This was a short week as we take our term break and also celebrate Hari Raya Puasa with our Muslim friends. Wishing all who celebrate Selamat Hari Raya and Maaf Zahir dan Batin.

Weekly Updates

Preschool / Spark Studio (PS) Update

Zoom Calls

This week, the PS Eagles welcomed a new learning tool … the Zoom call. The Eagles picked up the ROE of Zoom calls quickly, and were very good at raising their hands and taking turns to speak. Some Eagles, like Adelle, learned to host their own Zoom calls and all the PS Eagles enjoyed taking turns to share a storybook each day.

Empowering the Eagles to be independent is truly a gift to take them into the future.

Happy to see our friends! The PS Eagles are familiarised with the ROE of any new undertaking.

Learning Games

This week was mostly about math. The PS Eagles enjoyed the Four Operations Game (Greater/Less) where they picked Decimal Cards from each of their groups and put them together to see what number they had formed. The Addition of 10 Card Game where PS Eagles drew a card and added the correct number to it to make 10 was a hit … one Eagle even played it with their grandma.

In the Counting in 10s Game, the PS Eagles used the 10s Cards to count out the equivalent number of counters and in the Addition Matching Game they matched pictures of equations with the numerical equations.

The PS Eagles also looked at the concept of seasons, identifying them by their associated aspects (clothing, scenery, activities, etc.). They were encouraged to repeat each activity until they were familiar with the topic, and they enjoyed a game to compound the learning!

Anything can be used as learning materials.

Which cards should I add together to make 10?

Home Challenges

The PS Eagles focussed on helping to clean up their homes this week. The 3 main parts of the challenge were:

Sweeping / vacuuming

The PS Eagles learned how to sweep or vacuum the floors of their room correctly, then mop up.

Wiping tables and chairs

The PS Eagles practised clearing the table of crumbs and litter before wiping it. They also wiped their chairs to make sure they were dirt-free.

Cleaning my toys

The PS Eagles took charge of cleaning, wiping or washing their toys. Alternatively, they decided with their parents which toys the had outgrown and want to give away to maintain a neat and tidy room.

Elementary Studio (ES) Update

Project – E-ship Quest

The ES Eagles sailed on through the islands in their E-ship Quest. This week, they continued to work on the Unit Economics Island where they had to sit down and calculate the costs of their business to see if they would generate profit. The Eagles were given more time for this to make sure that they understood the calculations and set the right price point for their product.

They ES Eagles then had fun playing Roborush as part of the Hiring Island. Roborush is a game designed to help children better understand the process their business may go through when deciding if and when to hire employees. They enjoyed the game and reflected on the importance of hiring the right employees, the right number of employees, and offering training.

Business is a lot about knowing your numbers.

Instead of ‘static’ learning, Eagles at Acton pick up skills that are immediately applicable to what they want to achieve.

Acton Eagles can then see how knowledge is applied in the real world.

e-CBF Simulation

The second round of the e-CBF simulation saw many Eagles start to post up the actual items that they are going to sell at the real CBF since they have further developed their products by now. Most of the ES Eagles have also worked out how much they need to sell their products for and they tested their pricing out at the simulation. The ES Eagles were much more confident this round, having experienced selling through Facebook once before. They handled questions more confidently and felt less overwhelmed.

The second time around, pictures and write-ups were more on point.

Creative Thinking Scenarios

This week’s Creative Thinking Scenario was:

You have locked your keys inside your house. How will you use your items to get into your home?

Items: Clock, couch, rake, table.

The ES Eagles really enjoyed thinking up creative solutions, which included:

Eagle 1: What I would do is take the clock and throw it at the window. After that, I get the table if my window is high I will stand on the table and use the rake’s sharp point to get the key and bring it out.

Eagle 2: I would take the rake and smash the door to get the keys. I would take the rake by using the sharp end of the rake to grab the keys.

Eagle 3: I would remove the clock hand from the clock and pick the lock with the clock hand!

What would you cook up?

General Knowledge Games

As part of the Closing Circle, the Guides have been organising general knowledge games on Zoom like Kahoot quizzes and scavenger hunts. The ES Eagles have really enjoyed taking a break from their day of learning and spending some time playing with their friends, even if it’s only online.

Middle Studio (MS) Update

Monday 10.45am Launch: Pictionary

To energize the MS Eagles in the morning, it was decided that they would play a game, and the choice was Pictionary. The Eagles paired up with a buddy and took turns receiving a word which they had to draw out for their buddy to guess within a minute. Of the 7 MS Eagle who attended the Launch, only 4 were able to switch on their video/audio feed to allow the game to advance.

Pictionary over Google Hangouts gets easier with each round. Only 4 rounds were played in the 15 minutes this time around, and Evan stated, “i am interested to play this game again on another day.”

The Monday Morning 10.45am Launch Game was fun but challenging … the challenge being having to draw on Google Hangout.

Tuesday 10.45am Launch: Pictionary

Evan invited the MS Eagles to the Skriblli.io link and the MS Eagles played 2 rounds of Pictionary again. To end the Launch, Aqeesha asked, “What is your strategy for winning a game? To draw realistically or simplistically?”

Dhanya gave feedback that it is easier to draw online than via Hangouts call. The Guide says congratulations for a good Eagle-led morning Launch!

Something wasn’t working, so the Eagles figured out another avenue.

No! It’s not a mandarin, it’s a tangerine!!

Tuesday Afternoon 12.40pm Launch – Socratic Discussion

The MS Eagles gave themselves the objective of Enforcing Participation and required everyone to participate at least once. After watching an ice skating video, the Socratic Question for this session was:

Would you do the triple axel jump or play it safe and do the easier double axel? Morris answered that he would play it safe, while Dhanya and Hadiya said that they would risk the triple jump.

Morris provided feedback that the ROE for the Enforced Participation was barely followed and also that the Launch was short (only 20 minutes). He wished that it had been longer. Dhanya and Hadiya provided feedback that the transition between the ice skating video and its questions to the ‘selling price’ and ‘week 7 Exhibition’ questions were not smooth and could have been better.

The observation is that every MS Eagle-led Socratic Discussion seems to have better energy and participation compared to Guide-led Launches. Congratulations, MS Eagles … we’re looking forward to seeing more Eagle-led Launches!

The Eagle-led Afternoon Launch was higher energy with a larger participation.

This Launch was led by Aqeesha and Evan.

Thursday Huddle

Thursday was the last day of the week this week before the Hari Raya Puasa break and the MS Eagles held a ‘landing’ after the week’s work. Thank you to Ra’ees for leading the Huddle, just for fun.

The majority of the MS Eagles reported that the week had not been productive and gave themselves an average of 4/10 for their effort. There were Character Call Outs to Ra’ees for volunteering to lead the day’s Huddle, and also to Evan, Aqeesha and Dhanya for leading the Launches over the week.