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.

Biologists

At the end of April, the Owlets watched this video to learn that biologists are scientists who study animals, plants, and other kinds of life. During the month of May, the Owlets have had many opportunities to be biologists. Recently, they talked about characteristics of different animal classes, including reptiles, mammals, fish, and birds.

Last week, a guest expert, Ms. Emily from Wildcare, visited the Owlets and Hoot Owls to teach them all about mammals! The students enjoyed seeing the real taxidermy animals she brought, as well as a real whale tooth and some deer antlers!

#SaklanGuestExpert #SaklanHandsOn

Hawaii: A Cultural & Biological Experience

Last week, Saklan’s seventh graders traveled to the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. During their time in the globally recognized destination, the students distinguished themselves from the multitude of travelers by their mission: to learn about the cultural and biological evolution of the Hawaiian Islands. In Waimea Falls, the staff that handed the students their lifejackets were impressed to hear about the class itinerary and what they had already learned about the beautiful island of Oahu. One lifelong Hawaiian was particularly impressed that the students were visiting the Iolani Palace, as he had never visited himself. The 7th graders snorkeled among hundreds of brightly colored fish that call Hanuma Bay home while watching their adaptations at work for their survival.

The students spent a long and interactive afternoon at the Polynesian Cultural Center, where they learned how the Polynesian people valued the natural world and how they used the resources around them.

The students enjoyed themselves so much that they would like to open a sister school in Hawaii to continue their education!

#SaklanFieldExperience 

Menús

Two true tests of learning are the ability to apply what has been learned in a new way, and to use learning to serve others. Over the last three weeks, the fifth grade students have done both in Spanish class with Maestra Padilla.

The fifth graders created cafe menus, complete with items written in Spanish and priced in the currency of a Spanish-speaking country (such as pesos), and then set up a cafe scene to serve “customers.” Although they were not really served the menu items they ordered, students served each other, nonetheless, each playing a part for a friend’s video by ordering in Spanish, paying, etc.

Students recorded their cafe scenes on flipgrid.  Maestra shared one of her favorites for you to enjoy; click here to see it!

Chemical Reactions

The Owlets became scientists in April! The class visited Ms. O in her lab every Thursday during the month. The Owlets learned words like observation and hypothesis. Ms. O let the Owlets experiment with mixing different liquids to cause chemical reactions, like color changes, temperature changes, and state changes.

After learning about chemical reactions, Ms. Jessica led the Owlets and Hoot Owls in a classic experiment mixing Mentos candy with soda. Many of the students predicted what would happen, and many of them wanted to try mixing the candy with other liquids too!

The Owlets asked lots of great questions and came up with many ideas for more science experiments!

#SaklanHandsOn

Final Days in Puerto Rico

In March, Saklan’s eighth grade students took part in a service-learning field experience in Puerto Rico in which they helped rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Maria. Check out the student blog post from the final two days of the trip below.

March 28 & 29, 2022

We’ve never had an experience like we had in Puerto Rico. To start off the day yesterday, we woke up to a delicious breakfast of pancakes and sausage. We then hiked to a river in a luscious rainforest called Vereda Angelito, where we swam and jumped between rocks watching the water flow between our feet. After that, we went to an amazing shopping center where we dined on fish, chicken, and plantains. The class also shopped for small treats and souvenirs in that area. After shopping, we arrived at the beautiful hotel we would be staying at for the last day in Puerto Rico. At the end of the day, we kayaked at night through the stunning Bahia Bioluminiscente Las Croabas Fajardo bay. The bay is covered with bioluminescent plankton. This means if you stick your hand in the water, it will light up. Navigating a kayak in the dark was hard. There were some bumps and shenanigans that happened while kayaking, but overall, the eighth grade class did really well. Today we’re leaving Puerto Rico, and I can definitely say it was worth it.

-Ari and Milo

Thank you, Ari and Milo, for sharing your experience with us.

#SaklanFieldExperience

Saklan Book Fair

Saklan’s Book Fair is coming back LIVE! All Saklan families are invited to shop the book fair after school next week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, May 11-13th. 

Pick up your child and some amazing reading material at the same time! Stop by the music tent in front of the school to purchase wonderful titles for children and adults of all ages.

The Saklan teachers have created wish lists – books they would love to have in their classroom for use by your children. Many of those books will be available for purchase too and any wish list book purchased will be donated to the teachers at the end of the fair. A portion of all proceeds goes to Saklan in the form of credit so that Saklan teachers and staff can continue to fill their shelves with in demand titles. All forms of payment accepted!

Can’t shop in person? No problem! We will have an online option too; more info to be shared next week.

