“Since joining Saklan, we have seen a dramatic transformation in Levi and Willow into more confident and compassionate students. Saklan is a place where they feel safe, surrounded by a caring and supportive community. We know they can receive an outstanding academic education at other institutions, but we truly believe Saklan provides the right environment where they excel because they want to and not because they have to. Annual Giving Fund supports Saklan through hiring of the best educators, buying the best supplies and providing the safest environment for students. Supporting Saklan is a direct investment in our own children, and that is why we give.“
Join the Hoot Owls in participating in a winter clothing drive organized by the local non-profit, Hip Hop for Change. The drive benefits unsheltered families and individuals in our neighboring communities. New clothes, gently used clothes and new toiletries will be accepted through January 7th. If you would like to participate, please place your donation in a sealed bag and drop it off in the donation bin outside the Hoot Owl classroom. See below for more guidance.
The Student Council is hosting a food drive for the Monument Crisis Center. This organization serves families in East Contra Costa County. Since many families are struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic and need help, the student council decided that donated food would be the most practical. There will be large bins in the breezeway near the main office starting early next week and ending on Thursday, December 17th. The following food items are requested: peanut butter, tuna, canned food (including soup, stew, vegetables, etc.), dry pasta, and rice. If your family does not want to donate food but still wants to help out, please click here to make a monetary donation. Thank you for showing compassion to our local community!
Eighth graders Levi, Makenna, Reese, and Evy are working on creating the next edition of Saklan’s Literary Magazine. The theme for this edition is time! The eighth graders are looking for submissions of poetry, short stories, photographs, digital designs, and/or artwork connected to the theme, to be featured in the upcoming edition. Submissions should be placed into the large envelopes in each teacher’s classroom. All Saklan students are invited and encouraged to participate!
“We joined Saklan in 2007 when our oldest, Finn, started Kindergarten. Saklan has gone through many changes since then, but it has remained constant as a source of support for our family. It has helped shape our children–Finn (class of ’17), Evy (8th), and Lilah (5th)–into the people they are today.
Finn is now a senior at Athenian and is doing virtual college interviews. I overheard him during a recent one talking about how his role in the middle school musical back in 8th grade–he was “The Man in the Chair” in The Drowsy Chaperone–was an experience that truly changed his life. To hear how he still considers playing that role as such a pivotal experience three and a half years later was a poignant reminder of what an impact Saklan had on him.
He was never interested in theater, but Mrs. Chaffey encouraged him to take on increasingly challenging roles. Learning how to memorize pages of monologues and portray this character and dance on stage took a ton of courage and emotional vulnerability. The unwavering support and guidance he received made it possible for him to do something he never knew he could do. It not only helped him build confidence; it allowed him to learn to understand the life of a character’s emotions, as well his own. It gave him a new passion.
Saklan also gave Finn an incredible academic foundation for high school. He is leaning towards continuing in science in college, but he is just as interested in the humanities and is still passionate about theater and poetry. We credit this wide range of interests to the inspiring teachers at Saklan. They encouraged him to dive into new things and supported him to strive to do his best even when he didn’t think he was good at something.
Our girls–Evy in 8th and Lilah in 5th–have literally grown up at Saklan. Like Finn, they have also had many experiences since their preschool days where they were challenged and were able to shine, and they’ve grown tremendously academically and creatively. The enriching experiences outside of the classroom, along with the Saklan teachers’ support, have been transformative and inspired them to love to learn.
We are grateful that Saklan has helped all three of them to become respectful, compassionate, and engaged students and people. They are aware of themselves, have the confidence to contribute, and want to understand the world.
We are not sure we are ready to have a child move onto college and another on to high school this next year, but we are confident that they are ready and have an incredible foundation. What the Saklan teachers and community have given our kids is hard to measure. To quote Finn’s Saklan graduation speech, ‘Saklan will always be home.‘”
At Saklan, November is all about being dependable! This month, the family group activity included watching a video the eighth graders created to show students what it means to be dependable. After watching the video, kindergarten through seventh grade students brainstormed ways they can be dependable. Each student then wrote about one way they will work to be more dependable on a festive pumpkin, turkey, or leaf paper. The papers were all collected and used to create family group wreaths. Check out the wreaths below!
