Middle School

Students in the Fifth Grade spend the year focusing on the Human-Animal Bond. They read a variety of books related to human-animal interactions and study the benefits of pets on human mental, physical, and social health. Throughout the year, students interview pet partners in small groups, learning about their lives and experiences with their pet. Using these interviews, students write chapbooks. In art class, they create prints of the pets for their owners. This project culminates in the Brad Ost Memorial Blessing of the Animals, where students present on their pet partners, give them their prints, and celebrate the human animal bond. This event is held in honor of an All Saints Parent who dedicated his life to helping animals. Each year’s presentations have a theme. Past themes have included unusual pets, service animals, and people who help animals.

Sea Turtles overcome enormous obstacles in their lives and the Turtle Club celebrates people who have, likewise, overcome great odds and helped their communities by having courage, perseverance and a strong will to do the right thing. Building on the interview skills learned throughout the Elementary years and in the first year of Middle School, Sixth Grade students identify “Turtles” they know in their own lives and write chapter books about them. This project begins by interviewing a “Grand Turtle” and creating a book as a class. Past Grand Turtles include an individual who recovered from an illness that causes paralysis and began a hospital-based ministry, a woman who forged the way for girls to play Little League Baseball, and an alumnus who was adopted at a young age and pays it forward by fostering and adopting animals. Students then write their own individual chapter books based on a person they know themselves. Students have celebrated family members and friends who have done wonderful things, including starting organizations to support cancer patients, providing food to those in need, and working to support educational development in other countries. The members of the Turtle Club are inducted at a breakfast held near the end of the school year.

Completed halfway through the school year, this project provides Seventh Grade students with an opportunity to continue their exploration of the culture, religion, politics, and society of America during the Revolutionary period by conducting an investigation into the life of one of America’s founding fathers or mothers. To complete the project, students must select a founding father or mother and complete a multi-part project by identifying 5 sources of information, gathering research, creating a visual representation, and writing a 7-9 paragraph (2-3 page) research essay about the founding father’s or mother’s life, impact on early American society, and impact on the world today. The essay follows the MLA format. Students then deliver an oral presentation, complete with costume, during the Living History museum.

Some samples of the founding fathers and mothers are:

• Thomas Jefferson
• Abigail Adams
• William Livingston
• Alexander Hamilton
• Mercy Otis Warren

Some samples of the visual representations are:

• A drawing or painting of the founding father or mother in the style of a specific artist or art movement
• A drawing or painting an important scene from the founding father’s or mother’s life
• A diorama depicting an important scene in the founding father’s or mother’s life
• A commemorative statue or bust of the founding father or mother using clay
• A doll of the founding father or mother

Throughout the year, students in Grade 8 experience the themes of the school’s mission statement as they relate to the greater community and the world community. As a culmination of their time at All Saints and as a requirement for the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme, students complete a year-long Community Project related to the mission of the school. Examples of past projects include:

• designing and selling stickers to raise money for service projects in Ecuador
• volunteering in the after school program
• assisting with technology management
• coordinating games for elementary students during lunch and recess
• developing clubs and enrichment opportunities for younger students