Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Peace, Love, Saklan auction on April 26th. It was a fun event in support of an amazing cause – your children’s education! As a community we raised over $122,000, including $63,150 for the PBL-Centered Classroom Fund-a-Need. Thank you all for your generosity.
Special thank you to Emily Williamson, who worked tirelessly on the event, and to the auction committee: Vadim Alden, Yulia Goldshtrakh, Shana Hammers, Kristin Hubert, Etienne Lacrampe, Brian Lovrin, Darla Lovrin, Erin Moorhead, Tara Nemeth, Amy Perkins, David Shenaut, and Kendall Walker Koo for their help in planning a fun event, procuring auction items, and creating stunning centerpieces!
A huge thank you to Lauren Haberly, Meredith Avant, Linda Lathrop, and Kim Parks for their work on the collaborative art pieces, and to Eric Lompa and ScanArt for printing the posters and note cards.
At the event – thank you to Shay Sager for welcoming all guests and checking them into the event, and to Linda Haukland, Jennifer Lettieri, Christina Nguyen and Yette Prizeman for selling wine raffle tickets.
We had some very generous contributions from many families too. Thank you to everyone who donated auction items and/or bottles of wine, sponsored the event, and helped to procure auction items. It truly was a team effort!
Thank you, Saklan families, for a wonderful Teacher Appreciation Week! It was a week full of kind notes, wonderful gifts, and delicious food. You definitely made all of the Saklan teachers and staff feel super appreciated!
We enjoyed tasting your favorite recipes! Each day of the week featured a delicious spread of appetizers, main courses and desserts. From the Super Salad Bar to the Superhero Sandwiches, and the Taco Bar to Special Family Recipes, there wasn’t a day when any of us left Saklan hungry!
The newspaper headlines and notes from the students, hung on the front of the school and on the classroom doors, were so heartfelt and made us feel seen and appreciated. Thank you to all the parents who helped with the printing of the posters and who helped the students add their kind thoughts to them.
Special thanks to Shannon O’Connor, Erin Moorhead, Makeda Assefa, Liz Goulding, Christine Jensen, Ginette Diaz, and the PA Board for organizing all the Teacher & Staff Appreciation activities. We are so grateful for your efforts.
Save the date for our 70th Anniversary Welcome Back BBQ! On Friday, August 16th at 4:00 p.m. we will be welcoming all current and past Saklan students, families, and staff members to kick off The Saklan School’s 70th year of education.
What better way to kick off such a momentous occasion than with one of the school’s most beloved annual events! Additional details and invitation will be sent out in June. We hope you can join us!
Alums, excited to catch up with fellow alumni and their families? Join the Saklan School Alumni Facebook Page to start connecting today!
Saklan’s final social-emotional learning topic for the 23-24 school year is to be resilient. During the month, all Saklan students are discussing what resilience means and looking for ways to show their resilience on campus and at home. On Friday, May 31st, the 1st through 8th graders will join with their family groups to participate in Field Day activities. Field Day activities allow the students to an opportunity to not only show how they can be resilient, but also to showcase many of the other SEL traits they have practiced this year
The Owlets have been very engaged in learning about the rainforest!
Many Owlets were aware that a rainforest is home to a wide variety of plants and animals, as well as being damp and rainy. However, they heard in science class that scientists often pose questions about topics they are not previously familiar with. The Owlets got to practice becoming excellent scientists by brainstorming what they would like to know. These brainstorms were then added to their Wonder Wall.
The rainforest scientists began their investigation by learning that a rainforest is made up of various zones or “stratas” At the top is the emergent layer, followed by the canopy, the understory, with the forest floor at the bottom. After talking about the different zones, the Owlets looked at books showing pictures of the different animals that live in the various stratas. They learned that some animals travel between different zones in the rainforest, such as a macaw can go from the forest floor to the emergent layer because it has wings, and a snake can slither up from the forest floor all the way to the understory or even the canopy.
Every Owlet was given the opportunity to choose animals to draw, and once they completed their drawing they read about their chosen animal to learn more about it. The Owlets picked up a very helpful skill: reading books can always teach you more! The class looked at the animals together to guess which strata they thought it lived in; most of the time the Owlets guessed correctly!
The Owlet classroom has slowly been turning into a rainforest. Next time you are on campus, stop by their classroom to see the animals and greenery inhabiting their space!
The Peace, Love, Saklan online auction is open! Along with the items from the greater community that have been opening all week, fun experiences with Saklan teachers are also open for bidding. Some of the experiences are available for a flat fee to a set number of people, so be sure to secure your child’s spot today!
We also have 2 experiences hosted by Saklan families that are sure to delight! Students and adults are invited for a night of Taylor Swift karaoke, while parents can sign up for an exciting night of oil and vinegar tasting!
Our 8th graders have put together some creative and exciting legacy baskets for the community to bid on too! Check out what their offerings below.
All proceeds from the auction support the unique programs offered at Saklan, including: field experiences, guest experts, project based learning, family groups, and professional development opportunities for our amazing teachers. Your support is greatly appreciated!
Bidding in the online auction will continue through Monday, April 29th at 8:30 p.m. As we like to say, bid early and bid often!
