Eagle Bay Academy Monthly

Nov. 1 - No School or school obligations in observance of Diwali

Nov. 7 - Visitors from North Country Union High School's Big Picture Pilot program

Nov. 21 - Annual Student Thanksgiving Feast

Nov. 25 & 26 - We have school the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving even though the rest of the district does not. Due to our late start we are required to make up some days.

Nov. 27-29 - Thanksgiving Break!

Our biweekly home conferences with House Advisors are a vital part of the Eagle Bay experience. These meetings offer us a unique opportunity to build a strong home-school connection as we work together to develop personalized learning plans, set meaningful goals, and monitor each student’s progress and growth. This collaborative approach allows us to celebrate successes, address challenges, and ensure that every student feels supported in their journey. We look forward to these regular check-ins as a powerful way to stay connected and aligned in fostering each student’s success! Also, note students, as part of their growth toward independence and self direction, are required to have these meetings in person. Make sure you schedule yours today!

Attached below is the School-Based Health Center form, which enables students to receive care through our health center located at the high school. The center is open on Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m., with options for both in-person and virtual appointments. Once the form is completed, students can make appointments by contacting the BHS nurses.

The School-Based Health Center offers a convenient option for addressing acute health needs, such as ear or throat pain, as well as for managing ongoing medical concerns, including medication questions, refills, and minor injury follow-ups. This service aims to provide accessible healthcare to support the wellbeing of Eagle Bay students.

In STEM students worked on personal projects that included building boats, bags from recycled materials, fixing 3D printers, CAD designs, bouncy balls and more! We practiced the design process and made prototypes. Next quarter we look forward to tackling larger community projects as a team.

Students in Ben and Jessie’s Crew have been working on the skills we need to function as a team. Our group project was to clean-up the STEM lab so it could be used by students. The Fabulous Crew took this on and worked hard to clear out the space and set it up as a functional space. We were able to use this room for Cedar House on exhibition night. We are looking forward to finding another group project for quarter 2.

Cedar House Humanities classes have been practicing curiosity by asking questions rather than focusing on answers; keeping up with current events; building reading stamina; and working on contributions to our new community library. These contributions range from designing a game section to creating original artwork for the walls and the common space. We've also been exploring ways of documenting and supplementing our learning using tools like Unrulr and Google Arts & Culture, and discussing the evolving role of AI in education. Out-of-classroom opportunities included visits to the New North End library, walks to the lake, a trip to Market 32 in order to contribute snacks to the Cedar House community, and an excursion to Champlain College gallery to view an exhibit on the history of game design. Looking ahead to our Language & Culture project, we'll each be choosing a language to learn/practice, then exploring––through various lenses––the cultures and countries where that language is spoken.

In Humanities we are working on creating an EBA library. We met with the BHS librarian, Shannon Walters, inventoried our books, and have teams working on the layout and design of the space and curating the collection. We’ve also started daily reading and writing activities, which the students seem to really enjoy.

In Crew, we’ve done a mix of orientation activities, team building/SEL, and group project work. The students each developed a project that would interest them, and we combined most ideas into the creation of a “lounge” in the Connector space, which will include a student-made and curated art gallery, a whole-school quilt, and a space for game-playing with some demos.

All of Trillium house did a volunteer day at Vermont Youth Conservation Corps farm, where they harvested vegetables to be given to families in need, as prescribed by their doctors.

[Photos: Top, chilling with the chickens at VYCC. Visiting a quilt exhibit at the Fleming for research/inspo for group project]

We began the year with two different explorations of the scientific method.
➮ During the first experiment, the students watched a powder mix with a liquid that created a reaction in a beaker. The teacher then began to pour the beaker over a candle flame, but the flame went out before anything appeared to pour out. The students then designed their own experiments to explore this phenomenon. Some students tried to identify the mystery powder, others tested the mystery liquid. Some students identified how many candles this reaction was able to put, and more! Ask your student what they did.

➮ During the second experiment, the teacher flipped cups of colored water on top of other cups of water. In one case, the two cups of water mixed, in the other case, they didn't. The students then explored the different behaviors of liquids based on density, heat, and solubility to figure out why some liquids mix and others do not.

What an active and productive month October has been for “The Nest!”

In our Applied Math Class quarter 1, we have been studying financial math including: debit cards, checking account, and discussed opening a savings account. We reflected our learning in our writing journals, as well as talking in small groups..As the quarter progressed, we moved into more of a Project-Based Learning which included: budgeting, planning on a vacation, plan flights, making an itinerary, renting a car/Uber, and reviewing vocabulary that reflects destination vacations.

As a part of our afternoon workshops, through our self-directed projects students are working on making 1000 cards for St. Mark’s Church to be distributed during their Thanksgiving/Fall Harvest, as well constructing sound panels for our room to improve our learning environment as well as absorbing sound and reducing echos throughout our space.

In our Humanities class, we are working on the theme “Belonging.” We took a field trip to the Good New Garage and Richard Kemp Center. Throughout these two visits, students learned connectedness through community, as well as rootedness in a place, and truly feeling a sense of belonging themselves. It was a great experience.

Finally, a small group went to the Vermont Tech Center, to the “Women Can Do Conference.” Students experienced many vocational jobs and had a great time both listening to a mini presentation and getting hands-on experiences through different career paths. Their mission is to promote economic justice by advancing gender equality and supporting women and youth at every stage of their career journeys.

OCTOBER WAS A GREAT MONTH IN “THE NEST!”

Dual Enrollment in Vermont allows high school juniors and seniors to take college courses for free at participating Vermont colleges and universities. Students can earn both high school and college credits simultaneously, providing an opportunity to explore college-level coursework, gain valuable skills, and potentially reduce future college costs.

If any student is interested in learning more about dual enrollment courses or is interested in taking a dual enrollment course for the spring semester, reach out to me and I can help with the registration process. To be eligible to register for the spring, students must have earned 12 credits by the beginning of the semester. Registration begins on November 8th.

Also, if any students have questions about their graduation progress or proficiencies, please reach out. I am happy to support.

Hannah D.

Thank you for your partnership in helping us maintain a No-Cell-Phone Campus. If you need to get in touch with your child during the school day, please contact the main office, and we’ll ensure your message gets through.

We’re excited to share that we’ve seen students actively engaging with one another and diving deeper into their academic work. It’s heartwarming to witness students having meaningful conversations and staying focused throughout the day.

As a reminder, we kindly ask that you avoid reaching out to your child directly on their phones during school hours. Research shows that students are more likely to engage fully in their learning when they are free from the distractions of their phones.

If your student is still finding it challenging to adjust to this policy, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We are here to support them in building healthy habits around technology use.

Thank you again for your continued partnership and support!

Respectfully,

Student Support Staff

Sam Jackson Dean of Students

Mike Plante, BI

Jason Gorcoff, BI

Eagle Bay is using a social emotional curriculum and assessment tool called wayfinder. Ask your student's advisors about it at your next biweekly home conference. To learn more read below or click here.