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Watkinson School

Tag: middle school

  • Watkinson 6th Grader Awarded First Place In History Contest

    Watkinson 6th Grader Awarded First Place In History Contest

    Private middle school 6th-grader Cooper M. ’27 was awarded first place in the Junior Individual Exhibit category in the Hartford Regional History Day Contest.  As a result of his first-place finish, Cooper’s work proceeds to be judged at the statewide level in the State History Day Contest in May. Watkinson Private Middle School Head Jenny Esposito comments, “This is a wonderful, spectacular accomplishment. Cooper showed extraordinary motivation in the midst of the pandemic and did exceptional work. We are both happy for and proud of him.”

    The theme for this year’s History Day Contest is “communication: the key to understanding” and Cooper immediately connected his fluency with ASL with the fact that the American School for the Deaf is right here in Hartford. “I am fluent in ASL because my mom is a sign language interpreter, and I always had a Deaf nanny and Deaf babysitter. I also went to a preschool for Deaf and hearing, and I went every summer to a science camp for Deaf and hearing at Gallaudet University. We are friends with many families who are Deaf. It is part of my life!  I had the idea for this presentation board to be about Deaf actors because one of our good friends is Lauren Ridloff (a Deaf American actress known for her role as Connie on the TV series The Walking Dead) and her family, and Lauren is going to be in The Eternals as a new Marvel character.  We have been friends with Lauren and Doug and their two sons for many years. Everyone is Deaf in that family.  So that is why I picked this idea.” 

    Because of COVID, Cooper did most of his research by email and video chats with people. He considers himself fortunate that he is originally from NYC and that he and his mom know a lot of Deaf actors. “I could email them directly and they’ve known me my whole life so they responded. I also know the hearing actor BD Wong and he agreed to answer interview questions too. I did not have to talk to anyone that I did not already know. This made a big difference.”  See Cooper’s complete presentation here.

    The virtual state contest takes place on May 1. The day starts at 9 a.m. with a Welcome Ceremony, followed by a number of other virtual activities and historical content. See the day’s events and view all the projects here.

    Watkinson School is Hartford’s oldest independent school for grades 6-12/PG. Learn more at an upcoming virtual info session for prospective families on April 27 at 9:30am or schedule a private, COVID-safe tour today. Financial aid is available for new middle schoolers whose families qualify for need. 

  • Venezuelan Students Connect Internationally Via Flipgrid

    by University of Hartford Communications Intern Samantha Urban

    For over a decade, four Venezuelan students, typically seventh graders, visit Watkinson School. The new private middle school students will be immersed right into the everyday activities of a typical Watkinson student: going to classes, eating lunch, participating in advisory and extracurriculars, you name it.

    With their visit scheduled for February 5, 2020, this year, Spanish teacher Marcy Webb devised a way to connect with these visiting students.  Using Flipgrid, an online audio platform that allows students to record audio and video, the sixteen students in her 7th grade Spanish I class created mini-bios of themselves, all in Spanish, to share with the Venezuelan students before they arrived.  

    The mini-bios worked perfectly with where her students are curricular and included things like where they are from and what they like to do for fun. In the end, students posed a question to their Venezuelan counterparts.

    “We thought it was a nice, real-world use of the students’ language skills, which, unfortunately, they don’t always get a chance to demonstrate”, said Webb.  She said that students had a fun time crafting their own bios and were excited to see how the Venezuelan students would respond.


    Low and behold, the Venezuelan students have already responded and our seventh-grade language students are looking forward to seeing what they had to say.  The receiving of these videos provides the students a chance to use their listening skills in trying to comprehend the Venezuelan responses.

  • Watkinson Private Middle School Students Visit Trinity Academy

    Watkinson Private Middle School Students Visit Trinity Academy

    On Friday, Jan. 17th, Watkinson’s Private Middle School students traveled to Trinity Academy on Sigourney St. in Hartford to share lessons about Dr. King through art, poetry, and history. Our students became the teachers as they worked with the younger children, grades 1 through 4. In addition, a small team of Watkinson students and teachers prepared lunch for over 100 people. At the end of the morning, we all gathered for a community meeting of sharing and singing Civil Rights songs including “We Shall Overcome”  to remember and honor the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King. 

  • 6th-Grade Entrepreneur

    6th-Grade Entrepreneur

    On February 1 from 11-3, our Watkinson private middle school student Olivia C. ’26 will be selling hair scrunchies and flour sack dish towels at the West Hartford Town Hall. She’s part of West Hartford’s first-ever Pop-Up Kids Market, for which Watkinson is a community sponsor.  All the money she raises will go to the Crosby Fund for Haitian Education.  Olivia has been sewing for years and when her sewing teacher told her about this opportunity she applied immediately.  Her business is called “Stitching 4 Education.”  She is sewing to pay for the education of Phens Oltin and Sophia Melissa Altidort, two Crosby Fund students who she and a friend started sponsoring 2 years ago with their birthday money.

    Make plans to come to see Olivia and representatives from Watkinson on February 1!

  • Head of School Featured on Podcast

    Head of School Featured on Podcast

    Head of School Teri Schrader had the privilege of being an invited guest on “Parenting Beyond the Headlines”, a podcast hosted by author, educational leader, and current Watkinson trustee Amy Alamar. The most current podcast episode, released on September 10, focuses on the importance of the middle school years, see a trailer here.

    Alamar describes, “Our podcast is dedicated to helping families understand what’s going on in the news and how it affects their family and how to talk about it with their family. Of course we are in the back-to-school swing of things, and this topic is so crucial – parents and students often think “ugh” when it comes to middle school, and we want to support families in embracing the challenges by better understanding them. We also wanted to help highlight the beauty and importance of these years, with the rise of anxiety and depression in teens, this is the moment to support our kids and try to understand the magic in their development.”

    This podcast is a wonderful introduction to the panel discussion Watkinson is hosting on October 16 at the Children’s Museum in West Hartford, entitled “Middle School Years: Myths, Realities, and What a Parent Can Do”.

    Get your tickets today!

  • Watkinson Presents Panel on Middle School Years

    Watkinson Presents Panel on Middle School Years

    Watkinson School is pleased to present “Middle School Years: Myths, Realities, and What a Parent Can Do” on October 16 at the Children’s Museum in West Hartford. The centerpiece of the evening is a forum about how to navigate the special opportunities, challenges, and joy of middle schoolers. Learn why the middle school years are crucial and how to support your unique middle schooler through the often tumultuous years from 6th-8th grade.  The expert panel includes (clockwise from top left):

    • Gary Isenberg, Ph.D., Neuropsychologist 

    • Martha Brackeen-Harris, Ph.D., Retired Educator, and Middle School Head 

    • Teri Schrader, Panel Facilitator and Head of Watkinson School

    • Patrick Nickoletti, Ph.D., Univ. of Saint Joseph Professor of Human Development and Family Studies 

    The evening includes:

    5:30 – 6:00 p.m. — mix and mingle, hors d’oeuvres, wine and soft drinks

    6:00-7:00 p.m. — panel discussion

    7:00-7:30pm — more hors d’oeuvres and mingling

    Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at
    https://watkinsonmiddleschoolyears.brownpapertickets.com    .