Category: Middle School

Protecting an Ecosystem

As part of the sixth grade earth science curriculum, the students learned about invasive species and how they can affect an ecosystem. One species they focused on was the Crown of Thorns (COT) sea star. They learned how the sea star’s fast reproduction and limited predators on the Great Barrier Reef are creating quite a problem for that precious ecosystem. The COTs eat the algae in the coral which is causing the coral to die at rapid rates. Students then learned how scientists are using Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to learn to identify and inject vinegar into the COTs. The vinegar dissolves them from the inside out. These ROVs can work 24 hours a day in all kinds of weather conditions. 

Last year, Ms. O incorporated an ROV unit into the 6th grade earth science class after attending an ROV course where she learned to create and operate SEAMate ROVs. She was excited to bring this knowledge back to the classroom and share it with the sixth graders again this year! Ms. O had the students team up to create their own ROVs in order to simulate the work of the scientists out on the reef. The students had to wire their electrical control box (which took multiple days), wire the motors and assemble the propellers, design a frame, and decorate their ROV.

With the ROVs completed, the students were given the challenge of collecting COTs from the local MCC Augusta Pool. Students had to figure out how to maneuver their ROV and remove the imitation COTs from the pool.

Through this process, the sixth graders learned a lot about electricity, engineering, design, scientific research and careers in both robotics and ecology. Many expressed how much they enjoyed taking part in and learning about robotics!

The purchasing of the Seamate ROV’s and other necessary materials necessary for this project were made possible by a grant from the National Marine Science Foundation.

#SaklanHandsOn

The Anatomy of Common Organisms

As part of the 7th grade biology unit on animals, the students looked at different phylum found within a particular kingdom. The class talked about the characteristics and important adaptations each have for survival. In doing so the students took part in multiple dissections in order to learn and compare the anatomy of common organisms. In their study of invertebrates, the seventh grade dissected a squid (part of the mollusk phylum) and a worm (the annelid phylum). Each organism has a different circulatory system, number of hearts, different sequence of body parts and the class learned that some invertebrates have no brain at all. 


In the vertebrate group, students started out with a dissection of a bony fish, a perch and then a dogshark, which is a cartilaginous fish. Students were able to feel a back bone in a fish and the flexibility of a the shark. The seventh graders were able to feel the difference in the outer dermis and see the different reproductive parts of each animal. Students also noticed that more of the structures in the vertebrate group looked like that of humans.


Lastly, after a visit from Ms. Meredith’s chicken, Lightening, the seventh graders dissected a chicken egg . This allowed the students to see how the egg is formed and how all parts of the egg are necessary for the growth of a chicken.

#SaklanHandsOn

Final Days of the School Year

As we count down to the end of the 2023-2024 school, there are a few reminders we would like to share with you.

Uniform Exchange

We are collecting gently used uniform shirts, jumpers, sweaters, sweatshirts and jackets (items with the Saklan logo on them) to be used in the Uniform Exchange. Next week there will be a plastic container in front of the school, please feel free to place any unwanted uniforms in it.

Lost and Found

We have many sweatshirts, jackets and water bottles currently sitting in the lost and found. These items will be placed out in the front of the school next week. Please look through them and take what is yours. All items left over after the school year ends will either be added to the uniform exchange or given to charity.

Graduation

All Saklan families and friends are invited to attend this year’s graduation on Thursday, June 6th at 10:00 a.m. The event is being held outdoors on the Sports Court, so if you are joining us, please prepare for potential sun (hats/sunscreen/glasses/water bottle) or for breezier cool weather (sweaters/jackets). We kindly ask all attendees to RSVP.

Your are Cordially Invited to Attend

We look forward to celebrating the Class of 2024 with you!

Class of 2024 Graduation

Your are Cordially Invited to Attend

Thursday, June 6, 2024

10:00 AM on the Saklan Sports Court

We are excited to invite you to a graduation ceremony celebrating the Saklan Class of 2024! This year’s ceremony will be held on Thursday, June 6th at 10:00 a.m. on the Saklan Sports Court. RSVP is requested for those who will be joining us.

Seating: Will begin at 9:45 a.m.

What to Bring: The event is being held outdoors and weather can vary this time of year. Please prepare for potential sun (hats/sunscreen/glasses/water bottle) or for breezier cool weather (sweaters/jackets).

RSVP: Please RSVP by May 31st, 2024.

RSVP for Graduation Here!

