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.

Basketball Club

All 4th – 8th graders who are interested in playing basketball are encouraged to join the Basketball Club which will meet on the Sports Court from 3:00 – 3:30 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning next week.

The Basketball Club will participate in 2 games to be held in February:

  • Tuesday, February 13th  against the Contra Costa Jewish Day School Grizzlies on the Saklan Sports Court at 4 p.m.
  • Tuesday, February 20th at Contra Costa Jewish Day School at 4 p.m.

Students who want to play in the games are asked to attend as many Basketball Club meetings as possible.

Reach out to Mr. Crabtree with any questions you have.

#SaklanWellRounded

Movie Night Feb. 4th

The Movie Night that was planned for this Sunday has been postponed to Sunday, February 4th. Please join the PA from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. in the Founders Auditorium at the Orinda Community Center to watch Sing.

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).

See look forward to seeing you there!

#SaklanCommunity

Community Spaces

In their first semester of Humanities, the 7th grade students engaged in a project based learning unit called Community Spaces. Their project work centered around the driving question, “How can we create public spaces based on the values and needs of our community?” For this project, the 7th graders examined and evaluated both contemporary community spaces and those designed and built by the three pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations: the Mexica/Aztecs, the Incas, and the Maya. As part of their project work, the students engaged in three field experiences to Moraga Commons and Moraga Shopping Center, Temple Hill in Oakland, and the Student Wellness Center at Los Perales School in Moraga.

They also met with two guest experts, an urban planner and a designer/builder. For their culminating project product, each student designed their own community space or re-designed an existing space by incorporating elements of architecture, urban design, and infrastructure from the one or more of the three civilizations they studied and from present-day community spaces to meet the needs and reflect the values of a community near where they live.

All Saklan community members are invited to view the community spaces the 7th graders designed on Friday, January 26th after CLAS. The designs will be on display in the Humanities Room, and the students will be standing by to share their designs and answer questions.

#SaklanPBL

Snow Much Fun

The 3rd graders are exploring measurement in their current math unit which provides for lots of hands-on learning! Last week they focused on estimating and measuring mass using balance scales, and learned that mass and weight are not the same thing.

To begin math each day, the third graders work on a math warm up called number corner. In the number corner this month, the 3rd graders have been looking for patterns in shapes and colors, and identifying fractions/equivalent fractions on the calendar, as well as working on determining elapsed time and their multiplication fact fluency with their calendar collector. The Bridges math program that the class is piloting this year does a wonderful job of spiraling through multiple concepts each unit, while helping to build connections and a deeper understanding of the big ideas in mathematics. 

Building fact fluency of multiplication facts is a focus for the 3rd graders. The students love to play math games and sing songs to help them practice their facts. Last week the class had a “snowball fight” where they tossed paper “snowballs” with multiplication problems printed on it, then when it was time to “freeze” students picked up three snowballs and solved the equations.  The students had “SNOW” much fun!!

#HandsOnLearning

The Martian Project

The entry event into the newest fifth grade project was an engaging watch-party featuring Ridley Scott/20th Century FOX studios’ The Martian.  Students’ interest was peaked when Mark Watley (Matt Damon) was left for dead on Mars after his suit was breached in a storm and he awoke to realize he had survived, but perhaps not for long. With a food supply of about 9 months, but four years before a rescue mission arrives, Mark has to put his botany skills to the test if he is to survive.  Munching potato chips, students watched Mark cultivate one dozen potatoes NASA had sent with them for Thanksgiving dinner (which NASA actually does for the ISS Astronauts), and create a water cycle to help his crop grow.  

In this unit, students will call on their prior learning of hydrology and the water cycle, as well as the planets and solar system, as they design and create their own ecosystems that cycle hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide, to germinate and grow an edible plant for at least 35 Sols (and they’ll do the math to figure out how many Earth days that is).  Along the way, students will learn about food chains, food webs, producers, consumers, decomposers, photosynthesis, the carbon/oxygen cycle, and a total system collapse, in seven milestone lessons. Math, language arts, scientific illustration and history/social studies are all threaded through the project, alongside games such as the “food chain game” which students enjoyed playing last week.

And the Winner is…

Receiving over 60% of the votes, Peace, Love, Saklan will be the theme of the 2024 auction! Thank you to everyone who participated in the selection process.

The Saklan faculty and staff are very excited, and we hope you are too! Peace, Love, Saklan pairs well with our focus on belonging, is a nod to the sixty-nine years that Saklan has been a school, and ties in nicely with this year’s concert theme of Love.

