by

Parent Teacher Conferences

It is that time again! We will be holding Parent Teacher Conferences From 9 AM to 5 PM on Friday, July 31st. Our teachers have been preparing for this day, and are ready to meet with you! We know that many of you will have your student with you on this day. We feel this will be the perfect time for us to all meet together. Please come with questions for your 20 minute meeting with the teachers. The sign up links for each school are below. They have also been emailed to you. If you have any questions, email Regan at regan.whimpey@gmail.com.

For the Girls Signup, Click Here

For the Boys Signup, Click Here

We are excited to see you all!!

by

Summer Education Can Be Fun

It is a sunny day in June. The horses are basking in the sun. The cats are lounging in the shade. It is enough to make you want to get out there and enjoy the weather. Here at Maple Lake, the students are working hard in their classrooms. The teacher is busy explaining the next assignment, while the students listen intently in excitement for their next project. However, this is no ordinary type of lesson plan. The students aren’t just learning math or english, this time they are learning about something of great interest to each one of them.

So what is this project we are talking about? We’ll let one of the teachers explain it in his own words:

“This term we thought we would allow each student to complete a research project on any subject they are interested in. Each student was given the opportunity to choose 3 topics. Jeff and I then discussed those topics with each student and helped each of them whittle their choices down to one topic. The goal here is to give the students ownership and control over what they are learning.”

– Seth Campbell

In addition to doing this research project, the students are also attending a Scholar’s Camp where they will be learning different types of study skills and executive functioning.

by

Good-byes Are Hard :(

After two years of service, we say good-bye to Byron, our science teacher. He leaves to pursue his teaching career in other areas and will be missed by all of us. Byron leaves an imprint of passion and enthusiasm for science and states his favorite part of MLA is “working with the students.” If we were all paying attention we would have noted that Byron’s favorite science is geology. He enjoys teaching about Earth’s physical structures and processes and was able to bring that to life for our students. Byron’s wish for our students is that, “they all fulfill their hopes and dreams (especially if it includes science).” Wink. Farewell Bryon. We wish the best for you and will miss you!

Look for an upcoming post about our new science teacher very soon!

by

Humanitarian Update

This has been quite an unusual period of time.  I extend a very grateful, and heartfelt, thank you to all who participated and shared supplies for the humanitarian project we had in February. The students were so very excited to work on it.  It was, I think, a profound experience for them to work together toward helping others. 

We ended up with 75+ hygiene kits
We were able to make 25+ blankets and had many other high priority necessities contributed

Just as we had scheduled and were planning our visit to the Lifting Hands International warehouse, it was canceled due to the quarantine.  We are looking forward to having a field trip is the near future when we are cleared to go.  We will share more photos at that time. Thank you for all you have done to help.

Latest Posts

Experimental Design and Curiosity

The students have been hard at work all term on their Experimental Design Projects. I believe that science should be all about curiosity. Young children are known for their curiosity. It’s a gift that many of us lose as we grow. The very best scientists never lose their curiosity, but we do learn how to…

by Maple Lake Education Department

Loading…

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

Blog Posts

Teachers are More Than Teachers at MLA

If our social studies teacher looks happy, it is because he is. Last week he completed Van Training along with other teachers. Being a teacher at Maple Lake Academy is more than just writing lesson plans and grading papers. Teachers are part of the larger MLA community and participate in training like all employees. One…

Blog Posts

Good-bye Edmodo, Hello CANVAS

We say farewell to Edmodo this week. They are closing their doors and our new platform for learning will be CANVAS. We are currently in pilot mode so some of the student classes have not completed the process. We appreciate your patience as we work out the “bugs” and “kinks” over the next weeks. Our…

Blog Posts

Summer Students Have Virtual Visits to Germany

This summer MLA students were able to take a German course that introduced not only language but the culture and sites of Germany. They participated in virtual visits and were able to view sites in Southern Germany as live participants. Some of the locations that students observed were the Dachau concentration camp near Munich, the…

by

Strawberry DNA

We have been doing great things in science! The lab we most recently did in Biology is checking out Strawberry DNA! Here are some pictures of the students obtaining the strawberry DNA.

