Weekly Updates

Preschool / Spark Studio (PS) Update

Exhibition Prep

Having settled on the fact that Stomp Rockets are the best way to launch the Shopkins Rescue Mission, the PS Eagles worked hard towards Thursday’s Exhibition … testing and retesting their Stomp Rockets until they were satisfied with how hard to stomp, what angle to stomp at, and their rocket design. They recorded their thought processes for the videos that would go up on the Exhibition Site, too, since Exhibitions are now hybrid.

Let’s give Balloon Rockets another go to see if they can go higher.

Try out different-sized balloons to see which one will make the rocket go higher.

Facing Consequences

A PS Eagle hurt 2 of their friends on Thursday afternoon. HI friends reminded hi of his promise of not hurting anyone (in line with ActonKL’s non-tolerance to mental or physical hurt). The Eagle on question realized what he had done, and bravely face the consequences. In accordance with the promise he had previously made, if he were to hurt anyone again, he would be send home for the rest of the day.

The next day, the PS Eagle told everyone what he had done and renewed his promise to the Studio that he would not hurt anyone again, stating that he was aware of the consequences if he should do so. The PS Eagles, satisfied with his new promise, clapped for him and welcomed him back.

A recommitted himself to the Studio with his promises of not causing any harm to anyone. We celebrate his courage!

Weekly Reflection

At the end of the week, the Eagles gathered for the last Reflection of the Sprint. They thought back over the Sprint and picked out their highlights:

SO – I like this Sprint and every Friday’s Quest because we made many rockets.

AX – I liked all the rockets we made.

SO – I like all the Play Time.

AA – I like the Exhibition.

JE – I like the Work Time.

AR – I like the Eagle Buck Story every Friday.

The PS Eagles built a fort complete with remote control lasers (the skipping rope).

When an Eagle gets into the Work Flow, they will focus on the activity until they fully understand it.

Studio Celebrations

Friday also saw SO celebrate her birthday! She had a Birthday Walk during which her parents showed pictures of her year by year, from birth until present day, 6 years on. The PS Eagles enjoyed SO’s journey and related to her adventures, likes, dislikes, and quirks. The Birthday Walk ended with SO walking 6 times around a burning candle that symbolized the sun as her friend sand Happy Birthday to her.

Happy Birthday, SO! Keep growing brighter and brighter!

The celebrations continued with a Farewell Party for AS. They remembered the games they played together, the work they did together, the fun they had, the friendship and how they helped each other. AS was presented with a framed picture of the PS Eagles as a memento of his Hero’s Journey with ActonKL. Wishing you all the best in your new Hero’s Journey, AS! Shine your light out into the world!

The origami guru is celebrated on his last day with the Studio.

Weekly Elementary Studio (ES) Update

Exhibition Week

It was full steam ahead as the ES Eagles prepared for the first physical Exhibition after being on virtual for the longest time. This was also the first Physical Exhibition for many of the new Eagles who had just joined the ES Studio.

For this Exhibition, the Eagles prepared both physical and virtual exhibits due to the fact that while Exhibitions are public, we can’t have outside guests in the Studio as yet. The physical Exhibition is reserved for ActonKL families and the virtual site is for the public to access.

The Eagles owned the whole process of planning and preparing for the Exhibition. An Exhibition committee was set to lead the whole process. The Eagles had to manage both physical and virtual. It was quite a challenging task.

The content for the virtual site barely made the deadline before publishing and right on the morning itself Eagles were still rushing to tie up loose ends for both the the physical Exhibits and the virtual ones. It was a mad rush! Congestion at the printer and difficulties uploading videos cause chaos! It was intense!

The force that I stomp with will be what makes the rocket fly high.

How do we put the rocket together to look good and fly high?

Reflection and Feedback

The day after the Exhibition, we had a Reflection and Feedback session. There were two areas that were identified where the Eagles felt that they could improve:

Last minute prep
QR code for feedback (it wasn’t working) (related to no. 1)

The Eagles suggested:

Longer lead time for planning
Following the schedule and meeting deadlines
Test the codes before the actual day

At the same time, we also had time for Personal Reflections:

How they felt during the Exhibition?
What went well?
Lessons learned and what would they do differently in the next Sprint?

Here are some of the Eagle’s Reflections:

“I felt very nervous and the start of the Exhibition, then I felt OK.”

“What went well was my story, and the picture.”

“I learned that I should have a new bottle when you make a Stomp Rocket.”

“I was dizzy. After that I was happy.”

“I felt really nervous and scared during the Exhibition because I was worried that things will go wrong and also there was a lot of parents.”

“What went well was the rocket launching and the WW sharing because the parents liked my story and they also gave me really good advice and feedback.”

“I will do everything on time and focus on the Exhibition.”