Weekly Updates

Preschool / Spark Studio (PS) Update

Castles and Treehouses

This week, the PS Eagles built castles and treehouses. Did you know that Eagles plan their play?

As the Guide observed them, the Eagles planned in detail how many pieces they felt were needed to build their item, and organised themselves into groups.

“So this is what my creation is going to look like.” The Eagles discovered that having a plan to work towards was much more efficient than just jumping into doing it.

We’re doing it as a team! Collaboration makes for lighter and more efficient work … and is just plain fun!

Can you spot the treehouse and the castle? What they see in their heads will manifest itself in one form or another. The trick is that they’re not yet afraid to try to recreate something.

Clean Up Time! (Studio Maintenance)

The Eagles in the PS studio are still struggling with Studio Maintenance, as has been seen over the past 3 weeks.

Remember the solutions the Eagles came up with?

Use less toys.
Put back some of the toys before taking out new ones.
Use their superpowers during cleanup time … speed and strength.

The consequence that they set for themselves was simple. If cleanup was not done within the given timeframe, the play area would be closed for a day.

Jeng, jeng, jeng …

These things are a work in progress. We’re looking forward to the solutions that they will come up with.

Mr. Daniel says it best, “I see goodness in their struggle because it will make them stronger. I tell them that they are my Heroes!”

Elementary Studio (ES) Update

Exhibition Preparation

Preparation for the upcoming Art Exhibition was intense. The idea was for the Eagles to be inspired by their artwork to create a poem which they would then combine with the artwork into one final masterpiece.

Some of the Eagles were challenged by their peers to do more, but they felt, “This is my best and I can’t do better.” and “No, I’m not going to do it anymore, it’s my best already.”

Some of the artwork didn’t turn out how the Eagles had wanted and they were encouraged to try again, but they felt, “Are you sure? This is my 3rd painting.” The decision of the Eagles is respected – it is their work for the Exhibition, after all, and there is no right or wrong in art.

One of the Eagles broke her dominant arm so it was difficult for her to paint, but she was proud of the work she produced, nevertheless, “Not too bad, is it?”

This led to a discussion about the qualities of a Hero versus a victim during one of the circle times this week.

The Eagles agreed that as a responsible Hero, we should keep going even when things get hard. A Hero wouldn’t make excuses. This aligned well with the character trait that the Eagles are working on this Sprint – grit! Keep on keeping on, Eagles!

Working on canvas is very different to working on paper. The Eagles practise manipulating the paints to resemble what they have in mind.

Come Exhibition time, the Eagles work hard to produce Exhibition-worthy work. They learn now how to prepare for big events so that when they are in the workplace, they already have the skills of proper preparation and putting forth their best work.

Every Exhibition is a chance for the Eagles to hone their planning and execution skills. They learn from the shortcomings of the previous Exhibitions and keep what worked.

Writer’s Workshop

This was the final Writer’s Workshop session for the Sprint. “Twenty Odd Ducks”, a poem highlighting the importance of punctuation, was read before intensive editing using CUPS (capitalization, usage, punctuation and spelling) started, and the Eagles cleaned up each other’s poems for the Exhibition. Some Eagles were even inspired by their artwork to write more poetry.

“What’s the difference in meaning between Twenty Odd Ducks and Twenty-Odd Ducks?” Grammar is brought to life by real-life examples rather than by being told to the Eagles.

Hero’s Sharing

Mr. Dinesha Karthigesu came into the ES Studio to share his Hero’s Journey. A multi-disciplinary storyteller, Mr. Dinesha is Malaysia’s Poetry Slam Champion and the host and creator of The Creative Curry Podcast, Malaysia’s first podcast on creativity, among many other things.

Mr. Dinesha shared his journey writing poetry while working as a Starbucks barista. Even while he had to work, he never stopped writing – the artist’s dedication to their passion. The Eagles were curious about his craft: “How did you overcome writer’s block?” and what got him started in poetry, “When did you write your first poem. What was it?”