A big thank you to the Parent Association for buying every Saklan student a pumpkin for the Halloween holiday! Students in Kindergarten through eighth grade worked on decorating their pumpkins during art class. Ms. Natalie reminded the students of the dotted artwork of Yayoi Kusama, whose detailed painted pumpkins fit right in with the Halloween spirit. Even with a limited color palette, the students were able to paint unique creations!
Before getting to decorate their pumpkins, the Pre-K students first had to find them! The students went on a pumpkin hunt to find a pumpkin with their name on it. The students enjoyed scouring the early childhood playground in search of their pumpkins!
Once they found their pumpkins, the Pre-K students enjoyed expressing their creativity, by using sharpies to decorate them. They were very excited to get to take their pumpkins home and share them with their families.
This morning, the Saklan students were very excited to don their Halloween costumes and participate in our Costume Parade! The parade route took the students along the trail to the Holy Trinity parking lot, where parents were in their cars for the drive-in event. The students and teachers paraded through the parking lot, waving as parents cheered and took pictures from their cars, with Halloween music playing in the background. A few middle school students emceed the event and set up a laptop so that students at home could be part of the fun over Zoom.
Thank you to all the parents that joined us and cheered the students on. The students enjoyed waving to you and spotting their parents in the crowd! Additional thanks go to Makenna, Ryan and Levi for setting up the Zoom, providing commentary and cheering on the younger students.
Due to remote learning and working from home, posture has taken a toll on families. The November Friday Social will focus on how we can benefit from improving existing ergonomics to prevent back aches, growing pains, headaches, migraines and sciatica. And while these issues may not present themselves now, it is also important to develop a good postural foundation to avoid future spinal issues such as scoliosis and tech neck.
Few people realize there is a connection between posture and mental wellness. Did you know that if someone has poor posture, especially at a very young age, the biomechanics of the posture limit the amount of oxygen to the heart and lung regions? This then means that they are not getting the proper oxygen to think clearly and make healthy decisions. Mood is then also negatively impacted because the lack of oxygen makes one fatigued, sad/depressed and unmotivated.
Dr. Christina Alba
Join the PA for our November Friday Social on November 6th at 3:30 PM to learn more! We’ll be welcoming an expert, Dr. Christina Alba of Rivulet Chiropractic, who will talk about the importance of posture and moderate this community discussion. The Zoom link will be shared closer to the event. Email ewilliamson@saklan.org to receive the link.
Everywhere we turn we are getting reminders about how important gratitude is – how it changes our outlook, the way our brain is wired, and our overall disposition. During a year where stress and uncertainty have taken the front seat, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on many of the things for which I’m grateful.
To the ECE teachers – thank you for paving the road for in-person learning, for your diligence and patience and positive attitude when we didn’t have all of the answers. Lastly, thank you for sharing the space that was once all yours!
To the K-8 teachers and specialists – for working your tails off to make distance learning an integrated, full day experience for our students and families. And now for completely starting over with in-person learning, distanced, masked, hoarse voices to be heard through masks – all the while continuing an engaging curriculum. As much as we may want to, we will never forget this year of teaching. Thank you for your patience with schedules, duties, and juggling a truly challenging time. Your hard work has not gone unnoticed.
To the parents – for your support during distance learning, for your commitment to staying safe outside of school so that we could pivot back to in person learning, for being willing to take your children to get a COVID-19 test, for waking up each morning to fill out the Renweb prescreening, for understanding that you cannot come on campus, and for trusting us with your cherished children. We are so happy to have most of the students back on campus this week; their energy and presence has invigorated us all.
To Javier – for your long hours, for transforming the campus so that we could have a safe campus from which to teach, for your always positive attitude and humor, for always being ready to help no matter what.
To my admin team – for stepping up and taking things off my plate, for being supportive and rolling with everything that has come our way, for keeping me accountable and telling me when I am wrong, for handling the details, for trying to anticipate things before they happen.
To the COVID-19 Task Force – for many long hours of information sharing and conversation, for your expertise, for your honesty, for your commitment to Saklan and our students. To the endless rewrites of policy and dealing with the endless changes to what we know about COVID-19. This has been a long, hard journey, but it has been necessary and immensely helpful.
To the Board of Trustees – for your support, trust and time, for ad hoc meetings and grappling with issues that have no good answers. To your dedication, confidentiality, and ongoing commitment to the success of our teachers and our children.
FRIDAY BLOG 
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