The Hoot Owls spent the month of February learning about pond life. They learned about the life cycles of different pond creatures. They also talked about how plants and animals work together to create healthy environments. The Hoot Owls were able to study plants, bugs and pollen up close when they visited Ms. O in the Science Lab! The students looked at these specimen under real microscopes! The Hoot Owls were also excited to see Ms. O’s fish tanks and lego wall!
#SaklanScience
First graders have been working on telling time and learning how to estimate. Learning time and money is a very difficult concept in first grade. It is an introduction and then repeated again in second grade. Here are some suggestions for home:
In addition, the first graders learned the following lessons: place value, review of numbers 0-100, estimation, expanded form, one more and one less, numbers before and after, counting by 2’s and 5’s, and lastly learning odd and even numbers.
#SaklanAcademic
#SaklanCelebrates
February, as always, has gone quickly in Kindergarten. The long-awaited day, Day 100, finally arrived. It was spent working on many activities involving the number 100. The children matched numbers to the 100 chart, built a wall with 100 cups, made pictures of themselves of what they may look like at 100 years old, and counted out, by 10s, 100 food items to eat.
During calendar time, the children completed their 10 frame paper and finished “Zero the Hero” coloring. These are activities the class has worked on every 10th day of school since August. Finally, the 10, ten sticks became a 100 flat with no 10 sticks and no ones, giving more meaning to place value=1 hundred flat, 0 ten sticks and 0 ones.
#SaklanHandsOn
The sixth grade, as part of their Ecology Unit, have been looking at species interactions. They learned about:
In order to fully understand, they had to portray these different relationships with a few partners by choosing a real example of that relationship found in nature. They then took pictures of the portrayal and then made a comic strip with them. They used their laptops to create these impressive comics! Come check out more of them in the science lab!
#SaklanHandsOn
The Saklan Suns came together and played amazing basketball this week!
After a rough start due to illness, the 2020 basketball season started on Tuesday. Six players: Alex (8th), Jack (7th), Charlie (7th), Carlito (6th), Mac (6th), and Thomas (6th) played two grueling games this week. Tuesday’s game was against The Berkeley School, and Thursday’s was against the Contra Costa Jewish Day School. Both opponents were larger in size and numbers. The Suns exhibited great courage and determination during this sport field experience, playing each game with only five players.
Two games remain and the Suns need players! All students in middle school are invited to join. They play Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley on Wednesday, March 4th, and The Pacific Boys Choir on Thursday, March 12th. The last game is here at Saklan so come out and cheer on the Suns.
Let’s go Saklan!
#SaklanWellRounded
The Annual Auction is just around the corner and the Art room is working with grades K-8th on inspired Talavera Tiles. The Talavera tiles of today are a specific style and ceramic earthenware from Puebla, Mexico. It actually originated from the town of Talavera de Reina, Spain, also known as La Cuidad de la Ceramica (The City of Ceramics), however, the Spanish settlers brought to Mexico this artform of glazing in the 16th century. The people of Puebla inherited the knowledge the Spanish brought to their people and created tiles with the colors and patterns they loved, which ultimately became the iconic Mexican Talavera. Many of us have seen these tiles in Spanish style homes, missions along California, and used for other indoor and outdoor decor.
After learning a bit of the history behind these beautiful works of art, the artists began to work together to create their own tile. Talking about symmetry and asymmetry, artists are working together in each grade to create a cohesive tile using color, lines, and shapes. Pictured above are the tiles after glazing and still needing to be fired in our kiln.
#SaklanCreative
684.5 hours is the amount of time between the minute this blog post lands in your email box to the start of the Saklan Speakeasy Auction. There are a few things I want to mention about our fundraiser that I think are important to know:
Speaking of volunteers, a huge shoutout to Brian and Darla Lovrin, Dabney Lawless, Daisy Coby and Audrey Collec for driving this event. It truly would not have come together without their efforts. If you need another reason to go, it would be to honor the hours they have put into this project.
Warm regards,
David
#SaklanAuction
Jacob Martin (Class of 2014) is happily ensconced as a sophomore at Skidmore College in New York. He is double majoring in Political Science (inspired by Mr. P) and Music (thanks to the spark lit by Mrs. Chaffey).
For fun, Jacob sings in 2 classical choirs as well as the oldest and best (and only) all male cappella group on campus – The Bandersnatchers (named after the Bandersnatch from Lewis Carroll’s “The Jabberwocky”). He has been arranging music for the Bandersnatchers and was asked to be their Music Director for next year.
The Adirondacks area is a favorite hiking destination for Jacob and his friends. During Freshman year, he went sledding for the first time. His first ice skating was sophomore year. His friends from New England love to watch him try things that they forgot could be new because they have lived in the Northeast for so long. He is a great source of entertainment for them.
During the summer, Jacob was a cashier at Safeway, where he enjoyed making people’s days throughout his shifts. He even sang to them! He also got together with high school friends and played at the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse in Berkeley. If you’d like to see one of their performances, here’s a video:
Thinking back on Jacob’s Saklan experience, it’s no surprise he is where he is now. But believe it or not, in second grade, he hid behind the bigger kids during his class’s recitation of the mammal poem made famous by former second grade teacher Carol Schofield. In 6th grade, Mr. Javier and Mr. P helped him overcome his seemingly insurmountable fear of the ropes course. This was a key turning point for building his self-confidence.
Ms. Chaffey nurtured his growth further by nearly forcing him to take a small role in the Middle School musical. By 8th grade, Jacob eagerly volunteered to be emcee for the first Friday flag (and was courageous enough to be extremely silly in front of everyone). He happily played one of the lead roles in The Wizard of Oz Middle School musical.
Jacob’s connections to Saklan remain strong. He comes to visit the school whenever he’s home on school breaks. And during the last winter break, he invited his whole Saklan class for a reunion at his house. It was wonderful to see those kids again and hear about their adventures.
Here’s a photo of Jacob singing a solo with the Bandersnatchers at a recent college a cappella competition. The group took first prize!
#SaklanAlumni
In honor of Black History month, the middle school is recognizing the important roles African American leaders, artists, musicians, politicians, writers, and so many more, have been a central part of our U.S. history.
The students created a poster highlighting those accomplishments and will present their posters each Friday at Flag during the month of February.
#SaklanCelebrates
FRIDAY BLOG 
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