Manoa Mountains News for November 29, 2007
The Manoa Mountains all were very well prepared for their Math Adventure presentations last week Monday. Their speeches were memorized, their posters were creative and colorful, and their problems were challenging. Of course, their two solutions for their problems were explained with clarity and accuracy. Again the majority of the presenters received five stars for their work and felt very proud of their accomplishment. My husband and I came in on Sunday to hang the posters; they are on the walls of our classroom for all to enjoy.
The Manoa Mountains have been working very hard to write reflections for the pieces of work that they selected to include in their portfolios. They have explained their strengths as learners and how they can improve in the future. I think you will enjoy reading the work samples and discussing them with your child.
Today we are going to attend the Honolulu Theater for Youth's final production of Christmas Talk Story at Tenney Theater. The plays have been written by local authors and present a variety of topics about how Christmas has been celebrated. I'm sure we will enjoy this production. We will leave school at 8:45 AM and return at 10:30 AM in time for recess and snack.
Our daily work continues to challenge us with Literature Circle stories of various genres, independent reading of books that interest us, and writing pieces that celebrate our experiences during the holiday season. Poems and stories have been written by everyone in the class. Math continues to help us grow as problem solvers, and we are all working on Unit 3. We hope to finish this unit before the holidays, but if we don't, we'll continue working on it after we return from our Christmas break.
The Christmas program will be on December 19th this year with only one show, at 6:00 PM in Bakken Auditorium. The third and fourth graders are asked to dress in green this year. This means the girls need to wear a long dress, mu'umu'u, or blouse and long skirt. Everyone needs to wear shoes or sandals. Hair should be pulled back off the face. No make-up or jewelry will be allowed. The boys need to wear a shirt with a collar, tucked in. (No t-shirts! Polo shirts are okay!) Long pants in a dark color like black, navy blue, brown, or dark green should be worn. No jeans, please! Dark socks and shoes should complete their outfits. Belts are optional.
The students need to report to their classrooms at 5:15 PM because the warm-up begins at 5:30 PM in Scudder Dining Hall. Students may be picked up after the program at the designated locations for the different classes. This information will be sent home to everyone.
The next project is a book report to be presented on Monday, December 10, 2007, at 10:00 AM in our classroom. All Manoa Mountains should be preparing their speeches and visual aids at this time. Parents and grandparents are invited to the presentations. Parking for guests will be available at Wilcox Circle in front of the administration building.
On December 12, our room mothers Nicole Chung and Cindy Kaita will provide a special pizza lunch for the class. This is their treat and will include fruits and pouch juices as well as cheese and pepperoni pizzas. Many thanks to these ladies for preparing this treat!
Posted at 6:14 AM| Permalink
Manoa Mountains News for November 15, 2007
The Manoa Mountains have been busy selecting work samples to place in their portfolios and writing reflections about what each shows about them as learners. We will continue this process until all of the portfolios are ready for conferences.
Tomorrow we will attend the Honolulu Theater for Youth's production of "Obake" at Tenney Theater. It should be an interesting and exciting show!
On Monday the Manoa Mountains will share their Math Adventures beginning at 10:00 AM. There should be parking in the Wilcox Circle for any parents or grandparents who can attend the presentations. We are looking forward to some very challenging math problems and creative solutions.
Yesterday we were treated to a visit by Graham Salisbury, who wrote the book Under the Blood Red Sun, which we are reading and discussing as a class. The Manoa Mountains made posters about his writing style to decorate the dining hall, where he spoke. Many were inspired by his stories about growing up on this island, and several asked questions about his writing.
The children are continuing to work on their Thanksgiving stories and poems during Writer's Workshop. They are enjoying writing about their memories of past celebrations and expressing their feelings in their writing.
Our Literature Circle groups are doing a great job of helping each other understand the stories we have been reading. By discussing the stories, they have helped each other to answer the comprehension questions correctly and to create their plot picture stories and reports. Today they selected one set of papers to place in their portfolios and wrote a reflection about their work.
Our Reading Logs have been quite well done, and the Manoa Mountains are including more specific details from the stories they have been reading in their summaries and response choices. They have selected an example of a summary and a response page to place in their portfolios already.
The math work continues to move along nicely, and the third graders are still working on number combinations of three-digit numbers which add to 1,000. Many story problems have challenged them to use their understanding of their computational skills and conceptual understanding to solve the problems.
Our next excursion will be to see another Honolulu Theater for Youth production, Christmas Talk Story, at Tenney Theater on November 29.
Then we will begin preparations for the Christmas Program, which will be on December 19th at 6:00 PM in Bakken Auditorium. Details about clothing requirements will be sent home by Mrs. Koshi.
