Read Naturally's research-based reading interventions have helped Matthew and his classmates become fluent readers and make solid gains in comprehension and vocabulary. Matthew loves being able to work independently and also track his progress by graphing his pass scores! Read Naturally Encore II has allowed Ms. Searles to differentiate instruction easily and accelerate students' reading achievement using both printed materials and audio CDs. Visit our website to learn more about our program today

Throughout our unit on Matter, our 4th and 5th grade students have been provided with different opportunities to practice aspects of and demonstrate their understanding of performance expectations aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), for example: 5-PS1-4 Conduct an investigation to whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances. One of the lesson objectives was to identify different changes that can happen to matter. Students first learned how a chemical change is different from a physical change. To wrap up the lesson, we conducted an experiment with a baking soda mixture and blackberries. Students [...]

A pandemic and social distancing hasn't stopped students in Hamden's K-3 classroom from making new friends this school year! Focusing on the Common Core State Standards for writing, students started writing friendly letters to their pen pals at High Road School of Fairfield County in October. Students learned about the different parts of a letter, like the heading, body, closing and signature and practiced their neatest handwriting! After writing their first letter, they got to virtually meet their pen pals when they attended Fairfield County's Science Fair. They even got to ask some of their pen pals questions about their [...]

The holiday season this year may have looked different, but it felt as joyful as ever! Students in Hamden's Intensive Support Classroom spread joy within their classrooms, in the halls, and throughout the community. Students all participated in PJ Day for the Kids and gave $1 to raise money and to honor the brave kids who are fighting cancer. Students in our 7th and 8th grade classroom also wrote letters the brave boys and girls, sending messages of joy and love. One student wrote, "Keep fighting because you are strong. Tough times don't [...]

Since we couldn't hold our annual Thanksgiving Feast this school year, we brought the feast to our families. Staff worked to put together holiday meal packages, and students helped make gift tags for each package. We delivered the meals to families the weekend before Thanksgiving. Students also made Turkey Leaf Luminaries as centerpieces to bring home for their dinner table! Visit our website to learn more about our program today

To celebrate World Kindness Day, our Hamden students shared ways to be kind and sprinkled kindness everywhere, in school and at home. All week, each classroom participated in a kindness challenge! Teachers passed out kindness challenge cards at the start of the week with different random acts of kindness on each card. Students turned them in as they completed challenges. For homework, students worked to fill in their Kindness Challenge bingo cards with as many random acts of kindness as possible. Students held doors open for others, let others go in front of them in line, asked others how they were [...]

On November 11th, our students came to school dressed in red, white and blue to honor our Veterans and learn about the history of Veterans Day. Earlier in the week, students created American flags with a silhouette of a soldier to display in our hallway. In the morning, students attended Dunbar Hill's Virtual Veterans Day Ceremony and recognized service families from the Dunbar Hill Community, including U.S. Veteran Mr. Morgan, our very own student Logan's grandpa! Students wrote heartfelt letters of gratitude thanking many military members for their service, to friends, family and soldiers currently on military bases. Finally, students took [...]

Students in Hamden's Intensive Support Classrooms participated in a spooky spirit week during the last week of October--even on our virtual learning day! When students logged in Monday morning, they showed their blue or green on the screen representing Team Sully or Team Mike from Monsters Inc. We styled our hair silly for Trolls Tuesday and wore hats on Witch and Wizard Wednesday. No tricks on Thursday, only treats for students who got to wear orange and black or pajamas to school! Finally, on Friday our Dunbar Hill classrooms participated in the school-wide "Dress As Your Favorite Book Character Day." [...]