Month: March 2023

Newton’s Laws of Motion

Since February, the 8th graders have been studying physics in science class. They have been learning about the forces of gravity, air resistance, and friction on our planet. The students have also been working on putting Newton’s three Laws of Motion into real life scenarios.

To learn about these forces, the eighth graders have been taking part in different hands-on labs to help exhibit how these forces act on objects on our planet.  Students first studied friction by measuring the force needed to move different blocks and bricks along different surface textures.  These textures included a smooth countertop, markers that roll and sandpaper. Using a spring scale students could measure the force needed to move the objects and the amount of friction the textures were producing.

To see gravity and air resistance, students created different sized parachutes in class and dropped them from the ceiling of the science lab. Students could then see the pull of gravity on the parachutes and how air resistance could be used to slow that force down. Next, students worked on designing, creating, and shooting off rockets to try to see how to defy both air resistance and gravity.

#SaklanHandsOn

Skipolini’s After the Concert

All Saklan students and family members are invited to join us after the All-School Concert on March 29th for dinner at Skipolini’s Pizza in Walnut Creek. Pizza will be served on the Outdoor Patio. In order to make the evening more enjoyable for all, we are asking families to purchase tickets in advance to ensure enough pizza for all. Please use the button below to get your tickets for the dinner.

Get Your Skipolini’s Tickets

Thank you to the Saklan PA for organizing this dinner!

Concert Reminders

Saklan’s All-School Concert is Wednesday, March 29th at 4:30 p.m. Students will be dismissed at noon from the Lesher Center and asked to return at 4:00 p.m. in preparation for the performance.

Please note the following details for the day:

  • All Saklan students need to be dropped off directly at the Lesher Center at 8:45 a.m. on the morning of the 29th. Normal Saklan Bus & Van service will not be operating that day. 
  • Students will be Dismissed at Noon from the Lesher Center.
  • Extended Day will be available until 3:00, but it is recommended that students go home at noon to have some down time before the concert if possible. Reserve your child’s spot in Extended here.
  • All students are asked to report back to the Lesher Center at 4:00 p.m. dressed in their “Sunday best” version of all black clothing, with an accessory of yellow. 

The Concert will begin at 4:30 p.m. Feel free to invite extended family and friends to join us! Your extended family and friends are also welcome to join us at Skipolini’s.

Experts in our Community

As teachers bring our project work deeper, students have had a vast number of opportunities to connect with experts in fields relevant to their units. Some of our personal favorites here at Saklan have been our Saklan parent experts! Recently Lauren Wolf came to speak with 4th graders and Gary Hill with 6th graders to share their knowledge and insights.

If you have expertise in any of the following, we’d love to connect you with students in the classroom!

  • animation, drawing, and comic books
  • toxicology
  • small business ownership
  • ancient China

Please reach out to Linda (llathrop@saklan.org) if you have an expertise you are willing to share with Saklan students.

Parent Coffee Next Friday

Please join us next Friday, March 24th from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. in the Pavilion for warm coffee, snacks, and a conversation about social emotional well-being! Saklan Mom, Jaime Pham, will share about the role that emotional well-being plays in overall health. Jaime works in social media with a focus on mental health. She will lead us in a brief meditation and then discuss the youth mental health crisis, social media, and share how she incorporates EQ and emotional management into conversations with her fifth grader. Kim Parks, Saklan’s Director of Teaching and Learning, will share about Saklan’s Social Emotional Learning program as well.

If you can’t make it in person, please join us on zoom.

This is a can’t miss parent coffee event and we hope to see you there!

#SaklanSEL

Fiesta Silent Auction is Open

The Auction Fiesta 2023 silent auction is now open! Along with the items from the greater community that opened yesterday, the student collaborative art, legacy baskets, and fun teacher experiences are now open for bidding!

Student Collaborative Art

Each class has an art item that they worked on in the auction. View the slideshow below to see some of the beautiful work the Saklan students created!

Legacy Baskets

To learn more about the legacy baskets that the 8th graders created for the auction, check out the video below!

Click here to view the items & bid!

Once you are on the Online Bidding page, click the Start Bidding button and finish creating your account.

HOW TO BID:

  1. Search for packages by name or number by using the magnifying glass or by choosing a category under the menu.
  2. You can Bid the next increment or Bid More than the next increment. If you choose Bid More you can set your max bid. If your max bid is the highest, the system will automatically bid in your favor until you are outbid or until the auction closes.
  3. To “watch” a package, select the star icon on the package.
  4. You’ll be notified if you’re outbid at any point before the auction closes and you will see an Outbid notice at the top of your screen.
  5. To get back to the main screen, click the house icon.
  6. To view the packages you are bidding on, click the menu button and select Bids.

