Month: February 2023

Get Your Fiesta Tickets!

You are invited to this year’s Auction Fiesta on Saturday, March 11 at 6:00 p.m. This year’s auction will focus on community building and have several activities (games, photo booth, raffles) to encourage socializing and reconnecting with friends old and new!

This Fiesta will feature a taco bar dinner, open bar, wine ring toss, silent auction, and lots of fun! Tickets are now available online; get your Fiesta tickets today!

The Saklan School’s Annual Auction is the school’s second largest fundraiser of the year. Proceeds from the auction are invested directly back into our student’s educational experiences, in and out of the classrooms.

Can’t make the auction?

There are several ways to participate in this year’s event even if you can’t attend: underwrite a teacher ticket, donate wine to the wine ring toss, or stay tuned for more information on participating in our online silent auction.

Thank you for your support of the auction and Saklan.

#SaklanFiesta

Staying Safe Online

Following the Parent Coffee Talk on cybersecurity on January 27th, it was the students’ turn to learn about this important topic last Friday. Senior Inspector, Darryl Holcombe, of the Contra Costa County D.A.’s Office gave an informative talk to 5th-8th grade students about how to stay safe online. His top tips were:

  • Keep your personal information personal. Don’t share specific personal information online, including where you live or go to school.
  • Take lots of photos and have fun, but post them later, at home.  Don’t post “live” social media updates from a location.
  • Turn on “Ghost mode” in SnapChat, to disable its GPS tracker. 
  • Tell a trusted adult if a stranger asks personal questions online, such as when messaging on Roblox.
  • Share your PIN and passwords with your parents, and no-one else, even friends. 

Detective Holcombe gave interesting real-life examples of what has happened in our county when students didn’t follow these tips.

Students got to meet Jenny and “Ro-bear-to”, aka Bear, and learn about his training and work as a Facility Dog who supports children during forensic interviews and hearings in our County Criminal Court. Bear counted his age in barks (five) and played his favorite game, “silly dog” for the students. 

February SEL Focus: Equality & Fairness

Saklan’s social-emotional learning emphasis for February is equality and fairness. Throughout the month, all students will be learning about the difference between equality and fairness. On Monday, February 27th, the first – eighth graders will meet with their family groups and take part in cross-grade level discussions and activities to gain an even greater understanding of fairness and equality, as well as further their sense of belonging and community.

The opportunity to help our students understand and integrate new SEL concepts each month, is an integral part of the Saklan experience.

#SaklanSEL

Picture Day – Feb. 21st

Roots & Shoots Photography will be taking individual and class portraits of Saklan students on Tuesday, February 21st. These pictures will be used in the yearbook and are available for purchase.

Pictures will be taken during the school day, outside on the play yard. 1st – 8th grade students need to be dressed in uniform for the pictures.

Portrait Ordering Process

Portraits will be available to order online approximately 4 weeks AFTER picture day. Complimentary proofs will be provided for every student, so you can decide whether you would like to order them. If you do order, all portrait packages will be shipped directly to your home (a $5.25 shipping fee will apply). There will be no school package drop off.

Forgot to Order Last Year’s Portraits?

It’s not too late to get them! Click here to order your child’s 2021-22 school portraits. The password is: sak22.

Questions? Please contact Roots & Shoot directly at grow@roots-shoots.com. They will be happy to assist you!

Jar of Jelly Beans

The Owlets continue to learn about a different letter each week, and this week they focused on the letter J. Excitedly, they found a big jar full of jelly beans on Ms. Jessica’s desk! During circle time, the class counted out 10 jelly beans to see what 10 looked like, and then each Owlet estimated how many jelly beans might be in the jar.

In small groups, the Owlets helped sort the jelly beans by color and count how many of each color there were. Finally, Ms. Jessica added all the numbers together to discover that there were 285 jelly beans in the jar!

This activity was not only a fun way to learn about the letter J, but helped the Owlets practice their early math skills like sorting and one-to-one correspondence. Additionally, picking up the jelly beans one at a time was great fine motor practice too.

Lunar New Year

First graders welcomed the Year of the Rabbit last week with some special activities. On Tuesday, Jen, a first grade parent, came to class to talk about Lunar New Year, which is observed not just in China but in countries like Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan and Korea. She also led the class in making stunning dragon puppets.

The learning continued when the class went on a virtual field experience to the Asian Art Museum. They listened intently as a master storyteller told the legend of Nien, a monster who terrorized villagers and led them to scare him away with loud noises, the color red and fire- the beginnings of Chinese New Year. The class also listened to the story behind the Chinese zodiac animals.  

The class continued their learning and festivities this week as well. Today they marked the end of the 15-day festival by making lanterns, having a Lantern Festival party in class, and joining the second graders for a dragon parade around campus.

May the Year of the Rabbit be prosperous for all!

State of the School Presentation

On Thursday, February 9th, join Saklan’s Head of School, David O’Connell, along with members of the Saklan faculty and community, for this year’s State of the School presentation. During the presentation we will share updates on the interim strategic framework and the school’s financial health, as well as stories from throughout the school year that provide insight into everyday life on campus.

Saklan State of the School
Thursday, February 9th at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 896 7108 2305
Passcode: 97701r

The presentation will be recorded and shared with the community, for those that are unable to attend.

#SaklanCommunity

Fairy Tales: Fair or Not?

The second grade class recently wrapped up their fairy tale unit. During their study, each student chose a fairy tale to read and create a castle book report about. The students then discussed whether the fairy tales they read were fair of not. They decided that some were, while others were not! The class also talked about the components of a fairy tale. For the final stage of their unit, the students created their own ‘fairer’ fairy tales; the results of which were ingenious!

#SaklanCreative #SaklanCompassionate

Alumni Reunion

Calling all Saklan Alums and Alumni Families! Please save the date for an Alumni Reunion to be held this summer on the afternoon of Saturday, June 17th at Saklan. We are excited to welcome our past students and their families back to campus! Look for more information about the event to be shared in the coming months.

Can’t wait until June to catch up with fellow alumni and their families? Join the Saklan School Alumni Facebook Page to start connecting today!

#SaklanAlumni