Arepas

Each country in the Spanish-speaking world has a distinct comfort food. Colombians consider arepas their bread, which is part of their daily life and an essential part of their culture. The sixth graders had previously watched the movie Encanto and loved it! When Maestra Ivonne saw the movie, the meaningful scene where Mirabel is healed by eating one of her mother’s homemade arepas stood out to her. Therefore, she was inspired to share with the students a glimpse of Colombian culture, which is another Spanish-speaking country.  

The sixth graders made their own cheese arepas following the directions Maestra Ivonne gave them in Spanish. They combined cornmeal with warm water and used their hands to make dough (masa). They divided the masa into 3 or 4 patties using both hands to ensure the disks were uniform. Then, students cooked the arepas for 5 to 6 minutes on each side or until nice and brown. Finally, they removed the arepas from the heat to add guacamole, which the sixth graders had made fresh that day in class.

The sixth graders enjoyed their arepas and are fantastic chefs!

Deep Dive into Construction

November and December have been exciting months for the Owlets, who have been immersed in the fascinating world of construction!

The Owlets read If I Build A School by Chris Van Dusen to begin the project. From the book they learned that with the right planning and materials you can make any type of building! Since then, our Owlet architects have been busy at school working together as a community to build a lot of interesting buildings.

They built with styrofoam, marshmallows, and pool noodles together as a class, and noticed that when they used toothpicks the materials were easier to stick together. This was also fun because when they were done with one building, they could easily take it apart and build it again!

The Owlets also learned that we can’t make buildings without tools! The Owlets have been enthusiastically learning about the many uses of different tools. To learn about tools, they played a fun game of Tool Bingo! This helped them learn the names of the tools and become more familiar with what they look like.

After they had a good idea of the different tools used in construction, the Owlets were very excited to welcome their first guest expert of the unit, Mr. Javi! Mr. Javi showed the Owlets some really cool tools like a level, hammer and nails, and screws. But the Owlets were even more impressed when he showed them the blueprint to our school! He shared that an architect designs a blueprint before the carpenters begin building the structure. 

David let the Owlets borrow a big binder that was filled with more blueprints of our school! It was interesting to take a closer look at our school’s building; the Owlets were able to point out different parts of the school that they recognized.

With a great understanding of what blueprints are, the Owlets designed their own buildings using a pencil, graph paper and a ruler, just like real architects!

Another important aspect of construction is safety! On a construction site, safety gear like a bright yellow vest, hardhats, gloves, boots and safety goggles are important, as is signage. The Owlets decided to put up signs around their classroom and playground to help others practice being safe too. The students had fun picking out where to put the signs! If you are around the Owlet classroom or walking through their yard, look around to see if you can spot their signs!

Some Owlets worked together to make different types of safety clothing! Some friends made a vest, while others made boots and safety goggles.

Watch this space for more insights into the Owlet Construction Project Unit, or join them for their unit Culmination on Wednesday, December 13th at 8:40 a.m.!

#SaklanProjectWork

Kind Owls

The Hoot Owls and Owlets have been learning about kindness. The Hoot Owls read Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud and David Messing. The book taught the owls that we all carry invisible buckets; when people are kind to us or when we are kind to other people, we fill their buckets as well as our own. However, when they are not kind, it dips into their bucket. The Hoot Owls all agreed to focus on being bucket fillers. They started their own kindness jar in their classroom to serve as their classroom bucket. When teachers or a friend sees a kind act, they write a slip and fill the jar. 

The Hoot Owls and Owlets read A Little Spot of Kindness and A Little Respectful Spot to learn more about kindness. The students discovered that kindness spots are part of happiness spots. Happiness occurs when one is confident, kind, respectful and loving. Being respectful is a big part of kindness. The classes talked about different ways they can be kind and then drew pictures to represent them.

The Hoot Owls and Owlets created kindness trees in their classrooms. You may have noticed the Hoot Owl tree blooming on their door, while the Owlet tree grows on their white board. The Hoot Owls painted hearts, then wrote down ways they can be kind or kind acts they have seen amongst classmates on the hearts. The Owlets are noted acts of kindness on hearts and added them to their tree.

Having physical representations around the classrooms serve as reminders to be kind. They also get the students excited to see their jar becoming full and our trees continuously growing.

#SaklanSEL #SaklanCompassion

Extraordinary Support

Thank you, Saklan, for your extraordinary support of this year’s Annual Giving Fund (AGF) campaign.

Our goals for this year’s campaign are to raise $175,000 and have 100% participation from the Saklan community. To date, we have raised over $157,000 with participation from 88% of our community (a record for this time of the year at Saklan). The chart below shows you where each class is towards reaching the 100% participation goal.

The outpouring of support from the Saklan community this year is humbling and will make a powerful impact on our ability to continue challenging students to think creatively, act compassionately, and live courageously.

