Parent-Teacher Conferences

Mark your calendar for third quarter Parent-Teacher Conferences! Conference times are available starting at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 18 and Friday, March 19. Both days will be noon dismissal for all students.

To sign-up for conferences, please find the correct link for your child’s grade below:
Preschool parents sign up for conferences here.
Lower School parents sign up for conferences here.
Middle School parents sign up for conferences here.

All conferences will be conducted via Zoom, and your child’s teacher will email you the Zoom link ahead of your meeting time.

Conferences are a great opportunity to ask questions, learn more about your child’s progress, and continue to develop a relationship with your child’s teacher and the Saklan community. If you are not able to schedule a time during the conference days, please reach out to your child’s teacher to arrange a meeting.

Thank you for your continued support of your child’s academic progress and social emotional learning, especially during this strangest of all years!

#SaklanCommunity

Eighth Grade Rockets

Since February, the eighth-grade students have been learning about physics in Science class. To start, they’ve learned about the forces on our planet: gravity, air resistance, friction, and centripetal force. They have also been thinking about Isaac Newton’s Three Laws of Motion, and working on ways to put those laws into real-life scenarios.

For example, eighth graders were tasked with creating a rocket that could fight air resistance and gravity, and that could exhibit all of Newton’s three laws. They started by designing paper airplanes, to learn how different designs could create different amounts of drag. Then, they graduated to rockets.

Working in pairs, students designed different wings and types of cones for the tops of their rockets, with the goal of building a rocket that could not only defy gravity, but also fly the highest out of the whole class.

All of their hard work culminated in an epic rocket launch in the parking lot across the street from the school. Students used an altimeter to measure the height of their rocket as it blasted into the air; while all the rockets reached great heights, one design made it an astonishing 40 meters–approximately 131 feet–in the sky!

#SaklanHandsOn

100 Days of Hoot Owls

While most Saklan students celebrated the 100th day of school back in February, the Hoot Owls in Ms. Traci’s class marked their 100th day of in-person learning earlier this week, on March 1. From the outside classroom to the inside classroom, Hoot Owls have grown so much in 100 days, and have been eagerly awaiting the landmark!

In addition to physical and academic growth, Hoot Owl friendships have also flourished, and it is a joy to see them working together as a team. To celebrate this, and all their accomplishments over the past 100 days, students celebrated by making 100 Day crowns, which they decorated with stickers, gems, and markers.

The Hoot owls also practiced counting to 100, using some small toys and gems. The celebration capped off with an extra healthy snack, provided by Hoot Owl families. Making it to 100 days of in-person learning holds extra significance this year, and it’s great to see the Hoot Owls celebrate in style!

#SaklanAcademic

Science in the Garden

On Wednesday, the sixth grade class went to the local Moraga Garden to do some nature drawing, writing, and learning about the space itself. The visit was in connection with the Ecology and Energy science unit.

At the garden, students learned about how the ground is prepared each year before the planting season, what gets planted, and the garden’s practice of using local, organic fertilizer.

During the visit, students also spent time drawing, journaling, and getting a sense of the space. When asked what they thought was beautiful in the garden, they had a lot to share:

“The lemon beebalm flowers.” – Noah
“The birds chirping.” – Damon
“The soft grass below me.” – Danny
“The fresh oxygen – I mean fresh air.” – Sonia
“The hawks flying around us.” – Juliet
“The tangling roots that are growing up the trellis.” – Loralyn
“The chickens!” – Sadie

#SaklanInquiryPromotesCreativity

Parent Education Night

This Tuesday, March 2, the Saklan Parents Association will host a Parent Education workshop, discussing body image for all genders. The workshop will feature Jennifer Berger from About Face, an organization dedicated to combating toxic media culture and unrealistic beauty standards.

The talk will cover topics including social media, body size, and gender expectations, and will equip parents with tools to talk to their children about these and other body image issues. Information on attending this workshop is below – we hope to see you there!

