Eastport's Fin-Tastic News

Dear Eastport Families,

As September comes to a close, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone for making the start of the 2026–2027 school year such a wonderful success! The past month was filled with energy, laughter, and the excitement of students settling into their new routines as we built strong connections and established a foundation for a great year ahead.

We had a busy and memorable month full of special events that brought our school community together in every way. Early in the month, we observed Patriot’s Day with age-appropriate classroom activities and continuing our annual "Waves of Patriotism" flag fundraiser. In addition, we held a moment of silence to honor those heroes lost on September 11, 2001.

Following that, our campus overflowed with pride during Homecoming Spirit Week, where students and staff showed off their enthusiasm with daily themed dress-up activities culminating with the bonfire and football game at the high school. During that week, our students also brought their best smiles for Picture Day, capturing wonderful portraits for the school year.

Finally, we capped off the month by hosting the Scholastic Book Fair and our Open House Night, where families toured classrooms and met our Eastport staff. Thank you once again for your partnership and warm support throughout this incredible first month, and we look forward to continuing this momentum into October.

Sincerely,

Mr. DeKams

During the month of September, our school community joined together to honor the anniversary of 9/11 through acts of service, reflection, and community support under this year's district-wide theme, "Unexpected Heroes of 9/11."

Our students took active roles in learning what it means to step up when others need help most. In our civic action initiative, students wrote heartfelt thank-you letters to express their deepest gratitude to our local Manorville and Eastport first responders. These hand-written notes, delivered to the heroes who protect our neighborhood daily, served as a powerful reminder of the strength found in local community and selfless service.

Inside our halls, the conversation continued at our building-wide Thought Board in the cafeteria. Centered around the guiding prompt, "How can we be unexpected heroes?", the board quickly filled with colorful Post-it notes containing thoughtful student reflections. From simple acts of kindness in the hallway to larger commitments to standing up for peers, our students proved that heroism often begins in the small, intentional choices we make every day.

We concluded our September observances with our annual Waves of Patriotism flag fundraiser. Thanks to the generosity and school spirit of our families, faculty, and staff, the fundraiser successfully raised meaningful support for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, helping continue their vital work honoring military members, first responders, and their families.

Thank you to all of our students and staff who helped make this September a inspiring demonstration of unity, service, and gratitude.

New year, new goals! Our 4th graders kicked off the first day of school with big smiles, bright energy, and endless excitement for the adventures ahead. From reconnecting with old friends to exploring our new classroom, students jumped right into learning about this year's routines, setting their personal goals, and building a supportive classroom family. If day one is any indicator, this year is going to be full of growth, discovery, and unforgettable moments.

Building connections from the ground up! To break the ice, our 4th graders jumped into the 'Tower of Communalities' challenge. Working in small groups, students discovered what they had in common—from favorite hobbies and pets to preferred pizza toppings—and wrote each shared trait on an index card. Then came the ultimate test of teamwork: using only those cards to engineer the tallest, sturdiest tower possible! It was incredible watching our students construct strong structures while discovering how much they truly have in common.

This month's Music Student of the month is Laurel Malloy. Laurel is an oboe player in the 4th grade band. She is a wonderful example of a dedicated and hard working young musician. Laurel comes to band prepared, focused and ready to learn. She is making excellent progress on her oboe. We are proud of Laurel for her positive attitude and fantastic work!

This month in our PE classes students have been working on jump roping skills. Jumping rope is a great full-body cardio exercise. Some key benefits:

• Improves cardiovascular fitness — strengthens your heart and lungs.

• Burns calories — can be a high-intensity workout in a short time.

• Builds lower-body strength — especially calves, quads, and glutes.

• Improves coordination — trains your hands, feet, and timing to work together.

• Increases agility and explosiveness — useful for sports and athletic movement.

• Supports bone health — the impact can help maintain bone density when progressed appropriately.

• Improves endurance — regular sessions can make sustained activity easier.

In addition to our daily exercises with jump rope, our first unit of focus is flag football. Flag football is an up and coming sport with it being played in the Summer Olympic Games of 2028!

To start the year in art, every grade is focusing on color theory! 3rd grade is making colorful patterns with their name. 4th grade is painting some fun ROYGBV birds. 5th grade is practicing their complementary colors. And 6th graders are mixing tertiary colors to create their own color wheel!

September in STEAM has been all about teamwork and collaboration! Students have jumped into a variety of hands-on challenges designed to help them practice working together, communicating ideas, listening to others, and solving problems as a team. Through each challenge, students learned that successful teamwork means sharing ideas, using everyone’s strengths, working through challenges, and sometimes learning from a few failed attempts along the way. We’re off to a great start and look forward to seeing these collaboration skills grow throughout the year!

October 3rd: ETPTO Fall Festival @ TAS (Rain Date: October 4th)

October 12th: Columbus Day (SCHOOLS & OFFICES CLOSED)

October 14th: ETPTO Meeting @ TAS 10:00 AM

October 20th: SEPTO Virtual Meeting @ 7:00 PM

October 21st: Board of Education Meeting @ 7:00 PM

October 27th: EES Shared Decision Meeting @ 8:15 AM

October 30th: ETPTO Halloween Event @ EES