A Middle School Learns Together

Another Amazing Month in The Life at CELC Middle School!

There are no two weeks alike at CT Experiential Learning Center’s (CELC) Middle School! With our wide range of academic classes combined with real-world learning, students are in the classroom and out in the world, experiencing a rich variety from which the learning emanates.

Below are some of the October highlights. November has plenty in store as well, including a visit to Windham Textile and History Museum, a visiting storyteller and mime Antonio Rocha, family history study, mathematics galore, reading, writing, cooking, yoga class, and even a school picture day! Lots to look forward to – we sure do stay busy.

CT Experiential Learning Center students are involved in collaboration with students from Saint Martin de Porres Academy. The group began a project where they explored the idea of heroism. Who are our heroes? What are the qualities of a hero? How do these reflect the qualities in our selves?

Students incorporated qualities such as courageous, ethical, and respectful forgiveness into creating “Hero Tree” collages. Each student created a tree designed to symbolize -in texture, color, words, and imagery - aspects that demonstrate the types of heroes and the intersection of the qualities that relate both to types of heroes and to oneself.

Students participate in a water quality field study with Project Water of the Whitney Water Center along the Mill River in Hamden, CT. Using authentic equipment to test for nitrates, oxygen levels, and pH, the students collect data to compare water quality in rural, suburban, and urban areas along the river.

CT Experiential Learning Center (CELC) Middle School partners with the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, where students participate in a nine-week drama class. The class incorporates CELC’s year-long theme : Heritage, Ethnicity, and Quest for Freedom in America. The Terminal, written and directed by Long Wharf educator Kristianna Smith, is a show about the transitions and struggles we face while growing up; it is a compilation of fictional lives and our own perceptions of the world. Whether it is pressure from parents, peers, or inner self, The Terminal explores the journey toward self-discovery.

CELC’s Outdoor Education class with environmental educator Lucy Meigs of Everyone Outside! Lucy’s passion for the outdoors and knowledge of the natural world enable students to develop greater understanding of the environment. Students are guided in their own discovery process through careful observation and the asking of a lot of questions. During this particular class students are also instructed in how to identify different types of trees based on leaf type, bark pattern, and other characteristics.

CT Experiential Learning Center (CELC) students and parents participate in Branford’s Walk Like MADD, held 11 October, to benefit Mother’s Against Drunk Driving.

A dynamic middle school, CT Experiential Learning Center (CELC) of Branford provides small classes that combine exceptional academics with hands-on and real-world learning experiences to fit the academic, social, and developmental needs of the 5th – 8th grade student.  CT Experiential Learning Center is a 501c3 corporation.