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.

Service to the Community

Cesar Chavez Day is a commemorative holiday celebrated yearly on March 31st in the U.S. The aim of this holiday is to celebrate the birth and the enduring legacy of the labor and civil rights’ movement that activist Cesar Chavez started while fighting for farm workers’ rights in the 1950s. Chavez gave people a sense of their own power by helping them discover that they could demand dignity and better wages. On March 31st each year, this day is commemorated to promote service to the community in honor of Cesar Chavez’s life, work, and legacy.

At The Saklan School, the kindergarten through seventh grade students supported and provided a service for The Contra Costa Humane Society by making much needed items for dogs and cats in their care, as well as learning about Cesar Chavez’s life and important legacy. Students in kindergarten, first, and second grade were tasked with making catnip sachets. The third and fourth graders made kitty pom poms for cats to play with while in their cages. The fifth grade class made several dog beds and pull toys. And finally, the sixth and seventh grade group made braided pull toys for dogs. The goal of the community service project was to show compassion and make the animals’ lives more comfortable and happy while they wait for their forever homes.

#SaklanCompassion #SaklanServiceLearning

Dinosaur Dig Site

As part of their study of food chains and food webs, the 5th graders discussed how scientists have built knowledge of dinosaur food chains. The students concluded that ancient teeth fossils are the clue to this knowledge; from herbivores’ flat grinders, to carnivores’ sharp incisors, and omnivores’ combinations teeth, fossils can reveal a lot about the dinosaurs.  The class also discussed how scientists can date the existence, and the extinction, of dinosaurs through carbon-dating fossil-rich, deep geological rock layers.  Then, the students modeled dinosaur food chains using cards, and then modeled possible food chain interruptions and determined which creatures would have died first, next, and so on, if sunlight was blocked for a long period, and plants died.  They found that even carnivores would be impacted, as their herbivore food sources would die off. 

Finally, the class created a dinosaur fossil dig site!  Each student participated in digging, brushing, and washing bones. 

Next they will face the paleontologist’s greatest challenge: classifying and reconstructing the bones into whole or partial dinosaurs.  Tricky work ahead; good luck 5th graders!

#SaklanAcademic #SaklanHandsOn

Collecting Used Crayons

Three Saklan students in 4th grade are working on their Girl Scout Bronze Award, which is awarded after the completion of a project that helps make a difference in the community. Their troop decided to collect used and broken crayons to donate to The Crayon Initiative. The Crayon Initiative melts down the used crayons they receive and reshapes them into brand new crayons. They then send the new crayons to children’s hospitals all over the United States.

You can help the 4th graders (and patients in the children’s hospitals) by donating your old or broken crayons. Three collection boxes have been placed around campus: one in the office, one between the Owlet and Hoot Owl doors, and one by the pavilion.

Thank you for your support!

Design the Cover for the Concert Program!

Do you like to draw?

If so, we have a great Spring Break activity for you! You can design the cover for the Concert program!

Past designs have looked like:

RULES

  1. All designs should have the following words: 

“Let Me Fly”

Music That Gives Hope

 April 20th, 2022 at 4:30 PM

2. Designs should be in full color, and done on an 8 ½ x 11 piece of white paper (long ways).

3. Designs are due on April 13th at 3:00 PM (You can turn them in early!)

4. 2 winners will be chosen; one from Lower School and one from Middle   School. Turn entries into Mrs. Chaffey, Ms. Lauren, or in the office. (Make sure you write your name on the back!)

5. Winners will receive 2 free dress passes and every person who submits an entry will receive 1 free dress pass

6. HAVE FUN AND BE CREATIVE!

#SaklanCreative

Shindig Success

Dear Saklan Community,

Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate at the Auction Shindig last Saturday. It was clear how much this community needed to be together and how much it meant to be in person. As a community we raised over $135,000 (a record for Saklan), including $93,600 for the Pavilion Fund-a-Need and $6,025 for the Teacher Summer Reflection Fund! Thank you all for your generosity.

I’d like to share a special thank you to Emily Williamson, who was tasked with an almost impossible responsibility: plan an in-person auction that uses donated items from two years ago which may or may not still be valid, that is COVID safe and inclusive, that has indoor and outdoor capabilities, that may or may not actually happen, and that raises money for the school. Finding venues that would satisfy all of our criteria took some time, and then her vision came to life in two short months!

Although Emily has been living and breathing auction planning and execution (and now the wrapping up part), she has had some behind the scenes help. A special thank you to the auction committee: Darla Lovrin, Brian Lovrin, and Amy Perkins for following up on donations, helping to procure decorations, being involved in the planning, and being part of a historic night.

Thank you, Sandy Lo, for taking on the organization, donations, descriptions, and display of the wine raffle! We had some very generous contributions from many families to complete this array, so thank you to all who donated too.

Thank you to Makeda Assefa, Huiying Li and Natasha Reckless for your helping in setting up the event and making the hall look so festive. 

A huge thank you to Lauren Haberly for her work on the collaborative art pieces, and for her guidance of the middle schoolers that created the desert scenery featured at the event. 

Thank you to Javier Yacarini and Shay Sager for spending Saturday helping to set up the auction, moving items from Saklan to the venue and helping to make the ambiance perfect – and then for bartending all night and helping to clean up afterwards. It was a long day made more fun with your presence!

