Save the date for the 2nd Annual Taste of Traditions Dance and Potluck on Saturday, April 18th. The event will be held from 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. on the Saklan Sports Court. All Saklan families are invited to join us for this family-friendly event!
Special thanks to the Saklan Parent Association for hosting this event. Stay tuned for more information in the April edition of the PA Newsletter.
#SaklanCommunity #SaklanPA
The Saklan School is delighted to share that our Annual Art Show will once again be held off campus at the Moraga Art Gallery.
To secure this wonderful gallery space, the show has been moved back by one week. It will now open on Friday, May 1, with a special reception from 3:00–5:00 p.m.
More details on the Art Show will be shared after Spring Break. We look forward to celebrating the creativity and talent of our students in this beautiful community setting and hope you will join us for this inspiring event!
We are excited to share an update on the Redwood Grove Treehouse construction. After two weeks of work, the first phase of the Redwood Grove is now complete, and it is already inspiring to see this vision begin to take shape. The new space already hints at what this area will become for our students: a place for exploration, play, imagination, and connection.
The second phase of the project, including the planting of additional redwood trees, will happen this summer.
We are deeply grateful to everyone whose support helped make this first stage possible, and we look forward to sharing more as the project continues.
The Owlets are on the learning highway! As part of their Things That Go! project, these preschoolers have been exploring vehicles that travel on land—and recently, one of their favorite helper vehicles made a very exciting visit: a garbage truck.
It’s safe to say the garbage truck always captures their attention. No matter what is happening in the classroom, the moment one Owlet hears it pull into Saklan’s parking lot, all eyes turn to the window. This time, the excitement continued as the driver stepped out and spent about 30 minutes talking with the students and showing them the truck up close.
The Owlets were fascinated and incredibly observant. They noticed a variety of features, including a fire extinguisher (in case garbage catches fire), a ladder, and even a wooden stick used to move stuck items. They were especially excited to see the garbage grabber—just like the ones they use on the ECE yard! Students also spotted a toolbox, a whiteboard, and discovered that the engine is located in the front of the truck, unlike their school bus.
Experiences like this bring learning to life, allowing students to connect their curiosity with real-world observations. For the Owlets, this visit was not only memorable but also a meaningful step in their journey of exploration and discovery.
#SaklanProjectWork
All Saklan families are invited to our Spring Follies Talent Show next Friday, March 27, at 1:30 p.m. at Holy Trinity Church (right next door to Saklan).
This fan-favorite event features students from Kindergarten through 8th grade taking the stage to share their amazing talents with our community.
We hope to see you there for an afternoon of creativity, courage, and fun!
Fractions have taken center stage in the fifth-grade classroom, with the students focusing on understanding why fraction operations work. Rather than jumping straight to procedures, students have used visual models, discussion, and hands-on exploration to build a strong conceptual foundation—one that allows them to reason through problems, explain their thinking, and apply their learning in new situations.
One particularly memorable example came from the class’s daily fruit demonstrations. When students worked through fraction problems using numbers alone, answers sometimes varied. But when fruit appeared on the cutting board, and students could see fractional pieces in relation to a whole, their thinking quickly aligned. Concepts that once felt abstract suddenly became clear, and earlier mistakes turned into meaningful learning moments.
Students also tackled a real-world-inspired challenge from Mateo of BRAD Co., who needed help organizing 24 quests across game levels. Through modeling and discussion, students discovered that the expression 24 ÷ 2 can represent two valid interpretations: 12 quests in each of two levels, or 12 levels with two quests each. By the end, students demonstrated that both solutions were correct, supporting their reasoning through clear and thoughtful representations.
In another activity, students evaluated mathematical claims, determining whether statements were always true, sometimes true, or never true. They backed up their conclusions with examples, diagrams, and models, strengthening their ability to generalize relationships between factors and products when working with fractions.
This kind of reasoning: making claims, defending them with evidence, and revising thinking through discussion, builds the mathematical communication and problem-solving skills that prepare students well for middle school mathematics and beyond.
Saklan’s Starlight Gala Online Auction is open! Items open for bidding include front row seats for upcoming Saklan productions, free dress passes, items from the greater community, fun experiences with Saklan teachers and families, student art, and more! Some experiences are available for a flat fee to a limited number of people, so be sure to secure your spot today.
The online auction is open to the greater community, so if you know of others who would be interested in the items, feel free to share the link with them!
All proceeds from the auction support the unique programs offered at Saklan, including: field experiences, guest experts, Project Based Learning, family groups, and professional development opportunities for our amazing teachers. Your support is greatly appreciated!
Bidding in the online auction will continue through Tuesday, March 24th, at 9:00 p.m. As we like to say, bid early and bid often!
