In the second week of the MCO, the different Studios continued to keep their work and mindset intentional in their own ways. Overall, individual Studios grew stronger … focusing on learning new skills, caring for and nurturing life in its various forms and realigning their focus to be more productive. Keep on keeping on, Eagles!

Weekly Updates

Preschool / Spark Studio (PS) Update

Working From Home

In the second week of working from home, the PS Eagles were more in the flow, having assimilated their work time into their family’s schedules. The work was still intentional, with the Eagles clear on what they were doing and the why.

This extended time at home has been a great opportunity for the Eagles to experience real-life skills … in real life! Helping around the house has allowed them to practise their practical life skills. Cooking and baking together with their parents has brought them closer together, and artwork has been multiplying and filling up their homes with beauty and creativity. A parent mentioned that they need a new wall to accommodate all the drawings!

Overall, the PS Eagles have been doing well and enjoying their time with their families.

Artwork is a wonderful way to pass the time creatively.

Eagles know that you can use anything around you to do maths.

Artwork can also be created using anything around the house!

Pizza! Anybody for pizza! The PS Eagles’ Cooking Sprint is easily carried out at home.

Using a giant pencil will make work time more fun!

Practical Life Skills are, after all, all about doing your everyday things!

Elementary Studio (ES) Update

Virtual Socratic Discussion

The ES Eagles had their first virtual Socratic Discussion on Google Hangouts on Monday. Only half the Eagles managed to join the live chat and others answered the poll questions remotely. In the Discussion, the Eagles were challenged with difficult decisions in the event of a viral outbreak like Covid-19. They had to think with their hearts and their heads and make decisions that affected the lives of many people, including some loved ones.

Despite the many technical difficulties faced by such a large group on a virtual platform, some very interesting views were shared. A great Character Call Out to the ES Eagles for making the show go on despite the technical hiccups!

This being the first attempt at a large virtual gathering made it challenging for the Eagles to follow ROE. Undeterred, the Studio will try again on a different social platform and establish a tight ROE before the next discussion.

Butterflies and Plants

There has been general excitement amongst the ES Eagles about their emerging butterflies and plants! There is truly something wondrous in observing the emergence of life in any form, and the Eagles are experiencing this wonder first-hand … and knowing that they have a hand in it makes it all the more amazing!

Some of the Eagles wrote in about the their plant’s growth, so the Guides decided to challenge the Eagles to go into more detail about what they observe in their plants. “At what date did your seed germinate? How tall is your plant? Does your plant have any leaves?” A fuller documentation was encouraged with photos, too.

Butterflies are everywhere, if you look around you, and the Eagles were guided to look out for butterflies wherever they were. They were challenged to research into the species of butterflies that they spotted, and think about the specifics of the butterfly like its body parts.

Keen observation and consistency is what helps a gardener grow happy, healthy plants.

The Eagles are fascinated to observe their plants reveal their wondrous selves … bit by bit.

Pretty butterflies hatching in my house!

Hope you’re enjoying the leaves, my friend!

Writer’s Workshop – Informational Report

The first step in any writing process is to brainstorm, so that’s what the ES Eagles did to figure out what they wanted to write about. Some chose to write about butterflies, others chose to write about growing plants. Other topics chosen were the gardening process and grasshoppers. As usual, the Eagles took some time to organise their thoughts about what they wanted to explore.

The Eagles found it amusing that their parents were now their designated ‘buddies’ to check their work. It was a lovely bonding opportunity for the parents to work with their Eagles to figure out a new process together.

Drafting is the second step, and because writing an informational report was a new skill for the ES Eagles they took some time to research into how an informational report should read. Upon writing the report, the Eagles went through the ARMS revising process with their parent buddies … another new skill they learned together.

Brainstorming ideas is the process of honing in on what you want to focus on amidst a huge variety of choices.

Being Grateful

A gratitude challenge was put to the Eagles to write an email to their parents thanking them for everything they do for them. Putting these thoughts of gratitude down in writing helps to focus the Eagles’ energies into a grateful frame of mind from which they can grow. Some Eagles decided to make this an ongoing practice … a great idea!

Being Intentional – Extended MCO and Exhibition

As the ES Eagles will be continuing to work from home due to the extension of the MCO, they were challenged to be intentional in their work – to be present and acknowledge their achievements and challenges as they work and share them with their fellow Eagles at the end of the day. This intentionally emerged straight away with several Eagles emailing in to ask about how they would go about their work in the extended MCO.

