Flight of a Water Rocket and Launching Our Students' Imaginations!

Michael Richards, a Social Studies Teacher for Grade 6 at West Rocks Middle School, is Carver’s longtime Lead Program Coordinator for our after-school and summer programs there.

Here, Mr. Richards shares images of his rising 6th graders attending our Summer Transition Program enjoying a STEM project and “Science Wonders” delivered by Mad Science.

Students were given a STEM challenge. They worked in teams to create the tallest tower possible that could stand freely and support the weight of a book. Their only supplies were sheets of paper and masking tape.

The other pictures and video were from a visit by Mad Science and "Big Bang Brian". Students learned about exothermic reactions when he made "elephant toothpaste". They also learned about the build-up of pressure from the reaction of soda & Mentos. The final experiment showed air pressure when the air was pumped into a bottle of water, and the bottle was "launched" when the pressure was released; adding just a small amount of water to the bottle increases the action force. The water expels from the bottle before the air does.

Mad Science delivers children educational and entertaining science experiences by presenting concepts visually and interactively. Mad Science is a year-round Carver partner that teaches topics such as light, sound, electricity, magnetism, anatomy, optics, chemistry, space technology, and robotics. Children are given hands-on activities combined with discussion and demonstrations to meet specific learning objectives through a fun and challenging environment. The workshops correlate to the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards).

Teach, Inspire, Engage: Rising 6th Graders Create "Inside/Outside" Anchor Charts at Nathan Hale's Summer Transition Program

Certified Teacher Nicole Lane introduces anchor charts to her incoming students at the Summer Transition Program for rising 6th graders at Nathan Hale Middle School.

An anchor chart is a large, poster-sized visual with information on it that students learn and retain. They don’t need to be perfectly drawn out. Imperfections make these charts unique and memorable to our students.

Character Traits Anchor Charts are the best way to help our students analyze, compare, and contrast characters in the books they are reading in a meaningful way.

Once students understand the character traits concept, it’s time to dig deeper. Categorizing character traits by internal and external character traits is the next step. The final lessons on character traits have students digging even deeper. Instead of students just identifying the trait, they have to explain what happened that makes them think of that character trait. They have to explain their reasoning. This activity really takes students up the spectrum of higher-level thinking.

It's not all academics in the Nathan Hale Middle School Summer Transition Program. The students have FUN too!

Mr. Taylor teaches Health and Fitness. Mr. Taylor and Mrs. Thorne organize a game of Hungry Hungry Hippo. Bucketball with Miss Lane takes on new life.

In the energetic life-size version of the Hungry Hungry Hippos game, students slide on scooters to catch the most balls on the ground! The awesome part about this game? Students have to work together as a team to play. One person lays on their stomach on the scooter while their teammate is behind them, holding up their feet (like a wheelbarrow race, but the scooter is used instead of arms). The person behind pushes the other person’s legs into the middle of the circle so they can catch balls on the ground with a bucket. The person at the end with the most balls wins!

Bucketball is played with a large rubber ball and a bucket. The object of the game is to throw the ball into the bucket. The player who throws the ball into the bucket most times wins the game.

Reason, observation, and experience: Carver's rising 6th graders learn the scientific method and their way around the new school they'll attend in the fall

NPS certified teacher Richard Sullivan and his student scientists are working hard at Carver’s 6th Grade Summer Transition Program at Nathan Hale Middle School.

Using the scale to analyze and understand the scientific method, these student scientists prepare for middle school, meet their new teachers, and make new friends.

The six steps of the scientific method include: 1) asking a question about something you observe, 2) doing background research to learn what is already known about the topic, 3) constructing a hypothesis, 4) experimenting to test the hypothesis, 5) analyzing the data from the experiment and drawing conclusions, and 6) communicating the results to others.

The scientific method was not invented by any one person but is the outcome of centuries of debate about how best to find out how the natural world works. Those scientists include Roger Bacon, Thomas Aquinas, Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, John Hume, and John Stuart Mill.

Scientists continue to evolve and refine the scientific method as they explore new techniques and areas of science, and Carver campers know that they too can contribute to this celebrated tradition.

Rising 6th Graders Read a Novel About That One Teacher Who Changes Everything

Christy Counts, 8th Grade Language Arts and House Leader and Director, Lead Coordinator of our B.A.R.K. (Carver) Afterschool Program, and leader now of our 6th Grade Summer Transition Program at Nathan Hale Middle School, shares this story among many of her students’ memorable summer experiences.

This week they are discussing Ms. Bixby’s Last Day. Determined to give their hospitalized teacher a worthy "last day," three sixth-grade boys skip school and persevere on an impossible quest, deepening their friendship and discovering inner courage they didn’t know they had.

