Community was the theme of the week on campus. We had the pleasure of welcoming many special friends to our classrooms, all of whom brightened our day and filled our school with joy.

Kūpuna Day

On Tuesday and Wednesday, grades K-6 celebrated Kūpuna Day. We host this day to honor the wisdom, respect and aloha that our kūpuna embody and share with us. It was so nice to see our students’ eyes light up with excitement and pride as they introduced their school, work, teachers and friends to their guests. Watching our students these two days reminded me of what author Alex Haley once wrote:

 “Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.” 

Kūpuna are special people and while the above quote is about grandparents, our Kūpuna Day also welcomed aunties and uncles, parents, neighbors and other meaningful adults in the lives of our children.

Students, kūpuna, and school staff enjoyed eating breakfast together, doing arts and crafts and taking a lot of photos! We were then presented with a real gift when classes 33 and 51 performed a hula to the song, Kuʻu Tūtū (My Grandmother). Students have been diligently working for weeks to learn this hula for us. We owe a large mahalo to teacher Lihau Merryman, along with Caitlin Mates, Julia Kona and Rachael Hudes for teaching hula to their students so we all could have this special moment.

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Kūpuna then visited classes for activities with students. Our teachers are awesome! They planned wonderful activities such as painting with watercolors, catching insects, looking at specimens under a microscope, morning meeting circles and games, making matchstick rockets, fingerprint art, rock painting, poem reading and even planting a garden together! What an incredible morning!

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Mahalo to all the kūpuna who were able to attend. We also extend our sincere appreciation to the kūpuna who were not able to attend, but who make a significant impact on our lives. We thank you for your guidance, unconditional love and remarkable “stardust.”

Our oldest and youngest students learning together

Mr. Paul Hanna’s high school math students have been visiting lower school classrooms to join our students in lessons.  This week, I had the opportunity to watch the high schoolers spend time in class 43 and 51. The high schoolers learned math songs and skip counting from our students and in turn helped the younger students with measuring units, counting money, and building geometric shapes. Itʻs nice when our students can come together as one community and learn from each other. Mahalo to Mr. Hanna and the high school students for helping out their younger schoolmates.

 Lunch on the Lawn

On Friday, we welcomed more special guests to campus. This time, our middle school students invited their parents and family to Lunch on the Lawn. Once again, our teachers shined by developing fun activities for families to do together. Some students gave presentations that demonstrated their recent learning while others colored family pennants with their parents that represented their heritage. I enjoyed watching families discuss their ancestry and think of symbols and drawings that captured this. Families then joined students in the park outside the school for music, pizza and fun!  Mahalo to all our family members who were able to join us for lunch and contribute to great memories.

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Lastly, mahalo to all the faculty, staff and family members who helped make this week so special!