Month: February 2021

Fifth Grade Celebrates Valentine’s Day

Saklan fifth graders have been having a great time celebrating Valentine’s Day all week! The students began by making handprint wreaths to hang in the windows of the classroom.

After a discussion of what compliments are and how it makes us feel to get or give one, the fifth graders created Valentine’s bags with classmate compliments. They wrote a compliment on a paper heart for each student, trying their best to make it personal and meaningful. Then they passed out their hearts to each classmate, and enjoyed reading the compliments they had received from others.

To end the week, students worked in pairs on Conversation Heart Math. Each pair received a bag of conversation hearts, and used them to complete different mathematical operations, including estimating, graphing, addition, measurement, and averaging.

There was a lot of love for another great week of fifth grade!

#SaklanCompassionate

Lift Every Voice

During Black History Month, all classes at Saklan are spending time learning about music that helped shape Social Justice movements in the United States, as well as songs that have helped shape our popular cultural perspective.

As part of this lesson, the third graders learned and performed the song, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which was an important song during the marches and protests that were a part of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

While learning the song, the third graders listened to different versions, practiced singing tunefully as a group, and spent time reflecting on the meaning of the words.

Enjoy their performance!

#SaklanDiversity

100 Days Wiser

On Wednesday, the Saklan students and faculty celebrated the 100th day of the school year! And what a year it has been.

In the Kindergarten classroom, 100 days of learning has more meaning than ever this year. After initially starting the year with online learning, the time in class has given the students the gift of working and learning together. Counting to Day 100 is also an important part of the Kindergarten math curriculum, as it incorporates number writing, counting by 10s, and place value.

To celebrate the 100-day milestone, the Kindergarteners matched numbered candy kisses to a number chart, built with 100 cups, sorted cereal into 10 groups of 10 before making cereal necklaces, created a picture of themselves at 100 years old, did 100 jumping jacks, and ate a piece of a “100” cake.

That’s a lot of celebrating 100! On to 101, 102, and more!

#SaklanAcademic

Fourth Grade Missions

The fourth graders recently completed their Missions projects. Each student focused on a specific California mission, and used many skills to create a model and informational brochure.

As the students explored their chosen mission, the class engaged in discussions designed to build understanding of how the missions oppressed Native American communities. Incorporating the perspective of minorities and their treatment throughout history has been a focus of each Social Studies unit in the fourth grade class this year.

To complete their mission projects, each student put their engineering skills to the test by designing, planning, and creating a model of a mission. They expressed their creativity through their choice of materials, including cardboard, sand, legos, and even lasagna noodles.


#SaklanAcademic

Owls on the Move

To wrap up their transportation unit, the Saklan Owls turned their sights skyward, learning about airplanes and helicopters. They incorporated math learning and built fine motor skills by cutting and assembling different shapes like a puzzle to make a helicopter.

They also tapped into their inner artists by doing marble painting on airplane shapes, creating unique lines and patterns. The tracks that the marbles made across the paper were reminiscent of the condensation trails planes make when they move across the sky!

The Owls closed out their transportation unit with a fun celebration! Each student brought in their own method of transportation from home, and had a blast zooming around the parking lot on their bikes and scooters!

#SaklanHandsOn

Head’s Corner

Summer@Saklan

I am happy to announce that we launched Summer@Saklan this week. We are fortunate to have two excellent co-directors this year, Ashley Villalobos and Jessica Brandt. Both have years of experience working in Saklan’s summer program and are bringing to the table new energy and ideas.   

As many of you know, due to COVID-19, we could not hold camps last year. This year we will be running on a limited schedule with a reduced number of participants. COVID-19 restrictions will mean a lower student to teacher ratio to help everyone stay safe. All the safety protocols that we have put into place during this school year will still be in place over the summer. Students will be masked, distanced and much of their time will be spent outside, or in well-ventilated rooms. Our cleaning and hygiene protocols will continue as well.

As in years past, our focus will be split between activities and learning a new language.  Because of our limited capacity, we will only be offering Mandarin and Spanish. And while transporting students off-campus to field experiences is not possible this year- our intention is to bring some of those experiences on to campus. Whether it be a soccer trainer, photographer or animals from the Lindsay Wildlife Experience, Summer@Saklan students will be engaged and learning this summer. 

If you would like more information about our camps, please click here. 

Warm regards, 

David

#SummeratSaklan

Hoot Owl Scientists

The Hoot Owls have been busy becoming scientists! The Hoot Owls already knew a lot about what a scientist does. When asked, “What is a scientist?”  their answers included:


“Scientists make science.”

“Scientists can make Coronavirus go away.”

“Scientists check out things.”

“Scientists do art.”

“A scientist experiments stuff.”

“A scientist is an archeologist.”

After sharing their prior knowledge about scientists, the Hoot Owls furthered their understanding of the job of a scientist through several hands-on activities. The students learned that a scientist measures, writes, draws, counts, asks questions, notices details, sorts, tests predictions, uses their senses, keeps trying and has fun! 

Check out the pictures of the Hoot Owls taking on the role of being scientists through hands-on experiences below.

The scientists used a scale to measure weight.

They made predictions and drew what they saw after combining baking soda and vinegar.

And when the cold weather brought hail to Saklan, the Hoot Owls used their senses to explore it!

#SaklanHandsOn

Collisions in Space

During their science lab time with Ms. O, the fifth graders learned about the creation of our moon, Earth’s only natural satellite. The students discovered that the moon most likely formed from a collision of a protoplanet hitting Earth twice. The debris from the collision is believed to have formed Earth’s moon. The students looked at pictures of the surface of the moon to understand how collisions in space are inevitable, due to the gravitational pull of celestial objects. Then they investigated what type of asteroid might make a deep crater, wide crater, or one with rays. In groups, the fifth graders dropped spheres of different sizes and masses into their “moon” surface to see the impact the objects have on the surface due to falling from different heights and with varying speeds. 

#SaklanAcademic

Trapped in a Snow Globe

As part of the writing curriculum, Saklan’s third graders each wrote a fun, creative story using the prompt: “If I were trapped in a snow globe.”  The students incorporated many of the techniques they learned during their personal narrative writing unit into their stories, such as: dialogue, writing a lead to hook the readers, adding more details, showing instead of telling, and adding juicy words. After writing their stories, the third graders had the opportunity to practice their editing skills and use a rubric to check over and evaluate their work.

After finishing the writing process, the third grade students illustrated their stories by drawing pictures of their snow globes and added a shrunken-down photograph of themselves. Lastly, the students enjoyed reading their completed stories aloud to their classmates.

Can you spot the third graders in the snow globes below?

#SaklanCreative

Dodging Rain Drops

In physical education class, Saklan students are learning how to dodge rain drops! The outside gymnasium gets wet during the winter and spring, and an umbrella and galoshes go a long way toward ensuring that all students can fully participate in outdoor activities. Parents can help by keeping an eye on the weather forecast and sending their student to school prepared with any wet weather outerwear or accessories students may need.

We are lucky to have redwood trees and a creek trail to explore during outdoor P.E. time, and the proper attire allows students to fully take advantage of the wonderful surroundings!

Fourth graders walk along the creek trail and back to Saklan during P.E. class.

#SaklanWellRounded