Manoa Mountains News for October 25, 2007

The Manoa Mountains are busy preparing their book report speeches and visual aids for presentation on Monday, October 19, at 10:00 AM. Parents may park in the Wilcox Circle when they come for the presentations. We are looking forward to some very creative speeches and visual aids.

The Spooktivity celebration on October 31 will  begin at 12:30 PM with everyone changing into their Halloween costumes after lunch. We will have a parade around the high school campus and will return to our campus for a concert by the MPI band. The Holomua students will perform a skit and then the trick-or-treating will begin. Students will visit various stations to pick up their treats. Then we will return to our classrooms. If you would like to take your child home after the program, please check out with me first.

On November 2, all of the 3/4 multiage classes will be going to Foster Garden for a tour and drawing exercise to capture their images of the most exotic plant in the gardens. It blooms at the end of its life cycle and then dies.  We are fortunate to be able to see this flower. We will be leaving school at 9:00 AM and returning at 11:00 AM.

On November 5, we will be going to  to the Manoa Heritage Center from 8:45 to 10:15 AM to learn about Manoa Valley and its historical significance. We will also learn a little bit about Manoa Stream. We will visit a heiau on the property and learn some stories about Manoa.

On November 6, we will trace the path of Manoa Stream beginning at Lyon Arboretum, stopping at Manoa School, Kaimuki High School, and McCully Bridge, and ending at Magic Island, where it empties into the Pacific Ocean. We will be looking at the natural features of the stream and how human impact has affected it. We will begin our tour at 8:00 AM and end at 9:30 AM.

The third graders are taking their Unit 2 papers home this week. There is no signature required. Please keep the papers at home and ask your child if you have any questions about the work. I checked their corrections many times so the work should now be all correct.

Writer's Workshop has been full of activity as the Manoa Mountains created stories and poems with Halloween themes. They tried to use rich imagery and descriptions to make their work clear and interesting. They will be sharing their best stories next week in class.

Reading Logs are still very well done. The Manoa Mountains are doing a good job on their summaries and response choices. There are a few students who need to complete all the response choices before repeating any.

Next week it will be our turn to take care of the recyclables in the recycling bins on campus. We will work in teams every day to do this job.

Everyone wrote a card of thanks to Mrs. Lyn Ford, who came to tell stories last week. She is a master storyteller from Ohio. I'm sure she will enjoy the children's cards.

Posted at 6:26 AM| Permalink

Manoa Mountains News for October 18, 2007

The Manoa Mountains are getting excited about going on the excursions to the Manoa Heritage Center on November 5 and the Manoa Stream Tour on November 6. This is all part of their Hawaiian Studies about Manoa Valley and the ahupua'a that is closest to our school. At the Manoa Heritage Center, they will learn about the history of the valley and the important events which occurred here. The tour of the Manoa Heritage Center will also provide some helpful information about Manoa Stream and its importance to the ahupua'a of Manoa Valley. As we tour Manoa Stream from its source close to the Lyon Arboretum down to Manoa School, Kaimuki High School, McCully Bridge, and Magic Island, we will see how human impact has changed the appearance of the stream from beginning to end, where it empties into the Ala Wai Canal and then into the ocean.

The third graders are still correcting their work on Unit 2 in Math Investigations. We should be able to send the completed work home next week Monday, so please expect an envelope. I am not asking you to sign and return the note that says that you received the work because less than half of you returned the form for Unit 1. I hope that you will spend some time going over the work with your child.

The class is working hard on their writing pieces and even wrote their own versions of the opera story for "Kahala-o-puna" this week. The entire elementary school will present the opera on May 9 and 10, 2008. The story is about the princess of Manoa and the challenges she faced in her life. She was brought back to life twice after dying. This added to everyone's fascination about her charmed life.

The Reading Log entries continue to be well written and detailed. The Manoa Mountains are putting a lot of effort into their work and are articulating their understanding of what they have read with clarity and thoroughness.
There are some beautiful pictures drawn in their logs about the stories they have read, too.

Our Literature Circle and vocabulary work continue to move along, and we are making good progress on our daily assignments. A few students have had to finish their work for homework, but everyone is doing a good job with the comprehension questions, plot pictures, and reports of the legends. They are also doing a good job on the meanings of the vocabulary words, sentences, and pictures.

Everyone received a Firefighter Safety Guide, which is due to  be completed and turned in on October 26. This annual review of the rules of fire safety has been done ever since I can remember, and my class has always had 100% participation.  Several of my students have won prizes as well. I have also won prizes for having everyone complete the books and return them. Parents, please remember to sign your child's book when it is completed.

