General – Page 25 – FRIDAY BLOG

Cheerios & Cheddar Bunnies

Does your family purchase Cheerios, Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies, or Blue Buffalo pet food? If so, you can turn those purchases (and more) into money for Saklan through the Box Tops for Education program. Box Tops for Education is a quick and easy way to support Saklan!

Wondering how it works? All you have to do is buy participating products and use the Box Tops app to scan your store receipt. The app identifies eligible products and earnings are credited to your designated school. Even if you’re shopping online or doing grocery pickup, you can still submit your digital or email receipt with the Box Tops app.

Use this link to download the Box Tops app and get started scanning today!

Don’t want to download an app? Turn your receipts into the front office, and a member of the Saklan admin team will use the app to scan it for you. After scanning with the app, all receipts will be shredded.

Thank you for your support of Saklan!

Thanks to You

Thanks to the generous gifts made by Saklan families, grandparents, staff and alums to the Annual Giving Fund and Auction, Saklan has been able to make numerous facilities upgrades, expand our curricular offerings, and provide a more collaborative environment for our students. To get a better idea of what the funds from each fundraising campaign support and how you can get involved, please read below.

Annual Giving Fund

Each fall Saklan conducts an Annual Giving Fund (AGF) campaign, which supports all of the things that make Saklan the incredible school that it is, including: personal attention from dedicated teachers; an engaging, hands-on curriculum; arts, music, Spanish, STEM, and physical education at all grade levels.

Funds raised from last year’s AGF campaign were also used to purchase a new Saklan Van, allowing for a greater number of field experiences throughout the year. Additionally, AGF funds helped fund some of the campus upgrades over the summer, including the new turf by the main entrance. Thank you to all our donors for making these items possible!

Saklan will kick-off the 23-24 AGF on Tuesday, October 24th with Orange Envelope Day. Stay tuned for more info!

Saklan’s Auction

Saklan’s auction is an adults-only, community building event that features a silent auction, games, food, drinks, a live auction, and tons of fun! Proceeds from the event are invested directly into your children’s educational experiences. Saklan parents, alumni, friends, faculty and staff are invited to come together in celebration of our wonderful school community on April 26, 2024.

Funds raised during last year’s auction provided for:

New collaborative furniture in the 5th grade classroom and in the outdoor learning space behind the 1st – 4th grade classrooms
An all-weather library book return station
An indoor vertical garden in the science lab
Media arts literacy equipment and programming
A water refill station on the PS – K play yard
3 Saklan teachers to attend the Broadway Teachers Workshop

Thank you to our generous donors for helping us transform our campus and provide greater opportunities for our students.

Auction Meeting

The first Auction Meeting of the year is next Friday, September 15th following CLAS. Meet us in the Pavilion to help plan this year’s event.

Want to help with the event but can’t make the meeting? Email Emily at ewilliamson@saklan.org and let her know.

Thank you for your support of The Saklan School.

Inclusive SEL Focus

Each month Saklan focuses on a different Social Emotional Learning (SEL) topic, incorporating it into lessons and discussions from Preschool through eighth grade.

Saklan’s social-emotional learning emphasis for August and September is to be inclusive. During these two months, all Saklan students are discussing what it means to be inclusive and looking for ways to include others, such as by using kind words and sharing.

On Tuesday, September 26th, the first – eighth graders will meet with their family groups and take part in cross-grade level discussions and activities to gain an even greater understanding of being inclusive.

#SaklanSEL

Hot Lunch Starts Tuesday

Saklan is partnering with Grand Bellevue Cafe & Catering to offer a variety of delicious and healthy options for delivered lunches this year. Hot Lunch service begins on Tuesday, September 5th. Families interested in ordering lunches need to order online by 7:00 a.m. on the day prior to the lunch service date.

To order lunches:

1. Go to https://grandbellevuecatering.boonli.com
2. Click “Create an Account.” Password is: Sak1
3. Add account and profile(s) information
4. Sign in with your username & password
5. To begin ordering, navigate to the month, click on the menu, click a date.

Additional information on purchasing lunches can be found on Saklan’s Hot Lunch webpage.

