Middle School is a unique time of change for your child. We recognize that all students have their own learning styles, so we focus on individual needs. Within each classroom, teachers exercise creative approaches in teaching to ensure every student learns how to learn effectively. Through our small classes, distinctive teacher/student relationships, and genuine concern for each student, we emphasize social/emotional growth through personal relationships, academic excellence through critical thinking, and commitment to community through leadership and extra-curricular opportunities.

 

Classes use a wide range of pedagogical techniques, including: seminar-style discussions, note-taking, or assigning and supervising collaborative, and internet-based/independent study projects. Using this diverse approach to education students are provided a strong foundation that will support their continued success.

 

Middle School also requires each student to be an effective and proficient user of technology. Saklan has successfully adopted a 1:1 laptop program allowing our students to expand their world through the opportunities of technology. Each class integrates the use of technology for activities such as note-taking, study skills, organization, presentations, and much more.

 

Ultimately, Middle School is a time to discover. Our students are provided with opportunities to learn who they are, what makes them stand out, and most importantly, who they want to become. Each day is purposely blended with academic challenges and personal growth experiences to keep the teachers motivated and the students focused on reaching their personal best.

Communication and Partnership with Families

The Saklan School Middle School prides itself on effective parent-teacher-student communication and family-friendly environment. Twice a year, parent teacher conferences are held to apprise families of student progress and to build teamwork for that purpose; student attendance is strongly encouraged at these conferences. Each trimester our comprehensive report cards provide both letter grades and detailed comments; mid-trimester progress is reported in writing as well. Our faculty has a commitment to communicate with parents by phone, email, or in person if a student’s average falls below 80% in any class.

Field Trips

Field Trips extend lessons beyond the classroom and truly embrace lifelong learning. Students experience a multitude of day trips each year whereby a cross-curricular approach emphasizes learning by doing.

Experiential Education

Experiential Education is a student-centered exploration of discovering the answer on your own. It’s more than a week long field trip. Experiential Education places a student in a more direct relationship with the material, allowing them the opportunity to answer their own questions and make discoveries.

 

Experiential Education trips include:

• Annual Middle School Advance - 6th-8th grades
• Yosemite Institute - 6th grade
• Oahu, Hawaii - 7th grade
• Washington, DC - 8th grade

Advisory

Saklan Middle School students thrive with a trusted advisor to support them on their journey of personal, academic and social-emotional growth throughout their middle school years. Advisory groups meet four times per week and enjoy both one-on-one student-advisor conversations and also group-wide shared time for student issues and concerns. Students form a special bond with their Advisor and a strong sense of group identity with their fellow advisory members. The Advisor also serves as the key contact for parents concerning their student’s needs and progress.

Learning Period

Learning Period is another way in which we provide support for students at the end of their day. Students can start their homework, take a missed quiz or test, work one-on-one with a teacher, or participate in tutoring.

Electives

The Elective Program is designed to go in depth with certain subject matter, as well as to allow students to make decisions regarding their own education. These electives are focused in the areas of the Visual and Performing Arts and Physical Education, and include mixed classes with students from 6th, 7th and 8th grade.  During the first and third trimesters, students meet for a 90 minute block each week to actively explore areas that interest them. Past offerings have included: Basketball, Weaving, Shakespearean Actors Workshop, Cross-Country, Textile Art, Jazz Band, Stagecraft, Beginning Dance, Sculpture, Volleyball, and Intermediate Musical theater.

Service Learning

Developing compassion within the students is a critical component of the total Saklan educational experience. Recognizing the importance of cultivating values such as responsibility, compassion, and generosity in our students, we seek to involve them in hands-on service learning activities. The students of Saklan will understand the significance their contribution makes to not only a specific organization, but a community, and an individual.

In addition to core subjects, we also offer Spanish, Music, Visual Arts, Physical Education, and Library, all enhance your middle school student’s ability to discover more about themselves and the world around them.

 

Spanish is a middle school core subject, classes are provided daily. Through multi-modal approaches, students learn to communicate in various contexts such as greetings, time and weather, family, friends, and relationships. As vocabulary and grammatical structures become increasingly complex, students learn to navigate their way through real-life situations including money and shopping, school and education, restaurants and museums, and family life. Students are prepared with the background necessary to be successful in high school Spanish courses.

 

The Middle School Spanish program has integrated the block schedule to provide a sequential language learning experience to all students, and to ensure they feel comfortable and willing to participate in the classroom. The Spanish program makes foreign language learning a cultural adventure. The program overall goal is to provide the communicative competence of students in the Spanish language by means of cultural-awareness activities to focus on the gradual development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in each level to foster a positive attitude toward language learning. Students in the classroom are exposed to a variety of activities in which they engage to access the content. When possible, tiered activities are provided to allow students to work at the same content but with different level of support. Moreover, the Middle School Spanish program integrates technology to allow students to experience the concepts and content of the program in a digital form in order to provide opportunities for students to work independently in the practice and to reinforce of the four language domains. At the end of each unit, students are given a summative end-of-unit assessment to show students’ performance and growth within the context of learning Spanish. The outcome of the Middle School Spanish program is to enable students to continue studying other languages in high school, and beyond.

 

The Saklan Middle School Music Program is based around three mixed grade ensembles that meet three times each week. They are organized with appropriate challenge levels, as well as student preference in mind. Engaging options in choir, band, or orchestra provide our students with a solid understanding and appreciation for music theory, history, and performance.

The Visual Arts department at Saklan offers a truly unique, challenging and contemporary arts curriculum. We believe that the arts are best expressed through one’s own voice, imagination, and eventually his/her mark. At Saklan, we believe the knowledge of art tools; techniques and theories can and must be applied across all disciplines. The goal of the art classes is to help develop creative, confident and independent learners.

