Open House Mondays in May – Contact us to schedule a visit!

A dynamic middle school program, 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 emotional needs of  5^th – 8^th grade students.

Located at 28 School Street (2nd floor), Branford , CT

RSVP mandm@CTExperiential.org or 203-433-4658

There were a dozen or so 5-gallon buckets on the floor. Inside each bucket was water and a number of turtles – each one different.  Some were small babies, and others were full-grown adults. This odd sight was what welcomed me and my fellow CELC students to Meigs Point Nature Center at Hammonasset State Park. Ranger Russ came and talked to us about all of the different types of turtles that could be found in Connecticut. We learned all twelve of them, from the Red-Eared Slider to the Box Turtle.

We were shown a turtle shell and told how the Native Americans used it as their calendar. There are thirteen main pieces on a turtle’s shell, and each of those represent a moon of the year. Around the outside edge of the shell, there are twenty-eight smaller pieces. Each of these represent a day of the month. Native Americans would mark off the days and then eventually the month.  This created a calendar very similar to the Julian one we use today.

Soon afterwards, we saw a turtle that had been struck by a car. As a result, its shell was cracked and damaged. At the time it was hit, it was not yet full-grown, so as it grew, the fracture widened. This could have been a serious problem, but scientists have found a rubber-like material that can patch up cracks and stretch as the turtle grows.  If you’re wondering how the turtle is doing, you’ll be pleased to read it is doing well!

I’m a believer in physical activity. It hasn’t always been that way. When I was a kid, physical activity wasn’t by choice. You see, my father was a believer … enough said. As I have aged, through nature and nurture, I have become a card-carrying member of the “Work is Good Society.” I have made this transition because I have seen what being physical does for one’s demeanor and his life. I have witnessed that it always leads to accomplishment, often a necessary one and usually positive in nature. It’s not just digging a hole and filling it in. It serves a real purpose.

Yesterday, the CELCers were here at Trap Rock Ridge Farm and Camp doing physical work. Now, these youngsters are similar to lots of other middle school kids their age. They are “regular kids”. But one thing that makes them exceptional is that they have been given the opportunity for an exceptional education and they rise to the challenge … they buy into it. Their parents buy into it. We all buy into it. It works.

And an important part of that education is “experience.” My little piece is to offer them a “work experience.”

Have you ever noticed what happens to a person when engaged in active, physical, hands-on work? In a group setting? Everything changes. Good things happen. And it is not because the individual has “decided” to make the best of the situation. It is due to the positive effect the physical work has on the body and mind.

All of a sudden, almost magically, when we engage in work in the group setting, out of nowhere we begin to see attitudes become more positive – cooperation, camaraderie, conversation, laughter, productivity, accomplishment. Hey, where did that come from?

And the work usually isn’t anything special. It is not designed to “lure” the students in. It is not the result of hours and hours of planning by social psychologists with a predetermined process and goal. It is simply “what needs to get done.” In our case what needs to get done often leads to food on the table and warmth coming from our woodstoves. It serves a real purpose in our lives.

So yesterday the CELCers headed up on our trap rock ridge where the sugar maples dwell. It is where we gather sap each year in order to make maple syrup. The task was to remove the taps and buckets from the trees that were tapped in early February. This weekend we will tap new trees in hopes of a strong run during the month of March. By the way, the month of February, which started out strong, was the worst one for sap production I can remember here in southern CT. Ouch!  

The group was given clear instructions on how to proceed. They were put on teams with the adults, they were given the tools, and they were sent up slope to accomplish the task. I wish I could have just been an observer yesterday. But, even though I was on a team, I was able to get a good sense of what was happening. I watched as the teams went about their business, chatting about whom would do what, taking turns, helping each other, getting ’er done. In a setting like this, it just happens. After we were underway, I did not have to say a word.

Maybe it took a half hour and the job was completed. No fussin’ or fightin’ or squabbles about who was getting more turns than the next person. We hummed along like a well-oiled machine.  All of the buckets and taps were removed, brought down slope, stacked near the next trees to be tapped. End of task. Everyone is happy, especially me!