At the event – thank you to Yette Prizeman and Peta Siacor for helping to sell raffle tickets, to Kim Parks and Toshie Baba for helping check in guests, to Gina Gabriel for helping record bids, and to Karen Catanzarite and Linda Lathrop for being excellent spotters during the live auction.

Auctions are a lot of hard work, and we often wonder beforehand if they are worth the effort. Then we all go and revel in the beautiful connections that we make or are reminded of and that subsides. It was a magical evening; a much-needed reconnection for many, and I am so grateful to have been a part of it. Emily, I wish you many good nights of sleep ahead! Thank you, again.

David

#HeadsCorner

Engineering Design Process

Saklan’s 3rd graders recently learned about the Engineering Design Process: a step-by-step guide that engineers use to solve problems. The engineering design process has six stages: 

1. Ask — Identify a problem, then ask questions to understand it better.  

2. Imagine — Brainstorm ideas on how to solve the problem.  

3. Plan — Choose one idea and plan how to create the solution.  

4. Create — Acquire any necessary materials and create the solution.  

5. Test — See if the solution works by collecting and analyzing data, and evaluating strengthens and weaknesses.  

6. Improve — Make adjustments to improve the solution, then test it again.

The class applied these ideas while completing a STEM challenge of trying to build a bridge made out of only pennies that was at least 3 centimeters tall and wide, and was strong enough to hold a LEGO mini figurine. Check out their creations below!

#SaklanAcademic

Tracking with Telemetry Devices

Last week the 6th graders learned about an endangered species, the Mountain Yellow Legged Frog, from Southern California. They learned about the threats to their habitat and what is needed for them to survive. Using telemetry equipment borrowed from the San Diego Zoo, the students experienced what it is like to conduct scientific wildlife research out in the field. Students used the telemetry devices to track hidden stuffed animal frogs on the Saklan campus. This hands-on experience allowed the students to understand how researchers track released endangered species, in this case their frogs, and to monitor the health of the frogs over time. 

#SaklanHandsOn

Voices Made Visible

As part of a new science unit on waves of energy, the 4th graders have been using math to analyze music. They learned why music notes are called “whole,” “half,” “quarter” and “sixteenth,” and then played some “Body Beats.” Next, they spent some time exploring different sounds and visualizing the waves using the Chrome Music Lab online. At first, the students experimented with sound by pressing different piano keys to see how different tones and sounds express themselves as “waves” on the screen.

It was quickly apparent that the lower notes had longer intervals between waves than high notes (frequency). They also experimented with the spectrogram, which visualizes sounds as colors. It was fascinating to “see” how similar and different all of their voices are and they are excited to show them to the world!

To conclude the study, students spent time at home making their own music.

#SaklanAcademic

Calendar Updates

Spring has sprung and with that has come the time to plan ahead for the rest of the school year. In looking at the calendar, we have had to rearrange some events to align with the changes in our field experiences. Our 8th graders are currently in Puerto Rico participating in a service-learning opportunity, so we moved the CLAS originally scheduled for today to NEXT Friday, April 1st. 

As the 7th graders will be in Hawaii for a science and culture field experience the week of April 25th, we have moved the events of that week in order to include them and the teachers who will be with them. Unfortunately, Grandparents and Special Friends Day has been canceled altogether. With all the COVID-19 uncertainty, it seemed irresponsible to expect grandparents to travel to Saklan this year; we look forward to planning a robust return for 2023!

The Art Show has been rescheduled for Thursday, May 12th from 2pm – 5pm, and the Book Fair has been moved to May 11th – 13th as well.

Below is a sneak peek at next year’s important calendar dates for your planning purposes. A more detailed calendar will be shared over the summer.

2022-2023 IMPORTANT CALENDAR DATES

Aug 22    Back to School Social   

Aug 24    First Day of School 

Aug 25    Transportation Service Begins

Sept 5        Labor Day (NO SCHOOL)

Oct 10        Fall Holiday (NO SCHOOL)

Oct 20 & 21      Parent Teacher Conferences (NOON DISMISSAL)

Oct 31        Halloween Celebration (2PM DISMISSAL)

Nov 1        Professional Development Day (NO SCHOOL)

Nov 11    Veteran’s Day (NO SCHOOL)

Nov 21 – 25      Thanksgiving Break (NO SCHOOL)

Dec 16    Lower School Musical (NOON DISMISSAL, NO EXTENDED DAY)

Dec 19 – 30     Winter Break (NO SCHOOL)

Jan 2        New Year’s Day (observed) – (NO SCHOOL)

Jan 3        Professional Development Day (NO SCHOOL)

Jan 16        MLK Jr. Day (NO SCHOOL)

Feb 17 – 20      President’s Day Weekend (NO SCHOOL)

Mar 23 & 24  Parent Teacher Conferences (NOON DISMISSAL)

Mar 31     Cesar Chavez Day (NO SCHOOL)

April 3 – 7      Spring Break (NO SCHOOL)

May 1 – 5    Teacher Appreciation Week

May 5        Teacher Appreciation Day (NO SCHOOL)

May 29    Memorial Day (NO SCHOOL)

June 7        Last Day of School/8th Grade Graduation (NOON DISMISSAL)

Collaborative Art

The collaborative art pieces that the Saklan students have worked hard to create are now open for bidding as part of the Shindig Silent Auction! Many of these beautiful items are available to anyone who purchases them for a flat fee.

The items below are one-of-a-kind and therefore available to the highest bidder only.

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 #Saklan Creative