Weekly Updates

Preschool / Spark Studio (PS) Update

Week 2 started strong on Monday with the PS Eagles declaring work that they would start on right after the 9am Morning Zoom Meeting.

Working It Out

The PS Eagles loved the energetic workout that kick-started their Thursday and Friday mornings. It was made all the more fun when they once again roped in whichever family member they could; this time around, even more parents joined in, and the duration of each session lengthened from 5 minutes to 10 minutes!

PS Eagles and their partners (parents/siblings/grandparents) getting ready for Friday’s Morning Exercise.

Keeping It Up

The PS Eagles face real world issues during Zoom Meetings – namely everyone talking at the same time and a restlessness or lack or energy. To combat the energy dips, they came up with the idea to play a game before and after each ‘check-in’ session to keep the energy up. To bring some order to the Meetings, older PS Eagles modelled raising their hands when they wished to speak.

On Thursday, AZ initiated a game – ‘I Spy’. Everyone found something purple to bring back to the screen.

On Friday, AS checked in during the 2pm with everyone, “If you are a box, what box will you be?” Everyone drew their box within 1 min and held to the screen.

Mr. Daniel played the Zoom Out Game. ROE (Rules of Engagement) was respected, and Eagles who took turns to raise their hands when they wanted to speak were praised and acknowledged.

Quest: Distance Learning / Montessori Culture – Geography

Mystery Bag 2 – On Friday, the PS Eagles eagerly opened their second Mystery Bag to discover more about Land and Water Forms via Nomenclature Cards. They compared Lakes vs Islands, Isthmus vs Land and Peninsulas vs Gulfs. They then made their own Land and Water Forms using playdough and water.

Land Forms came alive to the PS Eagles when they sculpted them themselves. They had their own ways of expressing each Form and they got creative using what they had at hand. Some used the provided plastic containers, others used the blue of the mystery envelope to represent water. Yet others used their own blue playdough to shape ‘water’.

Each PS Eagle approached the project in their own way.

Reflection

On Thursday, we asked the PS Eagles, “What is the most easy to finish, and what is the most difficult to finish?” 5 out of 8 answered that Work Time was easiest to finish, while Lunch was the most difficult to finish.

AD declaring, “I did 1,100 points today, wow!!”

Elementary Studio (ES) Update

Up to Code

The ES Eagles are working hard at their Core Skills, as can be seen from the Journey Tracker!

They are also having fun with their coding and have created some dances and drawings using Code.org. Here is some of their work.

The buttons to make them dance:

Up: The cat does a random thing.

Down: The cat flosses.

Left: The cat claps.

Right: The cat does a dab.

1 – The bear does a random thing.

2 – The bear flosses.

3 – The bear claps.

4 – The bear dabs.

Writer’s Workshop

In Writer’s Workshop, the ES Eagles explored technical writing. Some of the ES Eagles decided to work on writing instructions for a beginner who wants to play Minecraft, while others are exploring Lego instructions. They are looking forward to testing their instructions later in the Sprint.

While exploring this Sprint’s Writer’s Workshop, the Eagles were asked if they would read an instruction manual or would they try to figure things out for themselves. The majority of them said that they would read the manual, but if it was 300 pages long, they would just skim through it and find the important information.

Here is an interesting read about instruction manuals.

Middle Studio & Launchpad (MSLP) Update

Virtual learning continued into the second week. The MSLP Eagles managed their own goals and progressed along their long-term plans with peer accountability.

Exploring Interests

The Acton model allows large exploration of interests. One Eagle is conducting Quran readings as an independent badge, and she will share her learnings with the group when ready. Another Eagle is discussing the US elections with her penpal in Dallas. There is a sense of independence, yet there is solidarity amongst the community of learners who are growing in their Callings.

The biggest distraction is the US elections!

Programming Quest

In the Programming Quest, the MSLP Eagles explored interesting, diverse discussion topics ranging from surveillance and digital citizenship to heroes like Whatsapp founders Brian Acton and Jan Koum, Nintendo gamemakers Shigeru Miyamoto, and the first programmer, Ada Lovelace. They discovered that some Eagles took cybersecurity far more seriously than others. One changed their passwords and make privacy settings arrangement moments of the discussion. Never has a call to action being that strong!

Originally, the Eagles planned dabble into Unity Game Programming. But there seems to be technical hurdles. On Friday, the Eagles invited our resident IT guru, Dr. Ewe for advice, and there might be a pivot…

Pivot. Sounds familiar in the tech world?
That’s part and parcel of real-world challenges, which involve decision making, and changing minds when faced with new learnings and constraints.