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.

Shindig Silent Auction is Open

The Auction Shindig 2022 silent auction is now open! The Legacy Baskets that the 8th Graders presented at CLAS this morning as well as many other items are now open for bidding. Additional auction lots, including student collaborative art pieces, will open for bidding on Monday, March 14th.

Click here to view the items and begin bidding!

Once you are on the Online Bidding page, click the Start Bidding button and finish creating your account.

HOW TO BID:

  1. Search for packages by name or number by using the magnifying glass or by choosing a category under the menu.
  2. You can Bid the next increment or Bid More than the next increment. If you choose Bid More you can set your max bid. If your max bid is the highest, the system will automatically bid in your favor until you are outbid or until the auction closes.
  3. To “watch” a package, select the star icon on the package.
  4. You’ll be notified if you’re outbid at any point before the auction closes and you will see an Outbid notice at the top of your screen.
  5. To get back to the main screen, click the house icon.
  6. To view the packages you are bidding on, click the menu button and select Bids.

This auction is open to the public, but we ask that the winning bidders pick up items from Saklan. Feel free to pass on the auction link – https://saklanshindig.ggo.bid – to those you think might be interested. 

Thank you for your support of The Saklan School!

#SaklanShindig #BidEarlyBidOften

Water Rockets

Since February, the 8th grade has been studying physics in science. They have been learning about the forces on our planet: gravity, air resistance, friction and centripetal force. They have also been working on putting Newton’s three Laws of Motion into real life scenarios.

The 8th graders were tasked with creating a rocket that could fight air resistance and gravity, and that could exhibit all of Newton’s three laws. After creating different straw rockets and learning how different designs create different amounts of drag, their goal was to design a water rocket that could not only defy gravity, but go the highest in the class.

They worked in pairs to design different wings and different types of cones for the top of their rockets. When the time came to shoot them off, they used an altimeter to measure their height as they blasted off. While each reached amazing heights, one rocket design made it an astonishing 40 meters in the sky (approximately 131 feet). Congrats, Anessa and Cassidy on the highest reaching rocket!

#SaklanHandsOnLearning #SaklanAcademic

Get Your Shindig Tickets Today!

Y’all are invited to this year’s Auction Shindig! The western-themed event is a little over a week away, on Saturday, March 19 at 6:00 p.m. Get ready for a good time, as this event will feature a BBQ dinner, open bar, live auction, fund-a-need, raffles and dancing! 

This event is always a great community builder. Most Saklan faculty and staff will be in attendance, and you won’t want to miss seeing Mr. Javi’s dance moves!

Ticket sales close on Monday, March 14th. Don’t delay, get your tickets today!

Click Here to Get your tickets!

The Saklan School’s Annual Auction is the Parents Association’s largest fundraiser of the year. Proceeds from the auction are invested directly back into the children’s educational experiences, in and out of the classrooms.

#SaklanShindig

Saklan’s Annual School Concert

We are beyond excited to formally announce the return of Saklan’s Annual School Concert on Wednesday, April 20th! It has been three years since our last concert, and although the venue will be different this year, we are so excited to bring back all the joy that comes with performing live for the people who love our students the most. 

This year, the students will be performing outdoors at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, next door to Saklan. Every Saklan student participates in this fun and energetic event, and every grade performs multiple times.

Day of Concert 

Wednesday, April 20th will be a noon dismissal day for all students. Extended Day will be available until 3:30pm, but it is recommended that students go home earlier to have some down time before the concert if possible. Students are asked to report back to Saklan at 4pm, dressed and ready to perform. The show is scheduled to begin at 4:30pm and will end no later than 6pm. 

Rehearsal and Performance Schedule

Please make every effort to ensure that your student is at school on Monday, April 18th, Tuesday, April 19th, and Wednesday, April 20th so they can take part in our all-student rehearsals.

Attire

All students are asked to come to the concert in their “Sunday best” version of all black clothing, with an accessory of pink. Ballet flats, Toms, Converse All-Star, Keds, and dress shoes are all welcome and encouraged; shoes should fit and be clean. Please, no high heels, UGGS, rain boots or hats. Click here for examples of some outfits that are appropriate, and feel free to talk to other Saklan parents who have been through the concert before, or email me!

Please feel free to put together an outfit that fits well and speaks to your child’s personality. However, use appropriate discretion in choosing clothes (please no midriff showing), and remember that your child will be on stage in front of almost 500 people. 

We are so excited to bring our concert back to Saklan, and are overjoyed to welcome you for this event. 

Seeing the World

Most of the fourth graders had heard that we really see the world upside down. But why? After watching a series of videos, looking closely at their own eyes, and examining anatomical diagrams, the fourth graders put their hypotheses into practice by constructing their own working models of the human eye.

The students used readily available materials to make the iris (colored paper), pupil (cut-out circle), lens (magnifying glass), and retina (note card) for their models.

Then, the students experimented with light to determine how these structures interact and function by creating images for processing by the brain. In the end, they discovered that an image refracted through the lens of the eye will reveal a “flipped” image on the retina! The images on the retinas were surprisingly clear. Below are a few of the images the students captured. 