The recycling campaign at Mid-Pacific Institute Elementary School has been launched, and we will be working on it for the rest of the year.  Each third and fourth grade class has been assigned a week to collect the recyclable materials and sort them for pick-up by the city recycling crew.

Our next project is a book report due on October 29.  Everyone should have been working on it for homework every night since last week. The speeches and visual aids need to be carefully planned. We are looking forward to  some creative presentations

Halloween is coming soon, and we will receive information about the "Spooktivity" celebration as it is shared with us. I would appreciate it very much if treats for the class are limited to healthy snacks and no candy. The students will make their own "Trick or Treat" bags in school. Of course, everyone can dress up in costumes that morning or at lunch recess.

Posted at 6:06 AM| Permalink

Manoa Mountains News for October 11, 2007

The Manoa Mountains had a busy week. Miss Victoria came to work with them on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. She read two legends to them. She also listened to them read orally and read the writing pieces which they had completed. They wrote letters of thanks to Mr. Brian Kealoha, who spoke about the importance of energy conservation. They wrote their reflections for their math adventure projects and completed their legends about why it rains so much in Manoa. Everyone is working diligently in class, and the class is doing a good job of staying focused and concentrating on their learning tasks.  Everyone also made a poster to remind others to conserve energy. These will be posted on our classroom walls. The math adventure posters are on the walls, and they make the classroom look so attractive.

We celebrated MT's birthday with brownie treats and special Halloween cookies yesterday. Everyone truly enjoyed the special treats.

Our third graders have begun to work on their third unit in math. It is entitled "Collections and Travel Stories" and deals with four digit numbers. The children will  be working on many story problems dealing with combinations of numbers in the thousands. Everyone completed their 1,000 charts yesterday.

Our recycling program has begun, and we will be collecting recyclable materials from the other classrooms on Wednesdays and Fridays. Each 3/4 class is responsible for the collection for one week on a rotating schedule.

We will be going to Lyon Arboretum on October 18 to begin our tour of Manoa Stream at 8:00 AM.  We will be following the path of the stream with stops at Manoa School, Kaimuki High School, McCully Bridge, and Magic Island. This is to help us have a better understanding of the main water source for the ahupua'a of Manoa Valley. If any parent can join us for this adventure, please let me know by Tuesday, October 17th. We should be done by 9:30 AM and will return to school then.

The "Moon Over Manoa" fundraiser will be held this Saturday at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.  It should be an exciting event, and I hope to see many of you there.
     

Posted at 6:23 AM| Permalink

3/4-F News for October 4, 2007

The Manoa Mountains did a very successful sharing of their Math Adventure projects on Monday. The majority of the projects received four or five stars, and the posters were well done. They will all be hung up around the classroom this weekend for everyone to enjoy. Those who prepared their speeches and posters on time were confident and spoke clearly. The two who were late had good reasons for their tardiness. We enjoyed MS's cupcakes and JM's bookmarks, which they shared with their projects. The Manoa Mountains really used their creativity to make their projects interesting and enjoyable for their audience. Many thanks to the parents and grandparents who joined us for the presentations. The children were so proud to have many adults in the audience because they worked so hard to prepare their presentations.

The recycling presentations will be shared with Mrs. Brooks' Kindergarten class and Mrs. LeBlanc's first and second graders on Friday afternoon.The Manoa Mountains have been practicing very hard every day to do a good job of sharing their information. The recycling bins arrived yesterday afternoon and will be set up in the dining area, playcourt, and playground. Everyone will begin using the bins on October 10th.

Today we had a guest speaker on the topic of energy conservation. The students listened to Mr. Brian Kealoha's presentation and shared how many lightbulbs are used in their homes. They learned a few tips about how to conserve energy at home.

The math program is moving along nicely, and the third graders will finish Unit 2 next week. You will receive their completed work the following week. The fourth graders are working hard on their surveys and graphs with Mrs. Holzman.

 
The Writer's Workshop creative writing is effectively showing how well these students can write.  Many are doing a thorough job on their rough drafts and will begin editing some of their work with peers. Their poems have been interesting, and the challenge of using rhyming words was fun for them. They are completing personal narratives and stories about their favorite experiences and memories.

Our reading has been challenging with Hawaiian legends for Literature Circle and vocabulary work. Miss Victoria has been reading Hawaiian legends to the class on Tuesdays and Thursdays when she comes to do her Observation-Participation work with the class. She works in the after-school program, so most of the students knew her already. Reading Log entries continue to be detailed and well written.

The class would like to thank everyone who donated to the "Moon Over Manoa" fundraiser. We don't know if we had 100% participation and qualified for a pizza party, but we'll find out soon.

The next project is due on October 29. It is a book report. Most students have selected their book and are trying to think of a creative visual aid for this project.

Posted at 6:27 AM| Permalink