On to the next task and venue; in our living room by the woodstove, vegetable seed starting. This activity, due to the number of steps involved, took some preplanning and note taking. If the seeds are not planted properly, it makes me crazy … though I would never let on.

We went through the ten-plus steps of seed starting, with everyone taking notes, asking questions, correcting me when I slipped up or said something twice (thank you very much, Maddie). Ready to get busy. We kept the same teams as on the hillside, we collected our many supplies, and we all found a place where our team could spread out.

Just so you can better appreciate what we were doing: The CELCers had made about 150 newspaper seed pots the last time they were here. We were seeding 5 types of heirloom tomatoes and 3 types of broccoli. We had seeds, pots, soiless seed starter, water spray bottles, trays, and the right attitude. And we had about an hour to seed about 150 pots. Impossible you say? Just watch and learn!

Teams went about their business, filling pots 3/4-full of soil, spraying them down, setting the seeds (keeping track of which pots we seeded and which ones we didn’t; the little seeds are almost invisible), covering with 1/8-inch of soil, spraying them down, setting them in a tray. Teams shared spray bottles, passed soil and pots around, climbed over each other to move the trays to the final location, joked and laughed, chit chatted, and stayed focused on the task. I think JJ, my partner, said it best, “I thought this would be boring, but it’s fun.” The final product is several trays of 150 seeded pots covering the twin bed in our guest room. Oh well, no company for at least two weeks! Woe is me.

2:30 p.m., time to go, all but a very few pots are seeded and ready to germinate and move to the grow lab. And hopefully, we will have enough so each student can take something home to plant this spring.

So the end result is a bunch of young and older folks feeling that they have worked hard, accomplished a necessary task, and they feel good about what they have done (again, especially me). A rare instance when instant gratification is a good thing. These are the types of experiences that will never, ever happen in front of a computer screen or TV set. Never, never, ever.

As Cole was about to leave, he tracked me down, looked me square in the eyes, gripped my hand, and said, “Thank you.” Are you kidding me? He’s doing the thanking? How lucky we are to have these “exceptional” young people coming to our property to work, feel good, and accomplish. How much better can it get?

What’s up next? In mid-March we will be preparing the CELCers a pancake lunch with fresh maple syrup. And then there is the work – collecting sap, cleaning the chicken house, early preparation of the veggie garden, splitting and stacking firewood for our stoves and sugaring evaporator. Fun, fun, fun.

So the next time you observe an individual or group doing something physical, remember, it may look like nothin’ special but, really, it is, somethin’ special. There’s a lot going on there.

Sincerely,

Rob Cole-Whiffen

Trap Rock Ridge Farm and Camp

East Haven, CT

When Nicole Ball, editor of Patch.com of Branford, came to visit the class, she described the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between newspaper reporting and the more modern “blog”.  A news story requires the writer to remain objective, giving the reader a chance to form an opinion of one’s own, based on the facts.  A blog is more subjective, as in the style of a personal narrative or journal and can assume a first-person point of view.  Good bolgs are also relatively short.  Nicole told us studies indicate that readers only read up to about 400 words on average, skimming if the piece is much longer.

CELC students are excited to be able to blog on Patch.com of Branford.  CELC brings students to a plethora of places as part of our unique middle school learning environment.  We look forward to sharing with readers!

CT Experiential Learning Center (CELC) of Branford  is an exciting and dynamic middle school program that provides small classes and combines exceptional academics with hands-on and real-world learning experiences to fit the academic, social, and emotional needs of the 5^th – 8^th grade student. Find out more at http://CTExperiential.org.

Balance comes into it, as does allowing the imagination to take the simple task of moving across a floorand making it into something more.

The science of motion – locomotion – the moving from one place to another was the theme of a unique dance performance that promoted audience participation through experiment and wonder.

It is so freeing to watch space be explored in atypical ways.  Seeing a balloon that is expected to float, handled so that it appears still, in mid-air.  Or when a pole becomes the dance partner and a body circles in parabolic shapes around it, like the movements of the planets along the ecliptic.  How about a dancing Segue, playing catch me if you can?