Art Show 2022

You are invited to join us for The Saklan School’s Spring Art Show on Thursday, May 12th! The event will take place outdoors at Saklan and feature artwork from all of our Preschool – 8th grade students.

Volunteers Needed

Ms. Lauren is looking for volunteers to help prepare for the art show. If you have some time to spare, she would love your help! Click on the button below to view the volunteer opportunities. 

Art Show volunteer opportunities

#SaklanCreative

Head for a Day

I got to be the Head of School yesterday! The first thing I did was open doors for students before school started. It was fun to greet them and see their surprised faces. Then I met with David and walked through the classrooms. 

The 6th graders had a surprise guest (the guide from their fall field experience at Westminster Woods). He was kind and silly and had their full attention. The students seemed really excited to see him again. 

On the ECE yard, Ms. Jessica was reading a captivating dinosaur book to some of the students while others played on the playground. In Kindergarten, students were writing in their journals; I loved seeing how the young kids write and I was impressed that I could read their work. A lot of them wrote about having lunch with the bigger kids in the pavilion. 

Then we went to see the box of concrete that the 1st graders had created with the 8th graders on Wednesday. It was fascinating, cool and surprising to see that the 1st graders could make that; it’s amazing what people can do when they work together! 

In second grade, the students were reading myths. Many of them raised their hands in excitement to share what they were learning. The 3rd graders were learning about Susan B. Anthony, and learning their vocabulary words. They were on task and happy to point things out in the classroom. 

We walked into the 4th grade when they were starting a new book. But what I am most excited about in 4th grade right now is the passion projects that we have just begun. Fifth grade was watching a video of their concert drumming performance. They looked focused and I think they were getting ready to share their thoughts about what they did well. 

I learned that the Head of School has to deal with a lot of urgent matters, and sometimes even crises, but they can also make decisions that make kids happy. I don’t think I want to be a Head of School, but I had fun doing it for one day!

Sincerely,

Vanessa B.

#SaklanConfident #HeadsCorner

Guest Expert: Renata Sos

Second grade has been learning about rules and laws: why we have them and how they keep us safe. There are rules at home, at school, in our towns, state and country. The class has also been thinking about what it means to be a citizen in all these places. They have been learning about the government and how laws work and the consequences of not keeping to those laws. 

As a part of their unit, the Mayor of Moraga, Renata Sos, came to visit the second graders on Monday. She informed the students about the laws she is implementing, her daily life, her ethos of working with people (always be kind and respectful), how much she gets paid (nothing!), and how the town gets money to make the residents’ lives better. The second graders thoroughly enjoyed the mayor’s visit and learned a great deal!

#SaklanGuestExpert #SaklanAcademic

Day on the Bay

Last week the 5th graders had a great time participating in the Marine Science Institute’s Discovery Voyage. The students embarked on a four-hour expedition of the San Francisco Bay. During the trip the students learned about marine science through hands-on learning centers on board the R.V. Robert G. Brownlee.  

At the benthic (ocean floor) ecology station, the students dredged sediment samples from the bay floor using a Peterson benthic grab-claw, then washed the mud away on screens to expose native and non-native invertebrates. Students discovered a plethora of species, from Japanese spider crabs to jellies, sponges, bay shrimp, isopods, and clams, which were put into “touch-pool” buckets for students to gently handle and study. 

At the ichthyology (fish) station, students used teamwork to deploy a 16-foot net. After trawling it for several minutes, students worked again to haul the net in. Cries of ‘HEAVE-HO…HEAVE-HO” were heard yelled by students as they hauled, and much excitement followed as a leopard shark and sizable ray splashed the team that caught them. Fish were placed in buckets and students used dichotomous keys to identify them by examining their gill location, number of dorsal and pectoral fins, tail shape, coloring, eye location, etc. Additionally, adaptations for habitat and predator/prey relationships were observed, such as an intricate pattern of bio-luminescent spots on the underbelly of one fish, and the countershading of others, such as on a topsmelt. 

Meanwhile, at the plankton ecology station, the fifth graders collected a plankton sample and examined it under a video microscope, identifying many zoo- and phyto- plankton from single-cell organisms to complex species. At the hydrology station, they collected top and bottom water samples, and measured salinity, temperature and density of the bay. 

The students rotated through all stations in collaborative learning groups. The students enjoyed seeing each group’s catch, the highlights of which were leopard sharks, sting rays, halibut, and torbets. This experience brought to life many of the science concepts the 5th grade has been learning this year, centered around earth’s spheres, hydrology, life science/animal food chains, adaptations, and human impact on the natural world. 

Check out video highlights of the field experience here!

#SaklanFieldExperience