On Wednesday, students from The Saklan School participated in the Twenty-Sixth Annual Moraga Rotary Field Day: Dashiell, Bjerre, Ryan from third grade; Lindsay, Jordan, Makenna, Reese, Colin, Isabel, and Evy from fourth grade; Ben, Bianca, Leo, Rachel, and Nick from fifth grade. They competed against other schools from Moraga in five events. Good job to all the competitors the event was fun!
Makenna (4th) won gold in the softball toss and Nick (5th) won gold in the steeple race.
There is something joyful about flying a kite on a beautiful Spring morning!
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.
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
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.
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.
A Call for Old Tennis Balls!
2017 Volleyball Season
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
FRIDAY BLOG 
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