Manoa Mountains News for January 31, 2008

The Manoa Mountains have been very busy with their writing projects, and some are publishing their work on the computers. It will be nice to share the completed stories with the class. Most have selected a creative story to publish at this time.

Everyone should be working on their next book report project, which will be due for presentation on Monday,  February 25, at 10:00 AM. We are looking forward to some creative visual aids and speeches. The Reading Log entries have become more detailed, so there is lots of information to choose from to prepare these projects.

Our math work is progressing nicely, and the fourth graders have brought home their Unit 3 work. The third graders will bring their Unit 3 work home next week after all their corrections are completed. They are enjoying working with perimeter, angles, and area. Yesterday they created a seven-square-unit figure with squares and two different sizes of triangles. They are continuing to solve story problems to challenge their thinking.

The "Jump Rope for Heart" permission forms are due soon, so I would appreciate it very much if everyone can turn it in early. We need lots of parent volunteers to help for this event, too.

Everyone is doing a great job on their Literature Circle and vocabulary work every day. The stories for Literature Circle have been challenging in content, as we have worked with longer legends about Kauai.  The vocabulary words come from the stories and help everyone to learn their meanings.

We are entering a poetry contest sponsored by the Honolulu Theatre for Youth and Starbucks, so everyone has written their thoughts about maintaining a healthy diet.  They have been discussing ways to be healthy in PE class, so their ideas are very important to them.

Now that we have begun test preparations, the third graders are working on their Test Achiever books and D'Nealian handwriting books every week.  The fourth graders will use their Test Achiever books and Scoring Higher to help them prepare for the SAT tests in April.
   

Posted at 6:18 AM| Permalink

Manoa Mountains News for January 24, 2008

The Manoa Mountains enjoyed the basketball game against Maryknoll on Tuesday. Everyone was especially excited to cheer our team on because some of the players had come to our campus at lunchtime and met with our students; they even played some basketball with them. The students were selected in groups of five to play against the high schoolers and had a wonderful time. The game at 5:00 PM was very well attended, and the students and parents showed a lot of spirit. Many thanks to Mr. Wilfred Tochiki, who provided crowns for everyone to wear and balloons for everyone to use as they cheered the team on. The Extended Day supervisors and some volunteer teachers supervised the students during their pizza snack and the game. Many thanks to everyone for signing their children out with the supervisors.

The Manoa Mountains are working very hard on their stories and poems for Writer's Workshop. They will be publishing their work on the computers in the weeks ahead. The editing process takes some time, and we are all making revisions to our work to make it the best that it can be. Reports about the HTY play entitled "Maui vs. Hercules" were detailed and well written. The play was enjoyed by everyone, and the humor was particularly appreciated.

Math work continues with the third and fourth graders finishing up their corrections on Unit 3 work and moving on to the next unit. The third graders are having fun exploring perimeters, angles, and area. When all the Unit 3 corrections have been completed, the work will be sent home.

Today we had the pleasure of hearing James Rumford read his book Kahalaopuna at our assembly.  It is the story being used for the opera that the whole school will  be performing in May. It was very interesting and enjoyable.

We also honored Mr. Samuel Haga, who is the oldest living alumnus of MPI.  He celebrated his 106th birthday this year! Our class made birthday cards for him, and we presented them at the assembly.

Our next project is a book report, which is due for presentation on Monday, February 25, at 10:00 AM in the classroom. Students should be preparing their speeches and visual aids for this project.

Posted at 6:20 AM| Permalink

Manoa Mountains News for January 17, 2008

The Manoa Mountains prepared well for their Math Adventure presentations and did a great job on Monday. We had many creative posters that used lots of color and pictures to support their speeches. The speeches were carefully memorized, and everyone spoke clearly. The majority earned five stars and were very proud of their work. Many thanks to all of the parents and grandparents who attended the presentations. The students really enjoy having a special audience.

Camp Erdman provided our Manoa Mountains with many interesting and exciting experiences to help them learn about environmental issues and do some hands-on science investigations. The Group Challenge was great for team-building and everyone enjoyed the Olympic relays. Every group was a winner!

Posted at 6:21 AM| Permalink

Manoa Mountains News January 7, 2008

The Manoa Mountains did a wonderful job of preparing and presenting their book reports on December 10, and most earned 4 or 5 stars for their work.The posters and dioramas are posted around the room for all to enjoy. There is so much pride in the work that was produced. The variety of visual aids which were prepared is indicative of the growth of the students as they try to be creative with their projects.

Preparations for the conferences were done thoroughly, and the Manoa Mountains proudly discussed their progress during the first semester of this school year. I was pleased with the way the students expressed their ideas and took responsibility for their accomplishments. With thoughtful reflections about their work in the portfolios, they selected some good samples of their work in all areas of the curriculum.

The Christmas program preparations took up a lot of our time in the final week before the break, but I thought the Manoa Mountains did an outstanding job on their performances.  Many thanks to all of the families for adhering to the strict dress code for the program. It was a memorable way to end the school year before going on Christmas Break.

Many thanks to Mrs. Nicole Chung and Mrs. Cindy Kaita for the  delicious pizza lunch they provided on the last day of school. The Manoa Mountains enjoyed the special treat very much. Many thanks also to the Musgraves, Yamashiros, and Chungs for the goody bags which the children received.

I had a relaxing break because my son and his wife came from Okinawa to celebrate our granddaughter's graduation from the University of Hawaii with degrees in Business Management and Marketing. We celebrated with a family party the following Saturday.

The Manoa Mountains are looking forward to an exciting overnighter at Camp Erdman on January 15-16. We will have many fun activities to do together. Sleeping in cabins will add to the fun.  Please remember to turn in your camp papers as soon as possible.

The week after we return from camp, our fourth graders will take over HUGSS duties from the fifth grade.  A schedule of duty dates and times will be sent home when we return from Camp Erdman.

Our next project will be a Math Adventure, which is due for presentation on Monday, January 14. The presentations will begin at 10:00 AM in our classroom and, of course, all parents and grandparents are invited to attend. Only two more Manoa Mountains need to get their planning sheets approved.  Everyone else has received approval and many have completed their posters already.

Posted at 2:40 PM| Permalink