Seventh grade science students at Great Hollow Middle School got hands-on during a dissection lab. Prior to the frog dissection, the students learned about the internal and external structures of the frog. Working in pairs, the students dissected the frogs, carefully noting and identifying the different parts and organs.  

The robotics teams from Smithtown’s three middle schools recently competed in a regional qualifier at William Floyd High School. The teams were to design, build, test a working robot to perform a variety of tasks while also researching a solution to a chosen problem regarding living in a city and the logistics of keeping a city running as well as the issues that may come with it.

Great Hollow Middle School’s teams (the Electronic Brick Breakers and the Electronic Bulls) worked together showing amazing teamwork and cooperation while their robots scored more than 100 points each.  After the successful day, an Alliance round is made where a team is randomly paired with another team at the competition so they can work together and score as many points as possible with their robots. The Electronic Brick Breakers worked together with their paired team well enough to score first place in the Alliance Round, taking home a trophy that interlocks with the other team.

Nesquake Middle School’s Quake robotics team received the robot award for mechanical design. This award recognizes a team that designs and develops a mechanically sound robot that is durable, efficient and highly capable of performing challenge missions. The Quakebotz team received the robot design award for strategy and innovation. This award recognizes a team that uses solid engineering practices and a well-developed strategy to design and build an innovative, high performing robot.

Eighth grade students at Great Hollow Middle School are combining their academic lessons with social and emotional learning. The students are setting a growth mindset goal before starting their review for their social studies midterm. They can check in with one another for a peer assessment of their goals and also with their teacher throughout the upcoming semester to assess how they are achieving their goal and if they are on the right path. The goals can be tangible or cooperative and the students can choose to share them or keep them private.