In the online auction, you will see that the first six items (shown below) are Live Auction items, meaning they will be sold during the Starlight Gala on Saturday.
If you are interested in bidding on these items but can’t make the gala, reach out to Emily at ewilliamson@saklan.org by Saturday at 2:00 p.m. to set up a proxy bid.
At this year’s auction, our Fund-a-Need is about something that feels especially important right now.
The world our children are growing up in is changing quickly. A lot of attention is paid to what students need to know to keep up. That matters, of course. But I would argue that more importantly is who they are becoming.
Are they learning to work with others?
Can they solve problems?
Can they listen across differences?
Can they stick with something hard?
Can they stay grounded in themselves while also growing in empathy for people whose lives may look very different from their own?
Those are not nice to haves in the work of education. They are central to it.
At Saklan, we believe those qualities are built through experience. They grow when children are well-known by their teachers. They grow when students are given meaningful opportunities to collaborate, create, persist, and solve real problems together. They grow when a school makes space for belonging, challenge, reflection, and joy.
At Saklan, that kind of growth starts early and deepens over time.
It looks like our youngest students noticing that some trees on the playground have already dropped their leaves while others are still holding on, and turning that simple observation into a real investigation—sorting leaves, sketching them in observation notebooks, learning their parts, and filling a Wonder Wall with questions.
It looks like kindergartners exploring the stories behind their names—interviewing their families, learning about one another. In the process, they begin to navigate friendship, identity, and belonging while practicing the problem-solving skills that help communities thrive.
And it looks like 8th graders in Puerto Rico, working side by side to help rebuild, listening to the stories of people whose lives were changed by Hurricane Maria, and coming to understand that service, resilience, and empathy are not just ideas we talk about at school—they are things you live.
These are very different experiences, but they are connected by the same purpose. In each case, students are learning habits that matter deeply: how to notice, how to wonder, how to solve problems, how to connect, and how to contribute.
That kind of learning takes intention, skill, and care. It takes talented teachers. It takes intentional programs. It takes time, trust, and experiences that invite students to lean in fully.
That is why this year’s Fund-a-Need matters.
Your support helps make possible the relationships that allow children to feel known and valued. It creates the kinds of projects and experiences that spark curiosity, challenge students to think deeply, and give them meaningful opportunities to solve problems together. And it strengthens the environments where students build confidence, empathy, and resilience over time.
Join me in supporting this work.
By making a Fund-a-Need donation, you are investing in more than a single program. You are investing in the daily work of helping children become thoughtful, capable, compassionate people who can contribute meaningfully to the world around them.
That is work worth supporting, and I am deeply grateful to be part of a community that understands its value.
Warmly,
David
We look forward to seeing you this Sunday, March 15th, from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. for the PA’s Spring Service Social in the Saklan Pavilion. Light snacks will be provided. Please bring your reusable water bottles.
Together, we will be assembling kits of food for White Pony Express to distribute to local unhoused neighbors who do not have kitchen appliances.
#SaklanPA #SaklanCompassion
Seventh graders at Saklan recently completed an engaging Project-Based Learning (PBL) unit focused on one of today’s most urgent environmental challenges: single-use plastics.
The project began with a look close to home. Students explored the impact of plastic waste found locally in Moraga and also examined the debris that washes up on beaches in Hawai‘i while studying the Pacific ecosystem. These investigations were guided by the driving question: What can we do to help reduce single-use plastics in my area?
Working in teams, students combined research, creativity, and problem-solving to develop their own eco-friendly solutions. Their ideas included biodegradable straw wrappers, edible silverware, reusable snack bags made from sustainable materials, and renewable bamboo shopping bags.
Throughout the project, students followed the engineering design process: brainstorming ideas, building prototypes, testing their designs, and refining them along the way. The classroom quickly became a hub of experimentation, collaboration, and innovation.
The unit culminated in a lively presentation to the “Sharks of Saklan,” a panel that evaluated each team’s proposal in a real-world style entrepreneurial pitch. Students confidently presented their prototypes and explained the research and thinking behind their designs. The panel praised their creativity, teamwork, and thoughtful approach to addressing a global environmental issue.
Students also extended their work beyond the classroom by writing persuasive letters to companies, encouraging them to consider adopting their ideas—or similar environmentally responsible alternatives. Now, the class is eagerly waiting to see whether any companies respond.
This project beautifully highlighted Saklan’s commitment to learning by doing. By tackling a real-world challenge, students not only deepened their understanding of environmental science but also experienced what it means to think creatively, collaborate with others, and imagine solutions that could make a positive impact on the planet.
#SaklanPBL #LearningByDoing
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