Cycle 18 Adventures Thus Far...
- Jungle Academy
- May 13
- 3 min read
It’s amazing how quickly time moves when we’re learning and laughing together! We're already in Week 3 of Cycle 18, and we’re excited to share some wonderful updates, new initiatives, and community highlights from the past few weeks.
🏗️ Campus Growth: The Tower Is Almost Ready!
We’re thrilled to share that our new classrooms—currently being affectionately called “The Tower”—are nearly complete. Alongside that, we’re preparing to open our modern school office and new basketball and pickleball courts right here on the property!
These upgrades are part of our vision to make Jungle Academy a dynamic space for both learning and play, and we can't wait to see our students making the most of them.
🎉 Welcome Teacher Karo!
This cycle, we’re excited to welcome Teacher Karo, who is now leading our Spanish curriculum. She’s already made a big impression—on her very first day, she had students laughing and learning with a “fruit + musical chairs” vocabulary game! (There may have been a few joyful tumbles, but all in good fun.)
We’re so glad to have her on board, bringing fresh energy and creativity to our language learning program.
📚 Introducing: Core Focus Hour
This cycle, we’ve launched a new structure for the final hour of each school day. Each day is dedicated to a single subject focus—Math, English, Spanish, and our new Kindness course.
This extra hour gives our teachers the chance to go deeper with students in their specialist areas, creating more time for meaningful learning, feedback, and growth.
💛 Spotlight on Kindness: A New Curriculum with Heart
Starting last cycle and continuing into this one, we’ve introduced a dedicated Kindness curriculum, led by Teacher Anika. Her sessions are full of creativity, curiosity, and connection—balancing thoughtful discussion with playful activities that help students reflect on what kindness looks like in everyday life.
Highlights have included:
Group challenges like “Can you pass the tin can with your feet?”
Partner conversations to learn about someone they don’t usually talk to
Writing exercises on what makes a great friend and classmate
The core of this curriculum is founded in a desire to bring out the best of each and every one of our students and really encourage an overall kindness in every action taken and word spoken.
At the heart of this program is our desire to help students build empathy, respect, and awareness—and to make kindness a daily habit, not just a concept.
🏡 A Note for Families: Let’s Work Together
We’re currently guiding students through understanding the difference between:
A shared joke vs. a hurtful comment
Taking responsibility vs. blaming others
Seeking support vs. tattling tales
These are big lessons, and they take time to master. As you know, being a kid can be tricky—and we’d love your help reinforcing these values at home. Conversations about how words affect others, the power of empathy, and how to bounce back from mistakes can go a long way.
🎁 The Kindness Bin: Celebrating Everyday Goodness
To encourage everyday acts of compassion, we’ve introduced a Kindness Bin, where students can report kind things they’ve experienced from their peers. We’re thrilled to say that every student has already been mentioned!
Just last week, one student was recognized for simply “being a really good friend.” That’s the kind of moment we live for.
“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”
We’re incredibly proud of the community our students are helping build—one thoughtful word and action at a time.
Stay tuned for more updates from the Jungle!
✨🐾🐒
Comments