomas Edison in his Menlo Park lab. They will be working in teams to solve challenges dealing with energy and electricity by devising simple machines and systems and creating patents. This Quest will challenge them to be curious and innovative, to work effectively as a team, and to master the basic principles of energy, work and electricity through hands on experimentation.
For this quest Heroes will take on the role of innovators in the footsteps of Thomas Edison in his Menlo Park lab. They will be working in teams to solve challenges dealing with energy and electricity by devising simple machines and systems and creating patents. This Quest will challenge them to be curious and innovative, to work effectively as a team, and to master the basic principles of energy, work and electricity through hands on experimentation.
 | Genre: Gratitude For this project Heroes will begin by reflecting on the various things in life they have to be grateful for - from big important things, to the little daily things we take for granted. They will first be invited to observe, consider, and notice these things and then simply journal. They will take these initial reflections to create a short essay or other creative writing piece on a topic relating to gratitude. |
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