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.

Mindful Art Making

Students in first through eighth grade entered the new year through a series of therapeutic art activities in art class. Therapeutic art, or mindful art making, focuses on the creative process to relieve stress, calm the mind and body, or spark joy. Stepping out of winter break and into a new semester of learning and academic structure can stir up a range of feelings (for students, teachers, and families alike), and art can provide an opportunity to express these emotions, thoughts, and experiences in a way that words sometimes cannot. 

For each lesson, students were given a basket full of colorful art supplies and a small packet of drawing and writing prompts centered around reflecting on 2024 and exploring the values and energy they’d like to carry into 2025. Students were encouraged to work through the exercises in any order and to change or adapt the prompt in any way that felt authentic or comfortable to them at that moment. The goal was to connect with themselves and the process rather than create a polished, final product.

The mindfulness mini-unit was a great compliment to this month’s school-wide social-emotional focus: growth mindset. As students began another semester of projects, art making, and learning, Lauren used these activities an opportunity to remind them to approach the journey with curiosity, creativity, and compassion.

Classroom Jobs

Jobs at school can help students build a sense of excitement, community, and interdependence. Tasks such as putting up the flag, cleaning the tables after lunch, or being the class helper give students the opportunity to exercise and practice decision-making and reasoning. They also give students a chance to be responsible in a meaningful way: the children know that completing their jobs helps their school, classmates, and/or teachers.

Upon returning to school in January, the Hoot Owl teachers noticed how much the students had matured since the beginning of the year and decided they were ready to take on more responsibility in the classroom. As part of a new project unit on cleaning, the class brainstormed ways to help keep their classroom clean. From that list came new classroom jobs that the students will take turns doing each week for the remainder of the year.

To kick off their jobs work, the class worked on a big cleaning task together – cleaning all the chairs in their classroom. Using buckets of soapy water and sponges, the students scrubbed down their chairs. They noticed that the water in the buckets didn’t look so clean when they were done, so we know the Hoot Owls did a great job of cleaning the chairs! After the chairs were scrubbed, they were rinsed off using the hose, and then students dried them. Some of the Hoot Owls took such pride in their work that they wanted to make sure the chair legs were shining!

Winter Enrichment Starts Jan. 27

The winter 2025 session of enrichment classes will begin the week of January 27th. Many exciting classes are being offered this session, including
Dance and Creative Movement, Reading Readiness, and Yoga!

Class descriptions and registration for the winter enrichment classes are now available on the Saklan Enrichment Webpage. Space is limited in most classes so don’t delay, register today!

#SaklanWellRounded

Empowering Parents: Managing Child Anxiety

Join us for our Empowering Parents: Managing Child Anxiety in Today’s World virtual parent education workshop on Thursday, February 27 at 6:00 p.m. During the presentation, Dr. Megan Johnson will provide an in-depth review of the book “Breaking Free of Child Anxiety and OCD- A Scientifically Proven Program for Parents,” by Eli R. Lebowitz, PhD, as well as share evidence-based strategies for reducing unhelpful parental behaviors, fostering independence, and building resilience in children.

This event is open to the greater Lamorinda Community, so feel free to invite friends and family to join. Click here to RSVP and receive the event link.

#SaklanParentEducation #SaklanPA

Head’s Corner: Power of Agency

Agency- Latin agentia “ability,” and ag(ere) “to do, drive”

Over the Winter Break, I received several emails from parents sharing with me a New York Times opinion piece they felt described Saklan perfectly. The article “Giving Kids Some Autonomy Has Surprising Results” should not be a surprise to anyone familiar with our work at Saklan.

“Agency” is a core value at Saklan. Students having “voice and choice” in their learning is a central tenet of Project Based Learning and our approach to SEL. Student agency honors students’ experiences and curiosities while giving them a locus of control over their lives. In short, it creates “buy-in” to learning. 

According to surveys by the Brooking Institution, very few students feel they have control over what they are learning. “The more time they spend in school, the less they feel like the author of their own lives, so why even try.”

In a majority of classrooms today, teachers introduce a topic and share with students what they will be learning. They have their standards to check off and material to cover. Just looking at those two sentences feels dispiriting.

Why not introduce a topic, ask students what they know about the topic (they know so much more than we often realize), and ask them what they want to investigate next? There are subtle differences between these two approaches, but student engagement is markedly different in the one that gives agency.

