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.”
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Last Friday, our Kindergarten and 1st grade students were delighted to find out who their 3rd or 4th grade learning buddy is for the year. For their first buddies meeting, the students played a get-to-know-you game and then spent time reading together.
The big buddies marvelously modeled good reading behaviors by reading with expression and fluency for their little buddies, and then were honored to listen to their little buddies read too. The Kindergarten, first, third and fourth grade students thoroughly enjoyed getting to know their learning buddies, are already asking when they get to meet with their buddies again!
Learning buddies are a purposeful way to encourage cross-grade friendships, help the older buddies develop a sense of responsibility and practice mentorship, and make learning fun!
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Our imaginative first graders fashioned constellations out of marshmallows and q-tips! Then the students wrote facts and stories to explain their creations and presented them to the class. They wrapped up their unit by learning their own version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
After learning about stars and constellations, the first graders delved into a unit about moons. Each student kept their own moon log for 4 weeks, observing the moon at home twice a week. They identified and described the different phases and drew them in their logs. Check out some examples of their logs below.
If you have questions about stars, constellations or moons, check with our local experts – the first graders!
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During September and the first week of October, the Hoot Owls, Owlets, first graders, second graders, third graders and fourth graders took their first field experience of the year to Moraga Gardens Farm! Ms. Meredith led each of the classes on the two-block walk to the farm, and then on a tour of the community garden. The garden was filled with eggplants, cucumbers, kale, apples, pears, tomatoes, and much more.
During the tours, students learned that fruits and vegetables grow from flowers after being pollinated. They saw the difference between seasonal trees, such as a peach tree (summer) and persimmon tree (fall). The children saw how vines grow by attaching their tendrils to other structures and plants, and how plants defend themselves from predators. They went inside the greenhouse, heard the bees buzzing in their hives, and got to sample some of the garden’s produce. Lastly, the students were invited to feed and pet the chickens.
The students all had a great time in the garden. Thank you, Ms. Meredith, for leading these interactive, engaging field experiences!
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As part of their study on the different types of communities, the first graders had a guest expert visit their classroom. Ms. Nerit, from the Moraga Library, came to read stories to the class and share about her role at the library. She shared lots of information with the students, including the differences between public libraries and school libraries, as well as how borrowing from the library is different from buying books from a bookstore. At the end of the visit, the students were delighted to receive their very own library cards!
A big thank you to Ms. Nerit for sharing her expertise with the first graders!
Kindergarten – 8th Grade Science Teacher: Vickie Obenchain
The first graders have been learning about rural, urban, and suburban communities. They read stories, such as Town Mouse, Country Mouse, to get a sense of the differences between the communities, and compared the communities of two characters: Miss Rumphius, who lived in an urban community, and Miss Arizona,who lived in a rural community. To illustrate their learning, the students made Venn diagrams and drawings to show the similarities and differences between the communities.
The first graders also enjoyed learning about producers, consumers, goods and services, and the role each plays in the different communities. To finish up the unit, the students wrote a book on what kind of community they would like to move to in the future.
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We are excited to offer music enrichment classes this fall! The classes, listed below, will begin on Thursday, September 30th and run through December 16th.
To sign your child up for one of the above classes, please click on the class name.
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Preschool – 3rd Grade Spanish Teacher: Ester Vines
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We are thrilled to announce that The Saklan School will be bringing back after school enrichment classes for the 21-22 school year. For the fall session the following classes will be available:
Classes begin the week of September 13th, and have limited space available. If you are interested in signing your child up for one of the above classes, please click on the class name for additional information about the class and sign up options.
Saklan will also have enrichment opportunities for our Preschool and Pre-K friends that will be announced in the coming weeks. Our youngest students take a little more time to settle into the routines of coming to school, so we want to give them additional time before we introduce new classes into their day.
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