Join the Saklan Student Council in showing your school spirit! For the next couple of months, every Friday will be a Saklan Spirit Day. All students and teachers are invited to dress up for the following spirit days:
Friday, March 10: Pajama Day – Wear school-appropriate pajamas and normal shoes (no slippers please)
Friday, March 17: St. Patrick’s Day – Wear green
Friday, March 24: Identity Day – Wear anything that shows something about who you are and/or what you are passionate about
Friday, April 14: Color Out Day – Wear Blue from head to toe & support Autism Awareness Month
Friday, April 28: Funky Fashion Day – Wear mismatched and fun fashion
Friday, May 19: Beach Day – Wear typical clothes for tropical/warm weather (no swimsuits please)
Participation in these spirit days is optional. If students choose not to dress up, they need to wear their uniforms.
Recently, Saklan’s sixth graders worked to expand their understanding of volume beyond the equation: volume = length * width * height.
The students experimented with cubic units as they explored a situation involving offices with unusually shaped bases. They quickly were able to determine that a multiplier could be used to extend the height of the office towers much more efficiently than counting. And after a class discussion of why the area of the office tower’s base was the same as the volume of the office tower when it was one unit high, the sixth graders came up with a better formula. Volume = Area of base * height.
An interesting side note: At a math teaching conference that Saul Zippin, Saklan’s Middle School Math Teacher, went to a few years ago, he attended a session about middle school students finding the volume of a parallelepiped (a parallelogram prism) that had one of the sides weighted so it would stand up, as shown in the image below.
Researchers from the University of Illinois had filmed their students finding the volume of the prism and their outcomes. All of the students used the V = l X w X h idea. Some found the height from their desk to the top (the correct way), while about half measured the side that was the slant instead of the actual height. When it was time for questions, Saul asked how many of the students found the area of the parallelogram (the base of the prism) and then multiplied that by the height. They said that none of the students in their research did that. Interested in how Saklan students would solve this, Saul made a class set of the 3D shapes, weighted the base and asked the students to find the volume. Every student found the volume correctly! Most turned the parallelepiped on its side, found the area of the base and multiplied by the height.
Saul noted that when students are taught to think mathematically using manipulatives and class discussions, they have a huge advantage when attempting to solve problems.
Saklan’s social-emotional learning emphasis for March is honesty and trustworthy. Throughout the month, all Saklan students will discuss what each of these words mean with their class, brainstorm ways to be honest and showcase trustworthiness, and look for ways to put those ideas into practice both at school and at home.
FRIDAY BLOG 
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