Water is one of our most precious — and endangered — natural resources. The Regional Water Authority’s Whitney Water Center offers environmental education programs to show people, especially kids, how their actions can affect the quality of the region’s water resources.  Using engaging hands-on activities and experiments, students learn how human actions on land affect the quality of the region’s water resources.

CT Experiential Learning Center (CELC) will launch our Water Science Series in conjunction with the Whitney Water Center on Monday, 28 November.  Peter Cleary, Communications Director with Vestergaard Frandsen, Incorporated – the company that created LifeStraw® – will visit CELC in Branford to speak with students and families about its work to save lives.  Brett Leckey, a 10-year old who initiated his own project devoted to LifeStraw®, will also speak about his fundraising efforts to better peoples’ lives throughout the world.

All participants of the Water Science Classes please join us for this exciting presentation/lunch gathering that will begin our series. Bring a lunch and arrive for 11:30 a.m. to be followed by the presentations at noon.  The first Water Science Class will then commence from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.  See you all on Monday, 28 November starting at 11:30 a.m. at 28 School Street, Branford, CT.  This special event is open to the public with a donation to LifeStraw®. [Read more...]

As part of our Outdoor Education program, students work on an organic farm known as Trap Rock Ridge Camp (a.k.a. Rob and Sally’s).  Here is a note from Rob regarding our first visit of the year :

What an amazing journey!  Please view our travel log and also read on for more about CELC’s sailing adventure:

Greetings from Boundless!  This is the life, and we are already deciding to give up on being landlubbers and take to the seas, travel the world.

As the adventure begins aboard Boundless with Captain Jeff and First Mate Janine, CELCers are having quite an extraordinary time! 

Each day students perform jobs that enable them to learn to “run the boat”. Today, Jenna served as Captain for the Day and provided us with data, including wind direction, weather conditions, barometric pressure, and our latitude and longitude in degrees, minutes and seconds. [Read more...]

Tradition!  Each year at Wightwood School classes from kindergarten through 8^th grade had a year-end adventure.  The kindergarten stayed overnight in the school building, each student accompanied by a parent, who would arrive to school on that Friday with pajamas, sleeping bag, favorite stuffed animal friend, and the anticipation of possibly a first-ever sleepover thrill.  The 2/3-grade class pitched tents and camped for two nights at Trap Rock Ridge Camp, better known as Rob’s house.  These were the start of memories that last a lifetime, from traveling to the Abbey of Regina Laudis, roasting hot dogs and s’mores at the campfire to hearing Rob tell the Leatherman story, complete with details that entertained, taught, and even one year offered a “live” visit by this historic figure.

These trips away were a chance for students to bond in a way other than what could happen inside a classroom. Traveling allows a person to get to know himself as well as learn to work with others, together discovering possibilities that arise from novelty and the spirit of adventure.

When Maria and I began the CT Experiential Learning Center, after Wightwood closed its doors, we knew from our years as middle school teachers that student travel adds a dimension to learning that was perfectly developmentally appropriate for the young adolescent who is in a process of self-discovery, craves independence, and still tends to play and be curious when given the occasion.

While we also do a lot of moving about in the world with students as a regular part of our [Read more...]

CT Experiential Learning Center students really get around!  Last week, in addition to math, grammar, history, and more, students visited a refugee resettlement agency, produced a science fair, and spent a day at a professional pottery studio.  Here are some photographs and highlights from the week of 28 March.

Next week at CELC:

Monday, 4 April – Students will begin interviews with residents at La Casa Otoñal in New Haven.  As part of our study of immigration, CELC students will conduct oral histories and compose written memoirs about the lives of elders in this mostly Latino community.  In addition to getting to know one another, students and residents will share a traditional Latino meal, and play and sing music on authentic instruments from South America and the Caribbean. [Read more...]

It may be that a CELC student could give the standard reply to a parent asking a “so, what did you do at school today?”  question.  Yet, it is unlikely, and would be quite suspect!  A typical week is filled with such variety that there are rarely even traces of typical day in any given week in this extraordinary middle school experience!

Monday, 21 March – Greetings to a new day and settle into the groove of classes.   Some like to set goals for themselves.  We begin, we learn, we look, we are ready!

Tuesday, 22 March – Outdoor education class with Naturalist Lucy Meigs to observe wood frogs and their eggs as they appear this season in vernal pools.

Wednesday, 23 March – Meet and Greet traditional Latino lunch and sing-a-long in Spanish with elders at Casa Otonal in New Haven. This commences a partnership as part of our immigration study. Stay tuned for more news about this exciting endeavor. [Read more...]

Events at Blackstone Memorial Library

in Branford

Connecticut Experiential Learning Center

Informational Meeting 16 March

Middle School Parents! Give your children a successful middle school experience. Connecticut Experiential Learning Center (CELC) students benefit from small classes in a safe and exciting environment that builds leadership, promotes a love of learning, and challenges students to think for themselves.  CELC is middle school at its best (for students grades 5 – 8).  Registering now for 2011-2012. Join us from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. for an informational meeting. Meet the teachers and some of the current students, talk with parents, view a slideshow, and enjoy student-prepared, gourmet refreshments.  Click here to view flyer!

Thursday, 24 March 11:00 a.m. – noon: Visit and talk with Maine author Patricia Q. Wall to discuss her works A Child Out of Place and Beyond Freedom.   These books share the story of servant and newly-freed slave girl Matty, as she grows up in New England during the early 19^th century.  Recommended for ages 8 and up.

Wednesday, 30 March 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Who did invent the potato chip? Find out about this and more during our Immigrant and African-American Scientists and Inventors Science Fair/Activity Day. From George Washington Carver to Albert Einstein, learn about famous scientists and inventors as students dress in costume and share about their life and work in a hands-on and interactive display. All ages welcome.

Thursday, 31 March CELC will visit and tour the headquarters of the Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS) and meet with the [Read more...]

Middle School At Its Best

Now registering middle school students for 2011-2012 academic year

Wondering what to do about middle school ?

Consider CELC

Find out about a middle school experience where students

work hard and are happy to come to school.

[Read more...]

Three free hands-on water – science workshops by the Connecticut Experiential Learning Center (CELC) and the New Haven Regional Water Authority will give students 4th to 8th grades a mini-education about water, from how to measure the health of a stream to how many marbles will make a cup overflow or sink a boat.

Workshops take place at the Blackstone Memorial Library and will benefit CELC’s food drive for the Branford Community Dining Room. Participants will be asked to contribute a specific food item to each session.

Tuesday, 9 November, 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. How scientists assess health and water quality of streams.

Tuesday, 14 December, 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. What shape does a water drop have? Can water be stretched? What does water’s surface tension mean?

Tuesday, 18 January 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. How many marbles make a cup of water overflow? Estimating predictions about water supply. [Read more...]