Over the past two years, The Saklan School has transformed Project Based Learning (PBL) into an even more authentic and impactful experience, setting new benchmarks in educational innovation. We’ve significantly enriched our curriculum with a surge in field experiences, guest expert collaborations, and deep-dive project work. This evolution is driven by our commitment not just to spark our students’ curiosity and passion for learning but also to position Saklan at the forefront of redefining educational excellence for all students.
As we build on this momentum, our auction Fund-a-Need campaign this year is crucially focused on enhancing our facilities to support truly effective and collaborative PBL. While our educators are pioneering remarkable projects, the current physical spaces constrain the full potential of their innovative teaching and our students’ learning experiences. Elevating our facilities to align with our gold-standard PBL curriculum is essential for enabling our students to excel and illuminate their talents. Visualize with us the future of PBL classrooms at Saklan.
Imagine a PBL classroom that moves at the pace of imagination, where furniture shifts to support the ebb and flow of collaborative energy and creativity. In this adaptive setting, students and teachers seamlessly transition between layouts conducive to group or individual work. This environment is designed to minimize distractions and elevate concentration, with strategic lighting and acoustics setting the perfect stage for students’ creative expression.
Further, our envisioned PBL classrooms harness cutting-edge technology to connect students with a world of ideas and expertise. Through high definition monitors, advanced audio systems, and comprehensive digital tools, students can engage with thought leaders from diverse fields, fostering a learning experience that is not only interactive but also deeply resonant and personally relevant.
By supporting our Fund-a-Need initiative, you’re investing in a future where education transcends traditional boundaries, where Saklan students are empowered to explore, innovate, and lead. Join us in shaping an environment that nurtures the thinkers, creators, and changemakers of tomorrow by attending this year’s Peace, Love, Saklan auction. It promises to be a great time for a wonderful cause.
High level Project Based Learning units at Saklan extend beyond the walls of the classroom. When students feel a sense of authentic purpose, projects become richer and more relevant for our learners. As they demonstrate understanding of academic standards, they are also engaging in sustained inquiry, thinking creatively, and acting compassionately.
The product in each PBL unit looks different depending on a number of factors including the academic learning goals, division, and student interest. However, our work at Saklan differentiates itself by final products being more than a retelling of academic content via a poster or report. Instead Saklan students demonstrate their proficiency in academic standards through the process of answering a question or solving a problem that matters to them.
This unique blend of honoring students’ interests and maintaining academic rigor empowers students to make change and impact their community. Through high quality Project Based Learning Saklan students learn that their opinions are valued, that they have creative solutions to problems that exist in our communities, and that they can take action to make a difference.
Below are some outstanding examples of public products from PBL units at Saklan this year that help answer a question, solve a problem, or support our community needs.
A concert backdrop is an essential element to our annual Saklan concert. This year our second graders took on the authentic task of designing and creating the backdrop for this important community event.
They first developed their understanding of the art world by experiencing Yayoi Kusama’s installations at SF MoMA and diving deep to understand how artists like Joseph Albers, Erin Fong, Anne Patterson communicate emotion through either a single or a combination of colors both in painting and in large-scale installations. Considering their new understanding of color theory, students engaged in a process of design, critique, and revision before deciding as a group on the direction of their concert backdrop design. From there they stretched and explored with various materials for the background before ultimately settling on ribbon and fabric since it would flow and also be weighty enough to not tangle. They helped tie the hundreds of ribbons to the 8 foot dowels that were installed professionally in our concert space at the Lesher Performing Arts Center for our annual spring concert.
For an additional second public project, students have been working in collaborative small groups to cut and redesign the original installation, creating smaller hanging pieces for our school auction later this month! Now their art that communicates love and serves our community will take on a new life and get to go home with a few lucky families!
7th Grade
Driving Question: “How can we reduce single use plastic?”
Public Product: Design of sustainable alternatives to single use plastic
Plastic trash and microplastics in our oceans are a real and relevant issue that seventh graders worked to address through design innovations and creativity.
After a field experience at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and service learning on the beaches of Oahu, seventh graders considered the impact of plastics on the environment, particularly on ocean animals and what they can do to be change makers. Students designed solutions to single use plastics and presented their designs and prototypes to a panel of adults, including a local designer and small business owner, in a Shark Tank style presentation. Through this experience they grew in their capacity to think creatively about solutions to problems that exist outside the walls of Saklan and consider how they can be part of the change they want to see in the world around them.
1st and 8th grades
Driving Question: “How do homes keep us safe?”
Public Product: Bag lunchesfor distribution with 10,000 Lunches
An ideal Saklan graduate is an empathetic, inclusive, and kind leader. First graders lived into those descriptors during the final milestone of a months-long Project Based Learning unit on homes.
The Homes unit in first grade is a cross-curricular unit that integrates informational reading and writing, geometry, weather, social studies, and art. This year students moved from geometry and shapes that can be used to make a strong structure to learning from our 8th graders about what can happen when people lose their homes due to natural disasters, like hurricanes. In their final milestones, first graders learned how communities can come together when housing insecurity impacts food insecurity and were inspired to think about how they can be helpers too. Together 1st and 8th graders helped their family groups bag 200 lunches for a local organization called 10,000 Lunches that aims to support local people experiencing housing and food insecurity.
Generosity from last year’s auction fund-a-need donors allowed for the purchase of a vertical indoor garden for Saklan’s Science Lab. The garden holds 30 different plants: many lettuces, herbs, vegetables and some flowers. This year the 6th graders have been tending to these plants as part of their earth science curriculum, in which they study both nutrient cycling in the environment and healthy food choices. The students have researched their plants, kept biweekly measurements and drawings, and now are getting to enjoy the fruits of their labor!
Right before Spring Break, students got to enjoy lettuce (butterhead, red and green tatsoi, hon tsai tai, red sail and montecarlo) from the garden! They enjoyed eating the sweet basil they grew mixed with some mozzarella and tomatoes from the store (their tomatoes are still green). They also added mint leaves to lemonade.
Next they hope to enjoy the cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers and more of the herbs they have grown!
Saklan’s social-emotional learning emphasis for April is to be forgiving. During the month, all Saklan students are discussing what it means to forgive and looking for ways to be forgiving with others. On Monday, April 22nd, all Saklan students will participate in Earth Day activities, and during the activities the 1st – 8th grade students join with their family group members and take part in cross-grade level discussions and activities to gain an even greater understanding of being forgiving.
FRIDAY BLOG 