Combining imaginary play, spontaneity, incredibly poignant and graceful movement, and the scientific method, what may be commonplace suddenly stands out, sparking a refreshing new perspective.  How about those Laws of Motion?                                                

Brett Leckey, a 10-year old who initiated his own project devoted to LifeStraw®, also spoke about his fundraising efforts to better peoples’ lives throughout the world. Following the presentation, students attended a water science class entitled The Magic of Microscopy.

CELC students’ impressions about the event:

Millions of children gone everyday due to waterborne sickness.  The trees that fell one by one to make a fire for boiling water.  There was little hope for Kenya until the Vestergaard Frandsen company made a creation that won many awards, including 2000’s best invention.

This lifesaver is called LifeStraw®.  It is a straw about the length of a pencil and the width of your thumb.  LifeStraw® filters 99.9% of the viruses and bacteria.  All you need to do is put the LifeStraw® in contaminated water and suck; all the sickness gets stuck in the filtration system and clean water comes into your mouth.  This invention has helped the forest because the people of Kenya no longer have to boil water; it most likely saved people from getting sick and so it is a win-win on all sides.

- N.M., CELC student

I was amazed at how much I learned today.  It was really cool to be able to look through a microscope for the first time.  I never knew that there could be so many little organisms in just three drops of lake water.

We got to look at plant and animal samples under the microscope, such as fern leaf, fish scale and mammal lung.  I found it fascinating how the samples were dyed so that they could be seen better with the microscope.

The water that we looked at was from the Mill River, near the Whitney Water Center.  The water had so many plants and animals in it.  I enjoyed learning about water.

- J.S., CELC student

to be held Thursday, 8 March 2012

The CELC Science Fair is open to students of all ages and will take place

from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. on 8 March 2012.

 Cost for entry is a donation in any amount to LifeStraw®.

Come to an initial informational meeting on Tuesday, 10 January at CELC HQ (28 School Street, Branford CT) from 9 a.m. – 10 a.m.  Receive materials and guidelines, plus answers to any of your questions before getting started.

Projects submitted to the CELC science fair must be brought to CELC for set-up at 8 a.m. Thursday, 8 March.

There will be additional opportunities for work-sessions/group tutorials will be available for work on aspects of the projects/posters, etc. from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. Mondays: 30 January, 13 and 27 February

Contact Melinda to register and for more information:

mandm@ctexperiential.org

or call 203-433-4658 / 203-215-2317

Outdoor education takes many forms at CELC.  The “outdoor education class” happens twice per week for two hours at a time. We work with environmental educators such as Ranger Russ at Meigs Point Nature Center, do a lot of hiking, letterboxing, winter skiing, work on an organic farm, kayaking, and lots more. In addition to being a time to learn and be in nature, outdoor education also incorporates physical education.  Playing basketball in a gym, bowling, or doing yoga are all possible activities.  We play each day, no matter what the weather – call it recess or just being outside – after noon meal, CELCers run around outdoors.  They may toss a football, play guitar, or build forts in the woods.

Childhood is changing from something that once was a time of imaginary play, both indoors and out, to a time that tends toward structured activities or interacting with some form of digital media.

Yet research shows interaction with the natural environment plays an important role in children’s development, including building problem-solving and critical thinking skills, as well as fostering creativity.  As one example, Louv points to research on attention-deficit disorder at the University of Illinois, in which exposure to nature was shown to decrease ADD symptoms. Louv calls on adults to take kids hiking and camping or go just plain encourage them to spend unstructured time outdoors. Go! Explore! That’s the cure for the disorder.

– Sally Dennen, Ecopedia

      

There is a Japanese practice called shinrin yoku or “woods bathing” Just spending time in the woods is believed to help relieve fatigue and stress. This practice is part of the overall Japanese philosophy of combining nature into every aspect of life to become a part of it.

Our students are eager to be outside.  It is so refreshing to watch young people have time for free play.  These days schools are pressured to cut recess, yet it is hard to believe that spending less time outdoors and more time sitting at a desk does anything beneficial to increase test scores or increase motivation to learn!  We know that at CELC – one of the students’ favorite aspects of our program is the outdoor education component.

