Tag: writing

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

Project Highlight: Curiosity and Community

1st grade kicked off their year of project work with a PBL unit asking, “How can we learn about and share one another’s stories to grow our community? This unit was an exploration of how to use writing, speaking, and listening skills to increase a sense of belonging.

With their Kindergarten Names project from last year as a launching pad, students wondered what more they could add to their personal stories to keep building community at Saklan. They expanded on the name interviews from Kindergarten and asked their families more about their heritage and ancestry before presenting to each other in class. Next, using all their family stories and mentor texts, 1st graders wrote autobiographies. These were shared with family and friends at a rich cultural celebration filled with food and plenty of smiles. However, this experience was also intentionally a time for formative feedback. Families listened to the 1st graders present their autobiographies and provided each child with glows (things they are doing well) and grows (areas to work on) based on their presentation skills.

Next, they learned about the difference between an autobiography and biography. As students continued to work on staying curious and building community, they embarked upon writing biographies about their 8th grade family group leaders. Saklan’s unique cross-grade and cross-divisional Social Emotional Learning and Leadership program, Family Groups, is led by 8th graders and designed to create meaningful bonds between students from all grade levels K-8. This PBL unit was a perfect opportunity for 8th graders to be helpers and biography subjects. 1st graders interviewed, wrote, revised, and shared biographies they wrote about their 8th-grade family group leaders, staying curious and strengthening their community relationships through the process.

Join us at CLAS on Friday, November 6th to hear the first graders read excerpts from the 8th grade biographies. This will also be the final presentation assessment of all the hard work the 1st graders have put into improving their listening, speaking, and presentation skills.

#SaklanProjectWork #SaklanCommunity

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

Staff Spotlight: Coach Rob

For Coach Rob, Physical Education is about much more than sports. It’s an opportunity for students to explore, take risks, build relationships, and discover what they’re capable of.

Now in his third year at Saklan, Coach Rob teaches PE to students in Kindergarten through eighth grade, giving him the unique opportunity to work with students throughout nearly their entire Saklan journey.

Coach Rob draws much of his approach to teaching from his own interests and experiences. Sport, wellness, travel, culture, and exploring new places have always been important parts of his life.

“I try to bring that same sense of curiosity and adventure into PE,” he shares. “I want students to experience new games, sports, challenges, and ways of working with people that they might not always choose on their own.”

For Coach Rob, movement can be a powerful vehicle for learning not just about physical skills, but about ourselves and the world around us.

Learning Through Play

Coach Rob sees play as an essential part of learning.

“Play gives kids the opportunity to explore, problem-solve, communicate, compete, take risks, fail safely, and try again,” he explains. “I don’t see play as something separate from learning. I think it’s one of the ways kids learn best.”

His goal is to create an environment where students can be present, challenge themselves, try new things, and most importantly, enjoy moving.

One of the most rewarding parts of teaching PE is watching students discover that they don’t have to fit a particular definition of an “athlete” to find success.

Coach Rob especially enjoys seeing a student who may not initially consider themselves athletic or have much interest in sports find an activity they genuinely enjoy. That might be a sport, a game, running, an adventure, a team challenge, or simply realizing they can accomplish something they didn’t think they could do.

“I want every student to understand that there is more than one way to be successful in Physical Education,” he says.

Be Willing to Try

If Coach Rob could offer his students one piece of advice, it would be simple: Be willing to try.

“You don’t have to be the best at everything. Be present, give your best effort, try something new, and be willing to be uncomfortable sometimes. That’s usually where growth starts.”

Ultimately, Coach Rob hopes students remember his classes not simply for the games they played or the skills they learned, but for how they felt while learning.

“I hope they remember that we played. We explored. We competed. We laughed. We tried things we weren’t always good at. And we learned how to work with different people.”

More than anything, he hopes students leave PE with healthy habits, healthy relationships, and the confidence to step into whatever comes next.

Democracy in Action: Saklan Students Take the Lead

Another exciting Student Council election cycle came to a close at Saklan last Friday, offering a wonderful reminder of the importance of student voice and civic engagement within the school community.

This year, fifteen out of thirty-three Middle School students submitted their candidacies for Student Council officer positions, and each candidate put forth a strong effort throughout the election process.

The Middle School officer candidates presented lively and engaging speeches at CLAS last Friday. Students in Grades 1–8 then participated in the balloting process in their classrooms, with the results of the Middle School election announced just before the end of the school day.

Earning a seat as a Saklan Student Council officer involves more than simply winning the popular vote. Each candidate had to submit a Letter of Intent, make a campaign poster, sit for an interview conducted by Jennifer Lettieri and Kim Parks, and share slogans and stickers with the Lower School students during lunch recess. The speeches presented at CLAS were the culmination of their campaigning.