 

Scientific studies show that sustained vigorous movement is essential for optimal brain development. To promote student movement, time for recess is provided daily, and physical education class meets several times a week. The Saklan School is a small school campus. The outdoor space is divided into several yards. Behind the school there is a public trail. Physical education classes use the hard surface area the turf space, the trail, and the climbing structure. Physical Education provides our middle school students a chance to explore the relationship between practice (routine, repetition, and intensity), and motor skill acquisition. Students learn how to learn by helping each other. They practice how to organize and cooperate for healthy competition. If conflict arises, students experience how to resolve issues in a constructive manner. Emotions surrounding games and attitudes towards facing challenges are discussed. Every student has the right to feel comfortable in order to learn at their own pace and accept new challenges. In middle school, the underlying theme of Physical Education is bigger, faster, and stronger. The physiological changes resulting from physical activity are discussed in more detail, and how those changes relate to skill mastery. The concept of practice makes permanent is experienced and understood. Students discuss the role of sports in society and practice leadership skills while organising recess games and participating in interscholastic sport events. The focus for physical education is as follows. Sustained motion such as run/walk a mile. Practice manipulation of objects such as: balls, hula hoops, jump ropes, bean bags, parachute, tug 'o' war rope, sticks and bats. Experience in playing as a group (collaboration and sportsmanship). Experience outside especially weather conditions and seasons. The practice of the sports basketball, soccer, floor hockey, volleyball and other large group games. Field experience while walking and running on the trail. Opportunities to participate in intramural sports such as: a hopscotch tournament, a hula hoop contest, lunch time soccer tournament, floor hockey tournament, and wiffle ball games. The opportunity to participate in the after school sports of cross country, basketball, volleyball, and soccer, against other schools.

Students grow their Math skills through many topics in this first year of Pre-Algebra, with each area is connected in a logical manner to enhance student learning. Some of what they are exposed to include patterns, proportional relationships, comparisons, data collection and analysis, equivalent fractions, writing expressions with variables, probability, volume, area, prisms, dividing fractions, percent applications, and coordinate graphing.

 

Focusing on intensive analysis of language at its roots, sixth graders are challenged to read closely and ask how/why questions to better understand both text and subtext. They practice a wide range of writing and revision processes and learn to dissect sentences to understand them on a microscopic level. How do stories work? How do they convey information and ideas? How do sentences work? How do they convey clarity and power? What's a simple sentence versus a complex sentence? What are the roles of the various parts of speech and punctuation? How do words in a sentence "talk to each other"? What’s the best word choice for maximum clarity and creativity? Our student-fueled, inquiry-based, practical approach to analyzing stories, grammar, and sentence structure is dynamic and fun.

 

Humanities is a combined exploration of the history, geography, and literature of specific time periods. Students learn the overarching trends from the dawn of human history through the fall of the Roman Empire. Regional emphasis includes the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, Greece, and Rome. Students hone their critical thinking skills as they gather and analyze evidence while searching for alternative perspectives. This course also explores how the above-mentioned timeless themes relate to contemporary issues.

 

Sixth grade focuses on the principles of geology and environmental systems. Classes are a mixture of exploratory activities, collaborative activities, long-term research, lectures, and in-depth labs. Weekly labs expand upon and reinforce the information covered in class.

 

In the sixth grade Visual Arts program, students will apply design principles, techniques and problem solving skills using a variety of media to communicate meaning and intent in original works of art. Learning one and two point perspective, demonstrating craftsmanship in use of materials when drawing, painting and sculpting, and understanding how meaning is conveyed through symbols, text, and form. They will analyze past and present cultures throughout the world, expanding each student’s understanding of human diversity along with an appreciation of the arts in society today.

 

Physical education is extended in the sixth grade through intramural and after school sports opportunities.

Seventh Grade

Seventh graders are building their sense of individual identity as they continue to build independence. At the Saklan School, we reinforce their growing desire for autonomy by encouraging critical thinking, while providing your child with a caring environment and classroom community..

Students continue to grow in their Math skills by reinforcing concepts introduced in the first year of Pre-Algebra, while they fine tune their skills and go further in depth during this year. New topics include the Pythagorean Theorem, solving inequalities, linear and exponential growth, scientific notation, interest, slopes, solving equations, exponent rules, cones and pyramids, scale factor, circles, solving complex word problems, and transformations.

 

Language Arts in seventh grade expands on sixth grade's reading, writing, revising, and grammar skill-building. Students learn to read even more closely, ask thought-provoking questions, identify themes in stories and novels, and write authoritatively to prove arguments with examples from the text. Literature examples range from Shaun Tan’s Lost & Found to Aesop’s Fables to contemporary and classic multigenre books of their own choosing.

 

Seventh grade social studies is designed to help students understand the overarching trends in world history that occurred between 300 C.E. and 1700 C.E. They explore the role of government, spiritual life, and cultural identity to analyze the progress of different civilizations. Regional emphasis include the Middle East, the Sub-Saharan Africa, medieval societies of Japan and Europe, the Americas, and the Renaissance. Significant attention will be placed on the development of Islam, the growth of Christianity, and the interaction between the two.

Science learning is designed to give students a systematic introduction to the processes and categories of life, students learn to hone their observational skills by recognizing specific traits in organisms and by using these traits as criteria for classification and inference. They expand their lab skills through work with compound microscopes, slides, stains, and dissection. Students improve their understanding of the scientific process through independently designed experiments that isolate experimental and control conditions.

 

Physical education is extended in the seventh grade through intramural and after school sports opportunities.