We look forward to celebrating the Class of 2024 with you!

#SaklanGraduation #Classof2024

Final Call for Sneakers

As we shared at the beginning of the year, the sixth grade partnered with GotSneakers, an organization that helps keep sneakers out of landfills by recycling and reusing them. Each pair of shoes donated earned their class money, which they will be donating to the World Wildlife Federation to symbolically adopt a species being affected by climate change. 

As of May 1st the 6th graders have:

  • Recycled over 8 large bags of sneakers with over 138 pairs in them.
  • Saved over 4,140 pounds of CO2 from our atmosphere
  • Saved over 311,466 gallons of water

Thank you to everyone who helped support this initiative. Your donations have really helped the environment. 

It isn’t too late to donate sneakers! The 6th graders will be collecting shoes through Friday, May 31st. Thank you all for donating your old and unused sneakers, they not only were kept out of landfills but were also helping to protect species. 

2024 Middle School Musical

The Saklan Middle School students have been rehearsing for their culminating project for music class, a performance of Into The Woods. Every student in the Middle School is participating in the production, whether it is acting in a main role, taking care of props, helping with costumes, or being a stage hand. It is a true collaborative effort to produce an amazing final product. 

On Friday, May 17th the students will perform at 7:00 p.m. in the Town Hall Theatre in Lafayette. The entire community is invited to the show. Tickets are required for attendance and can be purchased by clicking on the button below.

MIddle School Musical Tickets

We hope you can join us for what is sure to be a wonderful show!

#SaklanMusicals #SaklanCreative

Shared Power

Fostering a sense of belonging is one of the most important things we can do in our classrooms. When students feel seen, known, and valued, they become free to take on new academic risks and challenges. 

At Saklan we extend the importance of belonging beyond SEL curriculum, morning meeting, or advisory. In Project Based Learning students bring their authentic wonders and ideas to the academic day, peer feedback, and collaborative work. 

Through showing the value of what they have to offer to the learning experience, students are reminded that we all have ways we can help support our community, ways our community can help us, and, most importantly, none of us alone is smarter than all of us together!  

Shared power is a core equity lever of projects at Saklan. By sharing power the class takes ownership over their growing knowledge which deepens the students’ sense of belonging and purpose in the classroom. 

Authentically incorporating students’ unique interests and talents, providing them options and agency in making decisions within the project, and creating a sense of interdependence among the teacher and students are all ways shared power show up in high quality project learning. 

Here are a few examples of how students are bringing their own unique identities, ideas, and questions to support academic learning in our projects. 

Owlets: Voice and Choice in Rainforest Representations 

Choice is provided for even our youngest learners. In their rainforest project unit, Owlets have had the freedom to respond to their growing knowledge in a variety of ways. After a visit from a reptile expert, students created models to represent what they learned. They chose an element of the experience that was exciting to them and selected which materials they would use to create the representation of what they learned. 

Owlets see the importance of their voice by developing their own wonders. The teachers reinforce student voice by making space to respond directly to these authentic student inquiries. One Owlet wondered how much rainfall there is in the rainforest each year. After some research the class discovered there is an average annual rainfall of 7 feet in the rainforest. They collaboratively made this chart to show 7 feet of rain! They even measured themselves (and their teachers) against all this rainfall!

We hope you can join the Owlets for their rainforest culmination celebration where you can see all they have learned about rainforests on May 31st after CLAS!

6th grade: Interdependence Through Critique, Revision, and Co-Creation of Rubrics

This PBL unit requires students to create a final product based on their own unique interpretation of the driving question, “How are we still connected to Ancient Greek culture, language, and mythology today?” 

While building knowledge and pursuing individual research paths, students also develop a deep sense of belonging and shared power in the classroom through interdependence. One major aspect of this was co-writing their grading rubric for the project through generating, sorting, and refining criteria and rubric language together. 

Throughout the project they receive feedback and support from peers and teachers through small group work and feedback protocols like Big Paper and a modified version of the Charrette Protocol. 

This critique and revision cycle is designed specifically to show students that their ideas matter. These practices intentionally lift up student voices, ideas, and opinions within the guardrails of our content standards and teacher learning goals. 

#SaklanPBL

Student-led Socratic Discussions

In their Languge Arts classes, the 6th and 8th grade students participated in Socratic-style seminar discussions to showcase their understanding of their class novels. The discussions were 100% student-led with 0% teacher involvement.