Candidates were awarded points for timeliness and quality when carrying out each of these tasks, and the candidates with the most points were the winners.

Lower School Student Council representatives were selected by their classmates and respective homeroom teachers in grades 1-5. This year, two Kindergarten representatives were also selected, and they will join the Lower and Middle School students at regular Student Council meetings every other Wednesday.

Congratulations to our 2026-2027 Student Council members!

Middle School Officers

President– Mae

Vice President– Willow

Treasurer – Makena

Publicity Chair – Roni

Secretary – Elise

Environmental Affairs Chair – Meredith

Lower School Representatives

Kindergarten – Cayden and Graham

Grade 1 – Alina and Noah

Grade 2 – Can and Nora

Grade 3 – Evan and Addys

Grade 4 – Olin and Satya

Grade 5 – Sam and Ruby

Kinder Korner: Building Connections

One of the special traditions Hoot Owls and Kindergartners experience at Saklan is Kinder Korner. These gatherings give Kindergarteners the chance to step into leadership roles as they guide the Hoot Owls through fun, educational activities in math, reading, or science. For the Hoot Owls, it’s an exciting introduction to Kindergarten that fosters meaningful connections between students and teachers across the two grades.

For their first visit of the year, the Kindergarten class celebrated the first day of fall by teaching the Hoot Owls how to make leaf rubbings. The Kindergartners gathered leaves for their younger friends and demonstrated how to place the leaves under the paper, with the veins facing up, before using the side of a crayon to gently rub across the paper and reveal the leaf’s shape and texture.

As the Hoot Owls created their artwork, Kindergarten students practiced explaining directions, demonstrating techniques, and encouraging their younger classmates.

Through Kinder Korner, students in both grades benefit from the connection. Hoot Owls gain familiarity and confidence as they look ahead to Kindergarten, while Kindergarteners develop leadership, responsibility, and empathy by helping their younger peers learn.

Learn More about Kindergarten at Saklan

Next Thursday, October 8th, Riva will host a Kindergarten at Saklan Information Session in the Humanities Room at 8:45 a.m. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the Kindergarten experience at Saklan and how families can help prepare their children for this important transition.

Riva will share what a typical day looks like, what students learn, and how Kindergarten builds on the skills and experiences developed in Preschool and Pre-K. She’ll also offer practical tips for preparing children academically, socially, and emotionally, and answer your questions.

We would love for you to join us!

Family Groups Begin the Year with Inclusion and Connection

On September 29, Saklan’s Kindergarten through eighth-grade students gathered for their first Family Group meeting of the school year, coming together across grade levels to build connections and explore what it means to be inclusive and accepting.

Family Groups are a Saklan tradition that brings students from different grades together throughout the year. These mixed-age groups create opportunities for students to get to know one another, learn from each other, and build a stronger sense of belonging across the school.

For their first meeting, students began by getting to know the members of their Family Group through introductions and fun activities designed to help them discover new things about one another. Students paired up, asked questions, shared their answers, and looked for connections within the group.

Each group then turned its attention to what it means to be inclusive and accepting at Saklan. Students discussed what inclusion can look like (including others, working with different people, and being kind), and what it means to be accepting (including not judging others, giving people second chances, and allowing others to be themselves).

Students were also invited to reflect on times when they have felt included and accepted at Saklan. They shared examples of classmates being kind, inviting them to join an activity, playing together at recess, or showing genuine interest in getting to know them.

To represent the idea that everyone contributes something unique to the group, each student decorated a paper paw with things they enjoy or qualities that represent them. The individual paws were brought together to create a Family Group poster: a visual reminder that while each student is an individual, everyone has a place within the group.

The meeting set the tone for the year ahead: getting to know one another, celebrating what makes each person unique, and creating a community where everyone feels welcomed, valued, and included.

#SaklanSEL #SaklanCommunity

Head’s Corner: Helping Children Discover the Power of Agency

In my last piece, I wrote about lighthouse parenting: the idea that our children need us to be steady and dependable without constantly steering their course. A lighthouse provides guidance, security, and clear boundaries, but it does not remove every obstacle or determine the path.

That raises an important question: What develops in children when we give them room to navigate?

One answer is agency. AI researcher Andrej Karpathy has observed that agency is “both more powerful and scarcer than intelligence.” Intelligence may help children know what they could do; agency helps them actually do it.

Psychologists describe the belief that our choices can influence outcomes as an internal locus of control. As The Economist recently noted, people with a stronger sense of control tend to act more purposefully—from searching harder for work to saving more and following through on entrepreneurial ambitions. Agency does not guarantee success, but it makes action more likely.