Our Deepest Gratitude

Anyone who’s dabbled in home improvement knows that initial visions—whether about aesthetics or budget—can dramatically transform by the time the last nail is in place. Often, the journey between inception and completion reveals surprises, challenges, and, ultimately, growth.

Our summer facilities work was no different. Where our vision started and what we had in the end were vastly different. Some of the work was typical deferred maintenance work (think roof repairs or drainage), but much of it was centered around the concept of creating spaces that let brains “breathe” and encourage collaborative work.

To illustrate:

When we encountered root damage from the trees out front and town regulations around juniper bushes, it prompted us to reimagine what students experience as they walk into Saklan. As they enter the school, they pass by drought-resistant plants, through a skylit breezeway, and the first thing they see is a tree-shaded conversation and collaboration area.

One of last year’s Fund-A-Need projects was to purchase collaborative furniture for the 5th grade classroom. As we evaluated the space and how the new furniture would work in the room, it was clear that we needed new LED lighting that could be adjusted depending on the activity and flooring that allowed the student work spaces to be reconfigured easily. We liked the outcome so much that we replicated the work in the Kindergarten classroom.

Lastly, our work on the Pavilion and the lower school outdoor learning spaces are almost completed. The Pavilion now boasts improved lighting, heating, and flooring, while new communal lunch tables, designed to encourage bonding and dialogue, will arrive in early September. Behind the Lower School classrooms the outdoor learning space is now graced with a redwood fence and new sunshades. Furniture designed for group work is soon to be delivered.

This transformation would have remained a dream without two things: the hard work of Javier Yacarini and his leadership of a team of individuals who worked diligently to make all these visions a reality, and the incredible support of our parent community. A substantial portion of the funding for these improvements was generously provided through Auction Fund-A-Need contributions and our successful Annual Giving Campaign. We extend our deepest gratitude. As Saklan continues to innovate in the realm of education, it’s only fitting that our facilities evolve in tandem.

With gratitude,

David

#SaklanHeadsCorner #SaklanGratitude

Join us for CLAS

All Saklan families are invited to join us next Friday, September 1st, for our first CLAS of the year. CLAS is an all-school assembly focused on Community, Learning, Appreciation, and Sharing that occurs every other Friday on the Saklan Sports Court.

Each CLAS has student hosts, presentations of learning, a birthday celebration, and a song sung by all. CLAS is one of the opportunities that Saklan students have to build their confidence and practice public speaking skills. It is also an opportunity to showcase how supportive, creative, compassionate, and courageous our community is.

CLAS will be held at 8:30 a.m. on the following Fridays:

September 1st – Coffee & Tea Provided!
September 15th
September 29th – Parent Coffee to Follow
October 13th
October 27
November 10th
November 17th
December 8th
January 12th
January 26th
February 9th
February 23rd
March 8th
March 22nd
April 19th – Parent Coffee to Follow
May 3rd
May 17th
May 31

We hope you can join us!

Soccer, Glee Club & More!

The fall session of enrichment classes begins the week of September 11th and runs through the week of December 4th. We have many new and exciting classes this fall, including: Glee Club, ECE Cooking & Science, Cartooning & Science Fun, and Soccer with Soccer Stars!

Classes are filled on a first-come, first-served basis, and some classes already have a wait list. To learn more about the class offerings and enroll your child in a fall enrichment class, please check out Saklan’s Enrichment webpage.

Want to learn more about Soccer with Soccer Stars? Ask your K-5th grade students about the fun Soccer Stars demo they attended this afternoon!

#Saklanwellrounded

Kicking Off the New School Year

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Saklan’s Back-to-School BBQ Social last Friday afternoon. It was so nice to see all the smiling faces and feel the positive energy of the 285+ attendees. What a wonderful way to kick off the new year!

Thank you to the PA for setting up the Uniform Exchange, helping attendees make name tags, and helping us build community through volunteer opportunities. Additionally, thank you to everyone who volunteered to help with community events this year.

#SaklanCommunity

Congratulations, Class of 2023!

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.

Thank You for Your Partnership

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: