The noise of the chickens bounce back and forth through my skull.The  rising smell sends me into NOT the best state, as I clear away the chicken dung from the ground. The fire wood still needs to be brought to the house by “mule”, so that’s where I’m off to next.

Crooked wood under my feet requires me to hold onto the top of the “mule”, as a quick jolt sends a trail of gas behind us. Sore legs and arms flop down into the leather seats as the ignition starts, and we drive away, back toward HQ.

- written by N. M., CELC student

I shared my passion with CELC in two different ways.  One was a short computer presentation, and the other was going on a hike and to the beach to take photographs.  Those are two very different ways of teaching people something, and I believe they both work very well.

As we started on our hike, someone pointed out a deer on a nearby marshy island.  It was quietly eating grass and weeds, maybe a hundred yards away.  That was quite a start to our hike.  As we walked along, people took pictures of mountain laurel groves and of new buds on a pine tree.  One friend of mine found a beautiful, multicolored fall leaf to take a picture of.  As the hike progressed further, I could tell that everybody was really enjoying themselves.

Next, we headed to a small, quiet beach that I call Trolley Beach.  Everyone went out on the large pile of boulders sticking into the water.  Some people took pictures of interesting textures and pattern in the rocks, while others found patient hermit crabs to be the better subject for their photographs.  We ended these several hours of fun and adventures with a CELC group photo where everyone was “hidden” amongst the rocks.                W.C. – CELC student

Join us for an exciting lunch gathering, film presentation, and water science class on Monday, 9 January beginning at 11:30 a.m.

Peter Cleary, Communications Director with Vestergaard Frandsen, Incorporated will speak with students and families, and show a film documenting its work to save lives.

In addition, Brett Leckey, a 10-year old who initiated his own project (Ucan2) devoted to LifeStraw®, will also speak about his fundraising efforts to better peoples’ lives throughout the world.

Following the presenation will be a water science class  from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.:

MAGIC OF MICROSCOPY - What are some of the smallest things that live in the Mill River? Students will learn the basic parts of a microscope and look at and identify some of the smallest plants and animals in the food chain.  Based on their findings, they will try to determine if the water is healthy.

All to take place at the Whitney Water Center at 945 Whitney Avenue in Hamden, CT.

The cost for this event is a donation in any amount towards LifeStraw® – a personal water filter making it safe for people throughout the world to drink safely from contaminated water sources.

To register and for more information contact us at mandm@CTExperiential.org

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

LifeStraw Flyer copy

My passion is working with children.

When the CELC students came to my passion project field experience, everyone seemed interested and ready to work. The children we met were happy to see so many new faces. I really wanted to use shaving cream to make shapes because I thought that it would be a fun and easy exercise to begin our day. Everyone thought it was fun – this activity helped the children learn to develop fine motor skills, work cooperatively in small groups, take turns, and follow directions. The children at the center learn by playing and having fun. We also took a tour of the school and met most of the teachers. We went outside where some of the preschool students were playing. During our break/snack time we did a question and answer with me and my mother, who is the director of the West Haven Child Development Center. I could tell that everyone really enjoyed our time. Working with children is a lot harder than it looks, but it is important to me because I get to help.  - by JJ

Passion.  Does anyone truly understand what this word means?  Is it simply what one loves, or does the word have some complex meaning, only accessible to those who search for it?  Passion is both the former and the latter; it is both simple and complex, its definition both obvious and hidden.  The basic fact is that a passion is something someone loves.  But then there is the mystery that many spend eternity searching for, this mystery being the actual “something” that they love.  For me, that “something” is fencing.

Fencing is a dance; it is ballet performed with a weapon.  This makes fencers dancers, manifestations of a gentle wind, drifting from the Land of Dedication to the World of Accomplishment.  On the day that I pulled a fencing mask over my head for the first time, I was born again.  Thinking back to life before fencing is like remembering spring in the summertime.  It’s a fine memory, yet it’s nothing compared to the warmth of the summer sun, burning its presence into your skin. But I’ve felt the heat of summer. I’ve felt the pride of being victorious in a fencing match. I’ve lived life with a passion.

