Wailele, The Water Cycle, and Butterflies

Inquiry
Our study of Wailele is still exciting your children. They really enjoy the process of forming hypotheses from what they think they know and working collectively to come up with more developed ideas about everything from where Wailele's water comes from and why there is a fence around it to how the water cycle works. Today we confirmed several of our hypotheses by interacting with Mr. Hank Howlett, MPI's Director of Facilities and Maintenance. He was our expert who could answer all those questions the children have been contemplating since their first visit to Wailele. Be sure and ask your child about what they learned. Next week, we will have Ms. Rianne Graves and Ms.Torry Montes coming in to tell us more about what life was like around Wailele in ancient Hawaiian days, at the time MPI was founded, and up until the present. Ms. Montes' 6th graders have collected oral histories from longtime Manoa residents, and she will share what her students discovered about the history of the valley and MPI. Ms. Graves will offer a cultural perspective that she gleaned from her kumu hula, Uncle Kimo, also a longtime Manoa resident. All of our Inquiry activities are being videotaped, and we will soon be sharing our experiences through podcasts. How to do a podcast is the teachers' current Inquiry! 

Book Fair
Our class will visit the Book Fair tomorrow to check out what's available and get ideas about books we can put on our classroom "Wish List." The Scott family has already given us money to buy books in honor of their son's birthday, which we celebrated last week. As always, your generosity is very much appreciated!

I prefer that parents accompany their children to the Book Fair for actual purchase of the books because some listed in the catalog may not be available, and there will likely more than just those in the catalog. Thank you for your support of your child's love of books and reading, as well as for supporting our classroom and the school.  Remember that March 6th is Family Day -- with refreshments!

Book Projects
One child has done an excellent presentation, and another will present tomorrow. The children enjoy the creative aspects of the projects and learning about fascinating new books to read. Thank you, again, for helping with these!

Butterflies
We were able to accompany four caterpillars through their metamorphosis and send them on their way out into the world to continue their cycle of life! We actually saw one emerge from its chrysalis. Check out the photo gallery for pictures of a butterfly walking from hand to hand before it flew away. What a lovely miracle of life to share with children!

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