It has also been great to see the ES Eagles stepping up and being intentional about their Exhibition. Due to the extension, a physical Exhibition might not be possible, so there has been talk of a virtual Exhibition to be hosted on Zoom. The ES Eagles are pumped to meet up on Zoom to discuss this and make it a reality!

Math Challenge

The ES Eagles were invited to participate in a Math Challenge using either Dreambox or Khan Academy this week and there was enthusiastic response to the challenge. The results will be revealed next week, so stay tuned! Also stay tuned for more fun and challenging challenges in the upcoming 14 days!

Middle Studio (MS) Update

Monday Morning Launch – Triggers and Cycles

The MS Eagles noticed that Launches which used to last 15 minutes in person were now taking 20 minutes just to get into a smooth flow. They acknowledged this as the nature of having a Google Hangout Launch and that they were going to have to work with it and adapt to it.

Andre asked the rest of the MS Studio, “Hey, can we like invest in Zoom? I find Hangouts very primitive.” The feedback was taken into consideration and the next discussion was held on Zoom to test it out.

The test Zoom session took place later that day with Mr. Daniel hosting. There was a hitch in that Mr. Daniel practises a ‘no-wifi’ rule in his house, so the quality of the discussion was sluggish and slow owing to his mobile data speed / quality. It was good to have tested out various ways to carry out the daily sessions to find the right fit for everyone.

During the Monday Morning Launch, the Eagles examined the triggers that threw them off flow.

The MS Eagle Launches have evolved and now the Launch title and introduction are sent out 10-15 mins prior to the meeting so that everyone can take the time to read the topic and watch the video first.

Haidan cheered up the Google Hangout blues by posting a creative customized picture:

Hero Sharing with Mr. Jia – Personal Finance

Mr. Jia challenged the MS Eagles with this simple premise: “Financial Freedom requires only = number of years to live / (1 – saving rate)

In simpler words, if you can save & invest 70-80% when you start working at 22 years old, you should be able to be financially free before 30 years old.”

Haidan reflected that, “I’d rather save less money and enjoy myself, rather than saving it and hoping I live long enough to use it. Personally, the hobbies I enjoy are financially demanding but they make me happy. So I”m willing to compromise.”

Other topics discussed during the Hero Sharing were:

Would you take on a loan to study – college, a cooking course, etc.?
Would you take your parent’s money to study? Or would you take a 10 year bond with a multinational company?
Is scholarship a scholarship or is it an exchange for your future freedom?

It was so inspiring to see that the MS Eagles were focused and into the discussion for over an hour, occasionally breaking into laughter and banter, but able to keep the pace of the Hero Sharing. This was surely the highlight of the week.

Hero Sharing with Mr. Jia on Personal Finance

The 1 hour Hero Sharing took many forms, from video to just audio and text. Sometimes Mr. Jia would type out the Questions posed for the sake of clarity. Video/audio lag and complexity of topic played a factor.

During the Hero Sharing, the Eagles also answered each other’s questions. Ra’ees asked, “How would you manage finances between you and your spouse?” Evan took to fielding the question by providing a Youtube link: “Here, it’s really informative.”

Friday Midday Launch Run By Aqeesha and Dhanya

MS Eagles Dhanya and Aqeesha initiated a much-needed Launch that hit hard on what the MS Eagles are facing: How are the work standards being kept as the MCO continues? Dhanya and Aqeesha opted to do the Launch on Zoom so that the session could be recorded.

Questions asked of the Eagles during the Launch:

What have you done to help increase your productivity?
Has your mental state changed during the MCO?
Do you think we should alter some parts of our daily schedule so that we can work better during the MCO?

Starting the Zoom meeting was a challenge as some Eagles waited a long time for others to arrive. Once the meeting started, however, the flow was smooth and everyone participated in the way they preferred – without video and giving audio-only or text-only responses.

Many Eagles admitted that it continues to be hard working at home. Gibran expressed that he missed Acton as it was easier to get into the flow of work there. Many Eagles admitted that they have not been continuing their Core Skills. Being able to wake up late has been interrupting workflow. Haidan expressed that he would end up doing work in the evenings and has found that his work time has shifted to the evenings instead. Andre mentioned that he has had to uninstall a mobile game in order to return to being focussed and productive.

In the end, the MS Eagles agreed with Dhanya and Aqeesha’s suggestion to use the daily Huddle as a platform not only to praise each other and talk about their plans the next day but as a place to talk about their progress, achievements and winning efforts of that day. The MS Eagles agreed that they will run this daily for the next week.

It was inspiring to observe the admirable spirit and heroism shown by the MS Eagles who participated. They will prevail in these trying times!