Giving agency raises academic standards by requiring students to invest in their own learning, reflect on their progress, and course-correct. If that sounds familiar, it is what we do as adults in our working lives. 

Agency creates a love of learning and a love in learning- and as if that is not enough to convince society that this is the right approach to education then a look at our standardized testing data should convince the doubters. 

Congrats to “The Aristocats” Cast

Congratulations to our third, fourth, and fifth-grade students on their wonderful performance of The Aristocats Kids right before Winter Break!

From memorizing lines, finding costumes, designing sets, and applying makeup, it takes a village to bring these productions to life. Thank you to all the performers for the courage and creativity they put into their characters. Thank you to the parents who helped run lines, arranged for base costumes, and worked on hair and makeup. Thank you to all who joined us for the show and cheered on the cast.

Additionally, we have a few special thank yous we would like to share:

  • Special thanks to Dianne Hurvitz for directing the lower school students’ wonderful performance. Her hard work, dedication, and love for the students were evident throughout the show.
  • Special thank you to Javier Yacarini and John Miazga for all their work constructing the stage and the set.
  • And a very special thank you to Jayme Feldhammer for her work on the costumes.

It was a fabulous show! We hope you enjoy the photos from the performance below.

#SaklanCreative

Growth Mindset

Saklan’s social-emotional learning emphasis for January is to have a growth mindset. Throughout the month, all Saklan students will be practicing how to embrace challenges and view them as learning opportunities.

At the end of January, the first – eighth graders will meet with their family groups and participate in cross-grade level discussions and activities to gain an even greater understanding of growth mindset. We value these opportunities to help our students understand and integrate new SEL concepts each month. Thank you to our 8th graders for leading these opportunities for the 1st – 7th graders, and to our SEL coordinators Vickie Obenchain and Lisa Rokas for organizing such a unique program for our students.

#SaklanSEL

Back by Popular Demand!

Every Saklan student knows how rewarding a snack can be at the end of a busy day of learning and having fun with one another here at school. Our dedicated and resourceful Student Council has been busy planning the return of Snack Shack this year!

Student Council officers and representatives in grades 1 through 8 decided on the final items for sale based on desirability, minimizing waste, and being able to set reasonable prices ranging from 50 cents to $2.00 per item. Yummy snacks for sale this year will include: goldfish, gummies, chips, Hello Panda, Pirate’s Booty, Rice Krispy treats, La Croix bubble water, Honest Juice, and Martinelli’s apple drink. 

Last year’s Student Council voted to spend some of the proceeds from Snack Shack for The Saklan School to participate in the Terracycle recycling program for markers, pens, glue sticks, and odd single-use products we use daily at school. Stay tuned for which charity or cause this year’s Student Council selects!

Snack Shack will open outside David’s office from 3:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. every Thursday starting on January 16th.  Saklan students are invited to come by and purchase a snack from our hardworking Student Council members. Cash only, please. 

Thank you, students and parents, for supporting our Student Council.

Snack on!

#SaklanStudentCouncil #SaklanLeadership

Join Us on Jan. 26th

All members of the Saklan community are invited to join the PA on Sunday, January 26th from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. in the Founders Auditorium at the Orinda Community Center for a movie night! Popcorn will be provided for all attendees. Please bring your reusable water bottle with you, as well as nut-free snacks, blankets, chairs, beanbags, pillows, or other items to get cozy (limited folding chair seating will be available).

#SaklanCommunity

Spreading Holiday Cheer

The Middle School Choir musicians have been working on mastering the harmonies of “Happiness” from You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. They have also added a few more songs to their repertoire, including “Together, Wherever We Go” from Gypsy and “It’s Possible” from Seussical. In addition, the student musicians are learning choreography to enhance their song performances, as well as adding in handbell parts!

Their harmonizing, choreography, and handbell work came together on Wednesday when the choir shared a holiday performance with our neighbors who live at Moraga Royale (a senior living community). To prepare for the show, the students learned holiday songs that they thought the seniors would know. During the show, they invited the audience to sing along with them, and to their amazement, they did!

The heartwarming performance brought smiles to the faces of the Moraga Royale staff and residents and filled the room with great holiday cheer. We hope the video below does the same for you!

#SaklanCompassionate