This year Mid-Pacific Institute celebrates its 100th anniversary. There are many activities and events planned throughout the coming months to commemorate the occasion. In conjunction with this, the multiage first and second grade classes are deviating from our planned inquiry study a bit. We will continue the historical focus of another place and time; however, we will be looking locally at our own Manoa Valley community, specifically the natural artesian spring, known as Kawailele, found on our campus. 

Most of the children were unaware of the spring and its pond on our campus, so we began this inquiry by taking each class down to this “special place” to explore, discover, and wonder. The children wrote and sketched their impressions in their journals. We took some time to play the silence game, using all our senses to gather information about the area. Later, in class, we recorded our observations and questions. Here are some things they are wondering about:

• Why did they put a pond there?

• How did the pond get there?

• Did the water come from the clouds or is it man-made? Or does the water come from the ground?

• Why is there a fence around the pond?

• Why is there a drain?

• Are there dead people under the big rock?

A few days after our visit, I asked the children to draw a bird’s-eye view map of Manoa Valley as they know it now, and label what they could. Yesterday, we used Google Earth to take a virtual tour of Manoa Valley and the spring area. We were able to clearly see the walls of the wide valley and trace the stream to one of the waterfalls at the head of the valley. The children noticed the valley was pretty much covered in buildings and roads. Again they wondered, “What did the valley look like before the buildings and roads were here? How did it look when the ancient Hawaiians lived here? What were the animals that lived here?” 

And so we take off on our newest inquiry, based on the children’s questions and the teachers’ guidance. It is our goal to provide the children with a geographical, cultural, and natural history perspective of the valley over time. We also want to instill a sense of pride and stewardship for our natural resources, Kawailele in particular.   

I am planning a class hike to Manoa Falls on Wednesday, February 6. We will take Mr. Louis’ bus, leaving school at 8:30 a.m. and returning around 11:00 a.m. If you would like to accompany us, please let me know. It will be a blast!

Happy New Year, everyone! It’s so great to be back in school. The children were so happy to see their friends and exchange stories about their holidays. Our first week back brings us some new challenges and opportunities. The first grade children are using handwriting paper with smaller spaces between lines. They will no longer be using their blue homework journals. I’ll provide new ones for them soon. The second grade children have been introduced to cursive handwriting and will be practicing the lower case letters throughout this semester. It is not an expectation that they use cursive hand writing in their daily writing in second grade, although many will want to try as they learn more letters. They will also be introduced to college-ruled paper and how to properly use the space for their letters. This will be a gradual transition as, developmentally, some have more fine motor control and attention to detail than others.

The children have also been given the opportunity to choose their seats in the lunch room. As you may know, during the first semester they gradually lost all choice in seating because of disruptive behavior. The teachers have agreed to let them try again because we believe that lunch is a great opportunity for rich social interaction and a natural arena for practicing social skills. I told our class that with freedom comes responsibility. I believe they can use their good manners and make good choices. I believe they will include others and help those who look like they need a friend. You might want to ask them how it's going. I think they’re delighted.