Weekly Updates
Preschool / Spark Studio (PS) Update
The Montessori Phases of the Moon
The Montessori Phases of the Moon is a way for the children to discover the phases that control a lot of life on Earth. The PS Eagles had fun modeling the phases with Oreo cookies! Then they practiced matching Phases of the Moon Cards until they were familiar with them. Finally, the Eagles started working with the Phases of the Moon Booklet. They will be observing the moon throughout the month and recording when they observe each phase.
Daily Challenges
On Monday, the PS Eagles worked with the Large Moveable Letters to build words, then practised with LML games. Tuesday saw them enjoy a Reading List Hunt in which they read a list of items then searched for them around the house. Wednesday brought the PInk Matching Game – a fun memory game matching words to pictures. On Thursday the PS Eagles did one of their favourite activities – the Mystery Words game where they drew words out of a box and read them, challenging their opponents to see who could read the most words. As usual, fun games didn’t seem like work at all and the PS Eagles enjoyed learning and playing at the same time.
Home Challenges
The Home Challenge of the week was to help out in the kitchen. This challenge had 3 main sections:
Preparing a meal with mum and dad
The challenge was for the PS Eagles to assist in the kitchen and participate in making a meal alongside an adult. Alternatively, the Eagles could prepare breakfast by themselves.
Setting the table for meal times
The PS Eagles were challenged to independently set the table for the family’s meal times.
Cleaning up after meal times
After meal times, the PS Eagles were challenged to clear the table, wash and dry the dishes and keep them away independently.
With this third week of Home Challenges, the PS Eagles are becoming very productive around the house, and very proud of it!
Love Notes to Their Fellow Eagles
The PS Eagles missed each other, so they wrote love notes for their friends and sent photos to show their love and appreciation. They will truly be happy to be able to hug each other when they go back to school.
Elementary Studio (ES) Update
Hero’s Sharing
Ms. Melody Chong, management consultant turned fashion label owner, shared her Hero’s Journey with us on Tuesday through a Zoom meeting. The owner of Love Knot Label https://loveknotlabel.com/, Ms. Melody realised her passion and pursued it even though it wasn’t what she studied for.
The ES Eagles heard about what it’s like to run a fashion label and an online store. Ms. Melody shared about the challenges she faced and what kept her going every day despite these challenges. The Eagles could feel her passion for her work as she describe how her love for it grew while watching her seamstress aunt make clothes as she was growing up. Thank you Ms. Melody for inspiring our Eagles with your passion!
Project – E-ship Quest
The ES Eagles continued to work on their E-ship quest. This week, they sailed through Identity Island where they learned about Behavioral Economics and came up with a unique identity for their product. They also visited Unit Economics Island where they were challenged to calculate the costs of their own business to see if it would generate profit.
The ES Eagles are learning about what makes a good business and what they need to do to outshine the competition. They also built up on what they experienced from the CBF simulation to tighten up their sales posts to attraction customers.
When it came to calculating costs, the ES Eagles found it challenging and enlisted the help of their parents. It was a real eye-opener to the Eagles to analyse each item that went into their product to see how it could be affecting their cost and, therefore, their profit.
Creative Thinking Scenario
the ES Eagles were challenged to find a solution to a given scenario with very limited resources. The scenario for the week was:
Your friend kicks your ball over the neighbour’s fence. How will
you use your items to get it back?
Items: an extension cord, a vacuum cleaner, a fork and a towel
The ES Eagles really enjoyed coming up with solutions to the scenario. Here are some of the solutions:
- What I think is to use the vacuum and the extension cord so I plug in the vacuum with the extension cord and suck up the ball then I take the ball.
- I would ask the neighbour politely if we could trade.
- I could make something long and the vacuum can be at the end, then i can suck up the ball.
- Attach the extension cord into a wall socket and suck the ball into the towel and pull!
- I would plug in the vacuum with the extension cord, then cover the vacuum with the towel, then try to reach the vacuum over the fence and suck the ball back into our yard.
Meal Planning for the Family
The ES Eagles were challenged to plan and cook a healthy, balanced meal for either their family’s lunch or dinner. For some of the Eagles, this was already par for course, but for others they had barely been in the kitchen or had only assisted their parents occasionally, so this was a real challenge for them.
