Category: Owlets

Inspired by the book Circles All Around Us by Brad Montague, the Owlet class will spend time this fall learning about different types of communities. Starting with a small circle for each child, then expanding into larger circles of family, school, and neighborhood, the children will learn what it means to be a part of a community. The goal is for the Owlets to answer the driving question: “How can we be helpers in our communities?”

The Preschoolers began their unit by examining the smallest circle of community: their self. At circle time, Philippa read the book The Skin You Live In by Michael J. Tyler. The Owlets learned that all people are different shades and all the colors are beautiful. For self portraits, each Owlet looked through skin toned crayons and found a shade that matched; everyone found the perfect color! Then they looked at a mirror to see what color their hair and eyes are. The Owlets practiced drawing the different shapes of their faces and holding crayons with a pincer grip. Next, the students were offered some loose materials to portray their clothes and hair, including buttons, yarn, feathers, ribbon, and pom-poms. They all turned out so unique and beautiful!

Guest Experts Needed

To supplement this project-based learning unit, the Owlet teachers are currently looking for guest experts to visit their classroom and talk about their roles in their community. Additionally, other classes are currently in need of experts who work in city planning, architecture, and chefs/ kitchen staff or meal services. If you would like to visit as a guest expert, or have a suggestion of a member of the greater community to reach out to, please email Linda Lathrop, Saklan’s Project and Inclusion Specialist, at llathrop@saklan.org

While studying the letter Vv, the Owlets became very interested in volcanoes. The class watched some footage of real volcanoes erupting and decided to make their own volcano to erupt! They made a chemical reaction using baking soda, vinegar, dish soap, and food coloring to make their volcano bubble with “lava.”

Many of the Owlets came up with some great questions about volcanoes that even Ms. Jessica didn’t know the answers to, so they decided to do some research. One of the questions the Owlets answered was “Can you make lava?” Next, they made “lava” lamps using oil, water, and food coloring.

On Thursday, the Owlets had a special guest expert, a Saklan first grader, join them to answer some of their volcano questions. It was fun to learn more about volcanoes from one of the big kids!

During the month of April, the Owlets have excitedly visited Saklan’s Science Teacher, Ms. O, in the Science Lab! During their first visit, the Owlets learned that scientists are very curious, and they use their senses to learn about the world around them. The students used their senses to smell a mystery smell, feel a mystery toy inside a bag, and listen to mystery sounds. Coming up in the science lab, Ms. O will teach them about chemical reactions, temperature, and energy.

In their classroom, the Owlets practiced being scientists by observing seedlings and flowers, and then drawing exactly what they observed. They also made a hypothesis about which seedlings they think will grow the tallest, and then they measured and recorded their current height with a ruler.

On Wednesday, the Owlets we had a special visitor. Rachel, one of the Owlet parents, joined the class to teach them about the holiday Holi. She read Festival of Colors and the Owlets learned that Holi originated in India, and is a celebration of spring and all the beautiful colors that come with it. Traditionally people celebrate Holi by making colorful powders out of flowers, then throw the powders everywhere! The Owlets celebrated in their own way by throwing colorful confetti in the air.

They also made a collaborative “tree of life” using bright flowers instead of paintbrushes. Its colors represent how beautiful the world is when there’s variety, diversity, and individuality.

You are invited to this year’s Auction Fiesta on Saturday, March 11 at 6:00 p.m. This year’s auction will focus on community building and have several activities (games, photo booth, raffles) to encourage socializing and reconnecting with friends old and new!

This Fiesta will feature a taco bar dinner, open bar, wine ring toss, silent auction, and lots of fun! Tickets are now available online; get your Fiesta tickets today!

The Saklan School’s Annual Auction is the school’s second largest fundraiser of the year. Proceeds from the auction are invested directly back into our student’s educational experiences, in and out of the classrooms.

Can’t make the auction?

There are several ways to participate in this year’s event even if you can’t attend: underwrite a teacher ticket, donate wine to the wine ring toss, or stay tuned for more information on participating in our online silent auction.

Thank you for your support of the auction and Saklan.

#SaklanFiesta

The Owlets continue to learn about a different letter each week, and this week they focused on the letter J. Excitedly, they found a big jar full of jelly beans on Ms. Jessica’s desk! During circle time, the class counted out 10 jelly beans to see what 10 looked like, and then each Owlet estimated how many jelly beans might be in the jar.

In small groups, the Owlets helped sort the jelly beans by color and count how many of each color there were. Finally, Ms. Jessica added all the numbers together to discover that there were 285 jelly beans in the jar!

This activity was not only a fun way to learn about the letter J, but helped the Owlets practice their early math skills like sorting and one-to-one correspondence. Additionally, picking up the jelly beans one at a time was great fine motor practice too.

The Owlets are weather watchers! Here at Saklan,we have been lucky to see so many different weather events over the last week: rain, thunder, lightning, hail, wind, and even some flooding!

With a renewed interest in weather, the Owlets were excited to learn some new science words like observation and evaporation while learning the basics of the water cycle.

They enjoyed a hands-on experiment with shaving cream and watercolor paint to recreate a cloud filling with rain until it got so heavy, it rained down into the cup below. The Owlets also learned that water can be a solid, liquid, or a gas. The class made watercolor ice cubes and painted with them, while observing them melt back into a liquid.

#SaklanHandsOn #SaklanScience