Category: Hoot Owls

Class Agreements

The first few weeks of school are all about developing new routines and building relationships with teachers and classmates. During this time, each class works together to create a class agreement (also know as class rules). As part of the Responsive Classroom approach to teaching, the agreements are created collaboratively between students and teachers, focusing on what all members of the classroom community can do to help create a calm, orderly and safe environment for learning.

The agreements are phrased in the positive, offering clear expectations of behavior and how students can live up to those expectations. By including students in the process of creating the agreements, the students are engaged in their learning, feel a sense of belonging and safe in school, and view the rules in a positive light.

View some of this year’s class agreements below.

#SaklanCommunity #ResponsiveClassroom

Saklan has CLAS

Students share appreciations during the first CLAS

Last year gave us time to think about some of the things we have done for years and how to do them better. One of those things is Friday Flag- a long tradition that we have held out in front of School every Friday morning. After conversations with parents, teachers and students, we will be moving to a new Friday morning assembly called CLAS (Community, Learning, Appreciation, and Sharing). 

The impetus to move to CLAS was to emphasize the aspects of Saklan we sincerely appreciate: our community, that love of learning is central to everything we do, that gratitude and appreciation is our lifeblood, and that sharing is how we all grow as individuals. 

CLAS will be held on the Saklan Sports Court every other week. This allows each division to meet on the off weeks and hold assemblies that bring them together as a smaller group; the Saklan Sports Court provides a more protected gathering space. 

Parents are invited to join us for CLAS by entering campus through the fire lane near the church right at 8:30 a.m.

Thank you to everyone who joined us this morning for our first CLAS! It was so wonderful to see our entire community in the same space and to hear the words of wisdom and appreciations that the students shared with us. Check out pictures from today’s gathering below.

#SaklanCLAS #SaklanCommunity

Signs of Spring

Spring is in full swing and the Hoot Owls and Owlets in Ms. Jessica’s class are seeing signs of it everywhere! They’ve been learning all about the parts of nature they’re seeing more of as the world comes alive.

For almost a month, students have been tending to and observing the radish seeds they planted back on Earth Day. To further their plant learning, the Owls created and labeled the parts of a plant. They’ve taken the opportunity to observe and interact with many different types of plants by using magnifying glasses, dissecting flowers, and creating collages with plants as well! As a class, students planted bean sprout and pea plant seeds in a transparent planter so they could observe the seed coat softening and the roots growing down into the soil. The Owls made their own plant life cycle wheels while observing the bean and pea plants, and noticed which plants were in different parts of the cycle.

Beyond plants, spring also brings new bugs! The class has been using nets and bug catchers to collect and observe bugs from the play yard! They learned that all insects have certain feature: six legs, three body sections, and antennae.

The Owls will bring their learning to life with a special performance at next week’s Friday Flag, so tune in on May 28!

#SaklanHandsOn

Marble Runs

Ms. Traci introduced some long pieces of foam to the Hoot Owls without any directions. The Hoot Owls quickly decided to turn them into marble runs. This required lots of ingenuity, patience and the sharing of ideas, space and materials. It was a little tricky at first to work together with such fun and new materials, but they quickly got the hang of it.

After almost an hour of working on the activity inside, the Hoot Owls wanted to work on it longer so we moved the activity outside. Many Hoot Owls wanted the marble to be able to go up and down so they used their bodies as bumps and hills.

One day didn’t seem to be enough for this fun and creative activity because the Hoot Owls wanted to continue to make different marble runs for more than a week!

#SaklanCollaboration

Hoot Owl Volcanoes

After learning all about the volcanoes that exist on Earth, Mars, and Venus, the Hoot Owls in Ms. Traci’s class decided they wanted to learn more about volcanoes in general. Before they started their exploration of the topic, Ms. Traci asked the students what they already knew:

“They erupt lava.”
“When a volcano erupts and goes in the ocean it turns to stone.”
“You can’t go inside a volcano because they are hot.”
“You don’t want to run to a volcano because you might bump your head.”