Vega’s Birthday Celebration
The ES Eagles joined together to celebrate Vega’s birthday with her with yet another Kahoot quiz. The quiz was all about Vega and her friends had so much fun finding out the answers along the way.
This will be Vega’s last birthday at ActonKL as her family will be moving back to Denmark later this year, and she clearly intended to enjoy it, even though it wasn’t in person.
Keep shining your light and love out to the world, Vega! We know it will only grow stronger as you grow up!
Middle Studio (MS) Update
10.45am Socratic Discussion: ‘The Long Weekend’
The MS Guide challenged the MS Eagles to base a Socratic Discussion around the theme ‘The Long Weekend’.
Morris volunteered to lead and asked, “You have a 4 day long weekend: Do you procrastinate and watch Netflix? Or do you start preparing and working for the following week?”
The MS Eagle were much more silent at this session, and Dhanya suggested that the Socratic Discussion were no longer able to inspire or energize the MS Eagles in the morning.
One-Off Challenge: Badge Declarations
MS Council members Dhanya and Aqeesha issued a one-off challenge to the MS Eagles challenging their commitment to Sprint 5’s Badges.
After last Friday’s Town Council, Dhanya and Aqeesha wrote a Contract that everyone signed on Wednesday. The Contract is called ‘Badge Declarations’ and contains the following promises:
“As an Eagle I promise to:
Work hard and play hard.
Make courageous choices.
Be conscientious about what I commit to ,
Keep my my promises,
Admit honestly when I don’t,
and Accept the natural consequences of my actions.
I commit to completing the Badge(s) of my choice from this Sprint (2019/20 Sprint 5: E-ship). I promise to complete all the necessary requirements in order to participate in the Exhibition. I will submit my badge on time, each day I’m late I shall have EB deductions: 1EB deducted on the first day, 2EB on the second day, and so on. I also promise to stick with this badge and not pull out halfway. If i fail to do so, I will have to make up for it with another form of work (to be approved by Council and Guide).
8 out of 10 of the current MS Eagles declared their commitment to the Badges that they chose to complete and signed the Contract.
On the same day, the MS Eagles also provided each other with feedback via a 360 Survey.
Thursday Morning Launch: Tower of Cards Game
The Guide had noted that participation at the Morning Launches were at an all-time low, with only 4-5 MS Eagles and a lack of energy, so this round the challenge to the MS Eagles was a little different. They were to stack a deck of cards (any kind) into towers or structures in 10 mins, then take a picture to compare whose was the tallest. 3-2-1 go!
The MS Eagles had varying success:
Dhanya: “It’s impossible! It just keeps falling down!”
Evan: “I learned not to be greedy and go for anything taller and just be satisfied with this.”
Aqeesha: “My floor is too slippery.”
Andre: “Don’t use magic the gathering cards to build a card tower.”
Evan sent the only honest picture of his stack, and this triggered the MS Eagles to find incredible pictures from Google to dupe each other with.
The MS Eagles really responded to this challenge and gave it a rating of 8.5/10. They requested that this challenge continue and the overall energy level was high this round. 6 MS Eagles participated and they even stayed on to chat and laugh after the game.
Mad Libs Game
Another game designed to energize the MS Eagles was the Mad Libs game. It was challenging for the MS Eagles to volunteer as the ‘reader’ before the start of the game, but Evan volunteered in the end.
The Ms Eagles voted against another Mad Libs game. Evan gave feedback that a more competitive game with which the Eagles could challenge themselves would be a more engaging experience.
Friday Town Hall
During this week’s Town Hall, the MS Eagles discussed the need to ‘turn on videos / maintain a camera feed’ during the Launches, as it is easy to hide and do something else with the camera off. Additionally the fact that attendance at the Launches have become very low, with some Launches only having 3 attendees.
The fact that the MS Guide was overusing Character Call Outs for every positive action was also raised. Evan suggested that Mr. Daniel select truly note-worthy conduct to highlight once a week instead of all the time so that the impact of the Character Call Outs would not be diluted.
5 out of 7 MS Eagles voted to turn their videos on during future Online Launches and Mr. Daniel noted Evan’s suggestion.
