Category: Kindergarten

Owl Study

In science, our Kindergartners learned about owls. They learned many, many things about owls, including:

  • An owl’s feathers are soft and light, allowing it to fly silently through the night.
  • The feathers around an owl’s face move sounds to its ears allowing it to hear a small mouse.
  • An owl has 14 bones in its neck (humans have 7), making it possible for an owl to turn its head almost fully around!
  • Baby owls are called nestlings.
  • Nestlings hatch at different times, the first to hatch is the largest nestling and the last to hatch is the smallest.

After hearing the story Owl Babies, the students created their own picture of nestlings.

The Kindergartners also learned that owls have sharp talons, very big eyes and a beak, all of which help them hunt for food. They learned that owls swallow their food whole and later regurgitate what is not needed in a pellet. The Kindergarteners dissected owl pellets and were amazed to find to find bones and fur!

If you have questions about owls, ask a Saklan Kindergartner. They love owls!

#SaklanAcademic #SaklanHandsOn

Learning Buddies

Last Friday, our Kindergarten and 1st grade students were delighted to find out who their 3rd or 4th grade learning buddy is for the year. For their first buddies meeting, the students played a get-to-know-you game and then spent time reading together.

The big buddies marvelously modeled good reading behaviors by reading with expression and fluency for their little buddies, and then were honored to listen to their little buddies read too. The Kindergarten, first, third and fourth grade students thoroughly enjoyed getting to know their learning buddies, are already asking when they get to meet with their buddies again!

Learning buddies are a purposeful way to encourage cross-grade friendships, help the older buddies develop a sense of responsibility and practice mentorship, and make learning fun!

#SaklanCommunity

Celebrating Diwali

The Owlets, Hoot Owls and Kindergarteners learned about Diwali, which is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs around the world, including some of their classmates! Diwali is the festival of lights and lasts for 5 days in October or November. The students read the books Diwali by Hannah Eliot and Shubh Diwali! by Citra Soundar to get a better understanding of the festival.

The Owlets and Hoot Owls learned about an art form called Rangoli, a geometric design on the floor (or other flat surface) made using colored rice, sand, dry flour, or flower petals. The owls watched a video of someone creating a Rangoli, and then made their own. The Owlets used colored sand, while the Hoot Owls used colored salt, for their Rangoli.

The Kindergarteners learned about diyas, which are oil lamps that are lit during Diwali to bring light and dispel darkness. The Kindergarteners made their own paper diyas and decorated them with jewels and stickers.

#SaklanDiversity

Music Enrichment Classes

We are excited to offer music enrichment classes this fall! The classes, listed below, will begin on Thursday, September 30th and run through December 16th.

  • Music & Movement for Preschool & Pre-K on Thursdays from 2:30 – 2:50 p.m. Students will experience music through play, movement and singing games. Students will work towards development of perceiving and performing the steady beat in music, identifying and understanding musical form, and recognizing musical opposites such as fast and slow, loud and soft and high and low. In addition, the classes will emphasize the development of proper vocal technique and health. Students in this class will receive complimentary Extended Day care from 2:00 – 2:30 p.m. on days the class meets.

  • Beginning Choral Habits for K – 2nd Grade on Thursdays from 3:00 – 3:30 p.m. The K-2 after school music course will be an opportunity for students to develop beginning choral habits and structure. Students will learn proper body alignment, breathing and vocal techniques and will work on developing beautiful blend with several unison choral arrangements. Later on in the year, students may work towards arrangements in canon and two-part harmony. Singing games will also be incorporated to allow for musical enjoyment and allow the students to engage the music with movement, imagination and creativity.

To sign your child up for one of the above classes, please click on the class name.

#SaklanWellRounded

Enrichment Classes

We are thrilled to announce that The Saklan School will be bringing back after school enrichment classes for the 21-22 school year. For the fall session the following classes will be available:

Classes begin the week of September 13th, and have limited space available. If you are interested in signing your child up for one of the above classes, please click on the class name for additional information about the class and sign up options.

Saklan will also have enrichment opportunities for our Preschool and Pre-K friends that will be announced in the coming weeks. Our youngest students take a little more time to settle into the routines of coming to school, so we want to give them additional time before we introduce new classes into their day.

#SaklanHandsOn

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

Kindergarten Science Activities

Kindergarten have been studying force and motion or pushes and pulls. The children first moved a friend on a swing by either pushing or pulling. They then used a model of a swing in the classroom to discover how different pushes changed the motion of the swing.

During PE, the class used force to beat Mr. Crabtree in a game of tug of war.

Next, the children learned about gravity as a force. Using different sized vehicles the class experimented how vehicles go down a ramp with the pull of gravity.

Finally, the class learned about wind as a force. With a straw, the children used the force of wind to create movement with a variety of objects. 

#SaklanAcademics

Kindergarten Celebrates Women’s History Month

March is Women’s History Month, and Saklan Kindergarteners celebrated with a musical tribute to one of our most noteworthy female signers – jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald!

While her career included many popular songs such as “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” “Cheek to Cheek,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” it was Fitzgerald’s version of the nursery rhyme “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” that first got her noticed and launched her into stardom. Saklan Kindergarteners worked with Ms. Chaffey in music class to learn this classic song, and debuted their performance during Friday Flag.

Enjoy the kindergarten class singing “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” below!

#SaklanCreative