This auction is open to the public, but we ask that the winning bidders pick up items from Saklan. Feel free to pass on the auction link – https://saklanfiesta.ggo.bid – to those you think might be interested. 

Thank you for your support of The Saklan School!

#SaklanFiesta #BidEarlyBidOften

Exploring Colors and Feelings

Last week, the second and third graders went on a field experience to the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek. While at the gallery, the students explored an exhibit by artist Erin Fong: The Sensation of Color. They were immersed in colors and connected how different colors can make you feel. They also created some of their own artwork as part of the exhibit!

Back on campus, the students continued their unit on color in art class where they asked the question “can colors make us feel different emotions and help us connect with others?” The second graders learned about color mixing and the different groups of colors on the color wheel. Afterwards students painted hearts as they engaged in an activity where they found their “complementary” (opposite) and “analogous” (neighbor) colors, among other color wheel based discoveries.

The third graders also learned about color mixing and the color wheel, and painted their hands to make the unique color wheel you see below!

#SaklanCreative

Celebration of Colors

On Wednesday, the Owlets we had a special visitor. Rachel, one of the Owlet parents, joined the class to teach them about the holiday Holi. She read Festival of Colors and the Owlets learned that Holi originated in India, and is a celebration of spring and all the beautiful colors that come with it. Traditionally people celebrate Holi by making colorful powders out of flowers, then throw the powders everywhere! The Owlets celebrated in their own way by throwing colorful confetti in the air.

They also made a collaborative “tree of life” using bright flowers instead of paintbrushes. Its colors represent how beautiful the world is when there’s variety, diversity, and individuality.

Where Spanish is Spoken

Third graders have been learning about the countries where Spanish is spoken in the world. There are a total of 21 countries and more than 500 million people who speak Spanish in the whole world. 

The students did some research on some specific countries about population, typical food, music and dance, favorite sports and two famous people from that country, and then presented their findings to the  class.  

They had a great time and were really excited about this project!

Parent Coffee on March 24th

Due to the rain, this week’s planned parent coffee was postponed until after the next CLAS. We hope you will join us on Friday, March 24th from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. in the Pavilion for warm coffee, snacks, and a conversation about social emotional well-being! Saklan Mom, Jaime Pham, will share about the role that emotional well-being plays in overall health. Jaime works in social media with a focus on mental health. She will lead us in a brief meditation and then discuss the youth mental health crisis, social media, and share how she incorporates EQ and emotional management into conversations with her fifth grader. Kim Parks, Saklan’s Director of Teaching and Learning, will share about Saklan’s Social Emotional Learning program as well.

This is a can’t miss parent coffee event and we hope to see you there!

If you can’t make it in person, please join us on zoom.

#SaklanSEL

Solar System Exploration

Many Hoot Owls have been excited about space all year long, and so they were very excited to begin to learn about our solar system in class. They started with the center of our solar system, the Sun. The Hoot Owls all worked together to create their favorite star, then put it up in their classroom to help learn about the order of the planets moving away from the Sun.

Next the Hoot Owls started to learn about the rocky planets. They used different painting techniques for each planet to highlight their differences. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun so they started there. The students learned that Mercury is full of craters caused by meteorites, and then painted Mercury with sponges to give it a bumpy look. Hoot Owls also practiced writing, “Mercury.”

Next, they learned about Venus, and discovered that it is very hot and has thousands of volcanoes and poisonous gases and storms. Hoot Owls practiced writing “Venus” before drawing volcanoes, storms and gases with oil pastels. The Hoot Owls’ drawings showed through the watercolor paints that they added at the end. They also reviewed the terms solid, liquid and gas.

Earth was next! The Hoot Owls created clouds with shaving cream, and used eyedroppers to add blue and green paint that represented the oceans and the land. They used paper to make prints of the shaving cream. The class talked about the seven continents and located them on the globe. They also read the book Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years  by Stacy McAnulty.

The last of the rocky planets was Mars. The Hoot Owls painted the ice caps on Mars. The students learned that Mars is red due to iron covering its dusty surface. They also learned about Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in our solar system. The Hoot Owls used a Q-tip to “draw” or remove the paint to create the volcano.

Up next, the Hoot Owls are excited to learn about the gas planets!