In a Socratic seminar discussion, students ask and answer all of the questions. The teacher remains silent. The students sit in a circle or around a seminar table where every participant can make eye contact with all other participants while speaking or actively listening. The discussion moves freely as the students answer one another’s questions, build on the commentary of others, and, of course, invite one another to contribute to keep the discussion going.

The 8th graders wrapped up their reading of the novel Uprising with two Socratic discussions inside the “fishbowl.” The novel Uprising tells the intersecting stories of three young women before and during the tragic fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Manhattan on March 25, 1911. Along with reading the novel, the students analyzed the benefits and downsides of the Industrial Revolution in American life at the turn of the twentieth century. 

To prepare for the discussion, students generated their own questions about the novel’s main themes, especially characterization. The 8th graders also shared their analyses of meaningful passages from the novel and real historical events before inviting other participants to add to their ideas.

While one-half of the class participated in the discussion inside the fishbowl, the other half sat around the room outside the discussion table to observe and listen to their peers. The discussion lasted for 20 minutes before the two groups switched roles.

While the discussion was underway inside the fishbowl, each observer tracked specific elements of the discussion in their Observer Notes. They logged specific types of commentary as they occurred, including when a speaker connected the discussion topic to a broader theme, when someone built on another person’s comment, or when an analytical question was asked to the whole discussion group.

The 6th graders finished reading the novel Flowers for Algernon, which is about a mentally disabled man who triples his intelligence through an operation. For their cumulative project, the class also held a Socratic Seminar. In the discussion, students evaluated the various themes present in the novel, such as the relationship between EQ and IQ. Students made connections with the nonfiction topics discussed in class, such as the story of Adam and Eve, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, and eugenics. When reflecting on their performance, the 6th graders were most proud of their ability to support one another’s intellectual thinking. 

In both grades, the students were surprised at how quickly time flew by inside the fishbowl. The discussion participants in both grades asked if they could have more time to continue as they felt they had much more to discuss.

The Power of Learning by Doing

Embark on an exciting journey with Saklan Middle School’s Learning by Doing (LBD) program! Every Thursday afternoon, students have the unique opportunity to delve into new interests, discover new skills, and make new friends as they choose from a wide array of LBD classes. These vibrant sessions, tailored to student interests, needs, and teacher passions, provide a platform for hands-on learning.

Imagine your student diving into chess strategy, challenging their knowledge with Geography quiz games, or learning about the richness of Indian culture and cuisine. From the rhythm of West African drumming to the camaraderie of basketball, there’s something every student can engage with and enjoy. Also, the fourth Thursday of each month brings the excitement of off-campus lunch—a favorite among students!

What truly distinguishes Saklan is our commitment to nurturing a community of lifelong learners. Our middle school faculty leads engaging LBD classes and invites parents and students to share their expertise. Imagine your student learning and teaching their peers, sparking passion and curiosity in others through their LBD class. This is the spirit of collaboration and inclusion that defines our LBD program.

This year, our sixth-grade students have showcased extraordinary creativity and courage by stepping into the role of LBD instructors. Stephen, Rebecca, and Aliya used Saklan’s new i-Pads (made possible by generous fund-a-need donations to last year’s auction) to film short video skits that were scripted joyfully in the first LBD class. The laughter and fun of each LBD period was palpable. The students learned how to edit by adding sounds and music and incorporating text and images to make their videos silly and fun. Although the film topics were completely student-created, they learned invaluable filming and editing techniques.

Another excellent sixth-grade LBD class just finished this week. It was titled “Rice and Reading,” which are two things that Sam loves. In each class session, Sam brought a new delicious rice dish to share. Students ate the yummy food and then rested in comfort to read their favorite books.

Join us in celebrating the spirit of innovation and empowerment that defines Saklan Middle School’s LBD program—a true highlight of the middle school experience!

Pan con Tomate

In Spanish class, students often combine aspects of the Spanish curriculum with other subjects to show how learning a language goes beyond the classroom. Take Spanish and food, for example. Students’ knowledge evolves when they are exposed to different Spanish-speaking countries in the classroom, but that doesn’t compare to tasting what it would be like to be in Spain. Sometimes, the best way to learn is through different experiences, and students love food! In the Middle School Blue Block Spanish class, students prepared pan con tomate, a typical appetizer of Cataluña, a community in Spain. It is a relatively simple recipe with few ingredients required, but the payout is outstanding; the students learn vocabulary while eating and sharing the food they prepare themselves!