Tag: fiction

Exploring Life on the Creek

The Owlets are fully immersed in their Life on the Creek project, and their curiosity is flowing! To begin, students shared what they already knew about the creek and created a Wonder Wall to collect questions about what they hoped to discover. With a little practice learning that questions often begin with words like how, what, why, where, and who, the Owlets got right to work asking thoughtful questions. They were especially curious about the animals that live in the creek, where the water comes from, and where it goes. Their Wonder Wall is already filled with ideas, setting the stage for continued exploration and discovery.

The first investigation focused on the creek as a whole and its different features, including riffles, pools, bends, and the mouth. Inside the classroom, the Owlets worked together to create a beautiful creek mural. As their learning grows, students are adding labels and details such as rocks, logs, and trees. Animals will also find their way onto the mural as the Owlets learn more about the creatures that call the creek home.

As part of the investigation, students have been building their vocabulary by tracing new words and discussing what each creek feature means. One student offered a wonderful description of the creek’s mouth, explaining that it is “when the creek water spits out into a different creek.” Another helped create signs for riffles, the shallow, fast-moving sections of the creek. These conversations show how the Owlets are using their own words and observations to make sense of new concepts. Students also explored their creativity by using natural materials and art supplies to build their own miniature creeks.

One animal that has captured the Owlets’ attention is the pond turtle. Although no turtles have been spotted during creek walks, students learned that turtles enjoy living near the water and basking on rocks. After reading Turtle Splash, a counting story, the Owlets created their own turtles using cutout pieces to form the shells. They paid close attention to the red and yellow stripes on pond turtles’ heads, making sure to include these special details in their artwork.

The turtle investigation also brought together math, literacy, and art. Students counted their turtles, practiced writing numbers, and created their own turtle stories. Soon, these stories will become part of the classroom creek mural, adding another layer to the growing record of their discoveries.

Through questions, observation, hands-on exploration, and creative expression, the Owlets are learning to look closely at the natural world around them. Their Life on the Creek project is just beginning, and their curiosity is sure to lead to many more exciting discoveries!

#SaklanProjectWork

Terrific Trees: The Hoot Owls Begin Their Project Approach Unit

The Hoot Owls are branching out into a new adventure with their Terrific Trees Project Approach unit! Through hands-on exploration, storytelling, observation, and lots of curiosity, our young learners are beginning to discover just how much there is to learn about trees.

Solving the Mystery of Trees

To kick off the project, the Hoot Owls explored a mystery box filled with clues: a leaf, a piece of wood, an owl, an apple, a bird, a squirrel, and an acorn. The children shared guesses and used their critical-thinking skills to figure out what connected all the objects. After plenty of thoughtful discussion, one student excitedly announced the answer: trees!

Sharing What We Know

Before beginning a new project, it’s important to discover what students already know. The Hoot Owls dictated true stories and drew pictures about their experiences with trees. Their stories included how trees grow from seeds, trees in their homes and neighborhoods, and animals that live in trees.

During circle time, each child had the opportunity to stand in front of the class and share their story. This gave them a chance to build confidence in public speaking, practice expressing their ideas, and elaborate on what they already know.

Building the Project Together

Next, the Hoot Owls began creating a Topic Web, a growing document that captures what they know and what they discover throughout the project. Their initial ideas revealed knowledge about fruit trees, products made from wood, parts of a tree, and animals that live among the branches. As the project continues, the Topic Web will expand alongside their understanding.

The class also created a Wonder Wall to collect the questions that will guide their investigation. What do they want to know about trees? Which questions might lead to new discoveries? By grouping their questions into related topics, the Hoot Owls can explore their curiosities and revisit the Wonder Wall as new questions emerge.

Their fourth-grade buddies joined in to help! The older students modeled how to ask thoughtful questions and encouraged the Hoot Owls to share their own ideas.

Exploring Trees in Our Neighborhood

The Hoot Owls took their learning outside with a neighborhood walk to investigate the trees growing around Saklan. Armed with observation journals, they sketched the trees they discovered and looked closely at their different shapes and features.

With Zuly’s help and a tree-identification app, the children identified several varieties, including redwoods, sequoias, gingkos, and buckeyes. They noticed that many of the trees were incredibly tall. One child captured the excitement perfectly with the observation of the day:

“It’s like 7 miles tall!”

The group also collected a few spiky seed pods from a gum tree to bring back to the classroom for closer examination.

As the Terrific Trees project continues, the Hoot Owls will build on their observations, investigate their questions, and make new discoveries together. Through Project Approach learning, even a simple neighborhood walk can become an opportunity to think critically, communicate ideas, and explore the world with wonder!

#SaklanProjectWork

Meeting with the Police Chief

The 8th-grade class recently finished reading the novel All American Boys. The story is told by two narrators, Rashad and Quinn, whose lives are forever changed by an act of police brutality.

The 8th graders were split into two groups to create character posters of each of the narrators, including a drawing of the character, a list of adjectives/phrases that describe the character, descriptions of how the character changes in the story, and relevant quotes from the character. The students reviewed their own annotations and quotes they had selected and analyzed throughout their reading of the novel, then discussed and decided what to include on their character poster.

The 8th graders explored some of the issues addressed in the novel from the police perspective when they met with Moraga Police Chief Jon King. Saklan parent Gary Hill arranged this meeting for the class and participated in the discussion.

Before the meeting, the 8th-grade students answered some questions about the Moraga Police Department website. They then prepared their own questions to ask the police chief, including:

  • What is your favorite/best part of your job?
  • What is the hardest part of your job?
  • What do you want to achieve as a police officer?
  • What is an average day like?
  • As a citizen, how do you think I can support my local police department?
  • What measures or training are in place to help prevent bias from impacting the work of members of the Moraga police force?

Meanwhile, Gary and Chief King prepared for the meeting by reading All American Boys.

Police Chief King shared his view that the police should be accessible and helpful partners in the community instead of playing the role of an intimidating presence wearing a uniform and driving around in a police car with closed windows. He explained that he wore his polo shirt instead of his full uniform so that he could be more approachable and send a friendlier message to the Saklan students.

In addition to sharing some of his own stories about the Moraga police department’s policies for fighting crime and addressing citizen complaints about police misconduct, Chief King explained how the conduct of some police officers like Paul in the novel results from a mix of knowledge and emotions. He spoke strongly about the contrast between officers’ behavior, like the fictional Paul, and the training his officers receive in Moraga. Chief King also shared the shocked and saddened reactions among the entire Moraga police force when they watched the news about the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

Gary shared his own stories about his encounters with the police. He encouraged the students to stand up to racial injustice with courage and compassion.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Chief King and Gary Hill for sharing their time, wisdom, and personal stories with our 8th-grade class!

#SaklanCompassion #SaklanCourage