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    A year in the life of Cliff Island school - Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer | of | Share this photo

    Cliff Island's new school teacher Jenny Baum teaches "whole body listening" to her only two students, second-grader Edward Anderson, 7, and first-grader Chloe Blomquist, 6, on the third day of school on Thursday, September 6, 2018. Baum moved from New York City to Cliff Island over the summer to teach the island's two elementary-aged students in the one-room schoolhouse.

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    A year in the life of Cliff Island school - Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer | of | Share this photo

    First-grader Chloe Blomquist, 6, runs up the stairs of the schoolhouse on the third day of school. Cliff Island's one-room schoolhouse has been in operation since the 1880s and is a part of Portland Public Schools.

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    Cliff Island's one-room schoolhouse photographed in 1939. (Photo courtesy of Cliff Island Historical Society)

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    The 6:10 a.m. ferry to the mainland departs from Cliff Island. Nearly all islanders who work a job on the mainland take the early ferry as there isn't another one until noon.

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    Jenny Baum tries to pull off Edward's muddy boots after playing outside for recess.

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    Cliff Island School students photographed in the Spring of 1939. Edward Anderson's grandfather, Norman "Bub" Anderson, is pictured sitting at the bottom, second from left. Anderson's father also attended the school. (Photo courtesy of Cliff Island Historical Society)

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    Edward and Chloe eat lunch in the Cliff Island community hall's kitchen. Portland Public Schools sends on the school lunch out for the two students in a cooler on the 10:00 a.m. ferry.

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    Jenny reads, "Ramona the Pest," to Edward and Chloe on the ferry to Long Island's school on Tuesday, February 5, 2019. The three travel to Long Island for the afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The kids have specialty classes like art and music and Jenny has the chance to interact and collaborate with fellow educators.

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    Chloe follows along as Long Island teacher Katie Norton works through a few yoga poses with her students on Long Island. Long Island's school is a two-room schoolhouse that has students from Long as well as Great and Little Diamond Islands.

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    Edward and Chloe run a little ahead of Jenny on their way to "Stinky Beach", a small beach near the schoolhouse.

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    Madelyn Cushing, far left, a born and raised islander, teaches, Edward, Fiona, Edward's little sister, Jenny and Chloe ukulele lessons every Wednesday at the school. Getting community members who don't have children in the school involved in the classroom is something Baum strove to continue in her first year as the island teacher.

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    Jenny and Chloe spent a few days visiting Mohegan's one-room schoolhouse with teachers and students from other outer island schools for the annual Inter-Island event in the fall. There are six one room schoolhouses left in Maine, all of them on islands and they stay connected through in person events and through The Outer Island Teaching Collaborative, run through the Island Institute, which facilitates virtual connection back in the classrooms as well. ÒWe might be on this remote island, but with the beauty of technology we can build our community even that much bigger. Really neat to interact with these kids that all have something in common,Ó Baum said. ÒThere is something very, very special about what the island institute is doing because theyÕre connecting all of us. Island communities really understand other island communities. The beauty of it, the great things, but also the hard stuff.Ó

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    Chloe and other students from Maine's outer islands listen to Monhegan local and librarian Mia Boynton as she read a children's book about a child who lives on a island to during the annual Inter-Island event in Monhegan.

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    Chloe sits with her father, Bill Blomquist, who was on their ferry back to Cliff Island from Long Island. Chloe's mother works on the mainland and has to take the 6:00 a.m. ferry off the island and doesn't return till 7:00 p.m. Bill works on the islands doing work for the city so he is able to get Chloe to and from school.

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    Chloe practices her letters by writing "Miss. Jenny" on the schoolhouse chalkboard.

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    Edward takes his turn at golf while Chloe watches during gym class with Portland gym teacher Todd Wing in the community hall on Cliff Island. Weather permitting, Wing takes a water taxi out to Cliff a few times a month for gym.

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    Cliff Island School students and teachers photographed in the 1978. Edward Anderson's father, Eric Anderson, is pictured in the first row, third from right, Anderson's grandfather also attended the school in the 1930s and 40s. (Photo courtesy of Cliff Island Historical Society)

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    Chloe, Edward, and Edward's little sister, Fiona, preform at Cliff Island's annual Christmas party. The Christmas party is an island tradition where dinner is served, gifts are given and the students put on a play and sing carols. The school is often the center piece of community events on the island.

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    Jenny, far left, leads her students during their performance at Cliff Island's annual Christmas party. The kids family members, from far right, Chloe's mother, Michelle Blomquist, Edward's father, Eric Anderson, Chloe's grandmother, Nancy Blanchard, and Chloe's father, Bill Blomquist, sit in the front of the hall to watch.

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    Chloe sits outside the hall waiting for her parents after the Cliff Christmas party.

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    Homes coated with a fresh blanket of snow on the east side of Cliff Island in February. Jenny said her first winter on the island was rough at times. "Sometimes it just feels like you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark."

