The Studios of Acton Academy Lakeside

Spark Play Studio 
Opening SEPT 2022
Ages 4-7

Develop a unique, curious, and independent spirit and grow a kind, courteous community while laying a foundation for core skills

The purpose of the Learning Design in Spark Play is to empower and equip young learners in a happy and safe environment. 

The intentional Learning Design in Spark Play is simple yet powerful. It’s an outdoor, play-based approach to learning combined with the Montessori philosophy leading to independence and responsibility, collaboration and self-regulation. All in a carefully prepared physical environment designed for the learners.

In Spark Play, we focus on building skills in the following area: Practical Life (fostering independence), Grace & Courtesy (relational awareness), and Emotional Development. Spark Play also builds foundations of reading, writing, math, goal setting and independent learning skills that prepare young people to soar into the next studio. 

Acton Academy Lakeside’s Spark Play is made up of three pillars:

1 – PLAY

Spark Play is a Loose Parts Play based learning design, also known as True Play based on the Anji play movement that is spreading through the world.

Play is an incredibly powerful medium for learning, especially at this early age as gross motor skills are developing. Spark Play encourages learners to use unprescribed large and small parts and materials for imaginative and creative play and fosters skills such as planning, collaborating, becoming resourceful, problem solving, communication, and more.

2 – MONTESSORI MATERIALS

In addition, learners will use hands-on Montessori materials in our Spark Play studio. The Montessori Method encourages self-directed learning that promotes self-confidence, independent thought and action, and critical thinking, while fostering social / emotional and intellectual growth.

3 – NATURE

Every studio, especially Spark, will spend a significant amount of time outdoors and in nature. Large loose parts play will be outdoors whenever possible (even when its cold), so learners need to dress for the elements year around! We will take frequent trips to the metro parks, woods, creeks and Lake Erie – all are within 1-2 miles of our location. We will get muddy, dirty and wet! In addition, Acton Lakeside is partnering with an outdoor curriculum provider to incorporate in-depth, fun field studies 1-2 days a week to our learning design. We will be planting an organic garden, building raised beds, and in the future, have a greenhouse to explore year round!

Elementary Studio
Opening Fall 2022
Ages 7-11

Develop a deep love of learning and kindness in relationships with others while building mastery in relevant core skills

The Elementary studio develops a foundation of learning and discovery through personalized Core Skills, exploratory real-world quest projects, Socratic discussions, and play. 

Acton Academy uses a flexible education approach where each student has their own learning plan and progresses after mastery, not after the grade they have been assigned or at the pace of the teacher. 

Teachers are called Guides and are just that — Socratic in nature and not the dispensers of facts and expectations. As a learner-driven studio, the guide plays a small role and the heroes play a big role. Children are at the center of their learning, allowing them to create and maintain personal goals and relational covenants.

Acton Academy’s accredited, highly acclaimed learning approach is very different from traditional learning. We focus on skill development, such as critical thinking, conflict resolution, problem solving, and project management. For the rapidly changing, complex world that our heroes will enter, skill development is more important than content regurgitation.

These 4 elements are key to the Acton learning design:

• The latest in educational technology for self-paced mastery of reading, writing and math skills
• Deep Socratic discussions about heroes, history and self governance to hone critical thinking skills and the ability to powerfully think, write, and speak
• Hands-on project based Quests to master the tools and skills needed to solve problems in the real world
• Written promises and covenants that hone character and integrity and form a tightly bound community of individuals learning to form authentic friendships and honestly resolve interpersonal problems

Middle School Studio
opening Fall 2024
Ages 11-15

Develop excellence, work hard, foster practical skills and adventure into the world

Young people in the Middle School studio begin to embark into the real world, with the thrilling opportunities and responsibility that come with it, including apprenticeships each year with heroes in the community. As young people grow into adolescence, their impact multiplies. Now, projects have real clients, skills are developed with rigor, and discussions embrace a new maturity. Middle School studio offers a higher level of freedom, as well as a safe place to test your limits, failing early, cheaply and often.

Launch Pad / High School Studio
opening Fall 2028

Discover the next step in your Hero’s Journey and launch into your next great adventure with a vision and a calling that could change the world

Launch Pad learners get ready for real-world success by gaining valuable skills, mastering them through apprenticeships, and launching real startups, businesses and projects – whether that’s in business, science, humanities, or the arts. Apprenticeships increase in length and complexity, so by the time a young person leaves Launch Pad they have a portfolio of real-world work to prove what they can do.