Children develop that belief through experience. We can tell them they are capable, but they also need opportunities to experience themselves being capable. They need to make decisions, attempt solutions, encounter consequences, recover from mistakes, and discover that their efforts can change an outcome.

This is where lighthouse parenting becomes especially important. Rather than immediately solving a problem, we can help children understand it, consider their choices, and decide on a next step.

At Saklan, we want students to have repeated experiences of agency. Project Based Learning asks them to investigate authentic questions, make decisions, revise their thinking, work through uncertainty, and create something that matters. Classroom conversations invite students to share their perspectives, while reflection helps them recognize the connection between their choices and their growth.

Ultimately, the aim of lighthouse parenting is not simply to do less for our children. It is to make room for them to do more for themselves—and, over time, for others.

Perhaps one of the greatest gifts we can give children is not a perfectly cleared path, but the growing conviction that they can help determine where the path leads.

We can provide the steady light. They must gradually learn to navigate.

Warmly,

David

Head’s Corner: Lighthouse Parenting

This blog was inspired by Russell Shaw’s Atlantic essay, “Lighthouse Parents Have More Confident Kids.” Shaw’s description of the lighthouse parent—a steady adult who offers guidance and support without trying to control every part of a child’s journey—gave me a useful way to think about the work we do with children at Saklan.

Parenting did not become a commonly used verb until around 1970.

Before that, people were simply parents.

Since then, parenting has become something we study, measure, and constantly try to improve. There are books, podcasts, experts, courses, apps, and endless advice about how to raise children well.

Developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik suggests that instead of seeing children as people with whom we are in relationship, we can begin to see them as projects whose outcomes we are responsible for producing.

She describes the difference as being like the difference between a carpenter and a gardener.

I do not think she is far off.

Along the way, we have developed all sorts of labels for parents: helicopter parents, snowplow parents, tiger parents, free-range parents, concierge parents, and more. 

But the image that best reflects the kind of parenting we try to encourage at Saklan is the lighthouse parent.

Think of a lighthouse as a steady presence. It offers light, direction, and warning when rocks lie ahead. But it does not pursue the boat, take the wheel, or eliminate the waves.

That is something I fail at regularly.

When my daughter Finn struggles, my instinct is often to fix the problem. A few months ago, I saw a student who was visibly upset and sitting alone. I went over to help. I asked questions about what was wrong and what I could do.

It was not helping. In fact, the tears increased.

Finn was nearby and came over to whisper in my ear, “Daddy, talking does not help. You always do that.” 

She was right.

Sometimes the most helpful thing we can do is not offer a solution immediately. Sometimes (most times?) our children need us to listen, acknowledge what is hard, and give them room to find their way through the experience.

When I am at my best, I ask: “Do you want to be heard, to be hugged, or to be helped?”

That question communicates I hear you, I am here for you, I believe you can handle this.

That does not mean we leave children on their own. Lighthouse parenting is not passive parenting. Lighthouses still warn us about danger. They provide guidance and boundaries. They shine a light when the way forward is unclear.

But they do not calm the waves or move the rocks- nor should they.

At Saklan, we believe children are capable. We believe mistakes are part of learning. We believe clear boundaries express care. And we believe that struggle is healthy.

We cannot make the water perfectly calm for our children. Nor should we want to. Children need opportunities to face challenges, take risks, recover from mistakes, repair relationships, and discover that they are more capable than they realized.

Our work is to provide the steady light they need to find their way.

Warmly, 

David 

What Is Democracy?

What is the meaning of the word “democracy”?

That was the question Saklan’s eighth graders explored as they launched their 2026 Midterm Elections study. Before diving into the details of elections and the political process, students first took a step back to consider the meaning of one of the central ideas behind them: democracy.

To begin, the class read and discussed a series of quotes about democracy. Students considered different perspectives, shared their interpretations, and began thinking about what ideas and values are at the heart of a democratic society.

Defining Democracy Through Words and Images

Next, students were invited to contribute to a classroom display by choosing one of two creative responses.

They could create a sketch in response to the question, “What image or symbol might we use to represent democracy?” Or, they could write their own definition of democracy.

The different responses allowed students to explore the concept from both visual and written perspectives. What symbols represent democracy? What values are essential to it? What does democracy look like in practice?

Finally, the class came together for a group brainstorm. Students shared their ideas and identified the concepts they felt were most important to include in a collective definition of democracy.

Their ideas were brought together into a final list that is on display in the Saklan Library, creating a student-generated definition that will serve as a starting point for their continued exploration throughout the elections unit.

By beginning with a question rather than a predetermined definition, our eighth graders are learning that understanding democracy requires more than memorizing a word. It requires asking questions, considering different perspectives, listening to others, and thinking critically about the ideas that shape our communities and our world.