This week we welcomed Eagles back with our weekly launch, as well as announcing our character trait for the week! Each week, we have been focusing on one of the character traits, and will be choosing a hero from each studio that has displayed this character trait most generously. This week was motivation week! We discussed what motivates us, whether personal or from our community, and why it is important to know.
Navigators continued with their deep dive into collective learning and what kinds of decisions that allowed early humans to make. Launch Pad also continued to explore collective learning and added in another chapter of The Beak of the Finch- this time focusing on why various species were eating the same food and why nature selected for various traits.
Navigator and Launch Pad continued with their speech writing- this time adding on parts that focused on their chosen biologist’s actual science. Foundation has been building their note taking, along with sources, for their research papers.
In Biology this week, our Eagles geared up for whale watching, exploring all things whale! Foundation learned the differences in sizes of whales, marking their measurements in chalk outside. They learned the differences between fish and whales, and the marine biology food web. They also made whale origami, and simulated whale blubber. It was a whale of a time!
Navigator and Launch Pad also explored whales, along with research on their own personal curiosities of marine life. Eagles explored what it would look like to be a marine biologist, and the recent state of marine life today, with the impact humans have made.
In Art, we moved forward with Dramatic Art, starting out our day with some fun tongue twisters and face exercises! Ask your Eagle about the warm up phrases, they’ll be sure to want to challenge you to some tongue twisters we’ve learned!
Foundation and Navigators studied Freytag’s pyramid, and the five elements of a dramatic arc. We watched some fun videos breaking down the plot structure for various Pixar films, and discussed what makes a good story. We finished with some team improv, taking turns creating our own stories on the spot, with our assigned element, whether exposition, climax, or denouement. Our Eagles really flexed their creativity for this game!
Launch pad got into full swing this week, with their independent work toward social commentaries and deep dives. It has been great seeing the diversity of these projects come to life!
In PE this week we continued with Track and Field. Eagles were hustling, showing great motivation and competition. We learned how to jump hurdles, practices some stop-and-go racing, and finished our work out with a “Killer Ketchup” race, where runners began on either side of a circle, and each ran in the same direction trying to catch up to the other. We saw some seriously hard work sprinting! Eagles rounded up PE nominating their good sports for the week. Congrats to Vika and Kathleen!
We finished our week with an adventure on Friday to Newport Beach, to spend the day aboard the S.S. Beluga to whale watch. While on the high seas, we saw California sea lions and Pacific white-sided dolphins. Eagles kept their eyes peeled for the spray that surfaces from the whale’s blowhole, but unfortunately there were no larger whales to be sighted that day! With a whale specialist on board, however, there was a lot of learning still to be had about everything whale, along with a bumpy ride atop the waves (and some cold ocean spray to the face), and hot chocolate at the snack bar to keep us warm! Big thanks to all of our drivers and chaperones who volunteered their time to make this trip happen!
