Three weeks of holiday and the Eagles are back!
No words can describe the sheer pleasure and joy of being in the new ActonKL campus. Also, there’s a start of another immersive Quest—Marine Science Quest. It’s been a fantastic start to Sprint 5!
Here are the highlights:
- Celebrating a New Space
- Vegan Wednesday
- Marine Science Quest
Celebrating a New Space
The Guides have been working many nights to get the new Taman Paramount campus ready. You will see their first class work. Technology integration and smart DIY solutions by Dr. Ewe. Carefully curated aesthetics, organization, and beautiful vegetation plots by Ms. Caryn. And fantastic support by the broader community.
The Eagles were ecstatic with the new place. It’s not just the current state, but the future vision that the community has together.
“We are so happy to be here! It’s beautiful.”
“I hope that we will keep improving to be better.”
“I hope that we won’t scream and shout so that we will be good neighbors to the elderly here.”
It’s a beautiful space. And it’s being put to good use!
A Space to Move
There’s enough space for the Elementary School (ES) Eagles to do an indoor aerobic workout. They did a brutal HIIT exercise. Some of them were preparing for an upcoming Spartan race (a physical obstacle race).
“Whyyy is this exercise so challenging!!? It’s a torture! Training is so tough!”
“I am running out of energy!” (this is coming from the most active Eagle)
“I love this type of PE!! We are building stamina!”
After the HIIT exercise, there was a turnaround. “I want to join the Spartan race too. It’s fun!”
Then, they went to free play!
A Space to Play
The ES Eagles favorite game is “Hide and Seek”. It’s challenging because there’s too much space to hide.
The game of the season is football. This happens almost every lunchtime and after school hours.
There’s also space for parents and Eagles to play together :))
A Space to Eat
There’s space for everyone to sit indoors. And outdoors too.
A Space to Read, Under a Cozy Tree
Space to Focus (and do Work!)
The studios—plenty of natural light, clear organization, and optimized color tones—are creating an impact on the Eagles. They now find it natural to focus. Here’s a sneak peek of Core Skills Time!
It’s a boring video. And it’s a video of a studio buzzing with intentionality and productivity.
The aim of Silent Core Skills is not pin-drop silence and doing work. But cultivating a habit of working with intentionality and flow, supported by having a clear direction via SMART Goals. After the habits are forged, we cultivate brain science, motivation, purpose, and various methods of effective learning. This includes hacking exams if necessary. The bigger goal—a self-driven independent learner.
Space for a New Commitment
The ES Eagles signed their studio contracts. Finally!
The MS Eagles will be theirs soon too.
Space to Be Grateful
The Eagles are grateful for this new studio. They secretly made a card to the Guides and celebrated with a simple ceremony. Thank you Eagles!
Space to Be Responsible
It’s fun to be here. And there’s also more responsibility with this space.
The Studio maintenance is still a Work-in-Progress. Eagles are testing with checklists and coming up with different duties for each place. It’s going to be multiple tweaks before the Eagles figure out how to clean this big place within 15 minutes.
Vegan Wednesday
A good environment is just one part. The other environmental factor is good food. Not tasty “good” food, not commercial “good” drink, and not comfort “good” food. Instead, we aim for something much higher. Good food that nourishes the body, mind, and soul; good food that respects Mother Earth; good food that is made with love and attention.
It’s hard to achieve this because we are so attached to food. Neither do we use force at Acton. So, our policy for food has always been Eagles bringing their own packed meals. Sometimes, there are fried foods and chocolates. As much as we want to instill healthy eating, ActonKL is just one part of the Eagles’ lives. A large part of food influence comes from their families and community’s social circle. And we respect all that. So, the only way is through mini-experiments.
Let’s give vegan and wholesome food one try.
We engaged with EAT21. EAT21 is a hardworking local Malaysian kitchen that serves vegan wholefood meals complete in nutrition. They use 100% natural ingredients in its purest form. Strictly no chemicals.
They are obsessive and have carefully assembled their meals to fit RDA standards and optimizing for flavors. Hence, they only have one menu item—the SuperBowl.
20 out of 26 Eagles tried. The younger Elementary School Eagles (ES) loved it and gobbled the entire bowl. But the teenagers, the Middle Schoolers (MS) didn’t enjoy it as much. EAT21 were delighted with the feedback. How often do you get a diverse group of children enjoying vegan food?
One 7-year-old Eagle used her pocket money to pay for the meal.
In response, EAT21 will commit 14 percent of all their proceeds, such that the Eagles can decide an organization to support when it’s meaningful size. So, bring it on Vegan Wednesday!
We will be doing more experiments. Maybe one day, it’s healthy eating every day, in a willing and joyful way. For now, we are treading this slowly.
Marine Science Quest
“The ocean dominates most of our planet. It covers 70 percent of it! It makes up 97 percent of the earth’s inhabitable space. The ocean is so vast that we have better maps of the surface of the moon and of Mars than we do the bottom of the ocean.”
The Eagles had a taste of the Quest through the BBC Blue Planet series. The Quest Map is revealed and they were filled with excitement!
In this six weeks, Eagles will be playing their role as Earth Explorers, exploring ocean currents and waves, biodiversity on coral reefs, the deep sea, and the open ocean.
The first step for the ES is to understand the fundamentals of oceans, understanding waves, Coriolis effect, and investigating why is the sea water salty. They did that not through books, but by engaging in interactive projects—building maps online using National Geographic tools, and simulating how currents only affects the surface.
In six weeks time, the Eagles will showcase an ActonKL Aquarium. There were already plans for the Exhibition.
“This is going to be the best sprint!”
“I want to research about dolphins!”
The MS Eagles are taking a more challenging version of the Quest. They covered the entire theoretical part of ES materials in three days, by taking the Jeopardy Challenge Quiz. Next week onwards, they will watch the entire Blue Planet II series, followed by writing research papers on their chosen topic. It’s going to be hard work ahead.
Next week, it’s camping at The Beach School!
The vastness of oceans (and hence, Knowledge)
It’s hard to believe that with all the technology that we have… we know more about the surface of Mars than we do about the ocean floor. It is an epitome of knowledge or the lack of it. Socrates famously said, “I know I know nothing”. And we really know nothing about the oceans.
Thankfully, exploration has become entertainment with David Attenborough and BBC Planet series. For the sheer joy of having a blue screen, deep sea exploration happened and is here in ActonKL.
[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]