Month: June 2023

Congratulations, Class of 2023!

On Wednesday morning, we honored and celebrated The Saklan School’s Graduating Class of 2023. It was a heartfelt ceremony in which the middle school teachers introduced the graduates, and the graduates shared short speeches with their parents, teachers and fellow students.

If you were not able to join us for the ceremony, you can view the graduation here.

Each year we create a slideshow that highlights the memories of our graduates from their first years at Saklan all the way through the end of 8th grade. Take a moment to watch this video and relive their journey.

There are several people that made the graduation events possible this year. We would like to extend a special thank you to Lori O’Keefe, Jen Tompkins and Mel Zippin for organizing the graduation dinner. It takes a lot of planning and coordination, but the dinner was beautifully orchestrated. Thank you to Christina Nguyen, Jennifer Lettieri, and Kim Parks for helping the students express themselves so eloquently in their graduation speeches. Additionally, a special shout-out goes to Grace Chaffey, John Miazga, Shay Sager, Emoke Veres, Emily Williamson and Javier Yacarini for all their behind-the-scenes work handling the logistics of the graduation dinner and ceremony.

Thank You for Your Partnership

As we reflect on the 2022-2023 school year, we are reminded of the impact that every Saklan family had in making the year such a joyful experience. Parents, we truly appreciate your partnership and support throughout the year.

Thank you to all the family members that volunteered their time and talents. Your help was instrumental to making the following activities successful:

  • Uniform Exchange
  • Annual Giving Fund
  • Parent Coffees
  • Lower School Musical
  • Auction Fiesta
  • Concert
  • Grandfriends’ Day
  • Teacher Appreciation Week
  • Middle School Musical
  • Yearbook
  • Field Experiences
  • Class Celebrations
  • Open Houses
  • Fall Festival
  • Movie Night
  • Spring Social & Service
  • Spirit Wear
  • Graduation Dinner
  • Graduation Ceremony

Additionally, thank you to everyone who cheered on and showed support for our students during the following events:

  • CLAS
  • Halloween Costume Parade
  • Fall Follies
  • Lion King Kids
  • All-School Concert
  • Art Show
  • The Drowsy Chaperone
  • Graduation
  • Presentations of Learning

It was a wonderful year. Thank you, Saklan families, for your help, flexibility, and partnership in making the 22-23 year a success!

#SaklanConnected

Thank You, Saklan!

A huge thank you to everyone who supported Saklan through financial gifts this year. As a community we have raised $167,716 of the $170,000 we hoped to raise for this year’s Annual Giving Fund (AGF). AGF gifts are tax-deductible donations that allow us to provide the many extras that make Saklan the incredible school that it is: personal attention from dedicated teachers, an engaging curriculum, arts, music, Spanish, STEM, and physical education at all grade levels.

If you haven’t made a gift yet, it’s not too late to contribute! Gifts towards this year’s AGF campaigns will be gratefully accepted through the end of June.

Thank you to everyone who gave so generously to this year’s auction. Our Fiesta raised over $63,700. We are especially grateful to our fund-a-need donors; together you gave:

  • $6,900 to Flexible/Collaborative Seating
  • $5,800 to the Summer Reflection Fund/Professional Development for Saklan Faculty & Staff
  • $15,000 to Media Arts Literacy
  • $1,500 to a Water Refill Station on the PS – Kindergarten Playground
  • $1,500 to an Indoor Vertical Garden for the Science Lab
  • $500 to an All-Weather Library Book Return Station

Your generosity will provide many exciting new opportunities for our students and teachers in the year ahead.

If you are interested in giving to these initiatives it isn’t too late. Fund-a-Need donations will be happily accepted through June 30th. Additionally, all Fund-a-Need gifts at the $100 level are eligible to be matched by the Moorhead Family (meaning your gift will go twice as far!).

On behalf of all of us at The Saklan School, thank you very much for your support.

Family Group Field Day

Saklan’s annual Family Group Field Day took place last Friday afternoon. In their family groups, the 1st to 8th grade students delivered fun and entertaining cheers to a panel of judges (faculty and staff) to start the festivities!

Following the cheers, the family groups faced off against each other as they rotated through the following activities:

  • Super Volleyball
  • Sponge Relay
  • Marbles, Marbles
  • Sack Relay
  • Charades

Next up was the water-balloon toss! 

Finally, the family groups ended the day on the sports court where the top 3 teams were announced and popsicles were enjoyed by all. It was a terrific day, filled with exemplary sportsmanship, great team spirit, and tons of fun. It was also a great final family group activity for the year, as students were able to showcase their understanding of all the Social Emotional Learning topics they learned this year:

  • Accepting
  • Growth Mindset
  • Compassionate
  • Self-disciplined
  • Fairness & Equality
  • Honest & Trustworthy
  • Curious
  • Resilient

#SaklanConnected #SaklanFamilyGroups

Arthropod Adoptions

The 7th grade has been learning about all the different kingdoms of life this spring. Currently, the 7th grade is in the middle of learning about animals, in particular invertebrates! They were excited to meet with guest experts from Nature.org, who brought some invertebrates that the students got to look at closely and touch. 

Afterwords, the students were asked to look at the Arthropod (jointed foot) Phyla and find an organism they found interesting and create a Bitmoji Adoption Ad for the Arthropod of their choice.

Students created themselves in Bitmoji form and shared why their invertebrate would be a great pet for your household!  Maybe you have been looking for the cutest caterpillar to be the envy of all your friends or a pistol shrimp that is so cute and cuddly but also breaks the sound barrier with its claw leaving you deaf. Another option is that if you are scared you will lose a small pet, a large Atlas Moth might be for you! Finally, you might even find a huge Robber Crab you might want to use to scare your children. There are many options to choose from for your next pet. Please find the arthropod of your dreams at the 7th Grade Arthropod Adoption event! Read some of their adoption posters below.

Castle Creation Challenge

After classifying and naming 3D figures by their names, faces, vertices, and edges, the fifth graders completed a “Castle Creation Challenge.” Making their castles was a creative and fun way to end their geometry unit. Students formed three teams to build Max’s Mansion, Kai’s Creation and Kylie’s Castle.  The construction teams had to follow local building ordinances:

  • Each castle had to include at least one of each given 3D shape.
  • A minimum of ten shapes had to be used. 
  • No outsourcing allowed.
  • Team members had to create their own 3-D shapes.
  • Acceptable building materials were only paper, tape, and gluesticks. 

Finally, teams were awarded points for creativity!  Pencils and markers were allowed, to add color and flair to each creation. Results were terrific and teams are now available to hire for all your summer home remodel needs!

#SaklanCreative #SaklanHandsOn

Reptiles and More!

The Hoot Owls were so brave and curious when Owen, a guest expert from the East Bay Vivarium, came to Saklan to share his reptiles with them! During the visit, the students learned about snakes, turtles, tortoises, lizards, geckos, skinks, bearded dragons, legless lizards and a huge monitor lizard that Owen insisted was a “puppy” because it was cuddly.

Owen even surprised the class with some animals that were not reptiles, like a frog, a toad, a scorpion and a tarantula! Some Hoot Owls were extra brave and volunteered to hold a few of these animals.

A huge thank you to Owen and the East Bay Vivarium for sharing their animals and knowledge with the Hoot Owls!