Volunteers Needed

We are in need of volunteers to help make this year’s auction successful. We have roles big and small, including:

  • Picking up Items from Donors
  • Auction Items Acquisitions
  • Creating Event Decor
  • Designing a Logo for the Event
  • Event Set Up
  • Communications

We would love your help; click on the button below to volunteer!

Auction Volunteer Opportunities

Save the Date!

Please save the date to celebrate our great school and community with our Peace, Love, Saklan auction on Friday, April 26th at The Garden in Walnut Creek. Book your babysitter now for this adults-only event; you don’t want to miss it!

Picture Day Next Tuesday

Roots & Shoots Photography will be taking individual and class portraits of Saklan students next Tuesday, January 23rd. These pictures will be used in the yearbook and are available for purchase.

Pictures will be taken outside on the play yard during the school day. Please note that 1st – 8th grade students need to be dressed in uniform for the pictures.

For students who are absent on picture day, a make up day will be held on Tuesday, February 27th.

Portrait Ordering Process

Portraits will be available to order online approximately 4 weeks AFTER picture day. Complimentary proofs will be provided for every student, so you can decide whether you would like to order them. If you do order, all portrait packages will be shipped directly to your home (a $7.25 shipping fee will apply). There will be no school package drop off.

Questions? Please contact Roots & Shoot directly at grow@roots-shoots.com. They will be happy to assist you!

A Positive Approach to Kids & Their Social Media Lives

Over the past week, I grappled with writing this Head’s Corner piece. I aimed to spotlight the topic of this morning’s parent coffee,“The Social Institute – Helping Your Child Positively Navigate Media and Technology, and Maintaining Healthy Self-esteem,” but encountered challenges in articulating my thoughts.

Approximately 75% of our discussions regarding social media lean towards the negative aspects—concerns about time wastage, the pervasive FOMO factor, mindless scrolling, and the inundation of advertisements by algorithms.

When we bring children into these discussions, the negativity seems to multiply exponentially. Social media is linked to increased high-risk behaviors, depression, self-esteem issues, and the promotion of bullying.

While all the aforementioned concerns hold truth, dwelling solely on them proves counterproductive. It overlooks the reality that social media is an integral part of our children’s lives, and its presence is enduring.

So, how can we guide them through this digital landscape? If you attended this morning’s coffee session, you likely have an answer. Employ a positive and constructive approach that resonates with children. This is precisely why The Saklan School is collaborating with The Social Institute—to redefine the narrative in navigating our digital world.

We acknowledge that solely emphasizing the negatives, imposing restrictions, and dictating what children should avoid online is ineffective. Instead, our focus should shift towards amplifying the positives, offering education, and empowering students. By coaching them to comprehend their digital world, we equip them with the knowledge needed to make informed and positive choices.

The partnership between The Saklan School and The Social Institute reflects our commitment to reshaping the conversation surrounding digital engagement. By focusing on the positives, providing education, and empowering students to understand their digital environment, we strive to foster a generation capable of making informed and responsible choices in this ever-evolving landscape.

Want to know more?  

Got to https://thesocialinstitute.com/parent-toolkit/ and use the access code 280cEADD98258B

Machines & Inventions

In December, the first graders learned about simple machines. The class discussed what work is (the transfer of energy from one object to another in order to make the second object move in a certain direction) and what makes work easier and harder. Then they learned about the six simple machines by participating in a series of hands-on activities.

The first graders learned about levers and balanced a lever on a fulcrum. They had an egg drop challenge and learned that an incline plane made it easier and safer to move a load. They made a paper helicopter and learned how a screw works. The class made funny faces with apples and sticks, and discovered that the sticks in the shape of a wedge made it easier to split the apple skin apart. They had a bubble race and learned how a wheel and axle makes work easier. Lastly, the class completed a “going up” activity, where they used a string as a pulley so they didn’t have to lift the object with their hands.

The first graders had a great time learning about simple machines through these hands-on, fun experiments.  To take their learning a step further, each student created and built their own invention using their knowledge of simple machines. The inventions will be on display in the 1st grade classroom on Thursday, January 18th at 8:40 during their Invention Show. All Saklan community members are invited to stop by and check out the creative inventions the first graders designed!

#SaklanHandsOn

Bookworm Book Recommendations

What are kids reading these days? Lots of great books!

In the Bookworms Learning by Doing (LBD) class, middle school students talked about the books they were reading and then enjoyed extended quiet time to read on the beanbags in the Humanities Room. The students then each wrote a recommendation about one book they enjoyed reading.

The book recommendations are on display in the Middle School Library. You are invited to stop by and read them–and to check out a book or two from the growing middle school library.

Thank you to our great librarians, Joy and Meredith, for displaying the middle school recommendations.

Read On!