Posted at 6:06 AM| Permalink
Manoa Mountains News for November 7, 2007
The Manoa Mountains enjoyed three excursions that helped them to learn more about our community. On Friday they went to Foster Botanic Garden to view the Talipot plant and draw it with suggestions from Miss Brooks. All of the drawings were detailed and interesting. Some were especially detailed and captured the beauty of the plant's leaves and berries. The drawings are in the art rooms for safekeeping.
On Monday the class went to the Manoa Heritage Center to see the house and gardens built by Monty Cooke. The heiau in the back yard was especially fascinating, and the native plants which were planted around it made it even more interesting. The guide, Aunty Sharon, taught the class about the endemic, indigenous, and introduced plants in the garden. Everyone took lots of notes and wrote detailed reports when they returned to school.
The Manoa Stream tour was fascinating from beginning to end. We began at Lyon Arboretum, where we saw the stream at its source. The area was cool, the stream was clean, and the foliage was plentiful. Many large trees provided shade, and the plants on the sides made it look beautiful. At Kaimuki High School, we saw evidence of negative human impact with large amounts of graffiti on the walls and rubbish in the stream. At McCully Bridge, we saw even more evidence of negative human impact, with lots of rubbish in the water and a shopping cart and lots of other debris on the sides. At Magic Island, we saw even more rubbish in the water and debris on the edges along the walls. It is evident that human impact is at its worst there because of the heavy usage by families.
Mr. Shideler works on the Ala Wai Restoration Project, and he shared some information about how the habitat of the o'opu and opai have been affected by humans. The rising temperature of the water and the introduction of foreign materials to the stream have created hazardous conditions for these native animals.
The Manoa Mountains are busy preparing their Math Adventure planning sheets for approval. The projects will be presented on Monday, November 19th, at 10:00 AM. Of course, all parents and grandparents are invited.
Tomorrow morning the Rotary Club is sending some representatives to provide our third graders with dictionaries. The fourth graders received theirs last year, and they need to bring theirs to school. We want to show the Rotarians how we are using the dictionaries to do our vocabulary work.
Next week Wednesday, Graham Salisbury will visit our school to talk to our students in grades 3-5. We have been reading his book Under the Blood Red Sun to prepare for his visit. We will have the opportunity to ask him some questions.
Next Friday we will attend the Honolulu Theatre for Youth's production of Obake at Tenney Theater. The show will begin at 9:15 and end at 10:15 AM.
Posted at 10:20 AM| Permalink
Manoa Mountains News for November 1, 2007
The Manoa Mountains did a wonderful job on their book report presentations on Monday. Everyone spoke clearly, memorized their speeches, and had creative visual aids. The dioramas, mobiles, posters, games, and puppet theater with puppets were very effective in communicating the visual messages of the students. The majority received 5 stars from the class, and the rest have set the goal to create a five-star project for next time. Many thanks to all the parents and grandparents who joined us for the presentations.
Halloween "Spooktivity" was exciting and fun for the Manoa Mountains. Everyone had creative costumes, and many students shared treats with their classmates. Many thanks to the Chungs, Yamashiros, Kaichis, Shidelers, Kaitas, and Kaneshiges for the delicious goodies. The entertainment by the high school orchestra and the Holomua Club students added to the fun. Of course, the highlights were the parade and trick-or-treating in Spooktivity Town. The students decorated their trick-or-treat bags on Monday, so they were prepared for all the goodies that they collected.
Our field trip to Foster Garden this Friday will provide an opportunity for the class to sketch the special plant, which we are all excited to see. Miss Brooks will guide them through this activity so that they can do their best drawings. We leave school at 9:00 AM and return around 10:30 AM. It should be an interesting excursion for all the 3/4 multiage classes!
On Monday, our class will visit the Manoa Heritage Center from 8:45 - 9:45 AM to learn about the history of Manoa and gather information about Manoa Valley. Two of the classes have gone already, and their teachers said that it was an informative and enjoyable field trip.
On Tuesday, we embark on our tour of Manoa Stream at 8:00 AM. We will begin at Lyon Arboretum and proceed to Manoa School, Kaimuki High School, McCully Bridge, and Magic Island. We will be looking for changes to the natural stream environment that have been caused by human impact. We hope to learn more about Manoa Stream as we follow its path from the source to the mouth of the stream. We should return to school around 9:45 AM.
Our next project will be a Math Adventure. It will be due on November 19th, so we will all need to get approval for our Math Adventure planning sheets by next Friday. Then we can work on our speeches and posters.
We shared our Halloween stories and poems yesterday. It was fun to hear so many entertaining stories and poems. We will continue to write more creative pieces during Writer's Workshop.
Our math is moving along, and the third graders brought Unit 2 home this past week. We are actively working on Unit 3 and enjoying the challenge of the numerous story problems to test our skills. Working with partners makes the work more enjoyable and easier to understand.
Reading Log entries continue to be well done. Most of the students have completed all the response choices and are making new choices each week. The summaries are getting better with more specific details and descriptions.
Posted at 6:12 AM| Permalink