We are very excited for this year’s Peace, Love, Saklan auction, and hope you will join us next Friday, April 26th, from 6 – 10:00 PM at The Garden in Walnut Creek. This adults-only event will feature a cocktail reception, seated dinner, live auction, paddle raise, and loads of fun!
Wondering why you should attend?
To support a great cause! Proceeds from the auction support the unique programs offered at Saklan, including: field experiences, guest experts, project based learning, family groups, and professional development opportunities for our amazing teachers.
To hang out with old friends and make new ones! Many Saklan parents, teachers and staff members will be in attendance. This is an opportunity to get to know fellow parents and Saklan teachers better!
To bid on fantastic auction items! This year’s live auction is full of must-have items:
To dress up and have an adults-only night out! Dust off your leisure suits, bell bottoms, platforms and peace-sign necklaces, or whatever makes you happy, and join us for a night of fun! Signature cocktails, disco ball centerpieces, groovy tunes, and a massive game of rock, paper, scissors await you!
All Saklan students in 3rd through 5th grades are invited to participate in the 29th Annual Moraga Rotary Field Day on Wednesday, May 1st from 4:00-6:00 p.m. at Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School. This event involves all schools in Moraga and is always a ton of fun for our students. Sign-in begins at 3:30 p.m., with the events beginning at 4:00. Mr. Crabtree and David are offering to take the students from Saklan to JM at 3:00 p.m. Students will need to be picked up at JM at 6:00 p.m.
Please complete the form linked below if your child wants to participate.
High level Project Based Learning units at Saklan extend beyond the walls of the classroom. When students feel a sense of authentic purpose, projects become richer and more relevant for our learners. As they demonstrate understanding of academic standards, they are also engaging in sustained inquiry, thinking creatively, and acting compassionately.
The product in each PBL unit looks different depending on a number of factors including the academic learning goals, division, and student interest. However, our work at Saklan differentiates itself by final products being more than a retelling of academic content via a poster or report. Instead Saklan students demonstrate their proficiency in academic standards through the process of answering a question or solving a problem that matters to them.
This unique blend of honoring students’ interests and maintaining academic rigor empowers students to make change and impact their community. Through high quality Project Based Learning Saklan students learn that their opinions are valued, that they have creative solutions to problems that exist in our communities, and that they can take action to make a difference.
Below are some outstanding examples of public products from PBL units at Saklan this year that help answer a question, solve a problem, or support our community needs.
A concert backdrop is an essential element to our annual Saklan concert. This year our second graders took on the authentic task of designing and creating the backdrop for this important community event.
They first developed their understanding of the art world by experiencing Yayoi Kusama’s installations at SF MoMA and diving deep to understand how artists like Joseph Albers, Erin Fong, Anne Patterson communicate emotion through either a single or a combination of colors both in painting and in large-scale installations. Considering their new understanding of color theory, students engaged in a process of design, critique, and revision before deciding as a group on the direction of their concert backdrop design. From there they stretched and explored with various materials for the background before ultimately settling on ribbon and fabric since it would flow and also be weighty enough to not tangle. They helped tie the hundreds of ribbons to the 8 foot dowels that were installed professionally in our concert space at the Lesher Performing Arts Center for our annual spring concert.
For an additional second public project, students have been working in collaborative small groups to cut and redesign the original installation, creating smaller hanging pieces for our school auction later this month! Now their art that communicates love and serves our community will take on a new life and get to go home with a few lucky families!
7th Grade
Driving Question: “How can we reduce single use plastic?”
Public Product: Design of sustainable alternatives to single use plastic
Plastic trash and microplastics in our oceans are a real and relevant issue that seventh graders worked to address through design innovations and creativity.
After a field experience at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and service learning on the beaches of Oahu, seventh graders considered the impact of plastics on the environment, particularly on ocean animals and what they can do to be change makers. Students designed solutions to single use plastics and presented their designs and prototypes to a panel of adults, including a local designer and small business owner, in a Shark Tank style presentation. Through this experience they grew in their capacity to think creatively about solutions to problems that exist outside the walls of Saklan and consider how they can be part of the change they want to see in the world around them.
1st and 8th grades
Driving Question: “How do homes keep us safe?”
Public Product: Bag lunchesfor distribution with 10,000 Lunches
An ideal Saklan graduate is an empathetic, inclusive, and kind leader. First graders lived into those descriptors during the final milestone of a months-long Project Based Learning unit on homes.
The Homes unit in first grade is a cross-curricular unit that integrates informational reading and writing, geometry, weather, social studies, and art. This year students moved from geometry and shapes that can be used to make a strong structure to learning from our 8th graders about what can happen when people lose their homes due to natural disasters, like hurricanes. In their final milestones, first graders learned how communities can come together when housing insecurity impacts food insecurity and were inspired to think about how they can be helpers too. Together 1st and 8th graders helped their family groups bag 200 lunches for a local organization called 10,000 Lunches that aims to support local people experiencing housing and food insecurity.
Saklan’s social-emotional learning emphasis for April is to be forgiving. During the month, all Saklan students are discussing what it means to forgive and looking for ways to be forgiving with others. On Monday, April 22nd, all Saklan students will participate in Earth Day activities, and during the activities the 1st – 8th grade students join with their family group members and take part in cross-grade level discussions and activities to gain an even greater understanding of being forgiving.
FRIDAY BLOG 
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