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.

Back to 1888

On Tuesday, the third grade class traveled back in time to 1888 to experience life as a pioneer student. Each student took on a new identity by choosing an old fashioned name and came to school dressed in their finest pioneer attire.

During the day, the third graders participated in several traditional pioneer activities into the classroom. The day started with the three R’s: reading, writing and arithmetic. Students read from McGuffey Readers (published in 1879), practiced their cursive writing using quill feather pens and ink, and practiced their math on slate boards with chalk.

For lunch, each pioneer student brought authentic pioneer food in baskets, pails or tied to a stick. The students enjoyed their unique lunches at the garden, as well as time to pet the chickens.

The students also enjoyed working on some weaving and making butter in mason jars.

The third graders really embraced the pioneer spirit and enjoyed their time travel back to 1888! Huge thank you to Lisa, Meredith, and Joy for bringing this day to life for the third graders!

Library Books

The end of the year is approaching fast, which means students are running out of time to return library books! As we head into the last week and a half of school, please check in with your student to see if they have any library books at home. Meredith, Joy, and our newest librarian, Reva, request that all Saklan Library books be returned by next Tuesday, May 28th.

The library staff is busy sending emails detailing which books each student still has checked out. We appreciate your help in ensuring your student gets their books returned on time. Thank you!

Science of Energy

The first graders have really enjoyed their time learning about energy in the science lab over the last two weeks! The students are learning what energy is, the different forms of energy, and how it moves in waves. Additionally, they have learned specifically about sound and light waves, explored the waves the sun produces and how that energy is transferred to us here on Earth. They have also learned about the potential energy and kinetic energy found in different objects.

This week the students investigated heat energy! They looked at what affects energy’s absorption by radiation, the ways energy can be conducted, and how it creates currents through convection.

The pictures above are of the students investigating the movement of heat through fluids by convection, like in a lava lamp. Students layered cold water (blue) on top of hot water (red) and watched them switch places. Then they put hot water (red) on top of cold (blue) and saw they did not switch, proving that in fluids heat rises and cold sinks.

Next week the first graders will investigate using energy to do work!

2024 Art Show

All Saklan families and friends are invited to join us for The Saklan School’s 2024 Art Show next Thursday, May 23rd! The event will take place in the Holy Trinity Cultural Center and feature artwork from all of our Preschool – 8th grade students. To allow for better viewing for all, we have developed the following schedule for the show:

  • 2:00 – Show Opens to Owlet & Hoot Owl Families
  • 3:00 – Show Opens to All Families
  • 3:05 – African Drumming Begins in Front of Holy Trinity
  • 4:00 – Show Closes

We hope you will join us!

#SaklanArtShow #SaklanCreative

Visual Representation

The third graders did an amazing job turning their original designs into beautiful ground murals for our entire community to enjoy! These murals of a four-square and hopscotch not only provide a fun place for all students to play during recess, but also bring visual representation of Saklan/Bay Miwok culture onto our campus.

These murals are the final public product from the 3rd grade PBL unit, which helped them to answer their driving question of “How can we show respect to the people whose ancestral land our school is on?” When the third graders met with Vincent and Louis (owners of Cafe Ohlone) earlier this year and asked them this question, they said one way was to have images on campus that represent Saklan culture. The third graders worked with Lauren in art to create designs that were accurate and detailed. Local artists Tia and Paul Kratter helped to turn the students’ designs into reality and worked with the third graders to paint the murals. 

#SaklanPBL

Final Call for Sneakers

As we shared at the beginning of the year, the sixth grade partnered with GotSneakers, an organization that helps keep sneakers out of landfills by recycling and reusing them. Each pair of shoes donated earned their class money, which they will be donating to the World Wildlife Federation to symbolically adopt a species being affected by climate change. 

As of May 1st the 6th graders have:

  • Recycled over 8 large bags of sneakers with over 138 pairs in them.
  • Saved over 4,140 pounds of CO2 from our atmosphere
  • Saved over 311,466 gallons of water

Thank you to everyone who helped support this initiative. Your donations have really helped the environment. 

