Norwalk End-Of-Year Ceremony Schedule
Our schools have now finalized times and outdoor locations for Grade 8 promotions and graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2021. Schools will be in touch with additional details!
Carver students participating in the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion writing compettion
Carver middle school students recently visited Lockwood-Mathews Mansion in preparation for their participation in the 2021 Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum’s Young Writers’ Competition.
The Museum launched its eighth annual Young Writers’ Competition on February 1, 2021. The competition titled, A Scientist Visits the Mansion, will end on June 4, 2021, with an awards ceremony on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. The competition is open to all middle school students in the Tristate area.
Participants are tasked to write a story of a fictional event taking place at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion between 1868 and 1938. The cast of characters must include a doctor or scientist who became famous or infamous during the mid-to-late 19th century and members of the Lockwood or Mathews families.
The young writers will learn about the families’ history, read biographies of the doctors and scientists, and explore the rooms in the Mansion where the event described could have taken place. In addition to Carver students visiting, they can also use the Museum’s website as a reference.
Students will create a short story that will include at least one doctor or scientist weaved into this narrative, and can introduce fictional friends visiting the Mansion as well.
Competition winners and their families will be Guests of Honor at the Awards Ceremony on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021, 2-4 p.m.
The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum is regarded as one of the earliest and most significant Second Empire Style country houses in the United States. Built by renowned financier and railroad tycoon LeGrand Lockwood from 1864-1868, the Mansion, with its unparalleled architecture and interiors, illustrates magnificently the beauty and splendor of the Victorian Era.
Lockwood’s financial reversal in 1869, and his untimely death in 1872, resulted in the loss of the estate then known as “Elm Park,” through foreclosure, in 1874. In 1876, the property was sold to Charles D. Mathews and his wife Rebecca. Mathews, a prominent importer from New York, and his family, resided in the Mansion until 1938.
In 1941, the estate was sold to the City of Norwalk and designated a public park. When the building was threatened with demolition in the 1960s, concerned citizens galvanized to save the Mansion in one the most important and hard-fought preservation battles in Connecticut’s history. These local preservationists succeeded in saving the Mansion in 1965, and later formed the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum of Norwalk, Inc., a 501(c)(3), which was designated a National Historic Landmark, in 1971.
Second dose at Carver, TODAY, 5/19 11AM - 5PM
Thank you, Wendy & Rich Baskin, for all that you do for the Carver community
Carver Explore students learn robotics at Tracey Elementary School
With the generous financial support of FIRST®, an international robotics community, Carver’s after-school programming incorporates the FIRST® LEGO® League initiative to promote STEM education amongst our students.
Here is a video of our Carver Explore students at Tracey Elementary School working on their robotics project.
First LEGO League promotes STEM learning and exploration while teaching Carver kids the value of teamwork, inclusion, innovation, and discovery. Our elementary students partake in hands-on activities that require them to develop solutions to real-world problems using LEGO bricks and engineering fundamentals. Prior to the pandemic, Carver middle schoolers also participated in FIRST LEGO League’s robotics competitions, which entail building and programming a LEGO robot.
FIRST® is a robotics community that prepares young people for the future. A vital part of our strategic intent is to serve an inclusive and diverse audience, reflecting the population of the communities we serve—and even going beyond through targeted, new community outreach.
FIRST understands the broader societal context of economic, educational, and social factors historically leading to disproportionate access and outcomes. Leveraging cross-sector and industry collaborations, FIRST is actively engaged in developing and delivering strategies that remove barriers and ensure greater access to FIRST programs so that all youth can participate.
Thank you, Roz and Phil Butterfield, for sponsoring our Celebrating Courage gala!
Philip Butterfield is President of Carver’s Board of Directors. Phil is also an engaged leader at Social Venture Partners Connecticut and the former chairman of HSBC Bank Of Bermuda.
Thank You, GE, for sponsoring our Celebrating Courage gala on 6/24/2021
Teaching From the Garden: Creating Transformative Learning Landscapes for our High School Students
Edgar R. Garcia, a Special Education Teacher at Brien McMahon High School who serves as Carver’s Lead Program Coordinator, shared photos with us of his after-school students growing vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
Our students are comparing growth using different soils, lighting, watering, environment, and many insightful procedures. Our students have been excited about this learning opportunity and have been diligent with all the duties involved in growing vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
School gardens can provide an engaging space for limitless discovery and learning opportunities. With youth becoming increasingly disconnected from the natural and cultivated world, it is more important than ever to create gardens as laboratories.
These gardens connect students to plants, soils, ecology, and a multitude of other concepts in a hands-on, experiential learning environment. School gardens help children discover where their food comes from and form the foundation for making healthier food choices. Gardens can nurture life skills in youth, including responsibility, problem-solving, and critical thinking.
Our gardens engage students by providing dynamic environments in which to observe, discover, experiment, nurture, and learn. Living laboratories where lessons are drawn from real-life experiences rather than textbook examples, gardens draw students in as active participants in the learning process.
Science, math, language arts, health, and many other subjects can be introduced through hands-on experiential activities such as these. School gardens can focus on fruit and vegetable production, building wildlife habitats, and creating spaces for pollinators.
School gardens enrich the lives of the youth who explore their spaces.
A garden creates an accessible environment to investigate science, math, reading, writing, and history— bringing each of these subject areas to life.
From understanding fractions to discovering how cotton makes a t-shirt, the garden is a context to experience these ideas hands-on and to contribute significantly to student success.
Collaborating with math, science, and art teachers can bring additional ideas for using gardens as hands-on reinforcement of what they are teaching in those classrooms. Field trips to community gardens and farmers' markets also inspire young minds.
Ezekiel McDowell is a star on stage and in the community
Ezekiel McDowell (Zeke), a senior at Brien McMahon High School, is regularly seen on stage in his school performances and at other venues like the Crystal Theatre in Norwalk.
He is also a longtime participant in Carver’s after-school and summer programs and has been involved in the community in other ways as well.
Zeke volunteered at Carver’s summer academy at BMHS for rising 9th graders for the past two summers. Zeke also works at Bowlmor.
Zeke is committed to pursuing a career in music and theater. He’ll be starting at Norwalk Community College this fall.
In his freshman year, Zeke worked backstage for the BMHS production of Hairspray. In his sophomore year, Zeke took a risk and auditioned and was cast in the BMHS production of Mamma-Mia, and then in Les Miserables his junior year.
This year Zeke is playing the role of George in the BMHS production of Carrie: The Musical (being streamed on YouTube on May 21).
In addition to these BMHS productions, Zeke has been involved in six productions at the Crystal Theatre, including in the role of Victor in their recent production of Louder Than Words.
Crystal Theatre offers musical theatre show classes for students in Preschool to High School. All classes culminate in a fully staged musical production in their 250 seat auditorium at the Ben Franklin Center in Norwalk.
Most of the Crystal Theatre productions are original musicals written by local musicians and writers with a mix of classic musicals for balance and perspective. Crystal Theatre is a family of creative and performing artists.
Theater inspires learning that nurtures the creative spirit of our students while training them in the art of singing and acting in a positive environment. We believe in learning by doing.