Mandalas:

Students are creating mixed media mandalas in art class.

Pottery Outside:

Taking advantage of the nice weather, pottery classes were held outside this week. Students got a chance to try their hands at using the pottery wheels.

John Slade Ely House Art Exhibit:

Nine of our high school students are showing their artwork at the John Slade Ely House, an art gallery in downtown New Haven. The gallery is hosting their Annual Greater New Haven High School Art Exhibit from April 18th-29th.

Jane Goodall:

Classes I and II are reading Jane Goodall's autobiography, My Life with the Chimpanzees. In reading this novel, we hope to captivate the students with Jane's story, inspire them through her determination and move them to find and act for a cause they believe in. On Friday April 27th, we will be attending A Conversation with Dr. Jane at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, CT.

The Iditarod:

Classes I, II and III followed the Iditarod. Not only were students having fun following a musher through the race, but this was also an opportunity to review map skills, gather statistical data, learn about Alaskan wildlife and research historical information. Students had the unique opportunity to speak over the phone with Melanie Gould, a musher in this year's Iditarod. The students were excited and had so many questions for her!

Celebration of Teaching and Learning Conference:

LDFDS Staff attended Thirteen/WNET's and WLIW's Celebration of Teaching and Learning in New York City, on March 24, 2007. The themes of the 2007 conference for K-12 educators were global awareness, the nature of learning and integration of technology. Attendees had the opportunity to choose workshops presented by nationally recognized speakers and prominent educators.

Former Vice President Al Gore closed the session with a powerful discussion of the impact of global warming.

Odyssey of the Mind:

All five classrooms are busy working on this year's Odyssey of the Mind challenges. Students will present their solutions to parents and the entire school in June.

Literature Celebration Days:

This year, classes I and II will celebrate words and language by sponsoring a monthly literature event. In September, the classes wrote "silly" stories. Students wore silly clothes and shared their favorite silly stories. In October, they hosted a "word celebration" day. Each student selected a word and designed a t-shirt - featuring the word - to wear to school.

Apple Picking:

On October 10th, classes I and II took a field trip to Bishop's Orchard in Guilford to tour the orchard and to pick apples.

Northeast Fisheries Science Center:

On Friday, October 13, 2006, students and staff participated in an Open House at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Milford. The lab conducts both aquaculture and habitat research. Students were able to view, first hand, the work that is done there: testing for bacteria and viruses; growing algae for food sources; developing breeding techniques for scallops and oysters; x-raying organisms for defects and examining what they consume; and, implanting sensors in fish to track movement. A highlight of the trip was the "touch" tank. Students were able to handle horseshoe crabs, blue crabs, skates, flounder, scallops, oysters, hermit crabs, snails and other organisms native to Long Island Sound.

Building Big:

Through films, reading and science labs, building big teaches about the history and scientific principles behind the creation of some of the world's most famous bridges, dams, domes, skyscrapers, and tunnels. The class learned about principles of physics through building bridges, a geodesic dome, and pyramids. Students tested the integrity of the structures by exposing them to the forces of wind, pressure, and weight.

Junkbots:

For our latest art project we explored the art form known as Found Object Sculpture. Simply put, this involves taking any objects that you can find and assembling them into a three-dimensional sculpture. We were able to find (through the kind donations from our staff) several old, broken computers, radios, printers, toys, etc. and then took them apart until they were unrecognizable pieces of plastic and metal. Their assignment was to take these pieces of "junk" and build sculptures resembling robots that were interesting from all angles, had moving parts, and plenty of personality. Here are the first Junkbots off the assembly line...

Professional Development Highlights for School Year 2004-2005

Lorraine D. Foster's approach to professional development is to pursue training in an intensive and ongoing manner. In the fall of 2002, the staff attended the Bank Street College of Education in New York City for 5 weekends of training in Mel Levine's "Schools Attuned" program. "Schools Attuned" is based on the study of eight neurodevelopmental constucts that affect how children learn. This year, we will continue the work through monthly in-service training conducted by Andrea M. Spencer, Ph.D.