Month: January 2019

Gingerbread House Project

Fifth graders worked together to complete gingerbread house projects. Students worked in pairs to design and build to scale a gingerbread house. First, they reviewed how to figure Area and Perimeter. Then students designed their gingerbread house floor plans. All floor plans could not exceed 432 square centimeters. When complete, students submitted their floor plans, side and front view dimensions and calculations to the Project Manager (Mrs. Peters) for final approval before building.

During this process, fifth graders: designed, added, multiplied, predicted, worked cooperatively and creatively. Students then built their gingerbread houses to scale. Of course, adding candy was a fun part of the project, too. They turned out great! Awesome job, fifth graders!

Loom Building and Weaving

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The 3rd grade is exploring textiles from around the world. They will be weaving and building their own circular loom.

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The very first step is creating their own loom out of a clay slab. They will add texture and three dimensional elements to the loom. Along the way, students will learn how to identify the origin of a particular textile based on its pattern. After the loom is complete, the students will learn to weave!

A Visit from a Feathered Friend

Tumbling down from the sky and landing in our play yard, our Owlets and Hoot Owls had a special visitor this week. They were deliriously excited, to say the least. A pigeon!  Close up and personal! They were amused and had many questions. Their curiosity was uncontainable. Look! He has a green bracelet! What is it? Why is it here? Is it hurt?

Our little Friend was tagged with his “name” and his owner’s information. After a little bit of detective work on the American Racing Pigeon Union site, we were able to find out that he was lost and where he came from.

To make a 2-day story short, our Feathered Friend is at home with Matt from Concord.  Matt says “Thank you” to our Owlets and Hoot Owls for showing compassion and concern for the safety and well-being of our Feathered Friend.

Traveling Teddy Bear

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Last month, Jerry the traveling teddy bear, spent time on our campus. He interacted with many of our students, took part in discussions, ate lunch with the students, attended field trips, watched the lower school play, and saw how students in California live. He will take the knowledge on to Connecticut and then on to Europe before he returns to Hong Kong.

The traveling teddy bear program is designed to help encourage students to learn about other areas of the world, and to also share one of the UN Sustainable Development goals with students around the world. Jerry shared the responsible consumption and production goal. He was proud to see our students recycling and composting.

You can read about his journey here.

Saklan Toy Donations Help Bring Joy to Oakland Families

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The Saklan Student Council hosted a community toy drive this past holiday season for the non-profit organization called Bananas, which is located in Oakland. Bananas’ mission is to help raise happy, confident children by providing resources and support to families and childcare providers. If you are interested in learning more about Bananas, please click here.

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The Student Council officers chose this local organization for three reasons. First, the officers wanted to help other children have a joyful holiday. Second, they wanted to support local organizations that work with Bay Area families. Third, Bananas company mission is similar to Saklan’s in that we both want to raise confident children who are compassionate, happy human beings. Our Student Council Co-Presidents, Max Budowski and Harrison Leenhouts, delivered the toys to Bananas. Fortunately, our Saklan families donated so many toys, games, books, children’s clothing, diapers, and baby furniture that it filled the organization’s office. As you can see from Max and Harrison’s smiles, they are proud of  Saklan’s generosity. Thank you for supporting this worthy cause!