Ms. Bixby was one of the “Good Ones”—the kind of teacher you pay attention to and who pays attention to you. She meant something special to the three narrators in this moving story. Topher, Steve, and Brand.

Ms. Bixby is the teacher who acknowledges the darkness and teaches her students to sing in it. She does this by paying deep attention to the world, gracefully praising courage, cherishing the lovely, and looking carefully: “We all have moments when we think nobody really sees us. When we feel like we have to act out or be somebody else just to get noticed. But somebody notices, Topher. Somebody sees.”

This is not the stuff of mere sentiment; it is the hope all Carver kids hold and will hold all their lives: that somebody will see them. And we do.

Applications for CT’s Child Tax Rebate close July 31. What you need to know and how to apply.

The deadline is drawing near for Connecticut families looking to take part in the state’s one-time Child Tax Rebate program.

Applications for the program close July 31 and are available online through the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services. Qualifying families can receive up to $750 on taxes paid in 2021 and filed in 2022. That’s $250-per-child, up to three children in a household.

Only Connecticut residents with children qualify for the rebate and must meet income eligibility requirements. Single or separately-filing parents must have a reported income of $100,000 or less in 2021. For those filing as head of household, income caps at $160,000 and $200,000 for married couples or qualifying widows and widowers.

The rebate also counts for guardians who claim a child as a dependent.

The rebate also includes an income “phase out” for those above the threshold. For every $1,000 above the cap, qualifying parents will receive 10 percent less than the standard credit. For single parents, than means those making up to $110,000 can still receive something.

More information is available in English and Spanish on the Department of Revenue's website.

Carver campers pick blueberries at Silverman's Farm

Plucking sweet blueberries at Siverman’s Farm yields much more than a container of juicy fruit. Time at the farm also provides a pleasurable place to have fun and make new discoveries.

Silverman’s Farm in Easton turns 102 years old this year. Silverman’s Farm was founded by Ben Silverman. Born in New York City in 1898, much like Carver’s namesake, George Washington Carver, Ben loved plants and gardening. At the age of 18, he moved to Connecticut and began working on cow farms for $1.00 per day. When WWI broke out, Ben worked at a munitions factory in Bridgeport. He was able to save enough to purchase his first parcel of land on Sport Hill Road in Easton.

During the ’70s and ’80s, Silverman’s evolved into a Pick Your Own fruit farm featuring a widespread orchard, scenic tractor rides, and petting farm with many types of barnyard animals and fowl. The farm today offers children such as Carver’s summer campers a place of wonder and fun.

In golf as in life, Carver campers learn that it is the follow through that makes the difference!

How many dice does it take to sink a tin foil boat? Just ask Mr. Richard's students.

Michael Richards, a Social Studies Teacher for Grade 6 at West Rocks Middle School, is Carver’s longtime Lead Program Coordinator for our after-school and summer programs there. Here, Mr. Richards shares images of his rising 6th graders attending our Summer Transition Program enjoying a STEM activity in which his students plan and then build a boat using only aluminum foil. They worked as collaborative teams. Then their boats were tested to see which ones held the most dice. It was a fun and friendly competition.

With images of container ships being so much in the news these past several years of supply chain issues, kids may wonder how these large shipping boats made of solid steel stay afloat carrying cargo in steel containers stacked to the sky. For objects to float, the upward, buoyant force must be greater than the weight of the object pulling it to the bottom. The buoyant force comes from the amount of water displaced by the object.

Of course, everyone won this “competition because everyone learned by enjoying this project-based hands-on exercise that is the hallmark of most of our after-school and summer programming.

And there is PLAY, which kids in all of Carver’s 12 programs this summer do with enthusiasm and excellence!

The Community Fund of Darien renews its generous support of Carver kids!

Carver’s generous and faithful friend, the Community Fund of Darien (TCF), just renewed its support of Carver’s kids, mission, and work. Lisa Haas, TCF’s Director of Community Investments, presented the TCF grant award to Nikki LaFaye, Carver’s Director of Philanthropy, at the TCF Investment Awards celebration this past Wednesday.

For Carver and many fellow nonprofits, TCF initiates solutions, builds collaborations, and implements and supports programs to strengthen youth, adults, and families. Since its founding in 1951, TCF has distributed more than $20 million.

This year, TCF awarded $530,000 in community investment grants to 32 nonprofit organizations in Darien, Norwalk, and Stamford, focusing on basic needs, community health, youth success, and workforce development. The event was held at the Darien Community Association.

Carver’s work is possible because of our many donors who believe in and are committed to the success of our youth. TCF is very special because this community fund represents many donors and influencers and its grants follow a rigorous vetting methodology that involves a smart and deep investigation into Carver’s program integrity and financial health. TCF’s significant support is as much about the size of its financial impact as it is about how our crucial partnership with TCF makes Carver that much more effective.

Thank you, TCF!