The terms used across this guide, defined - including the studio names, which everything else assumes you already know. Where helpful, marked as Acton-keep (we hold the original meaning) or Acton-evolve (we've shifted it intentionally). The glossary is also useful to share with new guides and parents who want to understand the language of the studio.
Used constantly across this guide and defined nowhere else. Named youngest to oldest:
The first 6-week session of the year. The foundation on which all other quests sit. acton-keep
The studio's co-created vision for what each block looks like at its best. Six posters, on the walls all year. acton-keep
The non-negotiables. Signed by every learner in Week 6. Breaking triggers a compass check. acton-evolve - we lean into the social-contract framing more explicitly than typical Acton.
The 3–5 simple rules for any learning moment. Co-created Week 1, finalized Week 2.
The living constitution. Everything else we've agreed on. Grows all year via Town Hall.
Wednesday 40-minute meeting where the studio makes decisions. Rotating learner leader. acton-keep
Friday voluntary writing share. The chair (or standing spot) where the writer reads from. acton-keep
Friday 20-minute self + studio reflection. Pairs with the ICEE survey.
Intentionality · Civility · Excellence · Energy. The weekly four-trait survey. Self + studio ratings.
The repair conversation triggered by a Contract break. Not a punishment - a return to the path. acton-evolve
The daily 10-minute ritual where learners notice each other's character moments out loud. acton-keep
Each learner's "how I work best" document. Started Week 1, refined Week 5.
The Spark-originated conflict navigation tool. D2 learners use it for their own conflicts and help Sparks use it. acton-keep
The 10-minute daily goal-setting ritual. Becomes SMART goals in Week 5, Day 1 - the upgrade happens inside the ritual itself rather than at a launch.
The afternoon project block, 1:50-2:40. The thing the studio is building. In BTT that's the cardboard boats (Week 3) and the Lip Dub (Weeks 4-5). Every day page has a Quest block and a Jump to Quest button at the top.
Drop Everything And Read. Silent independent reading. Usually the first half of the 10:20 ELA block; moves to 1:00-1:30 for Week 3 so the Spark rota doesn't cost anyone their activities.
The 9:40-9:50 maths fluency exit ticket. Locks at 9:50 - one of the studio's hard cutoffs, and the one that teaches the studio that time is real.
The 2:40-3:00 block where the studio returns the space to the Standard of Excellence. Twenty minutes during BTT rather than the standing ten; the extra ten are earned back to Quest once the studio can hit the Standard in ten.
Week 2, Day 4. A card each learner makes for themselves: three strengths, one thing they're levelling up, a special ability someone could come and ask them for, and what they need from the tribe. Gets a v2 in Week 5; both hang together for the year.
Three sheets - WE ARE, WE'RE NOT, WE'RE TRYING TO BE - filled in silently by the whole studio. Run in Week 2 (Two-Week) and again in Week 6 (Six-Week), hung side by side in the original handwriting. The comparison is the clearest evidence the quest worked.
A short mentor puzzle about influence, secrets or safety, run at the start of a morning launch. Four of them: The Promise (W2D5), The Stranger Test (W3D2), The Favorite (W3D3), The Copycat (W4D1). Each uses the same shape - 2 minutes silent, 2 in pairs, 2 open, then the move.
Week 5 only. Five minutes at 11:20, every day, where the guide asks "who is currently off their plan?" Exists because a learner will write an excellent plan at 8:30 and abandon it by ten. Being off-plan isn't the problem; not noticing is.
A single-take music video filmed in one continuous shot, whole studio, no cuts. Built across Week 4, filmed Thursday of Week 5, premiered at Exhibition. See the Lip Dub page.
One learner per section of the Lip Dub song. Owns their people and - the part that matters - their handoff to the next section. Named in Week 5, Day 2.
Week 3's build zone, and the name of Thursday's 60-minute buffer block. Cardboard boats get designed Monday and built Tuesday to Thursday by teams of four or five - the same teams that go up to Spark.
A full day out of the studio. BTT has one: the Cardboard Boat Pool Day on Friday of Week 3. Library Day and Acton Games are year-long options rather than part of this quest.
The final movement of Exhibition. Each learner takes their own family to their station and walks them through their own work using what they wrote on the Monday.
A one-to-one between guide and learner reviewing goals, progress and how the quest is landing. Two rounds during BTT (Weeks 2 and 4), plus an end-of-quest meeting.
These are the six stages the six weeks actually use, in order - and the spine is deliberately light. It gets named once at the start of each week and then left alone.