Saklan Valley School - Private School Lamorinda

“I want the Mario computer game and the Sonic video game, Mom! I do, I do, I do.”
“Mikey, I know you do, but your gift card only has $25, and so you can’t have both games: you have to choose. Now which one do you want more?”
“But I want them both!”

Certainly this must be a familiar conversation happening in many a home this month. We parents usually speak from the same script: you have to choose, you can’t have both.

Management advice books speak often on this topic: good management is composed of tough choices. Take a side, adhere to an ideology, principle or philosophy, choose between competing options. For many years I taught a high school government class where the textbook framed the work of governing as being ultimately composed of choices on two matrices: order vs. freedom, and freedom vs. equality. (Conservatives choose the former on both matrices, liberals choose the latter.)

You hear it said all the time, about schools and businesses and organizations: we cannot be all things to all people; we have to decide what we are and what we are not! Throughout our 2000-2001 strategic planning process, when I first arrived, I argued that we had to decide: are we primarily about providing a program of accelerated academic excellence or are we more inclined toward a whole child program, supporting and serving each individual child? I sought to be one of those strong leaders who frames our choices and guides us toward a tough decision. I kept telling committee members: we have to choose. But, they kept telling me: we have to try to do both, and somewhat reluctantly, I yielded, fearing I wasn’t being a strong, “tough choices” leader.

Increasingly, however, I feel like Mikey—I don’t want to have to choose, I want to have it all, I don’t think I should have to take a side. I think we can be both: academically excellent and support each individual child. The new strategic plan, which will soon arrive in your mailbox if it has not already, demonstrates this kind of commitment.

Another example of educational emphasis which would seem to require an ideological choice is Nature or Technology? Which will we select, in which we will invest, to which will we commit for our children? Surely we cannot do both!

Well, you know what? I want to do both, even if it means I am defying the precepts of good management by failing to make a tough choice. The two strongest educational initiatives emanating from the Head’s office in the past three years, by my lights, have focused on technology and nature.

For the former, we have made a big leap into laptop computers in the classroom, particularly grades three through eight, where we have purchased and integrated more than 25 in the last year and a half; we have provided for the training of teachers for better computer classroom integration; we have employed an excellent new Education Technology specialist who is highly qualified for this purpose; and we have dramatically renovated the science lab for better hands-on science laboratory instruction.

For the latter, we have vigorously committed to expanding our out-of-doors student learning. This has included the sixth grade week-long trip to Yosemite National Park, added in 2005, the fifth grade week long trip to the Napa Hills campground for Mosaic Project, added in 2006, and the hiring in 2007 of a new science specialist, Vickie Obenchain, who has a masters degree in environmental science and a great background in environmental education.

A Saklan education, now more than ever, includes BOTH technological immersion AND natural exploration.

(Probably the laptops have generated more buzz in recent months, but we are going to turn up the dial on learning in nature this winter. In February the Saklan Parent Association will feature as a major Parent Education Lecturer Diane Gordon. She is a Director of an agency called Hooked on Nature, and she will speak on the title: “Nature Knows Best! How to rescue our children from Nature Deficit Disorder.”)

Another example of wanting it all is the way we frame our Early Childhood Education philosophy. As you can see in this month’s newsletter’s Student Scoop section, we articulate our ECE philosophy as being a balanced and blended approach, refusing to choose sides between the developmental and the academic. Students have lessons on thematic units and on letter sounds and shapes, but it is all in a nurturing environment where children explore, play, relate, challenge themselves, and grow. Our teachers reinforce the children’s natural love of learning by giving them many, many different and play-based opportunities to learn, with exuberant and interactive lessons in science, art, music, foreign language, and much more. We take some care to prepare them for the academic expectations of Kindergarten without forsaking a developmentally appropriate PreKindergarten environment. Once again: I want it all—I want an early childhood education that is BOTH/AND, not EITHER/OR.

Despite what the current management gurus may say about the importance of making tough choices, there is a great and wise heritage supporting balance and reconciliation. The Greeks preached the middle way in all of their teachings, most famously by what Aristotle the Golden Mean—to seek always the middle path, finding the course that best allows you to bring together competing values or choices.

And many who display the greatest wisdom of our own age are also the centrists, the anti-ideologues. My new hero of contemporary politics and justice turns out, to my great surprise, to be none other than former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor. A new book, which is appearing on many 2007 Top Ten lists, is a close-up study of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin called The Nine. It is a great read, un-put-downable. After reading it, I’d suggest it be re-titled it The One, due to its depiction of Justice O’Connor as holding the moral center of the court for so many important years. With extraordinary diligence and courage, she guided it to the center, again and again and again, and re-discovered and re-asserted the importance of centrism as a philosophy in its own right, one to be honored and celebrated.

Saklan prides itself on its centrism; we are deliberately non-ideological in our educational philosophy and practice. With careful thoughtfulness in planning, but with exuberant energy in execution, we choose our forward course, seeking to blend and balance our program with rich and wonderful educational programs for our students. Like Mikey, we want it all, and while of course sometimes there must be some discipline about our choices, we will not let ourselves be limited by false dichotomies: as much as it is possible, we will seek to have it all!

Happy Holidays!

The Saklan Valley School Preschool program has a long and proud history of serving Lamorinda families, a history that in full extends over 50 years.

Our Early Childhood Education program was first established back in 1954 by Mrs. Gertrude Nielsen in Lafayette; she moved it to our present campus in the mid-sixties. By our best accounting, we have educated several thousand Lamorinda children over the past fifty years.

