Middle School

Students in the science lab creating a chemical reaction to mimic lava

Middle school is a time of discovery and growth. At The Saklan School, we provide students with opportunities to explore their identities, understand their unique strengths, and envision their future selves. Our approach to middle school education is unique and integrated, honoring each student’s learning style, passions, and talents.

With small class sizes, abundant leadership opportunities, immersive field experiences, and a Project Based Learning curriculum, we emphasize both social-emotional development and the cultivation of the whole child. At The Saklan School, we intentionally foster strong personal relationships and promote academic excellence through critical thinking and a commitment to community.

Our middle school teachers employ a variety of techniques designed to honor students' strengths and interests. They challenge students to think with greater complexity and depth, engage them in meaningful inquiry, and encourage them to solve real-world problems through Project Based Learning. A Saklan education provides a robust foundation that supports students as they transition to high school.

Each day at The Saklan School is purposefully designed to blend academic challenges with personal growth opportunities, helping students strive for their personal best.

7th grade students stand on a bridge with a waterfall in the background.

Field Experiences extend lessons beyond the classroom and provide a sense of authentic purpose to classroom learning and projects. Students experience many day trips and overnight experiences designed to support inquiry-based and hands-on learning.

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 students in a more direct relationship with the material, allowing them to answer their own questions and make discoveries. These week-long experiences also often tie directly into Project-Based Learning units. Experiential Education trips include:

Annual Middle School Advance - 6th-8th
Westminster Woods - 6th
Oahu, Hawaii - 7th
Puerto Rico - 8th

Advisory supports a student’s personal, academic, and social-emotional growth throughout middle school. Advisory groups meet four times a week and enjoy one-on-one student-advisor conversations and group-wide shared time for student issues and concerns. Students form a special bond with their advisors and have 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.

Core Curriculum Approach

Project Based Learning

All middle school students have opportunities to engage in Project Based Learning units each year where rigorous academic learning is driven by answering a question or solving a problem that matters to students. Often engaging experts and exploring the world outside of Saklan, students complete a series of milestones in order to produce a final product. At times, independently and at other times in collaborative groups, students answer or solve the driving question during their final milestone in a way that demonstrates their understanding of the subject matter content standards. Middle school Project Based Learning units have included driving questions such as:

“Who do artifacts truly belong to?”
“How can we create public spaces based on the values and needs of our community?”
“What can we do to reduce single-use plastics in our area?”

3 girls around a table with pennies in the middle, working on a math problem.

Mathematics

Math classes in middle school use the inquiry-based College Preparatory Math (CPM) curriculum. Students explore mathematical ideas in ways that maintain their enjoyment of and curiosity about mathematics, help them develop depth of understanding, and reflect on real-world applications. To become good problem solvers, students need many opportunities to create and solve problems in both mathematical and real-world contexts. They also need to develop and build upon strong number sense. This involves posing questions, defining problems, considering different strategies, and finding appropriate solutions. Working together in teams and groups enhances mathematical learning, helps students communicate effectively, and develops social and mathematical skills.

Language Arts

The Language Arts curriculum is focused on developing mature and confident communicators. Students are continually challenged to be critical and creative thinkers, powerful writers, and self-assured speakers. Throughout middle school, students participate in a variety of public speaking activities, including class presentations, role-playing projects, all-school assemblies, and musical performances. These opportunities culminate in heartfelt graduation speeches presented to family, friends, and faculty—a truly magical Saklan moment!

Humanities

Middle school Humanities thrives on collaborative, multimedia, Project Based Learning experiences to bring history, geography, and cultural studies to life. Classes include critical analysis of film, music, literature, photographs, paintings, artifacts, primary source materials, and contemporary media. The program seeks to develop a respect and understanding of human history and world cultures while helping students come to their own conclusions about their rights and responsibilities in the 21st century.

Science

In our science lab, science goes beyond the textbook. Hands-on discovery and experimentation encourage students to explore the scientific method in depth and develop observation, description, and investigation skills. Middle school students participate in many meaningful activities to build on their love of science and its real-world applications.

Enrichments and Specialist Subjects

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

In middle school Spanish, 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 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 Saklan Middle School Music Program is based around three mixed-grade ensembles organized with appropriate challenge levels and student preferences in mind. Engaging options in choir, orchestra, or music production 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 the arts are best expressed through one’s own voice and imagination. At Saklan, we believe the knowledge of art tools, techniques, and theories can and must be applied across all disciplines. The art classes aim to help develop creative, confident, and independent learners.

Physical Education classes all our middle school students to explore the relationship between practice (routine, repetition, and intensity) and motor skill acquisition. We discuss in detail the physiological changes resulting from physical activity and how these changes relate to skill mastery. Students have the opportunity to play games and sports throughout the school year that promote motor skill acquisition, fitness, healthy competition, and fun.

Learning Period is another way we support students at the end of their day (30 minutes 4x/week). Students can start their homework, take a missed quiz or test, work one-on-one with a teacher, or participate in tutoring.

Learning by Doing (LBD) is designed to teach specific subject matter in-depth and allow students to make decisions regarding their own education. LBD classes are mixed grade (6th—8th) and held once a week for 45 minutes. Past offerings have included movie-making, textile art, stagecraft, sculpture, yoga, cooking, and robotics.

Developing compassion within the students through Service Learning is a critical component of the Saklan Middle School educational experience. Recognizing the importance of cultivating values such as responsibility, compassion, and generosity in our students, we intentionally involve them in hands-on service learning activities. The students of Saklan understand the significance of their contribution to a specific organization, a community, and an individual.

