Rotella Interdistrict Magnet School

Field Day 2026! We had a great day of fun and sportsmanship! Thank you for Mrs. Martin, our Parent Liaison, and the many parent volunteers.

Career Day 2026! Students dressed as their future careers and listened to our guest speakers. Thank you to Mrs. Dane, our School Counselor, and our parent volunteers!

Rotella held its Annual Arts Fair where students selected one arts-integrated piece to showcase for our judges. Students with the highest scores receive a nomination to the Palette Awards.

Thank you to our judges, State Rep. Ron Napoli, Jr., Lysa Napoli from Showcase Realty, Kimmi Grove, Deputy Chief of Staff CT House of Democrats, State Rep. Joe Polletta, Angela Perillo, Kyle Lombardi, Tom Tucker. and Ralph Cantito.

Rotella held its third annual We All Belong Night, a celebration of culture and the arts! 🎉 Thank you to the planning team, staff who donated raffle baskets, Craig Norton, Universal Sound, and Veronica Rodriguez.

Rotella 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders are ready to rock Smarter Balanced testing. We ended Spirit Week with a Pep Rally to motivate students to show what they know!

🎉 Exciting News from Our Fourth Grade Scientists! 🎉

We are thrilled to share that a group of our talented fourth grade students has been selected as one of ten recipients of a $1,000 prize in the 2026 Science Buddies Engineering Challenge, the “Ball Run Challenge”! 🌟 This is an amazing accomplishment and honor, as there were more than 5,000 entries around the world.

Each year, Science Buddies hosts a global engineering design challenge open to students in grades K–12. This year’s challenge was to create a ball run using only paper and tape. The objective was to maximize the time a ping pong ball takes to travel from a high-entry point to a low-exit point. While winning is never the main goal, this recognition is an exciting bonus and a meaningful way for students to see how their creativity, teamwork, and perseverance can make a positive impact on their school community.

This year, all fourth grade students at Rotella Magnet School participated in this challenge. Throughout the month of March, students worked in small groups during their science lab block with Mrs. Gruner. There were 19 successful entries submitted into the contest from our school. The lucky recipients, known better as “Slow Moe’s”, consisted of Daniyal Adeel, Jayla Harris, Jayziel Hernandez, and Idris Lopes, from Mr. Ianantuoni’s class. As part of this experience, they explored the Engineering Design Process—planning, building, testing, and improving their designs—while also developing important collaboration skills by working in small groups.

We are so proud of their innovation, dedication, and teamwork. Congratulations to our amazing students for this outstanding achievement! 👏

Thank you to our families for your continued support in fostering curiosity and a love of learning. For further information, please visit https://www.sciencebuddies.org/engineering-challenge and visit the Engineering Challenge Showcase.

We’re all in this together! 🎤🏀 Congratulations to the cast and crew of High School Musical Jr. who shined bright on the Rotella stage!

Special thanks to co-directors, Mrs. Colon and Ms. Hanlon!

Dance Share Day Session 2 was AMAZING! Shoutout to our dance teacher, Miss Kristen, who joined up with the UCONN Dance Team to cheer on the UCONN Men's Basketball Team over this past weekend!

Rotella hosted a family literacy night with author Renata Bowers. 📚✒️📝

Renata empowered students through her Frieda B. book series. We loved listening to her book, "Frieda B. and the Finkledee Ink."

Thank you to Mrs. Martin and Mrs. Caruso for organizing.

Our Student Leadership Team kicked off Read Across America by reading to younger students.