Category: General

On Wednesday morning, we honored and celebrated The Saklan School’s Graduating Class of 2023. It was a heartfelt ceremony in which the middle school teachers introduced the graduates, and the graduates shared short speeches with their parents, teachers and fellow students.

If you were not able to join us for the ceremony, you can view the graduation here.

Each year we create a slideshow that highlights the memories of our graduates from their first years at Saklan all the way through the end of 8th grade. Take a moment to watch this video and relive their journey.

There are several people that made the graduation events possible this year. We would like to extend a special thank you to Lori O’Keefe, Jen Tompkins and Mel Zippin for organizing the graduation dinner. It takes a lot of planning and coordination, but the dinner was beautifully orchestrated. Thank you to Christina Nguyen, Jennifer Lettieri, and Kim Parks for helping the students express themselves so eloquently in their graduation speeches. Additionally, a special shout-out goes to Grace Chaffey, John Miazga, Shay Sager, Emoke Veres, Emily Williamson and Javier Yacarini for all their behind-the-scenes work handling the logistics of the graduation dinner and ceremony.

As we reflect on the 2022-2023 school year, we are reminded of the impact that every Saklan family had in making the year such a joyful experience. Parents, we truly appreciate your partnership and support throughout the year.

Thank you to all the family members that volunteered their time and talents. Your help was instrumental to making the following activities successful:

• Uniform Exchange
• Annual Giving Fund
• Parent Coffees
• Lower School Musical
• Auction Fiesta
• Concert
• Grandfriends’ Day
• Teacher Appreciation Week
• Middle School Musical
• Yearbook
• Field Experiences
• Class Celebrations
• Open Houses
• Fall Festival
• Movie Night
• Spring Social & Service
• Spirit Wear
• Graduation Dinner
• Graduation Ceremony

Additionally, thank you to everyone who cheered on and showed support for our students during the following events:

• CLAS
• Halloween Costume Parade
• Fall Follies
• Lion King Kids
• All-School Concert
• Art Show
• The Drowsy Chaperone
• Graduation
• Presentations of Learning

It was a wonderful year. Thank you, Saklan families, for your help, flexibility, and partnership in making the 22-23 year a success!

#SaklanConnected

A huge thank you to everyone who supported Saklan through financial gifts this year. As a community we have raised $167,716 of the $170,000 we hoped to raise for this year’s Annual Giving Fund (AGF). AGF gifts are tax-deductible donations that allow us to provide the many extras that make Saklan the incredible school that it is: personal attention from dedicated teachers, an engaging curriculum, arts, music, Spanish, STEM, and physical education at all grade levels.

If you haven’t made a gift yet, it’s not too late to contribute! Gifts towards this year’s AGF campaigns will be gratefully accepted through the end of June.

Thank you to everyone who gave so generously to this year’s auction. Our Fiesta raised over $63,700. We are especially grateful to our fund-a-need donors; together you gave:

• $6,900 to Flexible/Collaborative Seating
• $5,800 to the Summer Reflection Fund/Professional Development for Saklan Faculty & Staff
• $15,000 to Media Arts Literacy
• $1,500 to a Water Refill Station on the PS – Kindergarten Playground
• $1,500 to an Indoor Vertical Garden for the Science Lab
• $500 to an All-Weather Library Book Return Station

Your generosity will provide many exciting new opportunities for our students and teachers in the year ahead.

If you are interested in giving to these initiatives it isn’t too late. Fund-a-Need donations will be happily accepted through June 30th. Additionally, all Fund-a-Need gifts at the $100 level are eligible to be matched by the Moorhead Family (meaning your gift will go twice as far!).

On behalf of all of us at The Saklan School, thank you very much for your support.

Saklan’s annual Family Group Field Day took place last Friday afternoon. In their family groups, the 1st to 8th grade students delivered fun and entertaining cheers to a panel of judges (faculty and staff) to start the festivities!

Following the cheers, the family groups faced off against each other as they rotated through the following activities:

• Super Volleyball
• Sponge Relay
• Marbles, Marbles
• Sack Relay
• Charades

Next up was the water-balloon toss! 

