Friday, January 12, 2018
8:30AM – 10:30AM
We invite all current and prospective parents to join us for an inside look of the highlights of Saklan’s middle school program. Whether you are interested in the lower school or middle school, hearing what our students experience by the time they graduate from Saklan will inspire you.
Dear Saklan Community,
The enrollment season for the 2018-19 school year has started and today we had our first Middle School Open House. Interest in our middle school program is high and we had 14 families in attendance to learn about our outstanding program and meet our teachers. According to data provided by Melissa Zippin, our Director of Admissions, new student inquiries are up 39% over last year and school tours have increased by 41%. All of the indicators are that Saklan enrollment for next year will be very healthy. Of course parent referrals count as our biggest promotional tool, so please continue to tell your friends and neighbors about Saklan. Tours are easy to organize and typically result in an eye-opening experience for prospective families.
At Flag today, I was very pleased to inform the Saklan community of the award that we won in this year’s edition of the Walnut Creek Twilight Parade. Saklan was awarded 1st place in the category of Educational Institution. On hand to receive the award was our parade organizor and Director of Marketing, Christine Kuckuk. In order to give some more background on this event I asked Christine the following questions:
How did Saklan get involved with the Twilight Parade?
A dedicated group of Saklan parents from Walnut Creek initially coordinated Saklan’s participation in the Twilight Parade. They felt it was a good way to reach Walnut Creek families and a lot of fun for our students.
Why do we continue to participate?
The Twilight Parade is a great community building event for Saklan families. It’s a unique opportunity not to watch, but actually participate in a parade. Family members can participate with their students and all participants receive a new Spirit Wear T-shirt to show off their Saklan pride. Our students love it!
What was different about this year and why do you think we won?
Thanks to our new cheer, we were loud and proud! Our Student Council Members will be teaching this to students at the Friday Flag Assemblies in 2018. Here it is:
Well I don’t know but I’ve been TOLD,
Saklan kids are good as GOLD!
When work gets tough, we don’t FOLD,
Cause we’ve got grit that makes us BOLD!
Gimme an S! (S)
Gimme an A! (A)
Gimme a K! (K)
Gimme an L! (L)
Gimme an A! (A)
Gimme an N! (N)
What’s that spell? SAKLAN!
As of today, we have two weeks of school left before the winter break and the end of 2017. These will be a busy time at Saklan with a couple of important events on the calendar. Next week, our 8th grade students will spend a week in Washington, D.C. with Mr. Prestianni, Ms. Parks and Miss Jennings for their yearly field trip to study US government. On Friday, December 15th our grades 3-5 students will put on the musical, “The Lion King KIDS” at the Willow Spring Church. This will start at 10:30AM and is open to the entire community. I highly recommend that you come out to see our very talented students, who will certainly send us off to the holidays with good cheer.
And finally, the 1st trimester report cards are going out in the mail today. Look for them in your mail box early next week.
Have a good weekend,
Peter
Fifth graders have been researching important historical figures in the Revolutionary War. Students completed an informative research report on their historical figure. They also created amazing hanger people. Using a hanger as the base, they designed and put together an accurate depiction of what their historical figure looked like.
Lastly, students wrote speeches to use for the presentations to parents on Thursday. Fifth graders learned many interesting facts about the Revolutionary War and important people that contributed to our independence.
During the month of November, the Hoot Owl class had fun learning about the food groups. As part of the unit, the Hoot Owls and their families enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving lunch with all the trimmings.
Yesterday, the children walked to the Moraga Gardens Farm where they tasted fruits and vegetables that grow at the farm. They also fed lettuce to the chickens and saw where the chickens lay their eggs. The Hoot Owls love good, healthy food!
The fall Wiffle Ball Series concluded yesterday. This was a competitive round-robin tournament between four teams. After the first round, three teams had tied records. A hat draw matched the teams up for semi and final rounds. The Bumble Bees won the championship with a walk off grand slam. Good job to all players!
Next up is the hula hoop contest. Let’s go Saklan!
The Canyon Road Bridge, which links Moraga with Canyon and Oakland, is back open. The new temporary one-lane bridge is expected to be in use for about two years while a permanent structure is built.
Dear Saklan Community,
This week, we had Moving Up Day for our fifth grade students. Fifth grade is a crucial year and getting ready for the move to middle school is an important goal of our program at Saklan. Our fifth graders spent a morning in the middle school getting to know our faculty and learning about what a middle school program looks like. They learned about some of the big changes and challenges of being a middle school student, like moving between classrooms, being in an advisory group, organizing their lockers, being more autonomous and responsible, having elective classes, and of course the week-long overnight trips. Our Middle School Dean, Miss Parks, lead the class in a lively discussion about what it’s like to be a middle school student which ended with lively Q&A using the snowball activity. Students write their burning questions on a piece of paper, crumple it up and then toss them around like snowballs. Each student then reads the question that they end up with.
Today was the day of Saklan’s Annual Fall Follies. This is a fantastic and fun event which brings out the talent, creativity and confidence that are characteristics of Saklan students. Many of our students are truly in their element when on stage. It is impressive how each and every student was willing to take risks with their performance and showed their inner courage. I commend the students on their excellent performances and the audience on being supportive and compassionate. Mr. Prestianni has done another outstanding job organizing the show, auditioning the performers and putting together the program. Hats off to Mr. P for putting together this stellar event for yet another year and providing our students with such an amazing learning opportunity.
Thanksgiving is on our doorsteps and this is naturally a time for gratitude. I would like to express my gratitude for the wonderful community that is our school and to the creative, courageous and compassionate teachers, staff, parents and students that share and work towards our common goals. Please take a moment and think about what Saklan is doing for your children and, if you have not already done so, support our Annual Giving Fund.
Today is the last day of the first trimester and report cards for K – 8 students will be sent home on Friday, December 1st. Report cards are used to validate the growth and progress that each student has made on their educational journey. I encourage all parents to both celebrate the accomplishments that your children have made and reflect upon goals for the next trimester. This will also be a good time to plan to connect with teachers to discuss any concerns or questions that may have come up as a result of the report cards. All K – 8 reports will be mailed home.
Have a great Thanksgiving Holiday and thank you for being a wonderful and supportive community!!!
Peter
The Fourth Graders just finished studying California’s regions – coast, mountains, central valley, and desert. They were each assigned a region, which they then researched. After that, they wrote a research paper and created a collage using magazine pictures.
In addition, they were tasked as a group to take a song of their choice and rewrite the lyrics to tell a story about their region. Each group chose very unique songs and made them informative and entertaining. The Fourth Graders truly rocked the house!
During the first two weeks of November, teddy bears arrived in second grade. They came for a visit, but unfortunately we did have some trouble when we left them overnight in our classroom. They put teddy bear stamps all over our work, hid in the classroom from us, and even escaped to Mr. Metzger’s office. But, most of the time they stayed with us in class. We read many Berenstain Bear books and other bear stories, wrote our own stories about our teddy bears, and had a lot of fun doing teddy bear math using scales and measuring tapes. We also interviewed our teddy bears and worked on comprehension activities. We loved having our special visitors in class. They even surprised us with a pancake breakfast.
FRIDAY BLOG 
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