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.

2nd Grade Explores Family Heritage

During their Family Heritage unit, the second graders discussed their ancestors and the journey they made coming to America as immigrants. It was amazing to see how many countries around the world were represented by this class! They were also asked to think about their own family cultures and traditions and what makes each of them unique. This involved interviewing family members, finding out the meaning associated with their names and recognizing the similarities and differences between themselves and their ancestors, past and present.

To sum up this unit, the students were asked to create a clothespin doll to represent some aspect of their cultural heritage. They were given full creative license to choose fabric, paint, clothes, beads, and crafts to adorn them. Check out their creative dolls below!

#SaklanDiversity

Holidays Around the World

The Owlets have been learning about holidays and traditions around the world. They have spent a lot of time looking at maps and globes this month as they learn about where certain celebrations take place. The class found Russia when they learned about the Russian Winter Festival, they found Africa when they learned about Kwanzaa, and found Sweden, Norway, and Finland when they learned about St. Lucia Day.

The Owlets celebrated Hanukkah by learning to play the dreidel game and eating potato latkes with applesauce! They read Hooray for Hanukkah! by Fran Manushkin and lit the candles on the menorah in their classroom.

The class also learned about Kwanzaa, which the Owlets noticed had some similarities to Hanukkah: both holidays last several days and both light candles as a tradition. The candle holder used for Kwanzaa is called a kinara. As the Owlets have been practicing patterns, they all made patterned pasta necklaces using Kwanzaa colors.

The Owlets found the first day of winter on their calendar and watched a video that showed how cities in Russia celebrate the season. The students thought the ice sculptures at the Russian Winter Festival were amazing! The Owlets got the opportunity to build sculptures of their own using colored ice. They noticed that when salt was added to the ice, it made the ice melt quickly but then get colder, which helped the shapes stick together.

The class also learned about St. Lucia Day, which falls on December 13 and is celebrated in a few European countries. They watched a video of children dressed in traditional St. Lucia Day outfits singing songs. The Owlets noticed there were candles used for this celebration too! Some of the students wanted to make candle crowns like the ones they saw the children in the video wearing.

To wrap up their “Holidays Around the World” study, the Owlets discussed Christmas traditions, and then celebrated the tradition of “posadas” with a piñata!

Holidays Cards for Our Neighbors

On Tuesday, November 30th, all Saklan students participated in a Giving Tuesday service project. Giving Tuesday is a global generosity movement that aims to unleash the power of people to transform their communities and the world, and to build a world where generosity is part of everyday life. Using their creative talents our Preschool – 8th grade students crafted holiday greeting cards for our neighbors at two senior living communities just around the corner from Saklan.  

Serving others in the community helps students to mature and develop thoughtfulness and compassion, beginning the path to lifelong civic involvement and  fulfillment. Research shows it also pays off academically too! 

The cards the students made reflected great effort and care, and they were very happily received by our neighbors!

#SaklanCompassionate #SaklanCreative

Country Roads

The Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade students have been learning about song form and melody line. They explored this while learning the verses, chorus, and bridge of “Country Roads.” The students also connected Saklan’s social emotional learning curriculum to the song lyrics by discussing what it might mean to visit family you haven’t seen for a long time and “going home.”

#SaklanWellRounded

An Interest in Insects

The Hoot Owls have been very interested in insects! Wanting to embrace this interest, the teachers designed a unit to teach the students about insects and spiders. The unit started with Ms. Traci asking the class “What do we already know about insects?” Their answers included:

“A butterfly only flies.” – Preston

“Spiders have eight legs.” – Dante

“Millipedes have so many legs. They have sticky yellow liquid. Some are poisonous. Some are venomous.” – Ian

“Ladybugs don’t sting you. There are different types. Millipedes eat ladybugs.” – Allison

“Frogs eat flies.” – Dalton

“Ladybugs can stink you. Centipedes pinch. Some butterflies are poisonous.” – Ben

“Spiders catch insects in webs.” – Ethan

“Mosquitoes will bite you in the night.” -Mira

Next the Hoot Owls observed toy insects and pictures of insects in books. They used these examples, as well as their imaginations, to create some insect artwork with markers and watercolors.

Ms. Maggie took the Hoot Owls on a Bug Scavenger Hunt! The class documented their findings like real scientists. They saw an ant, a fly, a millipede and some mosquitoes, although many of the Hoot Owls claimed to have seen butterflies, ladybugs, bees, and spiders. They decided to try the hunt again in the spring when we might really see some more insects!

The Hoot Owls made salt dough insects and spiders. First they helped make the salt dough by combining 1 cup of salt, 2 cups of flour and 1 cup water.

While making the spiders or insects out of the salt dough, the students had to carefully make two body parts for spiders or three body parts for insects. Then they also had to count out eight legs for spiders and six for insects.