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    Jenny reacts as she see islanders gathering outside the hall before a soup lunch. Chloe and Edward made invitations for a Valentine's Day soup pot-luck and sent them out to the year-round island residents.

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    Chester Pettengill waves as he takes a seat at a table of islanders gathered for the soup potluck Valentine's Day party at the community hall. Pettengill, an island native, went to the one-room school himself and is descendant of two families that settled the island.

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    Jenny leads a virtual book group with older students from other outer island schools using technology purchased for the schoolhouse from the Cliff Island Memorial Fund. Gwen Lynch, 13, bottom right, was the last student left at Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts' one-room schoolhouse. She and her teacher joined Maine's one-room schools in their learning collaborative. Lynch graduated in the summer and the school, that opened in 1873, will close due to zero enrollment.

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    Chloe's mother Michelle, far left, watches as Chloe, center, and Edward play on a pile of snow during a snow day on Cliff Island on Wednesday, February 13, 2019. Blomquist works at a school on the mainland and is usually gone on weekdays from 6:00 a.m. till 7:00 p.m. because of the two and half hour ferry commute. Any day school is closed is more time she gets to spend with her daughter.

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    Edward rides the school bus for the short drive from the ferry dock to Long Island's school.

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    Jenny encourages Edward while he works with Long Island students on a group project. A big reason they go to Long Island every week is to give Edward and Chloe a chance to interact with other kids in a school setting--kids with whom they will ride the 6 a.m. boat with when they get to sixth grade and attend middle school on the mainland.

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    Chloe walks along the wooden plank on Long Island's dock before heading back on the ferry to Cliff. A ritual she repeats every time they visit the school.

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    Jenny greets her new puppy, Teddy, in the kitchen of her rented-home in the early morning hours before school on a gloomy day in March.

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    Edward and Chloe run to the schoolhouse door before heading out to recess.

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    Jenny hugs her mother, Jeanne Baum, goodbye before her parents head back to the mainland for their drive back to New Jersey after their visit to Cliff.

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    Jenny points out an owl that lives in one of the trees outside their schoolhouse to Chloe and Edward. The three often leave their one-room schoolhouse and venture out on the island. "The fortunate side to being so small is that we can go out into our natural environment," Baum said. "The kids were born and raised here, they know the lay of the land, so we can delve deeper into the natural world around them. The beauty of it is that theyÕre inspired by it and IÕm inspired by it. You can connect this beautiful island, this really unique place, to every subject area."

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    Chloe picks shells off of a rocky beach across the street from the schoolhouse for a science class project on marine life classification.

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    Chloe and Edward play legos with other island kids while they ride the ferry to the mainland with Edward's mom, Piper Anderson, far right and his little sister, Fiona. Cliff's school lets out at noon on Friday's to give the kids and their parents times to make appointments, run errands and participate in activities on the mainland.

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    Chloe and Edward play in the wooded area behind the schoolhouse during recess.

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    Chloe stands in front her and Edward's Earth Day beach clean-up posters on the island's news board.

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    Jenny works with Edward one-on-one while Chloe and Fiona, who was visiting the school, color.

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    Edward plays with Teddy outside of Jenny's house before going to lunch.

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    Edward, Chloe and Jenny, center, wait to get on the ferry on the Cliff Island dock during the second to last week of school. In the summer Cliff's population jumps from about 50 residents to about 200.

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    Chloe plays with first-grader Oliver Byers at the Long Island School playground on a warm, sunny day in June. Chloe and Oliver became friends throughout the course of the year, but Oliver and his family will return to the mainland for school next year.

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    Jenny and Long Island teacher Katie Norton laugh as they chat in the office at Long Island School. Jenny and Katie are not only colleagues, but became very close friends. "I don't know what I would do without her," Jenny said.

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    Edward and Fiona say hi to Jenny as walk back by the schoolhouse with their mother Piper, her friend, and their new baby sister, Roxanne, about 20 minutes after school was over on the last day of the year.

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    The kids make end of school celebration signs to hang around the island. The end of school celebration is an island tradition where summer people and year-rounders alike come to see the children perform and "graduate" to the next grade.

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    Islanders gather in the hall for the last day of school celebration on Saturday, June 15, 2019. Michelle, Chloe's mother, holds Edward's baby sister Roxanne, Cliff's newest resident. Jenny began to cry as she thanked the islanders for a great year. ÒYou rarely get recognition in a big school system for the hard work you put in and I feel very touched," Baum said later. "I feel like the work IÕve done is appreciated. And I feel loved and supported by the community. Genuinely. And that is not something you get in a city like New York.Ó

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    Jenny Baum gives Chloe a hug after receiving a card from her now second-grade student at the annual end of school celebration at the community hall on Saturday, June 15, 2019. In the card Chloe thanked her teacher and told Baum she loved her. In the fall the class size at Cliff Island will swell to three when Edward's little sister, Fiona, starts kindergarten.

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