The final week of instruction brought CELC students to Trap Rock Ridge camp for a two-night overnight. Cooking outdoors, sleeping under the stars, clamming in Long Island Sound, touring the Yale Art Gallery’s ancient art exhibit, and traveling to circus class filled the days.
Connecticut’s Experiential Learning Center (CELC) offers the most desirable aspects of a middle school education:
For parents, the assurance that their children will succeed in a full range of academic subjects, because they receive individual attention designed to maximize their abilities.
For students, CELC is where learning is an adventure, because math, literature, history, science, music and art are hands-on, speak-out experiences connected to them. read more
The auditorium at the Blackstone Memorial Library became transformed into a “living museum” of ancient civilizations, representing months of research and study by students of the Connecticut Experiential Learning Center.
Each interactive project contained a variety of informational items, including a timeline specifying dates of the civilization, listing important events that occurred within that time period; hand-drawn maps of ancient compared to modern geographical locations and place names of the region studied; a research report; and a plethora of visuals, dioramas, models, and more. read more
CELC students will create a “living museum” presentation and display, sharing their ancient civilizations research and study work. Students will bring forth their learning in an interactive way, as they each invent and become a persona within a mini-environment created to represent their civilization. As if you are traveling back in time, visit Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Celts, the Huns, and the Greeks. This Friday, 28 May from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.
We hope to see you there!
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A renga is a very old form of poetry that originated in Japan as a party game. They are image-filled and written in alternating stanzas of three and two lines. They have been written by anywhere from two to two hundred authors with up to 1,000 stanzas. How ambitious!
Often rengas begin with a stanza about the natural world, the seasons, or a sense of place. They do not have a single theme, but each stanza, in some subtle or obvious way, relates to the preceding stanza but not the one before that. The links can be made with a connecting image or a word that has several meanings. Rengas are stingy on words but massive in “painting a picture in your mind.” Much to Maria’s chagrin, proper grammar is out the window. read more
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For students who may not thrive in a large middle school environment, Connecticut Experiential Learning Center (CELC) provides a small setting where capable students discover the joys of learning. CELC combines strong academics with experientially-based learning to encourage young people to be enthusiastic learners and confident adolescents, offering a full-time middle school academic curriculum for students ages nine through fourteen, including hands-on science, writing, grammar, history, literature, math, Spanish, culinary arts, outdoor education, music, and field studies. Contact Maria or Melinda to schedule a visit.
CELC students tour Washington, D.C. – we are having full days and lots of fun!
Today’s (Wednesday, 3 March) highlights include The National Zoo, The Library of Congress, and the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit.
Today (Thursday, 4 March) we toured the Capitol
Snow Day or Go Day ?
When I was a kid I cherished the very few days that it snowed enough to cancel school. Come on – a chance to go sledding at the golf course or skating at the pond behind the school. Who wouldn’t choose that over sitting in a classroom all day?
Peace Jam is a great organization where young people from around the world work together with Nobel Peace Prize Laureates to create positive change through Peace Jam’s Global Call to Action. Today CELC students met Barry Felson, our Northeast Peace Jam representative. 
“He made me feel like I coud be a part of things and make a difference when he made the point that everything counts and you can make a difference – you don’t have to do something huge.” H.S., 8th grade student.
When Helen Deimastro, owner of Ben and Jerry’s in Branford, inquired about CELC and then asked if I might want to bring the group in for a tour and some scoops, it seemed like it would be just the type of unique and novel experience we like to present to our students.
Our time there turned out to be a class in small business ownership, bigger-picture business philosophy, food service industry, a behind-the-scenes look at making waffle cones, and a delicious afternoon snack.
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