It isn’t too late to donate sneakers! The 6th graders will be collecting shoes through Friday, May 31st. Thank you all for donating your old and unused sneakers, they not only were kept out of landfills but were also helping to protect species. 

Too Many Items in Your Closet?

Moraga Rotary is collecting gently used adult-sized jeans through Memorial Day. Drop off your jeans in the blue bin located in the breezeway by the Saklan Office, and they will be delivered to Trinity Center in Walnut Creek to help the unhoused.

Questions about the jean drive? Email moragarotary@gmail.com and they will be happy to help you.

Thank you, Saklan!

Please Join Us

The Hoot Owls are getting ready to come back to Earth following their space exploration! They have been reviewing their notes from the Topic Web they started way back in March, gathered questions on their Wonder Wall, talked to experts, including astronomer Sophia Wallstrom and Saklan’s Science Teacher, Ms. O, and conducted research in the field at Chabot Space and Science Center. It’s been an out of this world journey for the Hoot Owls, and they now invite you to view their results! Please join us for the Hoot Owl Space Culmination next Thursday, May 16th at 9:00 a.m.

The Hoot Owls aren’t the only class with a culminating event this month. We invite all Saklan families and friends to learn more about the learning our students have engaged in by joining us for the following events:

  • Hoot Owl Space Culmination – Thursday, May 16th at 8:30 a.m.
  • 3rd Grade Saklan/Bay Miwok Culmination – Friday, May 17th at 9:00 a.m.
  • 4th Grade Gold Fever Culmination – Friday, May 17th at 9:00 a.m.
  • Art Show – Thursday, May 23rd from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
  • 6th Grade Museum of the Future – Thursday, May 23rd from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
  • Owlet Rainforest Culmination – Friday, May 30th at 9:00 a.m.
  • Kindergarten Community Culmination – Friday, May 30th at 9:00 a.m.

2024 Middle School Musical

The Saklan Middle School students have been rehearsing for their culminating project for music class, a performance of Into The Woods. Every student in the Middle School is participating in the production, whether it is acting in a main role, taking care of props, helping with costumes, or being a stage hand. It is a true collaborative effort to produce an amazing final product. 

On Friday, May 17th the students will perform at 7:00 p.m. in the Town Hall Theatre in Lafayette. The entire community is invited to the show. Tickets are required for attendance and can be purchased by clicking on the button below.

MIddle School Musical Tickets

We hope you can join us for what is sure to be a wonderful show!

#SaklanMusicals #SaklanCreative

Peace, Love, Thank You

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Peace, Love, Saklan auction on April 26th. It was a fun event in support of an amazing cause – your children’s education! As a community we raised over $122,000, including $63,150 for the PBL-Centered Classroom Fund-a-Need. Thank you all for your generosity.

Special thank you to Emily Williamson, who worked tirelessly on the event, and to the auction committee: Vadim Alden, Yulia Goldshtrakh, Shana Hammers, Kristin Hubert, Etienne Lacrampe, Brian Lovrin, Darla Lovrin, Erin Moorhead, Tara Nemeth, Amy Perkins, David Shenaut, and Kendall Walker Koo for their help in planning a fun event, procuring auction items, and creating stunning centerpieces!

A huge thank you to Lauren Haberly, Meredith Avant, Linda Lathrop, and Kim Parks for their work on the collaborative art pieces, and to Eric Lompa and ScanArt for printing the posters and note cards. 

At the event – thank you to Shay Sager for welcoming all guests and checking them into the event, and to Linda Haukland, Jennifer Lettieri, Christina Nguyen and Yette Prizeman for selling wine raffle tickets. 

We had some very generous contributions from many families too. Thank you to everyone who donated auction items and/or bottles of wine, sponsored the event, and helped to procure auction items. It truly was a team effort!

View More Auction Pictures Here!

#Peace,Love,Saklan