The Hoot Owls read some non-fiction books about volcanoes, and then set out to build their own volcano out of paper mache. They also built an entire city to around the base of the volcano, including a zoo, candy store, and toy store.

When it was time to make the volcano erupt, the students made predictions as to what would happen:

“I think it’s going to explode with white and orange lava coming out of the top and it’s going to hit the city and at the other side there is going to be a puddle of lava.”

“Here’s the hot lava down here and the little blue stuff are houses down here. And their grass got burnt by the hot lava.

“I think maybe it will explode and it will slip off the table and go into cement and then onto the wood chips and sink, sink, sink.”

Using baking soda and vinegar, the Hoot Owls made the volcano erupt four times! The city remained mostly safe until the fourth eruption, when the candy shop suffered minor damages.

#SaklanHandsOn

Science Discovery in the Owl Classroom

Some of Saklan’s youngest students are learning all about science! The Owls in Ms. Jessica’s class are spending the month learning what science is, what an experiment is, and the definitions of the words “hypothesis” and “observation.”

To bring their learning to life, the students are conducting an experiment of their own, using celery sticks and white flowers! The class put one of each into cups of water, then added different food coloring to each cup. They also left one cup of water uncolored.

Each student formed a hypothesis about what would happen, including:

“They will grow!”
“They will explode!”
“The water will get hard like Jello!”
“They will suck up the water!”
“They will get hot!”
“A raccoon will take the celery!”

The class will make observations every day to see which of their hypotheses are correct!

#SaklanHandsOn

Hoot Owl Mosaics

The Hoot Owls continue to demonstrate their creativity through their study of different art forms. This month, they learned about mosaics with Ms. Zuly.

After spending some time gaining an understanding of what mosaics are, the Hoot Owls were free to design their own mosaics in any way they wanted. When they were finished, Ms. Traci asked each student whether their mosaic was abstract art or representational art — a difference the students have been learning about throughout the year. Each student successfully identified which type of art they had created!

After the students’ mosaics were complete, the class compared the art they had made to the abstract art of African American artist Alma Woodsey Thomas. They discussed how abstract art can evoke feelings within the viewer, then each student took a turn going in front of the class to discuss what the paintings reminded them of, and how the paintings made them feel.

The pieces inspired a range of feelings, from happiness, to sadness, to fright. Their interpretation of what the abstract artwork reminded them of was also varied, and included a ferris wheel, the aisle at a wedding, an sea creature, an eye, and a maze!

It is exciting to see the ways each student is developing their own artistic eye – some said they would like to visit a museum when it is safe to do so again!

#SaklanCreative

100 Days of Hoot Owls

While most Saklan students celebrated the 100th day of school back in February, the Hoot Owls in Ms. Traci’s class marked their 100th day of in-person learning earlier this week, on March 1. From the outside classroom to the inside classroom, Hoot Owls have grown so much in 100 days, and have been eagerly awaiting the landmark!

In addition to physical and academic growth, Hoot Owl friendships have also flourished, and it is a joy to see them working together as a team. To celebrate this, and all their accomplishments over the past 100 days, students celebrated by making 100 Day crowns, which they decorated with stickers, gems, and markers.

The Hoot owls also practiced counting to 100, using some small toys and gems. The celebration capped off with an extra healthy snack, provided by Hoot Owl families. Making it to 100 days of in-person learning holds extra significance this year, and it’s great to see the Hoot Owls celebrate in style!

#SaklanAcademic

Learning About Famous Authors

The Owls in Ms. Jessica’s class are bringing classic children’s books to life by learning about famous authors in a hands-on way! First, the Owls read books written by children’s author Laura Numeroff, including If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Give a Cat a Cupcake. To further engage with the book, they used messy foam paint to “frost” giant cupcakes of their own, complete with sparkly sprinkles!

Next, the Owls learned about Mo Willems, who wrote and illustrated books like Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, as well as various books featuring the characters Gerald and Piggy. After watching a video of Mo Willems and his friends acting out one of his books, they created Gerald and Piggy art of their own.

As the Owls continuing learning about famous authors, they will also begin writing and illustrating books of their own. We can’t wait to see what stories they will share!

#SaklanHandsOn