Category: General

Hot-Ticket Treasures

Saklan’s Auction Committee is on the hunt for some razzle-dazzle auction items to make this year’s auction the real McCoy! We’re talkin’ about hot-ticket treasures that’ll have the crowd jazzed and ready to bid big. Here’s the skinny on what we need to bring the excitement and rake in the dough:

  • Vacation Homes – Do you have or know someone with a vacation property, timeshare or other access to destination properties?
  • Unique Experiences – Do you have a connection to something unavailable to the general public? Think Club 33, behind the scenes tours, throwing out the first pitch, dinner with someone famous, or an opportunity to sit in an owner’s box.
  • Event Tickets – Do you have season passes for the Giants, Warriors, theatre, symphony, or live music venues?
  • Luxury Items – Artwork, handbags, jewelry, etc.
  • Adventure Experiences – Hot air ballooning, horseback riding, and cooking classes are always popular items.
  • Wine – Do you belong to a winery and have a few extra bottles of your favorite Cab you would be willing to part with for a good cause?
  • Gift Cards – Your unused gift cards can enhance a basket of themed goods.

Got a genius idea for a show-stopping auction item? Don’t be shy—lay it on us! As our mission says, think creatively! Hit the button below to fill out the online donor form, or drop a line to ewilliamson@saklan.org to share your brilliant ideas with the committee. Let’s make this auction the cat’s pajamas!

Auction Donation Form

Saklan’s 1920s-themed 70th Anniversary Gala & Auction will be held at Lafayette Park Hotel on Saturday, April 26, 2025 from 6:00 – 11:00 p.m.. This adults-only shindig is always the bee’s knees—a roaring good time to toast our vibrant Saklan community while throwing some clams behind its ongoing success. Funds raised from the event support our top-notch programs like field experiences, guest experts, Project Based Learning, family groups, and primo training for our wonderful teachers.

#SaklanAuction

70th Anniversary Gala & Auction

Save the Date

Save the date for Saklan’s 70th Anniversary Gala & Auction on Saturday, April 26th, from 6:00 – 11:00 p.m., at Lafayette Park Hotel. Guests joining us for this 1920s-themed soiree will enjoy cocktails, live entertainment, a seated dinner, a live auction, and dancing!

Saklan’s Annual Auction is always a great community-building event. Saklan faculty, staff, families, and friends attend, and proceeds from the auction are invested directly back into your children’s educational experiences, in and out of the classrooms.

Tickets for this adults-only event will go on sale in March, but book your babysitter today. You won’t want to miss this event, as it is sure to be the bee’s knees!

Seeking Sponsors

A huge thank you to Lamorinda Printing for sponsoring our 70th Anniversary Gala & Auction!

Is your business or family interested in sponsoring or underwriting Saklan’s 70th Anniversary Gala & Auction? Underwriters and sponsors not only gain valuable exposure to the Saklan community but also demonstrate their commitment to education and community involvement. Sponsors receive benefits including exclusive recognition, tickets to the event, and more. All sponsors and underwriters confirmed by March 3rd will receive recognition on the event invitation.

Secure Your Sponsorship Today!

The support of sponsors and underwriters allows more proceeds from the auction to directly benefit Saklan students. If you have questions about sponsoring the event please reach out to Emily at ewilliamson@saklan.org.

Design the Concert Program Cover

All Saklan students are invited to showcase their creativity by designing a cover for this year’s All-School Concert program. All covers are asked to incorporate the theme of garden, have a vertical orientation, and include the concert date “March, 21 2025.”

Program cover entries are asked to be turned into the main office by Wednesday, March 12th. If you have any questions about the Concert Cover Contest, please email Emily at ewilliamson@saklan.org.

2025-2026 Calendar

As we look forward to the 2025-2026 school year, we want to share the important calendar dates so that you too can begin planning. Below are the dates for school breaks, noteworthy events, and early dismissal days for next year. A more detailed calendar will be shared over the summer.

2025-2026 IMPORTANT CALENDAR DATES

Aug 8New Parent Orientation on Zoom at 9:00 AM
Aug 15Welcome Back BBQ &
Middle School Orientation
Aug 19First Day of School for 6th – 8th Grade
Aug 19-21Middle School Advance for 6th – 8th Grade
Aug 20First Day of School for PS – 5th Grade
Aug 22Middle School Rest Day (NO SCHOOL for 6TH-8TH GRADE)
Sept 1Labor Day (NO SCHOOL)
Sept 15 – 196th Grade Field Experience
Oct 10Professional Development Day (NO SCHOOL)
Oct 13Indigenous Peoples’ Day (NO SCHOOL)
Oct 16 – 17Parent Teacher Conferences (NOON DISMISSAL)
Oct 31Halloween Parade at 8:35 AM (2PM DISMISSAL)
Nov 10Professional Development Day (NO SCHOOL)
Nov 11Veteran’s Day (NO SCHOOL)
Nov 24 – 28Thanksgiving Break (NO SCHOOL)
Dec 19Lower School Musical at 10:30 AM (NOON DISMISSAL,
NO EXTENDED DAY)
Dec 22 – Jan 2Winter Break (NO SCHOOL)
Jan 5Professional Development Day (NO SCHOOL)
Jan 19MLK Jr. Day (NO SCHOOL)
Feb 13 – 16  Presidents’ Day Weekend (NO SCHOOL)
Mar 5 – 6 Parent Teacher Conferences (NOON DISMISSAL)
Mar 30 – Apr 3Spring Break (NO SCHOOL)
May 4 – 8Teacher Appreciation Week
May 8Teacher Appreciation Day (NO SCHOOL)
May 25Memorial Day (NO SCHOOL)
May 29Graduation, Last Day of School (NOON DISMISSAL, NO EXTENDED DAY)

Resilient Students

Saklan’s social-emotional learning topic for February is to be resilient. During the month, all Saklan students will discuss what resilience means and look for ways to show their resilience on campus and at home. At the end of the month, 1st – 8th graders will meet with their Family Groups to further discuss how to be resilient and participate in collaborative activities.

