Author: The Saklan School Friday Blog

The Saklan School is a private Pre-K through 8 school located in Moraga, CA. Our mission is to think creatively, act compassionately, and live courageously.

Exchange Students at the Exploratorium

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Two weeks ago, the Japanese exchange students went to the Exploratorium in San Francisco with their 8th grade buddies.

While at the Exploratorium, the students investigated how energy is transferred throughout different experiments, experienced how forces play a part in every day activities, and how different wavelengths affect the flow of energy. Our students and the Japanese students enjoyed the museum. They also got to visit the gift shop. The students can’t wait to do this again next year!

#SaklanExperiential

String Art and STEAM

The Japanese students learned a little science in the Art room.

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A spectrum is a band of colors, like a rainbow, formed by a beam of light. Using string, the students created their own “beams of light” into designs. They were shown a couple different methods including radiating lines, rotating squares, and a spectrum.

The students worked fast and efficiently, creating designs completely original and complex. After completing their designs, students expressed how fun and creative the process was for them!

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#SaklanCreative

Making a Difference

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As part of their unit on people that have made a difference, the second graders have been reflecting on how they can make a difference. Looking at the amount of waste that happens in our lives at home and at school, they came upon a problem that they felt needed tackling. The students calculated that roughly 6,240 plastic forks get thrown away in a school year. In order to change this waste, the second graders implemented a scheme where metal forks are provided, and are washed and dried every day. It shows us that anyone can make a difference no matter the age. Well done, second graders!

#SaklanCompassionate

Gold Rush Board Game

The 4th graders have taken the content they learned about the California Gold Rush and created their very own board games! Students played the games in class to review and prepare for their trip to Coloma on April 11-12.

#SaklanHandsOn

Rorschach Ink Blot Paintings

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The Kindergarten explored the famous Ink Blots used for personality tests. It was quite impressive to hear the images the students saw. Just to name a few: unicorns, bugs, faces, people, monsters, and animals. Once the students were excited to create such interesting paintings we got started!

It was at first a little hard to not paint anything recognizable to the eye when handed paper and a paint brush. Once they started to fold, press, and unfold their paintings, the wow factor came in and they couldn’t stop. We even stepped on our paintings! Sean found that the pattern on his shoe transferred to the painting when the paper was folded in half and when he unfolded it, it created this amazing symmetrical pattern. The students love this project because the result is quick and something new and different each time.

#SaklanWellRounded

Saklan’s Lighthouse for Education Auction Shines Bright

On March 15, our community came together to celebrate and support our students and our school. There was a lot of excitement about who was there, Saklan75 signature cocktails, legacy baskets, croquembouche and cremant, Kay Long Martin’s famous lemon cheesecake, lighthouse decorations everywhere, and dancing afterwards. Everyone had a great time!

Together we raised almost $50,000 dollars for our Fund-A-Need. We’ll be able to provide all students in every grade with even more opportunities for hands-on academics, deeper experiential learning opportunities, a new van to take them out into the world, and more books in our library collection with an emphasis on diversity.

Our auction was all-around successful, because of the contributions received from many–parent volunteers, student artists, teachers and staff, alumni parents, grandparents, and our first-ever returning alum, Sarah Dey ’12.

Deepest thanks to so many. You are supporting our students, school, and our Saklan teachers who are our Lighthouse Keepers.

#Saklangrateful

Head’s Corner

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Sometimes there are weeks in the Saklan calendar where things like the Auction, Annual Spring Concert, Grandparents and Special Friends Day, and a week-long visit by 15 international students collide. It is during those times, that instead of trying to churn out a thoughtful blog post, I cheat.

I thought I would share with you a short article on kindness that reflects how we think at Saklan.

#Saklankind

Let’s Make Origami!

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The Hoot Owls had a blast with their new Japanese friends. The Hoot Owls were surprisingly outgoing and comfortable when it came to introducing themselves and working one on one with the Japanese students!

Hoot Owls picked out a number of different origami designs to make with their new friends. They especially liked the jumping frogs, ninja stars and flowers. Hoot Owls helped with complicated folds and followed multi-step directions. The Hoot Owl room has never been so quiet with concentration. The Hoot Owls are especially into making paper airplanes so they were able to share their own paper folding skills with our visitors.

#SaklanCreative

Pi Day Fun

To celebrate Pi Day (3/14) at Saklan, the middle school students taught a special lesson to the third and fourth graders. Students worked together in pairs to measure the diameter and then the circumference of two cookies. They then calculated their own pi by making the ratio of circumference over diameter. No one got exactly 3.141569, but some groups came very close! The students had a group discussion about their results and concluded that two of the reasons they may not have gotten exactly 3.141569 was because the cookies weren’t perfectly round and using a string to calculate circumference might have led to errors.

To close the lesson, the pairs made memory mnemonics to help them remember the first ten digits. If they had extra time, they worked on writing a Pi-ku. These are like Haikus, but instead of only three lines with the syllable pattern 5-7-5 they can go on infinitely (or at least 31 lines) that follow the pattern of.

Here’s one example:

Saklan is                  – 3

Fun!                          – 1

Let’s eat a treat       -4

Yum!                          -1

Math is delicious.   -5

We can’t wait to celebrate again next March!

#SaklanHandsOn

Spanish Activity with Exchange Students

Blue Block students brought their Japanese buddies to Spanish class this week. In a collaborative activity, the students shared their thoughts on why it is important to learn a new language and its culture.

“¿Por qué es importante aprender un nuevo idioma y su cultura?”

The students drew images and wrote words in three different languages on their posters: Spanish, English and Japanese. While working with a diverse student body, they were able to gain a more profound understanding of their own culture, values and beliefs.

#SaklanWellRounded