Category: General

The first Parent Ed talk of the 2020-2021 school year was held on Wednesday night with Dr. Chelsey Hague-Zavaleta from Positive Parenthood. Thank you to all those who attended! The topic was “Managing Big Feelings During the Pandemic,” and attendees walked away with some great parenting tools and new perspectives. 

In case you missed it, here are some bullet points:

• STAY CONNECTED to your child through their big feelings.
• PRAISE and PRESENCE are the two most effective ways to make a connection and therefore get your child to cooperate. Look for the things they are doing RIGHT and comment authentically. Put your phone down and be in the moment with your kids. 5 minutes of uninterrupted time is more valuable than 30 minutes of getting up to change the laundry or checking your phone.
• As adults, we need to take responsibility for the emotional landscape; children respond to our state. This means we need to TAKE CARE OF OURSELVES!
• Don’t try to fix big feelings. Instead, join them. Be present, and validate your child’s feelings.
• Practice “3 yesses” to connect with a child who is having big feelings. Say 3 statements that you know they will agree with. “You really wish you were still playing video games” or “You were really looking forward to seeing your friend today.” 
• About 80% of what we tell our kids on any given day are directions or corrections. Try to focus on having 80% of your interactions with kids be praise/connection.
• There is no perfect parenting. We make mistakes, and then we repair – it’s important for our children to learn that.

Visit Positive Parenthood’s website for more information. Positive Parenthood also has a Facebook page where Dr. Hague-Zavaleta often posts videos with scenarios and reminders; it is a great resource for any parent. Ask to join and Dr. Hague-Zavaleta will include you in the conversation!

#SaklanParentEd

To show gratitude for all that the teachers and staff are doing to create virtual and in-person learning opportunities for Saklan’s students this year, the Parents Association is providing lunch for the Saklan employees once a month. This monthly lunch is known as the World Food Tour, featuring a different cuisine from a local Lamorinda business each month.

The inaugural World Food Tour lunch was held on Wednesday, October 14. The first stop on the tour was Italy, with a menu featuring seasonal pizzas, pasta, salad and focaccia bread prepared by Town Bakery Café. The food was delicious!

A huge thank you to the PA for a wonderful lunch, and for all their support of the entire faculty and staff. We are so lucky to be part of and supported by such a wonderful community.

#SaklanGrateful

We know it’s tough right now. Join the Saklan parent community & Dr. Chelsey Hauge-Zavaleta for a workshop on managing big feelings during the pandemic with supportive, relationship based techniques.

October 7, 2020 at 7:00 pm

#SaklanParentEducation

Art Teacher: Ms. Natalie

#SaklanCreative

We know it’s tough right now. Join the Saklan parent community & Dr. Chelsey Hauge-Zavaleta for a workshop on managing big feelings during distance learning with supportive, relationship based techniques.

October 7, 2020 at 7:00 pm

#SaklanParentEducation

The Seven Hills School is hosting a FREE virtual Parent Lecture Series event next Wednesday, September 16 at 7:00 pm. New York Times bestselling author, Julie Lythcott-Haims, presents “Talking to Your Kids about Race and Racism.”

The event is open to all, but space is limited. Please RSVP.

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The Hoot Owls learned about two different artists. First, they explored concentric circles and the abstract artwork of Wassily Kandinsky. Hoot Owls were asked to talk about how the colors they chose for their artwork made them feel.

Next, Hoot Owls listened to a book about Henri Mattisse called Henri’s Scissors by Jeanette Winter. They learned about his later life and how much he loved making art with paper. Hoot Owls created their own artwork from colorful paper cut outs. The Hoot Owls also learned about artists, Frida Kahlo and Alma Woodsey Thomas this year. 

#SaklanDistanceLearning

The Saklan faculty and staff expressed their gratitude for the surprises, gifts and treats during Teacher Appreciation Week. Thank you for making the entire faculty and staff feel special. We are so lucky to be part of and supported by such a wonderful community. Click here to watch the video.

#SaklanGrateful

Towards the end of April, we asked parents to participate in a survey created by Independent School Management aimed at measuring our successes and challenges with distance learning. Independent School Management is a consulting firm that advises schools across the world. While we did do well on the survey (scoring above most other independent schools), there were two big takeaways from the results.

The first is the difference in how much more challenging lower school students (especially the younger grades) find distance learning. While this is not surprising, looking across the spectrum of all other independent schools, this was a common trend. The second finding was just how important it is to attend to children’s social-emotional needs at this time. While we were not shocked to see this as an issue – we were surprised to see just how important staying connected to others is to kids during this time. If you are interested in seeing the detail, please click here. 

#SaklanDistanceLearning

#Classof2020