We described Week 3 of 6 as a marathon halfway point. Then, what is Week 4? You start sharpening your spears, make preparations and orientate yourself towards the end goal. In our case, it is a Cookout Exhibition!
Highlights this week:
- Begin with the End in Mind
- Chaos = Mess?
- Cooking & Chemistry Updates
- Writing Cookbooks, Restaurant Review and SOLE
- ES Eagles Stepping up in PE
- Thursday Chocolate Making
- Cookie Monster Cookout
Begin with the End in Mind
So, the Eagles started off the week by imagining what it would be like on Exhibition Day. It is merely two weeks away. This may be the seventh Exhibition for our Founding Eagles but, every Exhibition has its own ups and downs. The Chemistry & Cooking Exhibition is high stake because Eagles have to cook and serve the public, almost like Chopped Jr. style!
“Close your eyes and imagine Exhibition Day. What do we see happening?”
“Are we working towards that?”
“What do we need to do to finish strong?”
SMART goals were made. Eagles promised to hold on tight to them.
During Core Skills, our youngest Eagle, 6-year-old Abhi reminded, “Get to work everyone!! Else, we will have an empty Exhibition with nothing to show!”
Despite the chaos and hiccups every day in the studio, Eagles are ever looking forward to Exhibition Day.
Chaos = Mess?
You might wonder, how can one know when a studio is chaotic?
Easy peasy! When Eagles leave their studios clean and orderly, it usually is a sign of intentionality. When they do not, you know why. Sometimes, the messiness lasts for just a while. On other days, it may last longer. We try our best to leave it to the Eagles to take charge. This time, it calls for a Townhall Meeting.
Some Eagles may argue that it is difficult to keep the school clean with the amount of cooking and baking involved this sprint. On Fridays, our school compound is converted to a big kitchen and food factory! We believe it is something different. Read on to guess what it is!
Cooking & Chemistry Updates
All these are part and parcel of the Cooking & Chemistry Quest. The challenge is not just the cooking itself, but also getting your hands dirty, making concoctions of funny flavors or experimenting various ways to impress the taste buds. The ultimate challenge, as you may have guessed, is learning Chemistry!
Many Middle School (MS) Eagles struggled with the abstract concepts of atoms and how all these elements relate to the bigger world. It is definitely challenging to imagine the cooking process in terms of evolving molecules and changing phases, especially when Eagles are cooked under pressure!
As a result, our MS Guide, Dr. Ewe had to conduct a Chemistry Clinic.
How about the Periodic Table? Did you recall how you memorized the periodic table in school? Knowing how boring it could be, we injected gamification throughout our Quests. Here’s a Periodic Table Bingo!
This is no different in the Elementary School (ES).
The ES Eagles were very excited to share their research findings on the history and science behind making bread, bun, butter, and jam. It was not an easy research, but they gave it a shot.
They shared jokes too!
“Did you know that the stinkiest cheese in the world has the same bacteria as foot odor? Ewww!”
“Why did the ants dance on the jam lid? Because it said twist to open.”
After that, Eagles presented and gave feedback to each other. The goal is to keep improving so that they can be at their best during Exhibition Day.
Writing Cookbooks, Restaurant Review and SOLE
Each Quest is paired with a Genre badge. Genre usually involves writing, but sometimes they can be other forms of expression, such as art, video or even music. With this Sprint’s theme on food, the ES Eagles are producing a ActonKL cookbook, while the MS Eagles are releasing a TTDI Restaurant Review and doing SOLEs on Food History.
On Wednesday, the ES Eagles spent the afternoons writing and reviewing one another’s recipes for our ActonKL cookbook. It was chaotic because everyone was being unintentional.
“Meh recipes *shrugs*”
“I don’t care if our work is completed with excellence or not.”
Eventually, a few Eagles stepped up to take charge of the cookbook project. With the help of Ms. Caryn, the ES Eagles brainstormed for all the different tasks involved, delegated jobs and set timelines to get it ready for Exhibition Day.
Let’s see what the Eagles will come up within two weeks’ time!
ES Eagles Stepping up in PE
We usually have PE on Tuesday and Thursday. But it’s not always the case.
On Tuesday, ES Eagles swam and MS Eagles ran to the TTDI foothills and were awarded ice cream. On Thursday, the MS Eagles did not submit their PE plans, so PE was canceled. Without the MS Eagles, the ES Eagles stepped up and took charge of their own PE.
As usual, the highlight of Tuesday is Swimming time! This week, we swam laps and did basic life-saving skills.
The ES Eagles chose to play dodgeball. They designed roles such as timekeeper, police, manager and dodgeball keeper. It has been months since they last played real dodgeball. Yet, they recalled and followed the rules. It was a blessing in disguise without the MS as the younger Eagles took charge and led.
In addition, the ES Eagles had their weekly yoga time with Auntie Ii ling! There were numerous pose requests – bridge, camel, butterfly, cat, Eagle, tree etc.
Eagles said the darnest things:
“I practiced the camel pose from two weeks ago at home. Can we please do it?” Kaleb said.
While doing the butterfly pose, Max joked “I’m a butter that flies around.” (inspired by their butter presentation)
There is a Malaysian saying that goes… the aim of exercising more is to eat more. That seems VERY true for our Eagles with the cooking activities.
Thursday Chocolate Making
On Thursday, Katelynn and Aqeesha led a session on tempering chocolate. It was fun and yummy for all.
Playing with chocolate also means playing with the different states of matter. If each Eagle is an atom, how do the different states of matter look like?
Imagine a solid! Eagles were stuck to each other, tightly bounded, like when 5000 people are in the room. A liquid is when Eagles held hands with each other. While gas has plenty of energy, like a party—dancing and floating around.
Well, we did not have 5,000 Eagles, so Katelynn illustrated using Lego instead.
Some aha moments!
“You use chocolate to make more chocolate” – Akash
Cookie Monster Cookout
The lure of caramelized chocolate chips, sugary marshmallow, and Maillard Reactions is irresistible. Especially for children. How do we prevent the Cookie Monster cookout one where all the Eagles become Cookie Monsters?
We gamified it! Eagles have to trade their Eagle Bucks with ingredients, and then sell them to Guides and other Eagles!
To qualify for the Cookie Monster Cookout, Eagles had to complete a quiz. They had to review of all the different concepts they have learned about baking a cookie. In addition, they could unlock secret ingredients by answering extra questions right. Think marshmallow, peanut butter, sprinkles—all the goodies that make the cookie yummier or more sinful.
The cookies did not come easy this time. Eagles spent an hour working on the quiz!
Then, the fun part starts.
The MS Eagles started their challenge earlier. They made use of the extra time by making multiple batches of cookies and helping the ES Eagles.
With a finished product, sales began!
With Eagle Bucks from their sales, some Eagles made more batches of cookies by purchasing more ingredients. Will the Eagles compound their Eagle Bucks this way? Or was it an Eagle Buck-losing trade?
Also, many Eagles wanted to sell more to earn more profit. So, they ended up not eating as many cookies! No nagging or cajoling—just plain good old economics and motivation :))
There was natural competition as trading went round. Eagles had product differentiation.
We admit it. We have created situations of sugar high. With it, intentionality has been all over the place this week.
The tale of the dynamic Cookie Monster Eagle Buck economy is a bizarre one. It’s cooking, science, entrepreneurship, negotiation, sales, maths, business and eating all lump into one heated event. Much like how the Eagles mixed butter, flour, chocolate chips, eggs and everything else together and heat it intensely in the oven!
The Exhibition will be a few times more intense than that; combining the experiences of all cookouts. A chemistry for working hard and learning? You bet.
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