#SaklanSEL

Celebrating 100 Days

Did you know that on Thursday, February 6th, Saklan students celebrated the 100th day of school?  

The Owlets celebrated by making crowns and searching for 100 hidden pictures of themselves throughout the classroom.

The Hoot Owls celebrated by searching for 100 meteors around their classroom, making 100-day crowns, and counting to 100.

The Kindergartners celebrated by inviting 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th graders to their classroom to make crowns with 100 stickers on them, write about what they would do with $100 and what they can eat 100 of, dance for 100 seconds, and make necklaces with 100 fruit loops on them.

It was a great day of celebrating 100 days of learning so far this school year!

Summer Camp Registration Open

A summer of creative exploration awaits your child during Summer@Saklan! This summer, camp will run in one-week sessions from June 16th – August 1st, and is open to all children ages 3 – entering 3rd grade. Each session of camp consists of fun art and science-related activities including art, crafts, science experiments, games, and more. Additionally, Friday afternoons will feature fun activities including water play, a bounce house, and special guests such as a magician or puppeteer. Summer@Saklan is sure to be tons of fun!

To learn more about Summer@Saklan 2025, check out the summer camp webpage today!

We look forward to another amazing summer of hands-on learning, growing friendships and lots of fun!

#Summer@Saklan

Moving Up Day Enthusiasm

On Thursday morning, all Saklan students participated in Moving Up Day. Preschool – 5th graders had the opportunity to move up to the classroom of their rising grade and spend time with the teacher, learning about what the next year holds and getting to know the teacher better. The 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade students helped host 5th graders on the middle school side of campus and show them what a day in the life of a middle schooler is like. The students and teachers alike were buzzing with excitement!

This annual tradition allows the students to get a snapshot of what next year will hold. The teachers planned special activities that highlighted their grade level and enjoyed getting to know their rising students a little better. Morning meeting activities, awkward games, questions, book readings, optical illusions, classroom scavenger hunts, and enthusiasm for next year filled the classrooms! If you know a child who “moved up” on Thursday, please ask them all about it. They will likely have something enthusiastic to share!

Celebrating Lunar New Year

Saklan students celebrated Lunar New Year with some special activities on Wednesday. Lunar New Year, which celebrates the start of the lunisolar Chinese calendar, is celebrated in China, Vietnam, Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore, among other countries.

Preschool students welcomed two guest experts to share about Lunar New Year. Samantha, an Owlet parent, read a book to the class and shared red envelopes with them. Sharon, an Owlet grandparent, shared Lunar New Year traditions that take place in China, told the story of The Great Race, and shared tangerines with the students. The Owlets also enjoyed making snake paper lanterns, Lunar New Year yoga, and listening to traditional Chinese music.

Pre-K students celebrated by welcoming Heidi, a Hoot Owl mom, into their class. Heidi shared that Lunar New Year is based on the Moon instead of the sun and talked about the Chinese word for fortune, 福, and its importance. Heidi shared pictures of her children wearing special Lunar New Year outfits and then treated the class to some bao filled with custard.

Maggie also taught the Hoot Owls about her family’s Lunar New Year traditions, including cleaning their homes and putting up Chinese sayings with good wishes for the new year. The Pre-K students enjoyed watching a video of a lion dance, as well as talking about and receiving red envelopes.

To help with the campus celebrations, the 5th graders put together a dragon which Peta hung on the pergola to welcome students to campus on Wednesday. The fifth graders also made lanterns and dragon drawings.

In humanities class, Christina shared some of her family traditions with the 6th graders, including the tradition of eating tangerines, which are believed to bring good fortune, and of giving red envelopes with money in them as a symbol of good luck. She also shared the proper etiquette for giving and receiving the red envelopes to show respect. The 6th graders also talked about the importance of the Chinese word for fortune and then learned how to write it.

The 6th graders then took their newly acquired skills over to the Hoot Owl classroom, where they taught the Hoot Owls how to write the word for fortune with brushes and ink.

May the Year of the Snake be prosperous for all!

#SaklanCommunity

Showcasing a Growth Mindset

On Monday, Saklan’s 1st – 8th graders gathered in Family Groups to discuss January’s SEL focus: growth mindset. The students shared what growth mindset means to them and then shared ways they have applied a growth mindset in their own lives. Then the groups enjoyed a digital escape room, where they had to work together and use a growth mindset until the end to be successful.

The groups then brainstormed a list of reasons it is good to have a growth mindset, and then wrote reasons on brain-shaped puzzle pieces. Check them out below!

The groups also participated in some challenges with a hula hoop. These challenges helped the family groups further bond as they collaborated to prevail.

#SaklanFamilyGroups