When I had to present my passion project, I remember thinking, “How do you put words to something so indescribable?”  Well, you don’t.  Or at least, I didn’t.  I put a foil into each of my classmates’ hands and showed them about what I was so passionate.  I was tongue-tied standing before my audience, even though it was made up of a few kids and teachers.  My heart soared when I saw life light up the eyes of one brunette friend of mine, as she fenced her way to a state of utter joy.  That was passion.  Passion is the way my confidence slowly wore away as the arrogance of those who fenced before gnawed at it, yet their arrogance never fully destroyed it.  Doing what I love pulled my heart out of the flames that engulfed it before the burns could become fatal.  Doing what I am passionate about saves me every time.   -by Maddie

to launch our Water Science Workshops with the Whitney Water Center:

Arrive at CELC in Branford at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, 28 November for an exciting presentation when Brett Leckey, a 10-year old who initiated his own project devoted to LifeStraw®, will speak about his fundraising efforts to better peoples’ lives throughout the world.  The first Water Science Class will then commence from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

  This special event is open to the public.

Admission cost is a donation toward Ucan2’s Life Straw Project.

Recommended for

ages 9 and up.

Contact us at mandm@CTExperiential.org

or call 203-215-2317 to register and for more information.

 See you all on Monday, 28 November starting at

12:30 p.m. at 28 School Street ( 2^nd floor, Suite G), Branford, CT.

See below for a list of all classes:

Monday, 28 November 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. at 28 School Street in Branford:  WISE WATER WAYS – Students will learn how much water a dripping faucet can waste every day and easy ways to conserve water at home and beyond.  **Special presentation begins at 12:30 p.m.**

Monday, 12 December 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. at 945 Whitney Avenue in Hamden: RETURNING RAINDROP – Students will explore the water cycle by building their own terrariums in clear two-liter soda bottles. You provide the bottles; we’ll provide everything else.  Students need prior knowledge of the water cycle.

Monday, 9 January 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. at 945 Whitney Avenue in Hamden: MAGIC OF MICROSCOPY – What are some of the smallest things that live in the Mill River? Students will learn the basic parts of a microscope and look at and identify some of the smallest plants and animals in the food chain.  Based on their findings, they will try to determine if the water is healthy.  ** Special lunch gathering/presentation**  Peter Cleary, Communications Director with Vestergaard Frandsen, Incorporated – the company that created LifeStraw® – will visit CELC at 11:30 a.m. for lunch and to speak with students and families about its work to save lives.

Monday, 6 February 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. at 28 School Street in Branford: INVASION OF THE ALIENS - What are invasive alien species, and why should we care about them? Using zebra mussels and purple loosestrife as examples, students will learn about the problems that invasive, non-native species can cause.

Monday, 12 March 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. at 28 School Street in Branford: MACROINVERTEBRATE MESSAGES - Benthic macroinvertebrates are small critters that live on the bottom of a stream. Students will find out how scientists use macroinvertebrates to assess the health and water quality of a stream.

CELC’s thematic study for this academic year of Exploration and Discovery begins first by finding out what students are passionate about and then by sharing that passion with their peers.

A variety of initial activities takes place, including a collage depicting images and words that best describe the aspects of the passion that are meaningful as well as the creation of a board game that teaches and employs aspects of the topic relating to the passion.  We have a wide range of interests in our seven-person group including child development, photography, football, and fencing.

The main event for students is to create a way to share their passion with their classmates.  This must include a sharing of what is most meaningful, educating others and incorporating a way to have others experience the activity first-hand.

The first presentation occurred Tuesday when one of our students brought the group to the West Haven Child Development Center.  Her mom is the director of the center, and this student has developed a passion for working with young children.

She planned activities that included having our CELCers work with the pre-school students in a shaving cream activity.  Our students had quite a time, and everyone enjoyed the collaborative nature and imaginary play that took place.  They also appreciated how much went into running a child development center.

Stay tuned for more about our Passion Project studies at CELC !   

Drama classes on Fridays at Long Wharf Theater have CELCers pretending.  Creating shapes within a space, making up a way to mold (non-existent) clay into a gift for another, keeping track of instructions that focus all of the senses, simultaneously. 

Bring on a refreshing and much appreciated opportunity to utilize the whole self and have a chance to take the risk to think way outside the box.  Play. A fine concept and best done on a regular basis. Imagination engaged, yes – indeed.

Tuesday brought CELC students to the Florence Griswold Museum, where art is alive and well.  The current outdoor exhibit, Of Feathers and Fairy Tales, is an elaborately and artistically done set of sculptured scenes, inventively capturing aspects that portray elements of many of the childhood favorites.

In the spirit of the Lyme Art Colony during Miss Griswold’s time (1850-1937), the students painted en plein air on this, a pristine fall day overlooking the Lieutenant River, a tributary of the Connecticut River.  Easels and palettes in hand, students were encouraged to paint their own interpretation of the scene, while utilizing some simple techniques of landscape artistry and mixing colors.  The day also included a tour of the boarding house where students compared examples of artwork in the style of both Tonalism and American Impressionism and found out some of the stories that go with the painted panels that remain on the door panels.  A memorable and fabulously gorgeous day.

