The bridge week, and the busiest one. Quest is a cardboard boat built start to finish - and the boat teams are the Spark teams. Each team of four or five takes one afternoon upstairs helping Spark learners during D.E.A.R. time, then comes back and builds with the same people. Teamwork, communication and empathy get practiced in two directions at once, and on Friday the whole thing goes in a pool.
Civ doesn't run this week - the 1:00-1:50 slot belongs to the Spark rota and the boat prep, Monday to Thursday, and Friday is a full day out. That's five sessions gone. Pick that thread back up on Week 4 Monday.
Friday's 1:00-1:40 Improv slot doesn't happen either, because the studio is at a pool. Tell Clare when the Friday logistics get locked rather than on the Thursday.
Notice, wait, ask - what a role model actually does. Teams revealed. Boat design brief and silent sketching. Team 1 at Spark.
// day 02 · tuesdayCutting starts. D2 pitches designs to a D1 review board - quietest team member does the talking. Team 2 at Spark.
// day 03 · wednesdaySeams, seals, and the public dry stress test. Town Hall asks where we haven't been role models. Team 3 at Spark.
// day 04 · thursdayThe mentoring decision, Exploration design review, last build session, boats named. Team 4 at Spark.
// day 05 · fridayFull-day Adventure Day. Every boat tested with a rider inside. Sinking boats get the loudest cheer.
The collabs accompany the quest - they don't replace it. Quest time belongs to the boats from Monday to Thursday, and the cross-studio work happens around it.
Teams of four or five, made by the guide. Each team takes one afternoon at Spark (12:55–1:30, D.E.A.R. time) and builds the boat on the other three. Same people throughout. Team 1 Monday, Team 2 Tuesday, Team 3 Wednesday, Team 4 Thursday.
Four fifty-minute sessions and no more. Design Monday, hull Tuesday, seams Wednesday, finish Thursday. The engineering is real; the point is four people who didn't choose each other making decisions they all understand.
So that nobody misses activities by going upstairs. The whole studio reads 1:00–1:30; the day's team reads with Spark instead. 1:30–1:50 the team comes down and writes their reflection while everyone else preps the build.
Both are written as proposals tied to the boats - D1 as a review board asking three questions on Tuesday, Exploration as failure consultants leaving a prediction on each boat Thursday. Shape these with those guides rather than handing them over. Marked as placeholders on the day pages.
Overstepping with Sparks. The failure mode all week, and it comes from good intentions every time. Say the line on the way out the door daily: "You're not the guide. You're the role model. Notice, wait, ask - don't fix.say this exactly" A learner who ties six pairs of shoes has had a lovely time and helped nobody.
Engineering the boats yourself. You will see exactly why a boat will sink on Tuesday. Say nothing, ask a question instead, and let it sink on Friday. A boat that fails because a team didn't listen to each other teaches more in eleven seconds than four days of your corrections.
Letting one learner build the boat. One kid building while three watch looks like cooperation from across the room. Check by asking the other three what their jobs are - the silence tells you everything.
Cross-studio fatigue. Five days of social-emotional output is exhausting. Protect quiet time inside D2 each day - don't make every block cross-studio.
Leaving introverts behind. Some D2 learners will find this week overwhelming. Build in alternatives - observation roles, journal roles, smaller pair-ups.