The Eagles really enjoyed learning the craft of writing poetry from an actual poet and they were eager to share their poetry with him. They were even more excited to watch him perform his poetry for them – many had not ever seen a poetry reading. They wondered, “Are you nervous when you recite your poem to others?”

The poetry fun continued when Mr. Dinesha asked the Eagles to come up with a poem on the spot using words that they brainstormed like ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ and ‘nasi’.

Hero’s Sharing is so valuable to the Eagles. They get to ask any question of the Heroes to satisfy their curiosity and open up their minds to what people in various professions do in real life.

Happy Birthday Clara and Fun Friday

The Eagles who qualified had a delicious Fun Friday this week when they made pizza. They were super excited: “Look at my cheese!”, “Share with me!”, “I am so happy because there is pineapple.”

For the Eagles that were late, there was disappointment, “No more cheese for me,” and one Eagle wasn’t very happy, “It’s OK, I choose not to join Fun Friday.” Another Eagle replied, “No … you don’t even qualify!” This was a valuable learning moment for both the disappointed Eagle in accepting the consequences and also for the Eagle who replied in speaking in a more growth mindset way to encourage and build up their fellow Eagle.

More pizza, please! It’s tastier when you make it yourself because you know how much of each topping you want.

Happy Birthday to Clara! May you have many more years of love, light and laughter!

Some Eagles sang Happy Birthday to Clara in English, Danish and Dutch! Others said, “I can sing it in Chinese!” and “I can do a Malay one!” Perhaps next time we can also have Spanish and Japanese versions … what a multilingual community!

Happy Birthday! Fijne Verjaardag! Tillykke med fodselsdagen!

Middle Studio (MS) Update

The Passing of a Loved One

The MS Eagles had a sharing with Aunty Britt, Morris and Vega’s mother, who shared her experiences when her mother passed away last November. Aunty Britt shared about the Danish administration process when it came to the passing of a loved one, Danish customs and traditions to mark passing, as well as her personal experience: “My realiszation is that facing death is like giving birth.”

It was a solemn session as the Eagles dived deeper through the photos, relevant documents and the moving stories. Aunty Britt shared how her mother struggled through her last breath and Morris later shared with his mother that it was especially challenging for him as this was actually the first time that he had heard the full story about his grandmother’s final moments.

The MS Eagles were especially respectful during this sharing as it was a very personal session involving the loved one of their friend. They appreciated Aunty Britt and Morris’ courage and vulnerability in sharing such a personal experience.

This was an especially poignant Hero’s Sharing as it brought home the fact that passing can come to anyone, even those close to you. the Eagles also learned a lot about Danish palliative care, funereal procedures and customs and traditions, which are very different from our local traditions which they observed when they visited the Nirvana Memorial Park.

An especially poignant Hero’s Sharing for the Eagles as they were faced with the fact that passing can affect anyone, even those closest to them.

Poem Reading

The Eagles held a Poetry Reading session and voted on the best poem among their peers. This was the capstone of all the research and KWL deep diving, Rubrics creations and Eulogy Poetry Writing – the reveal of all the hard work.

At first, the Eagles seemed to have a very loose setup near the sofa, but they eventually established a rhythm and the Poetry Reading session went into full swing. The Eagles read their poems loudly and proudly and the general mood was solemn, yet celebratory. One could feel that the Eagles had gone through long serious sessions of self-reflection and introspection to discover the legacy that they wished to leave behind.

Dhanya’s poem was voted the best in Studio. Do visit the Art Exhibition this coming Thursday to read the poems for yourself this coming Thursday.

Studio Shutdown

On Wednesday, the MS Studio faced a big challenge. The MS have generally had a pristine studio environment thus far, but recently a well-established Studio system crashed and Studio Maintenance was not up to the promised pristine level. As such, the Studio was shut down the next day and a scavenger hunt was organised by the MS Guide to gamify the situation.

A special Council Member meeting was convened and the Studio established that in the event of the Studio Maintenance Manager being away, a temporary Studio Maintenance Manager would be elected to carry out the job for the duration. This was later written on the systems board.

See you at next week’s Art Exhibition, all ready to appreciate the artistic offerings of the ES’!