Weekly Updates
The Eagles will see out the month at home, and right now all hands are on deck for next week’s Exhibitions. Scripts are being written, videos are being filmed and edited and materials are being photographed at their best. For some of the Eagles these skills are new. For others, they are familiar processes, but everyone is putting in their best effort to ensure their best work.
Preschool / Spark Studio (PS) Update
Exhibition Preparation
Last week’s Home Challenges culminated this week in the first round of videos, recipes and recipe books. The Eagles spent this week polishing everything to a shine for next week’s Exhibition … some re-shooting their videos because they were not satisfied with the final product, and some tweaking their recipes. There were some tense moments as the PS Eagles were presented with totally new challenges that they had no prior experience with, but, with the well-known tenacity of Acton Eagles, they forged through to produce work that they were satisfied with.
Elementary Studio (ES) Update
Life Skills – Sew a Button
Since the ES Eagles are at home for a long stretch of time, what better way to spend that time than by picking up some life skills? The ES Eagles were challenged to sew a button on – a skill some of them might never have learned before. Other Eagles were happy that it was something that they actually knew how to do and they wasted no time in completing the challenge. “Hey! It’s something I’ve done before! I even have my own sewing kit!”
The Eagles who had never tried sewing before, let alone sewing a button onto a cloth, were super excited to give it a go … and they were even more excited when they discovered how easy it actually was! Keep up the exploration of new skills, Eagles!
Challenge, Challenges, Challenges
Challenges fire up the mind and add a little excitement to life. The Maths Challenge was a hit and the Poetry Challenge was great fun too! Congratulations to Arjun, Jasmine and Vega for winning the Poetry Challenge and earning something from the EB Store worth up to 20 EB!
This week there was a fun challenge … the Maze Challenge! The Eagles were invited to give their minds a workout by completing a set of mazes. They also had to submit 3 interesting facts about sea turtles because the winners will earn 1 EB each to donate to WWF to help Terry Teetle, the ES Eagles’ sponsor turtle, and his family! Stay tuned to see who earned this privilege next week!
Audiobooks
Audiobooks have been around for a long time, but, during this time of needing to find interesting ways to occupy themselves, the ES Eagles have been given free access to many audiobooks! They were encouraged this week to get lost in audiobooks every day as part of their school pursuits and they discovered many new and entertaining stories alongside their stable of favourites.
Farewell to Alex and Ana
Many families have had to make difficult decisions at this time in history, and 2 of the ES Eagles’ own have had to return home to Mexico to be with their family. The Eagles held an emotional farewell to Alex and Ana via Zoom this week and wished them all the love, positivity and luck back home.
Alex and Ana, alongside their little sister Emma in PS and their mother Carla, had joined us 3 Sprints ago and become vital members of the Acton community. They will be greatly missed and all the good times together will be remembered with love.
Alex, it’s been amazing watching you grow into a brave and confident young man, and Ana, we will miss your optimism and energy! Keep in touch with us!
Happy Birthday Jared!
Jared turned 8 this week and, to celebrate, his family organised and hosted a birthday party for him via Zoom. It was a special celebration that kicked off with some questions to get to know Jared better. The ES Eagles then sang a loud Happy Birthday for him. This was supposed to be followed by a fun game of ‘Pictionary’ but it was cut short by a bad line. We’re sure you still had a lovely time with your family and enjoyed your birthday cake, Jared! Stay sweet and smiling always as you grow from strength to strength!
Middle Studio (MS) Update
Monday Morning Socratic DIscussion
Evan led the Monday morning Socratic Discussion to serve his tribe as one of his Socratic Leader challenges to earn his Servant Leader Badge. He chose the topic ‘Why Algebra?’
The feedback for the Launch was an average of 6/10. Dhanya suggested, ‘Perhaps this topic is not suitable for Energy Stirring in the morning.” Ra’ees encouraged Evan to improve future launches by, “encouraging his fellow Eagles and getting a commitment from everyone to participate.”
Evan decided to repeat is Launch with the same title and content for the 12.40pm Midday Launch. Participation was better and Evan received an average of 6.5/10 for his second attempt and Morris remarked, “I can’t see if there is a difference in the discussion.” He challenged Evan to think of what could be done differently the next time.
We’re wishing Evan all the best for his next Socratic Launch.
Tuesday Afternoon Huddle
Haidan led the 2.50pm Huddle on Tuesday to summarise the day’s arch, report on the days progress and highlight any future action taken to do better the next day.
Haidan called upon each of his fellow Eagles to report on their progress with honesty and openness, which they did. Haidan went on to report on Eagles who will be participating in the Virtual Exhibition and teams/pairings involved.
Ra’ees suggested a place and time to ask questions regarding the Virtual Exhibition to get clarity. Mr. Daniel asked if this could be done in a systematic way, perhaps the questions could be collected and shared openly instead of on a piecemeal basis. Ra’ees volunteered to create a Shared Document on Google Docs to contain all these questions. A Character Callout is sent to Haidan and Ra’ees for your efforts in organising the discussion!
Optional Challenge on Google Hangouts
The MS Eagles were challenged to start the day by doing ‘Guided Wim Hof Breathing’. Ra’ees was surprised because Mr. Daniel suggested the exercise just as his mum had signed the whole family up to do a Wim Hof course during the MCO.
Apart from Ra’ees who had already been doing the guided breathing exercises with his family, none of the other MS Eagles were interested to participate.
Friday Morning Launch ‘Character Building’
The purpose of this Launch was to energise the MS Eagles for the day. It started with watching a video called ‘What Makes Muscles Grow?’ which became a metaphor for how Character Traits can be grown and developed when exposed to rigorous and challenging activities instead of staying in our comfort zones.
The energy was up compared to on previous days, but not everybody participated in the discussion, choosing to respond with a polite, ‘no comment’.
When asked the question, “What Character Trait ‘Muscles’ do you see yourself building especially during this MCO period?”, the following Eagles replied,
Morris: “I feel like my Independence is growing – my ability to be alone during this time.”
Evan: “I would say persistence … sticking to what I need to accomplish instead of backing out.”
Gibran: “I say … self control. To keep myself from watching YouTube videos all day.”
Ra’ees: “During this time I get to be more patient. I am more patient when I am doing actual exercises to strengthen the body.”
The Guides at ActonKL wish everyone the best for the next week and hope that they will keep growing those ‘muscles’!
