Chesapeake Academy's mission: to inspire each student to approach learning with
curiosity and creativity,
pursue excellence in all endeavors,
and act with integrity--
so each can make our community and world a better place.
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The Head's Heads UP!
Educators, parents, business owners, politicians, and charitable organizations have worried, with very good reason, about the impact of 15 months of such disrupted schooling on students' learning as well as on their social and emotional health. Right here in our corner of the Northern Neck, I know how grateful we all are that our children have had the benefit of quite a bit of normalcy in their lives. As of June 4, Chesapeake Academy students have been in-person at school 162 days.
Despite the inconveniences of masks and additional cleaning protocols, the joy of being together each day is palpable. I gave a tour yesterday, and as our guest and I moved through the building, we listened to intense classroom discussions, witnessed team vocabulary competitions, saw students using the 3D printer, and saw students video recording presentations. My guest said, “I wish I could go back to school!”
There are big questions about the short and long term effects on our nation's children in this historic period defined by COVID. But at Chesapeake Academy, we have been able to keep our focus on supporting each child's learning and well-being. Chesapeake Academy teachers and students have been on task and engaged with the curriculum throughout this year. Our students are thriving with the routines, novelties, challenges, and successes of “regular school” life.
Important decisions about the length of the school year and the school day, combined with this consistency of high quality academic focus, offered teachers and students the opportunity to mitigate the impact on education of the COVID pandemic. I am deeply grateful for the professionalism and heart Chesapeake Academy's team brings to the school's mission. Never has it been more evident or more impactful!
Julie
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Faces and Our Culture is an organization that pairs host families at Chesapeake Academy (among other schools) and Guatemalan exchange students for a cultural program. Middle Schoolers are always excited to welcome exchange students and host families give rave reviews! We have three exceptional students lined up and looking for host families! Curious? Reach out to the Cammaratas, Shivers, Duvalls, or the Dews to hear about the many ways their families were enriched by the exchange.
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Osprey About Town--Mead Smith
Mead Smith (third grade) has been crabbing for over a year now. Last year in the spring, he put out a few pots off the family dock and became so enthused that soon the Smiths had a license for 15 pots! He does most of the work himself, from pulling and emptying the pots, rebaiting them and then sorting them for size.
This entrepreneur kept his family eating crabs all summer! He also helps a family friend (who is a teacher, but crabs commercially in the summertime) fish his 85 pots twice a week. The Smiths feasted on their first crabs last week and reported that they were delicious!!
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Calling all Library Books!
It is time to come out of hiding, allow yourselves to be rounded up and returned!
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Osprey About Town--Lorry Manetz, National Latin Exam
Lorry Manetz, eighth grade, earned a Gold Medal and Summa Cum Laude certificate on the 2021 National Latin Exam level 2/Intermediate exam! He also earned a Magna Cum Laude ribbon on the Pegasus Mythology Exam sponsored by the American Classical League. Lorry plans to continue to study Latin and the classics at Groton next year. Latin tutor Linda Montross comments on the aptitude, passion, and dedication this Osprey brings to this independent study!
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Class Acts...
Chesapeake Academy 3.0: Blended Learning
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Pre-K Creates Signing Primer Videos for Babies!
Pre-Kindergarten enjoyed learning to sign "America, the Beautiful" in music and dove on the chance to record short how-to videos to help young families teach signing to infants. Learning to sign offers infants communication tools significantly before their speech makers are ready to form discernible words.The first video features students demonstrating the signs. The next lesson will feature students introducing and explaining the sign as well as learning to take the video.
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Premier Detectives Get Their Villain!
First graders worked collaboratively practicing math skills while being detectives and solving a mystery involving a superhero who turned into an antihero.
Students solved a series of problems to receive a clue as to who the suspect was. Once students figured out all of the clues and eliminated the superheroes who were not suspects, they were able to determine who the antihero was, where the crimes were committed, and the superpowers he possessed.
Once they cracked the case, students created the crime scene and their own representations of what the guilty antihero looked like.
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Free Virtual Summer Camp with Code Virginia |
City Planners Are Hard at Work
Ms. Rogers' third graders have been studying geometry--lines, angles, plane figures, solid figures, perimeter, and area! To wrap this unit up, students are creating a geometric city. Third grade designers made a graph paper layout, then used 3D nets to create 3D shapes.