Finally, the family groups ended the day on the sports court where the top 3 teams were announced and popsicles were enjoyed by all. It was a terrific day, filled with exemplary sportsmanship, great team spirit, and tons of fun. It was also a great final family group activity for the year, as students were able to showcase their understanding of all the Social Emotional Learning topics they learned this year:

• Accepting
• Growth Mindset
• Compassionate
• Self-disciplined
• Fairness & Equality
• Honest & Trustworthy
• Curious
• Resilient

#SaklanConnected #SaklanFamilyGroups

You are Cordially Invited to Attend

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

10:00 AM on the Saklan Sports Court

We are excited to invite you to a graduation ceremony celebrating the Saklan Class of 2023! This year’s ceremony will be held on Wednesday, June 7th at 10:00 a.m. on the Saklan Sports Court. RSVP is requested for those who will be joining us.

Seating: Will begin at 9:45 a.m.

What to Bring: The event is being held outdoors and weather can vary this time of year. Please prepare for potential sun (hats/sunscreen/glasses/water bottle) or for breezier cool weather (sweaters/jackets).

RSVP: Please RSVP by June 1st, 2023.

We look forward to celebrating the Class of 2023 with you!

#SaklanGraduation #Classof2023

As we shared at the beginning of the year, the sixth grade partnered with GotSneakers, an organization that helps keep sneakers out of landfills by recycling and reusing them. Each pair of shoes donated can earn their class money, which they are using to symbolically adopt a species affected by climate change as part of their way to give back.

To date, 12 bags of sneakers have been sent to GotSneakers. Thank you to everyone who helped support this initiative. Your donations have really helped the environment:

• Shoes displaced from landfill: 206
• Carbon Dioxide: 6180 Pounds Displaced
• Water: 464,942 Gallons Saved

It isn’t too late to donate sneakers! The 6th graders will be collecting sneakers through Friday, June 2nd.

#SaklanServiceLearning

During the month of May, all Saklan students are focusing on being resilient! Students are discussing what resiliency means and practicing having a positive attitude and not giving up when faced with challenges.

Later this month, the 1st – 8th graders will showcase their resiliency and teamwork skills when they participate in Family Group Field Day!

#SaklanSEL

On April 11th, Saklan celebrated Earth Day early by doing a service learning project of building wood duck egg boxes. The boxes built will be placed in the wild for wood ducks to use for nesting, hoping to increase survival rates their young.

Additionally, students got to learn about and see several animals from Wildmind, an animal rescue organization. Wildmind shared the stories of Pugsley the turkey vulture, Sonora the grey fox, Taborri the red-tailed hawk, Oscar the opossum, and Sherman the desert tortoise. The goal was to inspire students to help support our beautiful animal kingdom. The students were excited to see the animals and learn their stories, and took away a greater understanding of ways to help support our local animal species.

#SaklanCompassionate

Middle schoolers have been planning and making “textured” ceramic vases that represent a theme, idea or hold personal connection. Students started the unit with an in-depth exploration of the art element of “texture” and how people can react differently, and sometimes strongly, to how different surfaces look and feel. 

Students worked in groups to observe, respond to and research the work of ceramic artists who use texture to create meaning and visual interest in their artwork. After presenting the work and meaning behind their artists to the class, they began to plan their own work. 

Their challenge was to create a themed, functional vase, that a viewer could experience both visually and tacitly. Student themes vary greatly and range from representing objects or items of personal meaning, eliciting strong reactions or feelings from their audience, or wider explorations such as capturing the beauty of natural decay, people’s fears of imperfection, or the passing of time. 

The works in progress are stunning and incredibly well made. Join us on April 21st to see them yourself, as they will be on display at the Spring Art Show. 

#SaklanCreative #SaklanArtShow

All Saklan families and friends are invited to join us for The Saklan School’s Spring Art Show on Friday, April 21st! The event will take place in the Holy Trinity Cultural Center and feature artwork from all of our Preschool – 8th grade students.

We hope you will join us!

#SaklanArtShow #SaklanCreative