Inquiry Groups

Here are our Inquiry Groups:
Hawaiian Language:
M.M.
T M.
J.N.
R.B.

Hokule`a/ Voyaging:
K.C.
C.S.
N.K.
J.K.

Plants:
M.T.
M.S.
N.L.

Heiau/Religion:
S.C.
D.M.P.
H.L.
J.M.

Holua Sledding/Hawaiian Games:
K.F.
M.H.
C.S.

Food:
S.R.
S.H.
J.M.
H.S.
K.K.

Hale:
K.O.
L.S.
D.S.

Ali`i:
K.M.
E.K.
N.P.
M.K.
R.N.

Birds:
V.A.
K.Y.
K.N.
A.O.
M.M.
T.H.
C.K.

Posted at 4:56 PM| Permalink

Accreditation

Mid-Pacific is accredited jointly by the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools (HAIS) and the Accrediting Commission for Schools of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).  Independent schools undergo this accreditation process as a method of evaluating strengths, identifying areas of weakness, and developing plans of action. This process is vital to the continuing development of any school. We have started our accreditation at Mid-Pacific, and you will soon be asked to participate, most likely in the form of a survey (or several). I encourage you to share your feedback. It is very important.

But that’s not why I’m writing about this. I am telling you about accreditation because I was asked to serve on a visiting committee for Hawaii Preparatory Academy on Hawaii Island. The final piece of accreditation is a review of all documentation and a visit from a committee of administrators and educators from Hawaii and the West Coast. That is what I will be doing at HPA this coming week. I will be on Hawaii Island from Sunday morning until Wednesday evening. I am looking forward to an intense few days of learning and writing. I’ll be back in school Thursday.

Posted at 4:55 PM| Permalink

Kahala `o puna Inquiry

We have started a new inquiry project. As you all know, we are putting on the opera Kahala`o puna this spring. Our class is in charge of designing sets for the opera. To prepare for that, we read the libretto (script) of the opera. After each student reviewed the libretto carefully, they listed three things they wanted to learn more about. The students came up with many great ideas like holua sleds, how ali`i lived, Hawaiian language, and what food people in old Hawai`i ate. Because Mrs. Lorenzana’s class went through the same process, we decided to create inquiry groups with students from both classes. We are still working out the specific members for each group, and we will start meetings next week. The first thing that each group will do is create five questions that they need to answer about their topic. Once they have those five questions, they will start their research.
 
***Next Wednesday we will be visiting the set of Romeo and Juliet to learn about how the professionals create their sets. We will be leaving Mid-Pac at 10:00 and returning by 12:00. We will have regular lunch at school.

Posted at 8:28 AM| Permalink

Jump Rope for Heart

Check out our Jump Rope for Heart pictures!

Posted at 3:20 PM| Permalink

Vocabulary Story Rubrics

This week we created a rubric for the students' vocabulary stories. First, I gave the class a selection of good vocabulary stories that their classmates have written. As a table group, they read the stories and discussed what makes a good vocabulary story. Then, as a whole group, we listed what traits make up the best possible vocabulary story and called those 4’s. From there we figured out what those behaviors would look like in the worst possible vocabulary story and called those 1’s. Then we filled in the in-between behaviors and decided what 2’s and 3’s looked like. We did this so that the students have a clear sense of what is expected and a tool for assessing themselves on whether or not they reached those expectations and what they can still strive for. Starting this week, the Pueo will be bringing home a rubric that they should fill out after they complete their vocabulary story. The form will be two-sided. They will fill out one side and leave the other side blank for me to fill out. I included a copy of the rubric in the homework section if you want to take a look or if you need an extra.

Posted at 7:49 AM| Permalink

Exciting New Happenings!

We have started a lot of new exciting projects. We are practicing keyboarding as part of our morning routine. Students are working through a series of eight lessons that focus on using home-row. Ask your child to show you their home-row. By the time the students are finished with all eight lessons, they will have practiced each letter on the keyboard from home-row. At this point, many of the students' hands are too small to comfortably reach each of the keys, so there is some movement of their hands from home-row. This is ok, but they should always come back to home-row. From now on, I expect them to use home-row when they are typing. You should, too.

In addition, we are practicing handwriting! We are reviewing each letter in class and then practicing. They will do some practice in school and bring the remainder home to complete. You will notice that handwriting has been added to our homework schedule and checklist. At this point, I am not requiring students to use cursive because we haven’t finished all the letters, but eventually I will be asking them to use cursive for certain assignments.

Another project that I’m really excited about is our legend project. I was inspired by something James Rumford told us when he came to read Kahala `o puna to the students. He said about his retold Kahala `o puna legend, “This is not my story, but these are my words.” Because we were already working with story maps to help us organize our writing pieces, I thought it would be appropriate to integrate that language arts work with our Hawaiian studies work. The students were already familiar with mapping because we worked as a class to create a story map of James Rumford’s Kahala `o puna. I had the students read a number of Hawaiian legends on their own. We also read several Maui legends as a follow-up to the HTY play, Maui vs. Hercules. Each student chose a legend that they liked and filled out a story map for that legend. Then, they created another story map of their own version of the legend, which they will be writing. The students and I are all very excited about their versions of the legends. I will keep you updated!

Posted at 6:59 AM| Permalink