Zoom
SETTLE IN AND DO IT
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Zoom is a boy with curly brown hair, a stripy blue-and-white shirt and a bright orange puffy vest. With a name like Zoom, you might think he rushes everywhere. But Zoom has learned something that surprised even him.
His sprint is not about going fast.
"Ready?" asks his friend Mae, holding up a sand timer. "Let's see who finishes first!"
Zoom shakes his head. "Not that kind of sprint. My sprint is an honest sprint."
"What's the difference?"
Zoom sits down, pushes his chair in, and takes one slow breath in through his nose. "A racing sprint is about the clock. You go fast, you make mistakes, and you only care about beating the time. An honest sprint is about the things. I've picked my few things. Now I just settle in and do them, properly."
He opens his book to the page he chose. He reads it slowly, all the way through. When he gets to a hard word, he doesn't skip it. He stops, sounds it out, and goes on.
Mae watches. "You're not in a hurry at all."
"Nope," says Zoom. "There's no timer to beat. If I rush, I just have to do it again. If I settle in, I only do it once."
Mae puts the sand timer away. She picks her few things and settles in too, beside him. For a little while, the only sound is two pencils scratching and two friends breathing slow.
That's Zoom's honest sprint.
Start, settle in, and do your few things - no rushing, no racing.
A grown-up can play too! Before you start a task together, both take one slow "settle-in" breath. Then do the task side by side, quietly, with no clock. Afterwards, talk about how it felt to take your time.
When Zoom finishes, he doesn't cheer "I won!" There's nothing to win. Instead he feels something calmer and better: a little glow of I did that well. And that feeling stays with him long after a race would have been forgotten.
Hear it as an audio drama
A short play starring Zoom, from SprintPals. Different voices, same idea. Listen any time after you read.
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Read the drama script
- Narrator: From Spark and Anvil and Sprintpals — this is Zoom, in chapter 1 of the Sprintpals cast.
- Narrator: This drama uses an AI-generated voice. Voiced via Gemini 2.5.
- Narrator: With a name like Zoom, you might think he rushed everywhere. But Zoom had learned something surprising.
- Child: Ready, Zoom? Let's race! Whoever finishes first wins!
- Zoom: Not that kind of sprint. Mine is an honest sprint.
- Child: What's the difference?
- Zoom: A racing sprint is about the clock. You go fast and make mistakes. An honest sprint is about the things. I picked my few things. Now I just settle in and do them properly.
- Narrator: Zoom pushed his chair in and took one slow breath. Then he read his page, all the way through. When he met a hard word, he didn't skip it. He sounded it out, and went on.
- Child: You're not in a hurry at all.
- Zoom: There's no timer to beat. If I rush, I have to do it again. If I settle in, I only do it once.
- Narrator: The child put the race away and settled in too. For a while, the only sound was two pencils and two friends breathing slow.
- Zoom: See? Nothing to win. Just the good feeling of doing it well.
- Narrator: Start, settle in, and do your few things. No rushing, no racing. That's Zoom's honest sprint.
- Narrator: You've been listening to a Spark and Anvil chapter, written by the Spark and Anvil writing team for ages 9 to 14.
- Narrator: Apps stay free forever.
- Narrator: Curriculum aligned to Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards.
- Narrator: Released under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 for educational reuse. Visit Spark and Anvil for the full transcript.
Reading together with a grown-up? A card for the grown-up
For the grown-up: ask one question, then wait. When they answer, add one word to what they said. Tap the button when they have said something — that is one turn each, a circle. Nothing is recorded or kept.
Let them finish it
Say “Zoom says: start the honest sprint and settle in - no rushing, …” and stop. Let them finish it.
Now wait. Count slowly to five in your head. Their answer is worth the quiet.
Circles together: 0
The SprintPals ensemble
Zoom is one of the friends in SprintPals. Each friend shows you one idea by how they act; meet them all and you have the whole subject.
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Marlo
the study-coach who ASKS, never hands the answer — the own-words prompt is a retrieval cue, not a grade (answer-withholding)
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Pippa
Chooses just a few tiny things for today — you get to pick, it is never an assigned queue (agency / chosen-minimums)
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Redd
A miss is a re-try, never a fail — you can always go again (redo, anti-shame)
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Sayla
Says each idea back in her own words before it counts — the Own-Words gate (retrieval-in-your-own-words)
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Nessa
Stops when she is done and enjoys the time she earned — the list has a bottom (stop-when-done / the earned rest)