If you haven’t had the chance to donate to our AGF campaign, it’s not too late! You can make an AGF gift via the following methods:

  • DONATE ONLINE through our secure site; or
  • Write your check made out to The Saklan School with “Annual Giving Fund” written on the Memo line and deliver it to our office.

If you would like to discuss your gift further, please contact Emily at ewilliamson@saklan.org.

On behalf of all of us at The Saklan School, thank you very much for your support.

#SaklanCompassionate #SaklanAGF

Holiday Food Drive

The Student Council is hosting a food drive in support of Monument Crisis Center, a community-based, non-profit family resource center serving Central and East Contra Costa County.

To ensure a well-rounded selection of food, the Student Council is asking for students in the following grades to focus on the items listed below, however, you may donate any food item on the list.

OwletsVEGETABLES – Canned or Boxed
Hoot OwlsPEANUT BUTTER
KindergartenCEREAL
1st GradeTUNA
2nd GradeFRUIT – Canned or Boxed
3rd GradeMAC & CHEESE
4th GradePASTA
5th GradeSOUPS
6th GradeOATMEAL
7th GradeBEANS
8th GradeRICE

Please, no glass containers, and make sure all items are not yet expired or past their best by date. Donations can be placed in bins in individual classrooms.

Thank you for showing compassion to our local community!

A big thank you to the Student Council for organizing this Food Drive.

#SaklanCompassion

Winter 2024 Enrichment

As the fall session of enrichment comes to an end, we are excited to share the classes that will be offered during the second half of the year! For the winter session the following classes will be available:

Check out the class descriptions here. Classes begin the week of January 22nd, and have limited space available. Registration for the classes will open on Monday, December 4th on the Saklan Enrichment Webpage.

Showcase Your Creativity

All Saklan students are invited to showcase their creativity by designing a cover for this year’s yearbook. All covers are asked to incorporate the theme of friendship, have a vertical orientation, and include the text “The Saklan School 2023-2024.”

If you have any questions about the Yearbook Cover Contest, please email Lauren at lhaberly@saklan.org.

#SaklanCreative

The Power of Gratitude

As we head into Thanksgiving week, I, like many of you, have been thinking about the power of gratitude. We get so busy that it is easy to miss all the opportunities to be grateful. The research clearly points to the fact that sharing gratitude has as much a positive effect on the giver as it does on the receiver. We routinely practice and model gratitude in our classrooms with students but sometimes forget to do it as adults. That being the case, I thought I would take a moment to share some gratitude. 

  • I’m grateful for all the Grandfriends who joined us for our Grandfriends’ Day this morning.  Their presence in the lives of our students helps students become more compassionate, courageous people.
  • I am grateful that our community is built upon the values of kindness, belonging and empathy.
  • I’m grateful for a parent community that is supportive of the work we do here at Saklan, to the point where we have reached 78% AGF participation. 
  • I’m grateful for working with faculty and staff who love children and have embraced project-based learning. In the first 12 weeks of school, they have run 12 projects, invited over 35 guest experts onto campus and taken students on over 25 field experiences. 

Lastly, I am grateful to be able to take next week to slow down, spend time with my family, and truly appreciate how fortunate I am.  

With gratitude,

David  

A Walk through African American History

The 8th grade class has been reading All American Boys, coauthored by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Keily, in their Language Arts/Humanities class. The book delves into themes of racial injustice, identity and social justice.  

In conjunction with vocabulary and literary analysis work, the students have been learning about African American history to place the plot of the novel in historical context. The eighth graders examined the struggles of African Americans to achieve justice and equality after the abolition of slavery in the U.S. in 1865.

Each student studied one “step” in the “walk” through selected events and topics in African American history, starting with the arrival of the first Africans in North America in 1619 and ending with the Black Lives Matter movement today. After examining primary and secondary sources, each junior historian wrote about what they learned and analyzed its relevance to the struggles of Black Americans for social justice throughout American history. They also tied in these topics to the issues and themes in the novel.

Students shared their explanations and interpretations of African American history in individually curated displays that included informational text, historical documents, images and handmade artifacts. Visitors to their classroom exhibit were invited to take a “Walk through African American History” to view the displays and talk to each 8th grade curator. Visitors included the fifth and sixth grade students, teachers and parent guests on campus for CLAS and Middle School Open House.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by the exhibit!

Being Humble

On Thursday, 1st – 8th graders gathered with their family groups to talk about being humble and how they could show humility to others. The students then worked together to write an 8-line, rhyming poem containing a few specific words: humble, turkey, stuffing, grateful and Saklan. The students also dressed up one of their family members as a holiday character or Thanksgiving food item, using only newspaper and tape. The families definitely showed their creativity!

All family groups then gathered on the sports court to share their poems (some groups acted them out) and holiday characters/food items. Among the characters presented were: turkeys, a scarecrow, a football player and a chef!

#SakanSEL