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Line UP To Learn!
Third grade students have been studying measurement in math, and one of the activities is a game called Line Up. Taking turns, students measure lines and record their measurements. After all of the lines have been measured, each student adds up their lengths (that means adding fractions as well!) and the one with the greater total wins! Third grade math students really enjoyed this game!
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Critical Thinking and Deductive Reasoning!
Fifth graders put their detective skills and the tools of history to work as they analyzed primary sources from the Library of Congress. Students reviewed several files, including a photograph of an amputee from the early 1900s, and were charged with not only observing, reflecting, and questioning the source, but also figuring out the story behind each piece. Brains were on fire as fifth graders scanned for clues--and excitement over learning was palpable! Among the discoveries was the fact that the amputee in the photograph was James Edward Hanger, Civil War veteran and inventor of the Hanger Prosthetic Limb. The prosthetics company he founded is still in business today.
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PALS Presents Local NASA Speaker Brad Perry on The Apollo Program
On Tuesday, June 1, Chesapeake Academy's Performing Arts and Lecture Series debuted "The Apollo Program" to middle school students. Brad Perry, a retired NASA engineer and current NASA speaker, spoke on the Apollo program and missions, including a number of personal stories that weave the history, technology, and science together. Perry encouraged students to discover their passions and pursue them with energy!
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Lights Up!
Fifth grade has been learning about the electromagnetic spectrum. While reviewing UV rays, students got to create a glow stick solution, and then use a black light to make them glow!
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Warming Up with Quantitative Reasoning
Seventh grade students begin each class period with a "Do Now" warm-up. These warm-ups are designed to practice algebraic problem solving and strengthen quantitative reasoning in a low stakes setting. Whether tackling mystery area puzzles, order of operations equations, or #mathwalks' more creative prompts, students call on their reasoning skills daily, in addition to learning the conceptual and procedural parts of Pre-Algebra.
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Student Council Event
Student Council will host their final event of the school year on Friday, June 11, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Student Council's Executive Committee has written a campus-wide scavenger hunt, ordered a pizza dinner, and planned outdoor games. The cost is $3, and the fun is priceless!
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CAPPA News
As CAPPA wraps up this school year, it's time to start preparing for next year! First, CAPPA would like to thank all of you for making this year one of the most successful CAPPA years yet! Thanks to all of the hard work from the apple fundraiser and Osprey Nest spirit wear sales, CAPPA was able to give back over $9,000 to the Bell-Tower Annual Giving Fund, teachers and students! Thank you!
Are you interested in serving on the CAPPA Executive Committe? CA needs your talent to help CAPPA shine next school year. Please contact Julie if you are interested in serving.
Many of you have asked about donating your used uniform items. CAPPA cannot take anymore donations at this time. Please try and buddy up with a younger Osprey and donate your gently used items or post your items on the CAPPA FB page. The Osprey Nest does not have storage for used uniforms at this time.
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Attitude of Gratitude
- Thanks go out for the infinite creativity and flexibility of the CA faculty and staff in navigating a challenging year with grace, courage, consistent professionalism and love.
- Thanks to retired NASA engineer, Brad Perry for bringing the Apollo program alive for CA's middle school.
- Thanks to Frederic Cabosel for his expert tennis coaching! The kids loved learning from him!
- Thanks go out to all those folks in the CA community who will come together to put on a fabulous Go for the Gold Field Day! Thanks to Emily Wills for donating the picnic lunch for the school! Thanks to all the room parents and parents who have delicious treats planned to commemorate the event.
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Save the Date
6/7 CA Field Day
6/11 Student Council Scavenger Hunt
6/15 through 6/18 Exams, seventh and eighth grade
6/16 Tag Day
6/17 Eighth Grade Lock-in Sleepover, 8:00 p.m.
6/18 Eighth Grade Pancake Breakfast
6/18 Last Day of School, dismissal starts at 11:45 a.m.
6/21 Faculty Workday
6/21 Eighth Grade Graduation Dinner
6/22 Graduation (eighth graders and their families only)
6/23 Last Faculty Workday
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