Unlike many other preschools, we are not a “branded” preschool program, such as a Montessori or “developmental” preschool might be. Instead, our program is a carefully designed and historically evolved synthesis of what we have determined over many years to be the best practices for the education of our region’s children in these oh-so-important early childhood years.

The most important starting place, or foundation, of our ECE philosophy must of course begin with our school’s mission and core purposes:

• Inclusive and caring community- We really, really welcome and care for our children, and make them feel very safe & comfortable in their learning environment. We also go to great lengths to make families feel welcome and connected to our school community.

• Analytical and creative intellectual development- At Saklan, we provide children the opportunity to expand their creativity and imagination, build their problem solving skills, develop their core Kindergarten readiness skills, and broaden their understanding of their world.

• Responsibility, respect and integrity- Our preschool program’s emphasis on supporting our children’s social and emotional skills development is, at its heart, placing the highest priority upon developing respect, responsibility, and integrity in each child to his or her fullest potential.

We also draw upon many important best practices in the Early Childhood Education field. These include:

High/Scope (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High/Scope): educating by seeing children as active learners. The role of the adult is to plan activities based on the children’s interest, facilitate learning through encouragement, and engage in positive adult-child interaction strategies. For example: each week, teachers discuss with children upcoming lesson themes and the children share what they already know about the topic. When considering a Fall theme, children will give ideas that come from the word, such as Halloween, pumpkins, leaves change colors, cold, pumpkin patch, crushing leaves, leaves falling, or warm soup. From this, teachers plan their activities for the following week.

Play-based learning: We provide children many opportunities throughout the day to learn through play-based activities that are appropriate to their age and stage of development and where children really have no awareness they are learning new material—they just think they are playing. Wonderful and fun toys and activities are carefully chosen and set out for children to enjoy-- all of which also develop their skills, engage their attention, and hone their abilities. To develop their sensory and small motor, “floam” was set out with a dinosaur for each child; children then use their creativity to make a cave for the dinosaur. Children may even play pair up and play to exchange conversation about their dinosaur. There are also many times in each day that children pick the toys or activities that they would like to do.

Outside play is another essential component of our children’s learning at Saklan. Children spend nearly two hours a day outdoors on a typical day; they love the sandbox and the myriad opportunities they have there to design and construct. They love to climb on the large and colorful play structure, which provides them a wide variety of challenging and entertaining ladders, climbing walls, and slides. Tricycle riding and ball play is always fun, stimulating their coordination and gross and fine motor skills. A play-house and a fire truck offer delightful imaginary play opportunities.

Academic/Pre-reading skills are also cultivated in a play-based manner; children enormously enjoy learning the sounds of the alphabet, and their letter formations, without realizing they are in an “academic lesson.” Teachers introduce the sound of each letter to children with an accompanying motion; then, the teacher will play various listening games with them, making sure that children would recognize the sound.

Interdisciplinary Thematic Units Instruction -Our teachers carefully plan integrated thematic units because they know the best learning happens when children can connect the dots among the many topics they are learning and can integrate new learning with old. This also better stimulates them to seek their own enhanced understanding of the world around them. In October, the Fall theme was implemented with activities such as making crafts with the letters of the theme, enjoying fall holiday activities, holidays in fall, counting with pumpkins, analysing color changes, and much more.

Saklan’s preschool program is relatively unique in its ability to bring into its classrooms the specialist curriculum program of our elementary school. In addition to the “core” ECE curriculum, Saklan students enjoy instruction from specialists in Music, PE, Science, Library, French, and Mandarin.

Foreign language learning is an especially important program in our pre-school, and is a good example of our best practices philosophy. Research has long supported the theory that early learning of foreign language is very effective for brain development; never again will the brain be so receptive to learning new languages. To quote Professor Alison Gopnik’s book The Scientist in the Crib, the best time for children to learn a foreign language is “when they are very young, between three and seven years of age.” Our children love to learn new languages; French, Mandarin, and Spanish are all taught here at Saklan. Students learn through interaction and repetition with songs, stories, games, and props, and through art and creative activities.

Together, Saklan’s mission and its Early Childhood Education philosophy provide a well balanced program for young children.

We are here to ensure that children are safe, happy, well-loved and nurtured, confident, positive, active, creative, intellectually stimulated, and most importantly, exuberant, fun-loving active agents in their world!

Many elements are needed to make a school successful: Engaging teachers, thoughtful and visionary administration, a supportive board of trustees, and a caring parent community. A Strategic Plan is necessary for all of us as we look to the future and the needs of the students at Saklan Valley School.

Such a plan has been updated and was presented to the board of trustees by the strategic planning committee in May of 2007. The board, at our annual planning meeting in June, voted and approved this plan unanimously.

The Strategic Plan committee consisted of board members, teachers from all three divisions, Head of School Jonathan Martin, Parent Association members, and our two 8th grade co-presidents of the student council. The committee met many times during the school year 2006-2007. The previous plan, 2001-2006, was used as a” blue print,” with the committee taking a hard look at where we were and where we want to be.

A few things that were changed from the last plan was to purchase our current site, at this time being a school of one section per grade (with the exception of the pre-kindergarten classes), and most exciting, to begin work on a master plan. This master plan includes working with our current site and planning for developments to give us the best use of our school.

All families are receiving a copy of our strategic plan, 2007-2012. We ask you to read through the plan and to join us as we begin this exciting challenge in providing the very best to our students.

We wish you a very safe and happy holiday season and we look forward to working with all of you in 2008!

Sincerely,
Annie Barendregt and Betsy Hill,
Strategic Planning Co-Chairs, Trustees and Parents

Saklan Monthly - December 2007

Looking Ahead