This was a great way for the Hoot Owls to work on their fine motor skills and math skills while having fun!

#SaklanHandsOn

Array City

The third graders have been learning about multiplication and the variety of ways it can be represented. One way to model multiplication is with arrays. An array is an arrangement of objects in rows and columns; the rows represent the number of groups, while the columns represent the number in each group. The visual that an array creates helps students to better understand the concept of multiplication.

The third graders combined math and art to create an Array City. The buildings have windows aglow in a night skyline.

When you look for them, you can find arrays all around!

#SaklanAcademic #SaklanHandsOn

Experiments in Microgravity

In November, Saklan’s Science Teacher, Ms. Obenchain, performed science experiments in microgravity during 10 minutes of free fall aboard the Zero-G aircraft. The experiments Ms. O conducted came from the students and curriculum she teaches here at Saklan, and helped her gain a greater understanding of how convection currents, dry ice, and a Newton’s Cradle all act in the absence of gravity.

Learn more about the experiments Ms. O conducted during her flight by watching the video below.

I know my experience and the results of my experiments on the Zero-G flight will not only be immediate but be useful for years to come. The excitement of reporting my findings with pictures, videos and observations has made my experience real for my students. I know it will continue to create new science questions, engineering ideas, and desires of Zero-G and space travel in my students’ minds. I can only hope it will also inspire my students to take risks, to step outside their comfort zone from time to time, and to learn new concepts whenever they can. 

Ms. O

Thank you, Ms. O, for helping Saklan students gain a greater understanding of gravity and our universe.

#SaklanLifeLongLearners #SaklanProfessionalDevelopment

Head’s Corner

The Irony of Fall Follies

Folly, noun –  Lack of good sense or normal prudence and foresight, a foolish act or idea.  

It seems to me that our annual Fall Follies is misnamed, as it is the furthest thing from folly. As a matter of fact, the entire production was a definition of our mission to Think Creatively, Act Compassionately, and Live Courageously.

Creativity showed through many of the acts, from Panji singing Bruno Mars or the gymnastics routines, all the way to “How to Fold a Bandana.” 

Compassion was on display by the audience as students summoned their courage to perform. It was not just compassion, but there was an energy of encouragement, a palpable sense of “you can do this.” Backstage I was not only able to see students encourage and support their fellow performers but also look out into the audience – the faces of the audience were saying “you’ve got this.”

And the courage. Getting in front of 250 people, many of them peers along with some parents, is no small feat for a student. There were six acts from Kindergarten- from songs to poems to a ballet number. Cade from 3rd grade with his magic show had such comedic timing. Alicia, who just joined the school a few weeks ago, sang “Into the Light.” These were just a few of the students who demonstrated true courage.  

While we will likely not rename our Fall Follies, they are indeed the opposite.

#SaklanCreativity #SaklanCompassion #SaklanCourage

DINOvember Wraps Up

The Owlets wrapped up DINOvember with some exciting experiments! Ms. Erin did a fun activity with the class using dinosaur eggs made from baking soda, water, and food dye. The Owlets then used eye droppers to add vinegar to the baking soda eggs and watched the eggs fizz and bubble! Ms. Erin explained that this was a chemical reaction that happened when baking soda and vinegar were mixed.

The Owlets noticed that there were lots of pictures of volcanoes in the books they read about dinosaurs. So, the class decided to make their own volcano complete with bubbling “lava.” The Owlets helped to decorate the volcano using paint and natural materials like rocks, sand, sticks, and moss. 

While the Owlets waited for the volcano to dry, they read a book that taught them that lava is hot melted rock from the center of the Earth. The class decided that it would be too dangerous to use real lava for their volcano, but they could use baking soda and vinegar to make bubbles erupt out of the top like lava. Each of the Owlets took a turn carefully measuring the ingredients needed for the reaction.

The Owlets and Hoot Owls were all excited to witness the volcanic eruption!

#SaklanHandsOn

2021 Hopscotch Tournament is Complete!

Forty Six competitors, ages 6 years to adult, started the single-elimination hopscotch tournament back in September. The matches were played during morning and afternoon recesses, averaging about two matches a day. After a few rain delays, match draws and field experiences, the bracket narrowed until finally a champion emerged. 

The 2021 Hopscotch Champion is Nate (6th). Competing in his first tournament, Nate had one draw and five wins. Nikko (6th) placed second with one draw and four wins. Damon (7th) and Thomas (8th) made the top four with three wins each. Honorable mentions go out to players who made it to the top eight, they include: Alexis (4th), Jack Z. (5th), Mori (6th), and Shay (adult). This year brought out a new ringed layout and homemade bean bags. 

All participants are encouraged to continue playing hopscotch, creating new layouts with chalk, and designing new markers.  We are already looking forward to next year’s tournament!

Let’s Go Saklan!

#SaklanWellRounded