Book Orders are Due Wednesday, April 30!

This is the last book order of the year. It is a good time to plan for some summer reading. Here are some books that I know and like:
Lucky: #12, 13, 23, 43, 48, 51, 53, 58, and 75.
Arrow (April):  #3, 5, 16, 17, 21, 22, 37, 39, 51, 52, 57, 58, 59, 62, 71, and 76.  
Arrow (May):  #6, 9, 15, 23, 54, 57, 58, and 78.
*Please make one check out to Scholastic. Thanks, happy shopping!

Posted at 4:22 PM| Permalink

News from Na Pueo

Congratulations to our fourth graders for completing a very long week of testing! They worked really hard and deserve a restful weekend.

In class we have been working on finishing up our Ahupua`a/Kahala `o puna research. Here is the research checklist that the kids are following:

inquiry checklist kahalaopuna.pdf
We have also been trying very hard to finish our legends. We used this project to increase our understanding of story structure by breaking a story down into its main elements and then retelling our own version of the legend.  We also took this project one step further to learn about illustration and other important publishing skills. The students planned out each illustration by looking carefully at the part of the story they were going to illustrate. They listed all the elements that were present. For example, in Maui Goes Fishing: Maui, his fishhook, Maui’s three brothers, Maui’s canoe, and the ocean. Then they had to identify the most important elements, describe the feeling, and determine what the relationship was to the other elements. For example, Maui and his brothers are in the canoe, the canoe is small in a very rough ocean, and you can’t see the fishhook. From there, the students created their illustrations with watercolors. When their illustrations were finished, we got to learn and practice some very important publishing skills. The students used the digital camera to take close-up pictures of their paintings, imported them into iPhoto, cropped them, exported them onto a Pages document, changed the size, created text boxes, cut and pasted their words onto the page, and adjusted size, font, and color so that their words made the most impact. Very impressive! Here is an example of a page.

Kai's page.pdf

Posted at 4:11 PM| Permalink

S.A.T. Test

For the past few months, we have been preparing for the S.A.T. test.  We have been meeting to practice and talk about test-taking strategies.  Now it is time to apply that practice to the actual test. The fourth graders will be taking the test next week, April 21-25. The test will take place every morning in Mrs. Lorenzana’s classroom. If you know of any possible conflicts for your child, please let me know immediately!  While the fourth graders are taking the test, the third graders will work with Ms. Byrne.  Please read on for some more S.A.T. information. The S.A.T., version 10, will be composed of the abbreviated battery — multiple-choice tests in reading comprehension, spelling, language usage, vocabulary, and mathematics problem-solving and procedures.
 
Students will also be taking open-ended tests in reading, writing, and mathematics.  The open-ended tests focus on the processes for reading, writing, and problem-solving.  Students will be evaluated on a standard set of performance criteria.  For example, students will have 50 minutes to write on a given topic. In mathematics, students will have 50 minutes to work on ten word problems which incorporate the national mathematics standards.  For the reading section, students read a complete text and respond in writing to several questions of increasing complexity, from stating the main idea to making inferences.
 
The tests are norm-referenced standardized tests, i.e., your child’s score is compared with scores of thousands of other students in the same grade who took the S.A.T. at the same time of the year across the nation.

We usually receive the test results in the summer.  We will send home the test results, along with an explanation about score interpretations.  
    
You can help your child be ready for test-taking in the following ways:
***Make sure your child gets to bed at a reasonable time.
***Provide a good, healthy breakfast and snack.
***Get your child to school by 7:30 a.m. so he/she has time to settle in.
***AVOID asking every day, “So, how’d you do?” “Was it hard?” "Did you finish everything?” Your child will not really know.  When you ask these questions, you want some reassurances.  Instead, your questioning will cause unnecessary stress on you AND your child.  
***Your child has already been working on test-prep materials in school and is well prepared to take this test.  Making your child do more test-prep booklets and worksheets at this point will only stress them out.  
***Remember that this is supposed to be fun.
***Assure your child that you love them and are proud of them regardless of the results.

Posted at 5:03 PM| Permalink

Exploring the Manoa Ahupua`a

Thank you so much for joining us for dinner on Friday and pitching in to help! We hope you had a good time. I know that the kids sure did. The displays that you saw were a visual representation of the research that the children have been doing. Students will continue to research and compile their information to create a glossary for the opera.Our field trips were so full of wonderful moments, that I think I will just pick one from each of our stops and let the pictures and your children tell you the rest of the story.