#SaklanHandsOn

Using Data to Graph

The third graders recently completed a math unit on data and graphing. They learned about how to complete a survey, how to count votes with a tally chart, and how to display the results with various types of graphs.  In order to demonstrate their understanding of graphs, students worked together in groups to complete a graphing project. First, they came up with a question to ask their classmates, usually asking them to determine their favorite in a certain category. Next, they collected data by surveying their classmates. Finally, they worked together to create a poster with multiple types of graphs (bar graphs, pictographs, and line plot graphs) to display their findings.

Not only did the third graders show their understanding of the math standards, they also practiced the important skills of listening, communication, compromise, and collaboration that comes along with being a good team member. 

#SaklanAcademic

Social-Emotional Learning

“Educating the mind but not the heart is no education at all.”

Edutopia

At Saklan, the education we provide integrates social-emotional learning into everything that we teach and learn. Kim Parks outlined the details of Saklan’s SEL program during last Friday’s PA Parent Coffee. The slides she shared during the presentation are below for your perusal.

In the COVID Age, students are feeling increasingly more anxious, upset, and depressed because there is so much out of their control. However, by prioritizing social-emotional learning into each school day, this helps students understand their feelings, have strategies to regulate their emotions, and have a safe place to go every day with caring teachers that pay attention. Over the past three years, Saklan has adopted a learning approach called Responsive Classroom in the hopes that all our teachers will use similar clear and positive language, as well as developmentally-appropriate teaching that students find interesting and engaging.

#SaklanSEL

Wine Raffle Tickets

The 2022 Instant Wine Cellar Raffle is here! This year’s wine cellar collection features 40 top-rated bottles valued at $3,000! Tickets are $100 each and are now available online at https://saklan.ejoinme.org/wineraffle. Get your tickets as soon as possible since this raffle sells out every year!

Two winning tickets will be drawn at the Auction Gala on March 19th. The first winner is the Grand Prize winner who receives the Instant Wine Cellar Collection and need not be present to win. The second winner will receive a magnum bottle and a jeroboam bottle of wine. Both prizes cannot be won by the same family.

Raffle proceeds will go to the Saklan Summer Reflection Fund, enabling our wonderful teachers to be creative and reflective in their professional development.

For questions about the ticket sales or wine collection, please contact Sandy Lo, wine raffle coordinator: sandralo@gmail.com

#SaklanShindig

What Gratitude Looks Like

We spend quite a bit of time here at Saklan thinking about the power of gratitude. We work to recognize when others do good work and call it out. We send handwritten cards home to children, sharing with them the good we notice, and let them know how grateful we are that they are an important part of what makes Saklan- well Saklan. 

And sometimes someone shares their heartfelt gratitude with words that resonate and meet the moment. January and the beginning of February felt like the most challenging time of the pandemic. At the end of January, Mel Zippin sent the email below to everyone on the Saklan team. I share it because it speaks to how special this community is, and how powerful gratitude is. Take three minutes to read it, it is worth your time. -David

Hi,

As we near the two-year mark of this pandemic, I have been reminded several times this week that we are all running on fumes. What we have endured and continue to deal with is absolutely not sustainable, and yet here we are sustaining. 

We have grieved the loss of normal outings, seeing faces, hugging friends, traveling, seeing family, etc. And in all of this, we have tried to wrap our minds and hearts around what was happening – as adults even that has been exhausting.

Then I think about the kids and my heart breaks. Because although they are seemingly resilient, it is confusing. They see and hear and feel much of what we do, and many of them can’t totally understand or even remember life before masks.

And in all of this, YOU have guided them through this weirdness. You show up and teach and love and see them and listen to them. You model kindness and compassion and hard work and resilience. I think in many ways you have saved them.

Since we’ve come back from Winter Break things have become really challenging again. Personal tragedies and challenges aside (of which there have been plenty), you are working overtime, testing and testing, accommodating students who are home, overcommunicating to families, worrying about omicron. It feels endless. 

So, I guess I just wanted to acknowledge the exhaustion. And I wanted to thank you for being this community for my kids and my family. Being able to come to work (and having my children in school) has been a lifeline for me too. I appreciate all of you for what you do and for the gift that you have given me. 

Please take a moment today to take a breath and realize that I am in my office appreciating the heck out of you. And I hope that you are all finding time for some self-care in this madness.

Hugs,

Mel 🙂

#HeadsCorner

Parachuting into Physics

This month, the 8th graders started physics as part of their physical science curriculum. So far, they have learned about Newton’s first and second laws, how to calculate the speed and acceleration of an object, and how much force is required to keep that acceleration going. Additionally, students have been learning about different forces on our planet. In a lab last week, students looked at the effect of gravity on a falling object and how air resistance can work against that force. In doing so, students made different sized parachutes and dropped them from the ceiling of the science lab.

Students timed the rate of fall, used that to determine the acceleration of the parachute, and then determined the force of air resistance on the different parachutes. It is great to see them understanding science in the world around them!

#SaklanHandsOn #SaklanAcademic