News

Taking a break from his busy acting schedule, Malachi Weir who graduated from Renbrook in 1986, spent time with our 8th graders discussing their hopes and dreams. Malachi is best known for his work on the show Billions, Wisdom of the Crowd, Chicago PD and The Tick. Current teacher Chris Ladd and retired teacher Jim Ladd beamed with pride while watching Malachi speak with our current Renbrook leaders in the 8th grade.

7th graders learned problem solving, planning, communication and teamwork on their trip to Camp Jewell!

8th graders had a rare opportunity to visit the State Capitol and Legislative Offices, the Supreme Court and the Connecticut State History Museum. They finished off their visit to Hartford with an interactive tour from Hannibal to Hartford:The History Behind The Adventures of Tom Sawyer at the Mark Twain House.

6th graders studied physics at the CT Science Center this week including simple machines like pulleys and wheels. The ‘Bionic Me’ expo got the kids on their feet to learn about the power of the human body. “Making Myths” was a second stop on their trip where they viewed the ancient collection at the Wadsworth as a prelude to their study of mythology. They visited galleries with a docent and entered the Education Art Studio to make an amphora design featuring a monster of their own design battling Hercules, inspired by a piece in the museum’s Ancient Greek collection. 

“Making Myths” 6th graders are bringing learning to life by visiting the ancient collection at the Wadsworth as a prelude to their study of mythology. They visited galleries with a docent and entered the Education Art Studio to make an amphora design featuring a monster of their own design battling Hercules, inspired by a piece in the museum’s Ancient Greek collection.

Lots of smiling faces showed up on campus today for New Student Orientation. The littlest students got to spend time with their parents getting to know their teachers, while our older students got a personalized tour from our Renbrook Student Ambassadors!

Second grade visited The Gifts of Love Farm. The students had the opportunity to learn about how the farmers there grow a variety of foods to donate to people in need. We had a chance to explore the farm, see the different crops, and of course, interact with the farm animals!

Over 100 kindergarten through grade 5 students ran 1.5 miles around campus for the annual Race to a Good Deed. After the race, students organized backpacks that were filled with new school supplies and donated to kids in need. Students chose this program because it serves over 500 local school students and helps them start next school year off right. Great job to all! See more pics at: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmkj6KmU

Renbrook School sixth graders presented their Greek Plays for a large audience on campus included costumes and props as part of their sixth grade curriculum.

Renbrook School proudly celebrated “The Week of the Young Child”; a celebration sponsored by the NAEYC (National Association for the education of young children). This event is primarily celebrated by Preschool through Kindergarten; however, this year the rest of the lower school grades one through five joined in for some of the celebrations. Each day had a special theme and had planned activities to celebrate the themes such as Musical Monday, Healthy Habits Tuesday and Work Together Wednesday.

C. Alexander London (Alex) has written books for children, teens, even a few grown ups. He’s the author of The Wild Ones series, Dog Tags and Tides of War series, as well as the Accidental Adventures and two titles in The 39 Clues series for young readers.

Give Back Day 2018 was a huge success!! We ended up with a beautiful day and got a whole lot done! From cleaning classroom furniture, writing thank you notes, classroom organization, bulletin board design, raking, clearing the pond, picking up branches, greenhouse-making, tree-planting and more…Renbrook loves to give back!!! See more pics at: https://www.flickr.com/gp/renbrook/ZVJ54C

The Renbrook Cooking Club served up a three-course lunch to special guests yesterday. Dishes included fried zucchini and pomegranate quinoa, pesto and alfredo pastas and fried ice cream. Delicious!

Music and dance troop, Mikata, wowed Renbrook students with their powerful rhythmic music and dance from islands such as Nigeria, Ghana and Puerto Rico. The troop helps students explore these West African, Caribbean, and Brazilian cultures through music and dance while learning about an array of percussion instruments.

The National Latin Exam is an annual exam to test students’ proficiency in the Latin language and knowledge of ancient Roman history and culture. The test consists of 40 multiple choice questions and is taken by students across the United States in an multiple other countries. All eighth grade Latin students at Renbrook took the exam this year, and two of them obtained an impressive score and received a diploma from the National Latin Exam committee: John R. (with 26 out of 40 questions correct) received a Cum Laude Diploma, and Sophie G. (with 36 out of 40 questions correct) received the exceptionally rare distinction of Gold Medal Summa Cum Laude. 

Adam Ezra, a world-class professional musician, visited grades 7-9 today to discuss what it’s like to write and perform music. Thanks for visiting Adam!

Six Renbrook musicians participated in the 2018 Northern Region Middle School Musical Festival on March 23rd and 24th at Wethersfield High School. These students were selected to participate out of hundreds of students across northern Connecticut based on their successful auditions in January. (L-R) Sahil A. (voice), Nathan C. (trumpet), Mariapaula G. (voice), Benjamin R. (voice), Alice M. (voice), and Olivia D. (french horn) all performed. Congratulations!

During the 7th grade Life Science course, a unit of study focuses on people’s capacity to form emotional attachment to a variety of living things, and dogs are the best example. During the celebrated “Dog Unit,” students deepen their understanding of the emotional attachment that exists between humans and dogs in a number of ways. In addition to inviting well-behaved family dogs to visit their class, the students welcome representatives and their dogs from the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation and Oak Hill, an organization that helps people with disabilities. In addition, Ben Garson from Dogology explained how a master dog trainer trains a dog, and two owners of therapy dogs explained the therapeutic effect of dogs in settings such as schools, hospitals, airports, libraries, and prisons. The students enjoyed being with two pugs, Oscar and Murray and Beau a Labrador/basset hound mix. The unit culminated with a bake sale and a fundraiser event to benefit Fidelco. The entire school was invited to attend the big event where seventh graders organized a number of experiences and activities, including a “blind obstacle course,” a dog trivia game, and an auditory challenge: “Do you speak dog?” Local pet supply stores also donated items for a blind auction. The centerpiece of the event were three Fidelco puppies-in-training – Piper, Valor, and Wookie – and everyone present them and many had their picture taken with a Fidelco puppy in the puppy photo booth. It was a great group effort and the bake sale and Friday event raised over $2500.00.