As we walked through the Manoa Chinese Cemetery, the students discovered that it was the same cemetery where Obake, the HTY play that we saw in the beginning of the year, took place. In Koganji, the Buddhist temple, your children were respectful, quiet, and asked so many good questions that they even stumped our guide on a few of them.  At the lo`i kalo at the Hawaiian Studies department of the University of Hawaii we got to sit in an actual hale and hike upstream to where they divert the water into their intact auwai system. We got to see how the water was transported to the lo`i, flowed through the first patch to the patch downhill, and through each of the patches until it reached the lowest patch and emptied back into the stream. It was a very powerful lesson on the importance of clean water.

Next, we walked through Waikiki, including portions of the beach, where I got to watch your children’s very funny reactions to all the interesting people that we saw. On the catamaran ride, we got to travel to the outer edge of our ahupua`a, which we learned was either to the edge of the reef or a mile out to sea. We definitely went there — and beyond!  As we sailed back and were approaching the waves, the children connected back to the first version of Kahala `o puna that we had read and asked if I thought that was where Kauhi had paddled Kahala `o puna out on his surfboard. Although we arrived back to school late due to some problems with the transportation, our parent still greeted us with very patient, smiling faces!

The next day, before we made lei for you, I reminded them that whatever they were talking about, or thinking, or feeling went into the lei that they were making for you. It was one of our most pleasant hours as they put all their love into the lei that they gave you that evening.

Even though it rained on us at the Polynesian Cultural Center, we were still able to enjoy playing Hawaiian games, tasting poi, and getting very tattooed. As we watched the canoe parade, the Tahitian canoe was waiting to paddle out, and they chatted with our kids and asked them to cheer extra loud for them. Did we ever! The kids were rewarded with waves during the performance and lots of special attention.

All in all, it was an amazing two days. Thank you for you support!

Posted at 11:48 AM| Permalink

Field Trip News

Our action-packed days of Hawaiian Studies adventures have arrived!

Next week Thursday, 4/10/08, and Friday, 4/11/08, the third and fourth grade classes will be exploring Manoa and traveling to the North Shore to visit the Polynesian Cultural Center. Here is the itinerary for both trips:

Polynesian Cultural Center
Fukumoto/Holzman Thursday, 4/10/08
Byrne/Lorenzana Friday, 4/11/08

7:40 am -10:30 am       Morning at school preparing for Friday’s dinner.
10:30 am                     Leave Mid-Pac
11:15 am                     Eat lunch at Kualoa Beach Park
12:30 pm -3:30 pm       Explore Polynesian Cultural Center
4:45 pm                      Pick up your child at Mid-Pac (Thursday only) at upper pick-up

Ahupua`a of Manoa (wear your “Day in Manoa” t-shirt)
Byrne/Lorenzana Thursday, 4/10/08
Fukumoto/Holzman Friday, 4/11/08

8:00 am -9:00 am.         Manoa Chinese Cemetery.
9:00 am -9:30 am.         Return to Mid-Pac for a restroom stop.
9:30 am -10:30 am.       Koganji Temple
11:00 am -12:00 pm.     University of Hawai`i Hawaiian Studies Center (Lo'i Kalo) ***Please fill out release form.
12:00 pm -1:00 pm.       Lunch at Hawaiian Studies Center.
1:30 pm -2:30 pm.        Historic sites on Waikiki Beach, including a walk through the Moana Hotel.
3:00 pm -4:00 pm.        Maita`i catamaran ride.
4:30 pm.                      Depart Waikiki from Monsarrat Avenue behind the Waikiki Bandstand.
4:45 pm                       Pick up your child at Mid-Pac (Thursday only)at upper pick-up

Please contact your child’s teacher if the Thursday pick-up time is going to be a problem for you. We will do our best to arrange rides or child-care for you.
Reminders:
 1. Bring lunch and snack for both days!
 2. Wear either your “Day in Manoa” t-shirt (Manoa Ahupua`a day) or dark green Mid-Pac shirt (Polynesian Cultural     Center).
 3. Bring a water bottle.
 4. Wear a hat/visor.
 5. Put on sunscreen! Bring some to re-apply.
 6. Bring slippers or reef walkers for the boat (Manoa Ahupua`a day).
 7. You may want to bring a small towel on Manoa Ahupua`a day(not for swimming but in case your feet get wet or     sandy).
 8. You may want to bring a change of clothes for Friday’s dinner.
 9. Please turn in the attached release form to your child’s teacher.


Dinner Information:
Please meet us at 5:30 at Scudder Dining Hall (lower campus).
5:30-6:00 Browse displays and watch slide show.
6:00-7:00 Eat!
***If you signed up to help set up, please meet us at Scudder at 5:00.
***If you signed up to help serve, please check in with Ms. Byrne when you get there.
***If you signed up to help clean up, we’ll give you instructions after dinner.
Thank you in advance for your help!

Posted at 4:15 PM| Permalink