The Memorial Elementary School faculty was proud to unveil the Center for Innovation, Research and Creativity (CIRC) upon the start of the 2025-26 school year after spending the previous year planning, designing and preparing for this opportunity.  CIRC is an enrichment program available to students that is collaboratively taught by members of our Unified Arts Department and classroom teachers.  CIRC classes are built into the weekly schedule and are designed to incorporate enrichment opportunities for all learners across four distinct courses: Art, Digital Media, Health & Wellness, and Music.  The students will cycle through each of these nine-week courses throughout the school year.  Students will be challenged to think critically, work collaboratively and develop their problem-solving skills as they participate in each of the four CIRC courses.  All CIRC lessons are presented at a developmentally appropriate level. Examples of the units in each domain are described below.

Students will be tasked with creating a functional and inclusive playground during their Art course.  Working in small groups, they will learn how engineering and design impact daily life and our community, conduct research to inform their decision (including matters of safety, materials, accessibility and popularity of equipment), create a blueprint and build a scaled model design of their playground to present to their peers.

Our 5th and 6th grade students will participate in a project based learning unit, Reimagining Draper, during which they will creatively design their vision for how Hopedale can utilize the Draper Factory site.  Students will research the needs of our town, make proposals for the site and design their models.  This is an opportunity for Memorial School students to plan for Hopedale’s future!

During the Health & Wellness course, students will be learning about the Six Dimensions of Wellness: Physical, Mental, Emotional, Spiritual, Social and Environmental.  Classes will be held either in the CIRC room or the gymnasium during which students will learn about and engage in a variety of activities and exercises designed to improve one’s health and wellness.

Students will form their own band during Music class!  They will choose their musical genre, create a variety of musical instruments using materials in CIRC, explore novel instruments such as a glockenspiel,  use technology to compose a song, design merchandise and promote their band!  Be on the lookout for the next “song of the year!” 

We have enjoyed a very successful and engaging start to CIRC.  Thank you to many talented and creative staff members at Memorial School for turning this vision into a reality for our students.  It has been exciting to see the enthusiasm of our students, and staff!  We are also thankful to Toshiba for providing the school with a $5000 grant for CIRC.  These funds were used to purchase a 3D Printer, a Wide-Format Printer, and supplies that are already being utilized in CIRC.  Additionally, thank you to the many MES parents and families who donated supplies over the summer that help prepare CIRC for the start of the school year.