First the students had to make a solution with the following materials.

We started with mashing up the strawberry in a bag and then dumping the contents into the coffee filter to strain out all the chunks.

Once that material had been separated, we added the rubbing alcohol and the Strawberry DNA Appeared! The white stuff hanging from the craft stick.

The students had a great time extracting the DNA from the strawberries.

by

Parent-Teacher Conferences April 24, 2020

Dear Parents, emails were sent out on April 15th to sign up for a time to attend our online parent conference. We appreciate your attendance and flexibility as we continue to work together. If you did not receive an email, please contact our Education Department.

We love these times when our teachers can visit one-on-one with you as we work and serve your children. School rocks!

by

Thumbs Up and All Smiles

Flexibility is defined as the quality of being able to bend without breaking and that is exactly the feel on campus here at Maple Lake. You cannot see it, but these two faces are actually smiling. As weeks progress and we continue to apply safety as our top priority, those of us on campus have geared up to meet the challenge. Although some of us may look different, the work we do has not changed.

This is also true for the Education Department as students and faculty adjust to the altered format of teaching. We are making it work! For example, our math teacher has implemented a “help chair” for his post lecture. Students are able to use the chair to indicate they need help from the teacher and get a one-on-one guide to completing the math problem while still in class. Our English teacher is effectively using Edmodo, our online resource for uploading assignments and homework, by giving students “real time” feedback on their current projects.

I have to say that we love our supportive staff and how they are an important part of pulling it all together. We could not do this without them. THANK YOU STAFF!

by

Wonderful Words Win 1st Place

What does it take to be a writer? Well, one of our own can answer that. She has earned the honor of first place for Youth Poetry at the Central Oregon Writer’s Guild 2020 Writing Contest. Her poem, why is it hard to love a poet? will be shared at a showcase later this year. Her English teacher states, “Her poetry is noticeably complex and stylistic. Her words are relentlessly real and revelatory. She is an amazing writer and we are proud of her.”

We can’t have these words all to ourselves and want to share here. Enjoy the read. 


why it is hard to love a poet?
it is such a curse
to see the beauty in
everything as long as
it's impersonal
the vulnerability reserved for
the blooming flowers
or the music that moves my
feet into a
pathetic one-two step
being a poet is no more painful
than being human, it's just that i feel
it more.  it feels like a fog-drenched cliff with no
lighthouse in sight
more like a soliloquy that won't stop
no matter how many rotten tomatoes the
front row tosses heavy-handed
i eat until the juice drips down
my face my callused hands ripe and red
and i am still unfulfilled
it is such a curse to see the beauty
in every word, except for the ones
you create
It’s Just Rocket Science.
by

It’s Just Rocket Science.

Oh man, it’s time to build ROCKETS! *shwoosh* *roar* *pew pew!* The teachers and students have chosen to build rockets as one of the many fun and engaging activities we do at Maple Lake Academy. The plan for our rockets is to build them, note the differences in design, and then launch them to see how the differences in design affect the rocket’s flight! Even though the rockets are still not finished, we have already noticed many differences. Each rocket is unique, just like our students! Some rockets are smooth, some are a little rough, and some only have two fins. No matter what the rocket looks like, we are excited to see how high each of them will go! We plan to keep the blog updated on the status of our rockets until they are finished and ready to launch! Here is a picture of a few current rocket models:

We plan to paint them, put in the engines and parachutes, and launch them very soon! In the meantime we are having a great time being rocket scientists:

Stay tuned for more status updates on our rockets!

by

You Can Teach Old Dogs New Tricks

This may look like our teachers are hovering over the computer making secret plans but this is no secret. Maple Lake Academy is training teachers to use video conferencing as a format for lessons. In the wake of current world events, the education department is determined to do all they can to keep school in session. Nothing will take the place of having a teacher in the classroom and giving their personal touch to the lessons, but being able to keep the flow of academics going is an important part of what we do at Maple Lake Academy. In fact, these two teachers are piloting video conferencing this week and have worked hard to adapt the curriculum to this format. Math, English, Social Studies and Science will get a new look this Spring as we continue to adapt to our changing world.