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.

Middle Schoolers Volunteer At ACFB

On Wednesday, the middle schoolers went to the Alameda County Food Bank (ACFB). They worked for a little over an hour and a half and helped pack produce to go out to needy families in Alameda County. Our students helped package 6,119 pounds of onions for those in need; seniors, families and children.

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As we are moving on to our next SEL topic next week on Gratitude, it was nice for our students to be able to give back to our community. Most people who receive assistance from the ACFB are people with jobs, who are having to decide between rent or food, or between medicine or food. One in six Alameda County residents receive help from the food bank, and of them children and elderly make up the largest group. In fact, one in every three children are getting help with the assistance of the food bank.
We were proud to help such a great organization and live our mission.

Constellations, What A Sight!

 

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These creative constellations, fashioned from marshmallows and Q-tips, were made by the imaginative first grade class. The first graders presented all the facts and stories behind their individual constellations. The “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” was a great tune performed by the class to wrap up their “out of this world” space unit.

Here are some of the pictures from their field trip to the Chabot Space and Science Center.

Pumpkin Hunt

The Owlets and Hoot Owls had a pumpkin hunt last week. First, they searched for the pumpkins with their names on the bottom on the playground.

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Then they had a party with delicious Halloween snacks.

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Finally, the Hoot Owls carved their class pumpkin.

It was a fun day!

Head’s Corner

Dear Saklan Parents,

Last week, we held an all-school earthquake drill. Saklan students did an outstanding job of following the prescribed procedures of duck and cover, and then evacuating the building in an orderly fashion. To simulate what might happen in a real earthquake, we had one staff member hide in the restroom, which required our search and rescue team to go back and find her.

Earthquake Drill

Being prepared in an emergency is something we take seriously and practice regularly at Saklan.  Every month, we do an earthquake, fire or lockdown drill, and our faculty and staff have done an outstanding job in emergency preparedness. After every drill, we do an evaluation and look for issues and improvements. We have also improved our communications plan in the event of an emergency. Contacting parents during or after an emergency is critical, and we have recently implemented a new feature through Renweb which will provide a more efficient and broader range of contact options to include text messages in addition to emails. For this to be effective, all parents must make sure that their information on Renweb is up to date and all emergency contacts are included. More information on our safety procedures can be found in our Crisis and Preparedness Plan, which is found on Renweb.

Security is an important consideration at Saklan and we have recently changed our gate code. Please be very careful in sharing this code with others. In the next few weeks, we will be upgrading our alarm system and adding surveillance cameras. We will also be replacing the external door by the Admissions and Business Offices with one that is more secure.

Another safety issue that we have addressed this year is that of the parking situation. With the increase in traffic on School Street over the past few years, the crossing of the street without an official crosswalk has resulted in the need for a safer solution. Having negotiated a new parking agreement with the Holy Trinity Church, parents no longer have to cross the street to get to the school.

Another safety issue, which has come up a few times this year, is that of smoke from wild fires affecting the air quality. In these instances, the school evaluated the information provided by the EPA and followed the lead of the local school district in deciding on the need for school closure. This did, however, result in our decision to keep the students indoors for recess and PE classes, and advising parents to keep their children at home if they have respiratory problems.

We are all looking forward to our Halloween and Harvest Festival next Tuesday. The fun starts right away in the morning with the costume parade and ends after the Harvest Festival with an early dismissal at 2:00PM.  Please note that extended care will be available on that day.

Have a great weekend!

Peter

Music Class At The Zoo

Kindergartners spent the day at the Oakland Zoo celebrating the Festival of Animals that they have been learning in Music.

With each piece of music, the children had to hunt to find the corresponding animal.

Lots of fun was had by all!

Seventh Grade Culture Fair

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The seventh graders developed their own unique culture in small groups as part of a Humanities class project. We invited parents, family members, peers, and friends to attend our Culture Fair, Presentations, and Potluck on Monday, October 16 from 9:30-11:30AM. The seventh grade students prepared a 10-minute Power Point presentation to explain the basics of their culture. Some categories that they included were their location and geography, belief system, traditions, demographics, government structure, and social hierarchies. Afterward, the seventh graders welcomed other students and teachers into our classroom to make rounds in our Culture Fair. We shared food, fun, and learned so much. Below are the group names and members.

  • Snowy Beans Group: Kyle, Aidan, and Harrison
  • System X Group:  Nate, Tyler, and Juliet
  • Space Jam Group:  Devin, Max, Hudson, and Ari
  • RCJ Tech Group: Roan, Jordan, and Clark
  • United Times Group: Abby, Isabel, and Lauren

Halloween Couplets

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The third grade has been working on using adjectives in their writing. On Thursday, they gave a spooky Halloween presentation for their parents. Each student shared their original Halloween themed couplet. Their poetry is on display in the third grade classroom.  Please feel free to stop by our classroom on Halloween to read their poems.

Fifth Grade Rockets

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The last few weeks the 5th grade has been coming to science lab to learn some basics of astronomy. They have learned about the big bang theory, scaled down the solar system, learned about the formation of the moon, and discovered how our sun produces its energy. Lastly, we have been discussing space exploration, and so the 5th graders worked together to create their own rockets to shoot off!

Open House

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Friday, December 1, 2017

8:30 – 10:30AM

RSVP

We invite all current and prospective parents to join us for an inside look of the highlights of Saklan’s middle school program. Whether you are interested in the lower school or middle school, hearing what our students experience by the time they graduate from Saklan will inspire you.