“The future will belong to the nature-smart — those individuals, families, businesses, and political leaders who develop a deeper understanding of the transformative power of the natural world and who balance the virtual with the real. The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need.”

– Richard Louv

Students arrive and get to the business of a Literature Circle class.  Opening their copies of Huck Finn, they read, prepare for the literature circle roles, and quiz each other on the vocabulary for the upcoming test (all 80 words, in context, to be dynamically presented in a written evaluation in a couple of weeks).

One math class pursues understanding decimals and the magnitude of the applications, while another group works on algebraic equations and measures of central tendency.  Then, in keeping with our theme of Exploration and Discovery, we engage in a “passion project” presentation on football.

With the idea that any explorer or discoverer began with some seed of inspiration, CELCers take to our study by exploring their passions and then design a way to share with the class in a hands-on way.

Today, Nick uses the white board to enlighten us on the nuances of the game, including offensive and defensive plays, penalties, and other specifics.  We then go outside for a practice game!

After that, it’s writing workshop where students work on their mystery-writing pieces, all based on taking a fairy tale and finding a way to solve a puzzle, such as why Humpty fell of the wall, or how did Jack fall.

Some lunch, some outdoor play.  Yes – we go outside everyday, no matter the weather!  Students toss a football; others build tree forts in the woods.

And now the day really gets cooking.  In walks 10-year old Brett Leckey, our guest speaker with us to launch our water science series with the Whitney Water Center to benefit LifeStraw®. About fifteen students also arrive to participate in the series.  All join together as Brett shares about the importance of taking care of our water, how LifeStraw® is an affordable way for clean water to be available to people throughout the world, and how he has made a difference.

“6,000 people die a day from water-related diseases, and I want to help,” Brett told his mother, after reading an article about the problem in the 2009 Kids’ Almanac. This one fact made such an impact that he decided he had to do something about it.  And so his nonprofit organization Ucan2 was born. In one year he raised over $11,000 to buy Lifestraws to make it easier and safer for more people in the world to drink clean water!

Following Brett’s presentation, Lisa DiFrancesco, educator with the Regional Water Authority’s Whitney Water Center, begins her workshop entitled Wise Water Ways.  CELC is offering a series of five different workshops presented by Lisa through the Whitney Water Center.  The cost for each of the workshops is a donation toward LifeStraw®

Well, if that were not enough, we then had our final activity of the day – geography bee practice session.  In addition to our core group of students, others arrive for the study session in preparation for the National Geography Bee through the National Geographic Society.  CELC is this year’s host for all Connecticut homeschoolers.   The practice sessions are meant to provide a fun way for students to learn about geography, and while the topic of geography is quite broad, we delve right in – connecting with our own interests as well as pursuing new knowledge.

There you have it – a Monday. And for Tuesday, let’s see … current events, math, a science class (study of rocks and minerals), writing time, and for outdoor education today, another student passion project.  This time we will venture onto a hiking trail where Willow will instruct us on the art of nature photography.  CELC – oh, the places we go!

For more information and to register for water classes, contact us at mandm@ctexperiential.org or call 203-433-4658.

Emilia Biancardi is known as one of the foremost authorities on the folkloric music and culture of Brazil.  She pioneered the recognition of this music as an art form, performing it on stages all over the world.  Her long awaited book The Musical Roots of Bahia was published in 2000.  Emilia has been musical director for many folkloric programs in the Pelhourino district of Salvador. Her collection of traditional musical instruments from around the world is on permanent exhibition in Salvador, under the direction of the Museums of Bahia.  She is also co-founder, along with Gerilyn Greco, of “Iabas” – an all-women’s Brazilian folkloric band based in the Hudson Valley of upstate New York.

At this workshop, Emilia will discuss the history of the music of Bahia, demonstrate a variety of traditional musical instruments, and lead the group in “Samba de Cozinha “ (Kitchen Samba).  This is the earliest form of Samba, which uses body percussion and ordinary household objects as musical instruments.  Bring your metal plates, utensils,  pots and pans!

From learning about the origins of berimbau from Angola to playing surdo drums, this experience is sure to be unique and full of discovery and learning.