Blog

And it's only Week One at CELC - already we've done much, including: math challenge games, Why Cook? class; Project Water field study; team building at Bushy Hill Nature Center; migratory bird study and field experience; Spanish class Skype into Guatemala;  creative exploration of individual and group "hopes and dreams" for the year; and getting started on [...]

by Melinda Alcosser As a recipient of a scholarship from the Friendship Fund, I was recently fortunate to travel to Guatemala with a group of educators on a Digital Storytelling program run by Peaceworks Travel.  This organization was founded by a history teacher just after 9/11, who felt it vital to find a way to [...]

Once again, CELC traveled for an end-of-year adventure, this time to The Ecology School in Saco, Maine.  CELC incorporates student travel into its curriculum purposely – to bring young people outside their comfort zones and to open up to discovery of new elements in themselves, the world, and each other. Educator Brody from The Ecology School worked [...]

Each year CELC Middle School of Branford has a theme of study - this year’s theme: Ecology and Sustainability. After months of study, research and preparation, students not only write a formal research paper about a specific energy source, but also apply their learning by creating and constructing interactive displays related to renewable and nonrenewable [...]

Assistant Professor of Neurology at Yale University Chris Gottschalk, MD, FAHS visits CELC Middle School to teach about the brain and nervous system as part of CELC’s study of the human body.  Dr. Gottschalk answered student questions on topics ranging from the parts and function of the brain to new research on causes of migraines.  Students [...]

A buzz of conversation and activity and the sharing of ideas when graduate students from Yale University’s School of Management (SOM) visited CELC Middle School as part of the SOM Day of Service.  Middle school students were engaged in a Shark Tank Simulation experience, led by the Yale students.  The focus was identifying and developing unique [...]

Visiting the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, CT is a significant part of every CELC year. CELC is fortunate to have established the relationship with this cloistered Benedictine community when one of our colleagues and farmer, years ago discovered the rare breed cattle that exist at the Abbey - Dutch Belted dairy cattle, all black [...]

Friday at Connecticut Experiential Learning Center:  Thank you, Evan DeCarlo, for working with our student writers. Thank you, Daniela Balzano, for your creative energy in bringing art to our CELC world! Gentle mindfulness and 108 Monkeys Yoga at CELC inspires students to breathe and be! CELC students visit Dinosaur State Park to learn about Connecticut’s landscape and how it was [...]

Martha Hoffman, founder of Call to Care Uganda (CTCU) visits with CELC Middle School to bring awareness about her work to help children in Uganda.  CELC students will now consider how to help take part in this “call to care”.  

As part of an ongoing study of ecology and sustainability, CELC Middle School students have launched a project with Food Rescue US.  CELC students work with local organizations in food service-oriented businesses, such as restaurants and retail stores, to re-purpose food that is “too good to be wasted” but that would otherwise be thrown away.  [...]

By Randall Beach, New Haven Register NEW HAVEN — During a performance Friday at Long Wharf Theatre, eight middle schoolers grappled with the complexity of portraying evil characters who learn to work together and appreciate nature. “What I learned is, it’s a lot more fun being evil,” said August Hotis, 10, with a little smile [...]

Join us Sunday, 18 March 2018 from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. 28 School Street, Branford. Families are invited to attend! Find out about Connecticut's Only Experientially-based Middle School (5th through 8th grade), offering academically rich real-world learning, personalized approach, 5th - 8th grade. Come meet teachers and students, stay for the art, music, and science [...]

For the 30th year, the National Geographic Society is holding the National Geographic Bee for students in the fourth through eighth grades in thousands of schools across the United States and in the five U.S. territories, as well as in Department of Defense Dependents Schools around the world. The champion of the local Bee will [...]

CELC Middle School is accepting donation of new or gently used warm accessories (hats, gloves, mittens) for students arriving from Puerto Rico / Mexico due to natural disasters. Please bring items to bins located at any one of the following Branford locations: front lobby 28 School Street; inside Stony Creek Market; or lobby of Willoughby [...]

CELC Middle School students flex their creative muscles at the Long Wharf Theatre in order to devise their own play to share!  Students are working diligently to write, develop, direct, and perform their very own show. In this charming (and maybe even scary) play, environmental villains come to understand the importance of transforming and changing [...]

Launch of another CELC year – quite profound to consider how much we’ve already experienced and learned in just this first month! Building community, the start of academic classes, a week spent in Salisbury, Vermont at the Keewaydin Environmental Education Center, thematic study of Ecology and Sustainability, visit to the Abbey of Regina Laudis, [...]

CELC is participating in Walk Like MADD Saturday, 14 October 2017 to raise critical funds for Mothers Against Drunk Driving® (MADD) and help put an end to the 100 % preventable crime of drunk driving.  Walk alongside us and take steps to stopping this violent crime.  Join the CELCstars team! Register online at: https://www.walklikemadd.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=58911   CELC [...]