Tools for Helping Young People with Media and Body Image
Tuesday, March 2. 6:30-8 p.m.
Join via Zoom
Meeting ID: 846 6138 2057
Passcode: 432014

#SaklanCommunity

Fifth Grade Lap Books

As part of Black History Month, the Saklan fifth graders completed a novel study on the amazing book Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman by Dorothy Sterling. They learned about the incredible woman Harriet Tubman was, and her many important contributions to society.

To further their learning, each fifth grader chose an influential African American to learn more about, from historical figures to modern day icons. After they finished their research, each student created a lap book that detailed key dates, important accomplishments, famous quotes, and other inspiring aspects of their selected person’s life.

Several students shared their books with the broader Saklan community during Friday Flag, explaining why they chose the person they did, and highlighting some of the most important or most fascinating facts they’d learned. Awesome job, fifth graders!

#SaklanDiversity

Self-Control

During February, Saklan students have been learning about and practicing different strategies for self-control. The students in K-2 have worked with Ms. Natalie reading My Powerful Mind by Iman Saint Jean. The book follows the story of Mya, and shows children how they can practice self-control through mindfulness.

Mindfulness has also been a focus in Ms. Jessica’s class, where students participate in Mindful Meditation every Monday, as a way of calming their bodies and feelings.

Reading the books Waiting is Not Easy by Mo Willems and When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang also helped introduce these topics. The class talked about how it’s okay to feel negative feelings-like anger, sadness, or frustration-and how self-control can help us choose what our body does with those feelings. For example, taking deep breaths or spending some time alone, instead of yelling or hitting someone.

Family Groups also worked to identify ways of exhibiting self-control. With encouragement from the eighth graders, students came up with their self-control “superpower!”

#SaklanSocialEmotionalLearning #SaklanFamilyGroups

Spirit Day Re-Cap

Throughout February, Saklan students showed off their school spirit by participating in themed Spirit Days! Each Friday was another chance for Saklan students and faculty to dress up in unique ways.

Spirit Day Fridays kicked off on February 5 with Superhero Day! Students showed off their creativity, with some choosing to honor our hero healthcare workers with their costumes.

Next up, on February 12, was Valentine’s Spirit Day. Students wore colors associated with Valentine’s Day to show their love for our wonderful Saklan Community!

For Sports Day, on February 19, Saklan students wore uniforms and sport’s gear that represented their favorite teams from the Bay Area and beyond!

Our month of Spirit Fridays came to a close today with a Saklan Favorite – Pajama Day! Even in their coziest pajamas, our incredible Saklan students were still focused, hard-working, and full of school spirit!

#SaklanSpirit

Head’s Corner

The Fable of Mug Shot 7053

A couple of weeks ago, I shared this New York Times article on Rosa Parks in a faculty meeting. The article itself is fascinating, with lots of fodder for good conversation. It unpacks the popular myth of Rosa Parks and her famous refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus – the myth that a meek, tired seamstress was too exhausted to walk to the back of the bus and accidentally started a movement that changed civil rights.

In reality, Rosa Parks had been an activist fighting for racial justice for decades before her bus stand. Though the word “quiet” was used in most of the obituaries that ran after her 2005 death, she was anything but.

The fable of Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement of the time betrays the reality, pain, and sacrifice, and down plays how resistant Americans were, and often still are, to change that challenges the status quo.

As educators, we used this article to examine the fables and myths we have heard, and those we have perpetuated. From Christopher Columbus to “American Exceptionalism,” we owe it to our students, to ourselves, and to our society to take a closer look at what and how we are teaching.

When you have the time, I encourage you to take a few minutes to read the New York Times piece – what fables do you know?

#SaklanDiversity

Eighth Grade Acts of Service

A group of eighth grade students spent the Valentine’s Day holiday fulfilling an important aspect of Saklan’s mission – to ‘act compassionately.’ As part of the Team Compassion group with youth volunteer non-profit Pledge to Humanity, students made homemade Valentine’s Day cards and delivered them, along with a rose plant, to every resident at Aegis Moraga Senior Home.

This act of service not only brightened the spirits of the senior home’s residents, it also was fulfilling for the students. They enjoyed helping seniors who have been especially isolated during this difficult year know that they are not alone, and in fact, are remembered and loved!

#SaklanCompassionate