Your Child’s Learning at Saklan, by Grade

Sixth Grade

Sixth grade is a period of self-assertion and curiosity, a time when students are becoming more socially expansive and aware. At the Saklan School, we support your child through their transition into adolescence by gently encouraging them to develop their personal interests and abilities and allowing them a safe environment to develop excellent interpersonal skills.

In this first year of Pre-Algebra, students grow their math skills through many topics, with each area connected logically to enhance student learning. They are exposed to 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.

The sixth-grade class embarks on a journey through various texts and themes, beginning with The Giver to explore community values and then The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street to understand societal breakdowns and horror's role. They read Refugee to examine universal themes in refugee stories, followed by Flowers for Algernon, which prompts discussions on intelligence, ethics, and disabilities, culminating in a Socratic Seminar. The curriculum also delves into Greek myths, connecting ancient stories to modern psychology and culture. Throughout, students practice annotating texts, writing responses, using graphic organizers, enhancing vocabulary, and refining grammar skills, all while engaging in collaborative and critical discussions.

Sixth graders dive into authentic inquiry through civic action, using textbooks, news articles, research papers, and expert interviews to explore driving questions. They develop skills in annotating text, synthesizing information, making inferences, engaging in critical analysis, collaborating in small groups, and supporting their conclusions with solid evidence. The year begins with studying early humans, ancient Sumer, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. A highlight is their Project on Egyptian artifacts, which asks, “Who do art objects truly belong to?” They also study the origins of Judaism, deepening their understanding of religious diversity. Then, students apply their inquiry skills to ancient India, Hinduism, Buddhism, ancient China, and Greece. They participate in guided tours at The Legion of Honor and The Asian Art Museum, enhancing their learning with authentic artifacts. Their culminating project answers the question, “How are we still connected to ancient Greek culture, language, and mythology today?” by designing a future museum exhibit. This project showcases their research and writing skills and highlights the 21st-century skills we instill through our academic and social-emotional learning curriculum.

In science, 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.

Seventh Grade

Seventh graders are building their sense of individual identity as they continue to develop 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.

2 boys stand next to each other, one in a fork costume In the seventh-grade Language Arts curriculum, students engage with diverse texts and themes, starting with The Outsiders, to explore community values and develop reading and writing skills through book reviews and psychology articles. They then read Lord of the Flies, examining human behavior, analyzing symbols, and performing Reader's Theatre.Their studies culminate in a creative project and essays. They conclude Lord of the Flies with artistic projects and essays, then read Farewell to Manzanar, exploring themes of family, identity, and resilience while writing creative pieces and analytical responses. Next, they study the graphic novel Persepolis, examining the Islamic Revolution and creating comics or narratives on personal beliefs. Throughout the year, students practice grammar, read independent novels, and participate in discussions, fostering a community of readers and writers.

Seventh-grade students engage in diverse, inquiry-based projects in Humanities. They begin with a Project Based Learning unit on community spaces, exploring how to design public spaces that reflect community values by studying contemporary and pre-Columbian Mesoamerican spaces, visiting local sites, meeting urban planners, and designing their own spaces. They write essays, verify sources, and present projects. Next, they study Hawaiian geography and history, preparing for a field experience in Oahu by researching significant events like the annexation and Pearl Harbor and writing analytical paragraphs. The "World of Islam" unit involves an independent study of Islamic history, culture, and religion, including map analysis, the life of Muhammad, and medieval Arabia’s economy. Students practice close reading, take Cornell Notes, and create research papers with visual aids and MLA-formatted bibliographies. They present their findings in a symposium with lectures, displays, and interactive activities. Throughout the year, they continuously practice reading strategies and engage in discussions, fostering a strong community of learners.

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 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.

Eighth Grade

Eighth graders are transitioning into adolescence and developing foundational skills that will last them throughout their lives. At The Saklan School, we help your eighth grader thrive by encouraging creative thinking and problem-solving skills within an inviting and safe atmosphere.

Saklan Eighth graders take a course in Algebra. This course is a thorough introduction to algebraic techniques and their applications. Basic algebraic skills will be emphasized, with some use of the graphing calculator. Topics include linear, exponential, quadratic functions, polynomials, factoring, and radicals.

Advanced eighth graders have the option of a geometry course. This high-school-level geometry class involves rigorous proofs, properties, relationships of plane figures, and trigonometric ratios taught in a challenging manner. The course is structured around problems and investigations that build spatial visualization skills, a conceptual understanding of geometry topics, and an awareness of connections between different ideas. Students are encouraged to investigate, conjecture, and then prove to develop their reasoning skills.

In the 8th-grade Language Arts/Humanities course, students practice reading, writing, and critical thinking skills, starting with summer reading presentations on memoirs, autobiographies, or biographies. They explore hip-hop's origins and cultural relevance, write book reviews of On the Come Up, and annotate key elements of All American Boys while participating in discussion groups. They create thesis statements, analyze quotes, and study grammar weekly. They examine African American history and create a classroom exhibit. Next, eighth graders study the Industrial Revolution and read Uprising to discuss the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Students research labor strikes, write essays on the Industrial Revolution's costs and benefits, and read The 57 Bus to reflect on social issues like class, the criminal justice system, and hate crimes. They generate discussion questions and participate in a Socratic seminar on the book's themes.

Eighth-grade Science focuses on introducing students to the principles of chemistry and physics. During the first half of the year, students master the fundamental principles of matter, including atoms, molecules, the periodic table, and molecular interactions, including displacement, acid-base, and combustion. The second half of the year focuses on fundamental physics principles, including Newton's Laws of Motion, the forces on our planet, and how we use those in our everyday lives.

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