Stay tuned for more Adventures of CELC : A Day in the Life of Our Learning ..! 

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

- T.S. Eliot

The words of T.S. Eliot, recited by Mother Margaret Georgina, gave perspective as CELC students began their Tuesday at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, CT.  A special place and part of our lives at CELC, The Abbey was introduced to our learning community years ago through none other than Rob and Sally (a.k.a. Rob and Sally Cole-Whiffen) who, curious about rare breed cattle, heard a story about this related to the Dutch Belted breed raised by the sisters at the Abbey!

Our students now visit as a community service project, tending to gardens, working in the sheep pastures, or whatever task might be needed.  Always, we learn much as we work and experience this loving place.

Our work included harvesting kale, chard, cabbage, and carrots, and spending time in the blacksmith shop with Mother Anastasia.  This shop still has the original structures from the early 19^th century, combined with some modern touches.  Students were given a demonstration of the process and then got to try for themselves; using the bellows to heat metal in the forge, each made his own curved S-hook.

Here is a sampling of the students’ impressions of the day:

“We got to taste the carrots after all the work we did.  They tasted really good.  After we had lunch, we got to run around a big field.  We played hide-n-seek, but that didn’t last too long, so we just ran around and explored the wide-open space.”

“The Abbey.  A place where silence becomes your friend.  As you work in hushed voices, you can join a whole different world as you set your mind free.”

“A nun this morning read us all a quote from a T.S. Eliot poem.  It was about discovery.  Something like ‘your journey is not complete until you have reached the beginning of your journey again.’  I think it means that you have to go on a journey to discover something new, and then in order to complete your journey, you have to go back to where you started.

That quote is supposed to go with our theme of exploration and discovery.  I think it does because it is about going on a journey to explore something, and then returning to the start of your journey.

The group juggle/name toss game went extremely well on our first morning together as CELC students began the journey of getting to know each other, launching this year’s learning adventures.  Keeping five beanbags in the air at once while passing them to one another in a pre-determined pattern is no easy feat.  We played other get-to-know-you games such as ‘A What?, ‘Two Truths and a Lie’, and we also played drums, learning our first rhythm and song, Funga Alafia, from West Africa!

Day two included a field experience to Meigs Point Nature Center at Hammonassett State Park to study the Sandy Beach ecosystem.  Day three, our first Why Cook? class had students making icebox cake in three flavors. Visiting artist Erica Udoff led our first art class with a focus on animation.  A full and rich life we create at this learning center!

As the first group of students back in the 1893 ‘Old Schoolhouse’ located at 28 School Street in Branford’s Stony Creek since the last class graduated in 1980, CELC students were quite impressed and look forward to doing an historic study of the building and the local area. The group became easily engaged, already laughing and building camaraderie – a sure sign of cohesiveness and positive things to come for this learning community.

Some of the student’s first impressions from personal journals:

“Today was nice; I felt perfectly safe for the first time in almost a year.”

“I am very glad my parents signed me up for CELC.  I am having a good first day here.  I like being in a small group with nice people.  This building is really old.  It was built in 1893.  My brain doesn’t hurt like it usually does on the first day of school.”

“Today we made an icebox cake.  It had chocolate, vanilla, and banana cream pudding.  I’m going to have the side with vanilla and chocolate.  I love pudding; I just hate bananas.  We had a homework assignment to investigate the pink granite used to make the steps of our building.  My wish this year is to learn better study habits.  I mixed the pudding.  I also poured the milk and spread it.”

“Today we went to Meigs Point and had a class by the shore.  The sun is shining brightly as I write, the wind is blowing strong and flipping my pages crazy as sand is getting poked up and thrown all around me.  The silence is calming, and the view is breathtaking.  Just looking out at the waves puts a smile to my face; this is the life.”

“Today started off the same as any other day, talking about the homework assignment to kick off the day.  We had music for the first time today, and we learned to listen to the beat and play different drums.  For Why Cook? class we made icebox cake using chocolate, vanilla, and banana cream pudding.  As I write, the cake is coming out.  Today is the third day of school.  Things are going good; different from my old school, but things are for sure looking good.”[[Show as slideshow]]

As an educational resource center for topics relating to young adolescents, CELC plans to host informational sessions for parents, fun family and kid-friendly programming, and will extend the student travel component of our program.  Stay tuned for news about our Open House to be scheduled for this fall.

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