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.

Volunteer Feature: You!

With sincere appreciation for your friendship and good will, we ask you to join us in celebration of our 2016-17 volunteers.
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On Friday, May 19, we will be saying, “Thanks A-Latte!” to you, our volunteers, with choices of espresso drinks, chai drinks, Mexican hot chocolate, and Italian sodas. Specially prepared for you by Maya Espresso Catering.
Drinks, made to order, from 8:00AM to 10:00AM. Look forward to seeing you there!

Head’s Corner

Dear Saklan Community,

As part of our Parent Speaker series, this morning Cherilyn addressed the much discussed issue of students and the use of social media in her talk, “Get Smart With Social Media.” This workshop is the third in a three part series and follows two previous workshops, one with 4-6 graders and one with 7-8 graders.

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Cherilyn started her presentation by telling us that for teenagers social media, “is a scoreboard for a real time, 24/7 popularity competition.” She shared a wealth of information and data from many recent studies on social media use, as well as data that emerged from her workshops with our Saklan students. For example, the average 13 year old checks in with social media sites 100 times a day and is in some way connected online for 9 hours per day. In one study it was discovered that 90% of 4-8 graders surveyed have phones or tablets in their rooms and 33% indicated that they are regularly online after midnight on school nights. This goes up to 60% on weekends. In an indication of how unaware parents are of what their children are doing, it was found that only 11% of the parents in the study believed this happens on school nights and 38% on weekends.

Data from our own students showed that 40% of our 4-6 graders had YouTube channels, 48% were on Instagram, and 30% were on Music.ly. In her workshop with our 7-8 graders, only 21% indicated that their social media activity was monitored by parents.

Some of the big ideas that emerged from Cherilyn’s presentation were that stress caused by online activity was very much the same as that of real life experiences and it increased through the teen years. In order to effectively navigate their futures, students need to learn how to interact with others online in safe and mindful ways. Beyond monitoring their online activities, parents should engage with their children in ongoing dialog about the realities of using social media.

A big thank you to Kim Parks for organizing this important and engaging workshop.

Have a good weekend!

Peter

Lectures On Whales

The culmination of the Whale Unit for the second graders was an oral report. They dressed up as scientists and professors and gave a lecture for their parents on a whale they had researched. This included pointing out the various parts of the whale on a diagram they had drawn and labeled as well asking for questions from the audience at the end of their lecture. They have become very confident public speakers.

Homes Around The World

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Meet the architects and builders of fabulous homes around the world in the First grade class! We discussed what homes have in common, learned a lot about different countries, climate, culture and resources.

News From The Sports Court

A Call for Old Tennis Balls!

The students of Saklan have learned a backyard cricket game known as bats.  They have become very skilled at using a plastic bat to hit a tennis ball. Unfortunately, during this process many tennis balls have been lost to the creek. So we would like to make a call for old tennis balls. If you have a collection sitting around and you are not sure what to do with them, please consider giving them over to the recess bat games.

2017 Volleyball Season

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Saklan Suns Volleyball Team Fifth Grade thru Eighth Grade

Thursday, May 4 at 4:15PM, East Bay Waldorf vs Saklan

*Wednesday, May 17at 4:15PM, Saklan vs. East Bay Waldorf away

Thursday, May 18 at 4:00PM, Ecole Bilingue School vs . Saklan

*Tuesday, May 23 at 4:00PM, Saklan vs. Ecole Bilingue School away

Wednesday, May 24 at 4:00PM, CCJD vs. Saklan

Tuesday, May 30 at 4:00PM, The Berkeley School vs Saklan

Saklan Annual Book Fair

Thursday, May 18 and Friday, May 19orinda books
8:00 – 10:00AM and 2:00 – 4:00PM
Come and get your books for summer reading right here in our library, and Orinda Books donates 20% of sales back to Saklan!
Special Guest Authors

Lily Williams – If Sharks Disappeared
Mitali Perkins – Rickshaw Girl; Tiger Boy
Lisa Bakos – Wrong Side of the Bed; Too Many Moose
Penny Warner – Code Busters series