Category: General

This summer, a few parents and the PA approached the school offering to dive in and help with a Library makeover. They have been busy since the start of the year thinking and working (even giving up a Sunday) on reorganizing and beautifying our Saklan Library. After consulting with teachers, they have started to revamp the library to look and feel more like a bookstore, making access and organization easy for students to understand. They have sourced a new cataloging system and digital check-out software. With those tools, we will be able to move forward with ordering new books that will fill some of the gaps our library has (especially in the areas of diversity and global thinking). Keep an eye on this spot as they have bigger plans for the library, including a Birthday Book Program and family discounts at local booksellers.

Dear Guardians, Saklan thanks you!

#SaklanVolunteers

If you missed this item at the Auction and still want to get it, then please sign up by Monday, September 30th.

#SaklanAuction

One of the many strengths of the Saklan community is the base of volunteers we have to help us with everything we do. While the school could most likely operate without volunteers, we would seriously be half the school with half the program if we did not have volunteers helping us. On that note, the Parent Association would love additional support in the following committees. If you are interested or have questions, please email Sandy Lo at sandralo@gmail.com!  Thank you for your time and energy!

• Uniform Exchange Committee – Need 2 more
• Lower School Musical Parent Committee – Need 1 more
• Middle School Musical Parent Committee – Need 2 more
• Auction Committee – Need 3 more
• Yearbook Committee – Need 2 more
• Book Fair Committee – Need 1 more
• Art Festival Support – Need 1 more

#SaklanCompassionate

One of the many strengths of the Saklan community is the base of volunteers we have to help us with everything we do. While the school could most likely operate without volunteers, we would seriously be half the school with half the program if we did not have volunteers helping us. On that note, the Parent Association would love additional support in the following committees. If you are interested or have questions, please email Sandy Lo at sandralo@gmail.com!  Thank you for your time and energy!

• Uniform Exchange Committee – Need 2 more
• Lower School Musical Parent Committee – Need 1 more
• Middle School Musical Parent Committee – Need 2 more
• Auction Committee – Need 3 more
• Yearbook Committee – Need 2 more
• Book Fair Committee – Need 1 more
• Art Festival Support – Need 1 more

#SaklanCompassionate

In conjunction with the Parents Association, Saklan is working to become more Sugar Aware.

What does that mean?

It means that when we as a school have events or parties, we will be more thoughtful about the sorts of snacks and treats we serve. We will also ask parents to be more thoughtful when they bring treats in for a class by making sure they are not loaded with sugar or unhealthy ingredients. To help with this, the Parents Association will begin posting recipes for classroom treats in their monthly newsletter that are healthier and less sugary. We appreciate everyone’s efforts in moving to a healthier environment here at school. To understand how sugar impacts the brain, click here.

#SaklanCreative

Summer Slide

Schools are such funny places, so full of young energy, optimism and a spirit of change, yet so rooted in the traditions and systems of the past. One of those traditions is summer break, which was created to accommodate the needs of an agrarian society. Everything we know about education tells us that 11 weeks off of learning leads to a thing called the “summer slide.”

Summer slide is the term given to the impact of not practicing skills learned over the past nine months. In general, students lose about a month of academic achievement over the summer break – with losses being greater the higher the grade level. Social-economic status also plays a role in this brain drain.

To be fair, most, if not all of our students, engage in learning over the summer – whether it is a trip to the Galapagos, devouring books or attending a camp of some sort.  And much of this learning is experiential, just what we love here at Saklan. Furthermore, “downtime,” play and being just plain bored are also important to our development (our electronic devices have stolen boredom and its associated benefits from us, more on that at another time).

But the skills that are hit hardest by summer slide are those associated with math and reading. In order to address some of this loss of learning, teachers have put together binders with summer work for each student. The work focuses on both math and reading and has been built to reinforce skills that have been learned during the year. As a rule of thumb, there is roughly 20 hours of reading to finish, and 10 hours of paper to pencil type of work. Some of it is creative, and some of it is routine practicing of skills.

This work will be coming home in  binders either Friday or Monday, depending on the class. We will be collecting the work in August on first day back to school. To be most beneficial, most of this work should be spread out over the summer and not done the last week of break. Please take a look at the materials and let us know if you have any questions. We ask for your support in ensuring your son or daughter completes the binders to the best of their abilities. They are designed to set them up for success for the new school year.

Warm regards,

David

#SaklanConfident

Saklan Alum Helps Build Library in Uganda

Saklan Alumna, Tali Braun, has been spearheading an effort over the past year to build a library for a primary school in Uganda. Tali, a 2015 Saklan grad, was inspired to support the library after visiting Uganda last year. She has been collecting donations in order to construct and furnish the build, purchase books and drive book donations.

Tali was a well-loved community member at Saklan. She was fearless in her willingness to speak up and take a stand for what she believed in. She cared deeply for all those around her, and she was a great role model for every student at Saklan. In 8th grade, Tali served as student council co-president, leading the school with creativity, compassion, and courage.

Tali wrote in her yearbook “Saklan teachers were like finding a gem.” We believe Tali is quite the gem, and we are proud to highlight her project and support her in her humanitarian spirit. For more information about Tali’s project, please click here: HopeForYouth-1-1.

#SaklanCompassionate #SaklanCourageous